Historic Griswold Inn opens the exquisite Wine Bar
By Todd Lyon
From the New Haven Register
 | | Griswold Inn owners Doug and Joan Paul behind the bar at the Wine Bar. Aaron Flaum / Register photo |
The Griswold Inn in Essex is so famous that it’s become a Connecticut cliche — or perhaps, more fairly, an institution.
We all know that it was established in 1776, and for hundreds of years has been a favorite stop for seafarers and landlubbers in need of grub and lodging. I myself have written about the place at least three times for various publications, and, like so many other food writers before me, turned a blind eye to its culinary quirks and instead indulged, even celebrated, its stubborn, infuriating Yankee charm.
But now, there is a whole new aspect of the Griswold to celebrate. This one requires no journalistic air-brushing, no Vaseline on the lens: I’m talking about a modern, sophisticated wine bar with food and libations so fine that it’s not only jettisoned the Griswold into the 21st century, but has made it a contender for a top spot among Connecticut’s best restaurants.
Before you panic, please understand that the Gris is still the Gris, where sea shanties are sung, Dixieland jazz is played and traditional New England food is served under ancient walls stacked tall with nautical art.
What’s different is that one of the Griswold’s many dining areas has been transformed. You may remember it as the Steamboat Room, a 50-plus-seat space with its own dedicated entrance on Main Street.
In recent years, it was mostly used for private functions, but retained its most famous feature: an 18-foot mural of a harbor scene that could, with the flip of a switch, rock from side to side. This, I learned, was originally designed to give diners the feeling that they were on board a ship. I also learned that the swaying painting more often made patrons feel drunk or disoriented.
The mural is still in place, but virtually everything else about the Steamboat Room has changed.
Today, that dedicated entrance on Main Street opens on to a beautifully realized room with polished wood surfaces, retro/industrial-age ceiling fans, bona fide maritime art, and a variety of seating options, including banquettes, bar stools and tall chairs clustered around a common table. The Wine Bar is cloistered from the Gris-at-large via folding French doors, but style is what really sets it apart.
Along with kind lighting and an impeccable waitstaff, the Wine Bar at the Griswold has more than 50 wines by the glass at the ready, many offered in a 3-ounce "taste" size as well as the usual 6-ounce pour.
Wine maniacs can frolic to their hearts’ content, but the food in that rarefied room is what makes me swoon. How can I resist pan-seared scallops wrapped in pancetta with caper Sauvignon Blanc sauce, or heirloom tomato and goat cheese wontons with shaved cucumber and basil salad, or beef carpaccio with salsa verde and ricotta crisps?
There’s a tapas attitude at work, and it works. The menu features a few Bar Tastes, i.e., warm olives — cured and marinated in-house — and a long list of Small Plates that are easy to share, such as durum wheat crepes stuffed with braised lamb shank served with smoked tomato relish, and flash-seared jumbo shrimps with tropical fruit chutney and plantain crisps.
These, like most of the Wine Bar’s menu selections, are presented in bite-sized pieces on elegant little dishes.
It all seems so effortless, and yet each flavorful taste, each sip of wine, represents tremendous effort from a team of seasoned experts.
"At some point, we started thinking about a wine bar," says Joan Paul, flashing a smile that could easily land her a modeling contract. She and her husband, Doug, and brother-in-law, Geoffrey, took ownership of the Griswold Inn nearly 10 years ago. It wasn’t what any of them had planned to do with their lives: Doug grew up in Essex, then ran away to become a lawyer; Joan’s family moved to the area when she was a teenager, and, in fact, her first job was at the Gris, working the breakfast shift.
"At the age of 15, I was serving Bloody Marys to boaters at 10:30 in the morning," she recalls with a laugh. As an adult, she lived and worked in all the best cities, and eventually found herself associated with a major restaurant group.
Art and love brought her back to Essex. (There’s a back story, of course, but not enough space in this column to tell it properly.)
It took a bit of time for Joan and her partners to establish themselves as worthy successors to the Griswold legacy. Over 200-plus years, only six families had owned and operated the property.
"People were afraid that we’d wreck the place," remembers Joan. Instead, the Paul family renovated most of the inn’s 31 guest rooms, installed a new executive chef (without displacing the former executive chef) and, two years ago, hired Alan Barone as the general manager of both the inn and the restaurant.
Coincidentally, Barone was another Connecticut native — born in West Haven — who’d grown his talents out of state.
"Alan’s a graduate of the CIA, he was a chef and spent many years in the wine country of northern California," says Joan. "He gave us the confidence to launch the wine bar."
He didn’t do it alone: Alan recruited chefs Josh Berry and Tom Hughes, whom he’d worked with at hi-fi hotels in Hilton Head. The result of their collaboration is a remarkable marriage of food and wine, served in a graceful space that somehow manages to honor the past while remaining wholly contemporary.
"We wanted to have something that was up to date," says Joan. "We’ve had a really positive response, people have embraced this new idea, but it hasn’t taken away from the classic Griswold dining experience."
I’d call that the best of both worlds — and I do mean the best.
Todd Lyon of New Haven is a freelance writer.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Place: The Griswold Inn Wine Bar, 36 Main St., Essex.
• Phone: (860) 767-1776.
• Web: www.griswoldinn.com.
• Wine bar hours: 5-10 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Other dining rooms at the Griswold offer lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch. Call for details.
• Reservations: Accepted, not required.
• Credit cards: Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discovery.
• Food: A wine bar worthy of city sophisticates has taken root in little ’ol Essex, attached to the venerable Griswold Inn. It features a menu of mostly Small Plates, with fascinating options in the $6-$12 range that are designed for sharing and custom-made to complement glasses of wine. You can’t go wrong with Ahi Tuna Tartar with Crispy Shiitake Mushrooms ($9), Beef Carpaccio with Salsa Verde and Ricotta Wafers ($8), or virtually anything else on the menu. There are some Large Plates as well, notably the Charcuterie Tray ($10) and the Artisan Cheese Plate, featuring four dreamy cheeses from Connecticut’s own Cato Corners Farm.
• Drink: More than 50 wines are offered by the glass, ranging from a 2004 Verramonte Sauvignon Blanc ($6) to a 2000 Chateau du Parc St. Emillion ($16); my personal favorite is the 2002 Ridge "Spring Mountain" Zinfandel ($12.50). Many featured wines are available in a 3-ounce "tasting" size ($4-$8); there’s also a hideously expensive Reserve list for hard-core professionals.
• Wheelchair access: Through the main door of the Griswold Inn.
• Parking: In two public lots across the street, or in precious spots on Main Street proper. All free.
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