Vin's Place
By Todd Lyon
From the New Haven Register
Local basketball legend’s got game in the kitchen. | | Chef Todd Curtis holds his Whole Roasted Snapper with lemon, parsley and herbs.Melanie Stengel/Register photo |
Todd Curtis and I have much in common. Besides sharing a first name, we’re both art-school brats who know nothing about sports. Also, we both work around food: Todd is executive chef at the new Vinnie’s Saybrook Fish House, owned by local basketball legend Vin Baker.Now, if you don’t know who Vin Baker is, don’t feel bad. Neither did I.Nor did Todd Curtis, who answered a blind ad and found himself at the gates of Vin’s Connecticut estate.
"I was interviewing with Yvette Gilbert in the conference room, she kept talking about ‘Mr. Baker,’ and I had no idea who she was talking about. But I kept seeing this guy walk by, thinking, ‘Wow, he is really tall.’
Turns out that the tall guy was Todd’s future boss.
Here’s the back story: Vin Baker grew up in Old Saybrook and became an All-State Player at Old Saybrook High School. He went on to the University of Hartford on a basketball scholarship; there, he averaged 28.3 points a game in his senior year and was snatched up by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1993 draft. His career took off, and soon he was traded to the Seattle Supersonics, and also played in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where his Dream Team took the gold. After stints with the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks, he was traded to the Houston Rockets.
Earlier this year, the 34-year-old Vin bought out his contract with the Rockets in order to re-tool his career (he has no intentions of retiring) and, oh yes, to open a restaurant.
The role of restaurateur has been a long-time goal of Vin’s, who is an avid cook (his first job in high school was at Pat’s Kountry Kitchen). When he’s on the road, he seeks out the best restaurants he can find and takes notes; when he’s home, he prepares lavish meals for friends and family. He has a real passion for it, reports Todd.
In searching for a place to call his own, the Saybrook Fish House came into view, and with it a feeling of nostalgia for Vin. It had been here for 25 years, and Vin had fond memories of it growing up, reports Todd. Vin’s original intention was to reopen the old restaurant and spruce it up with a few contemporary touches, but, after buying the building for $525,000 last year, Vin and his group discovered that the structure was too far gone to save.
Thus began a hugely ambitious tear-down and rebuild, resulting in a beautifully appointed restaurant with a granite patio and fountain, a second-story private dining room, a bar and lounge and, on the first floor, an enormous salt-water fish tank with living coral.
He went all out on this place, says Chef Todd. The tile work on the bar was hand-done in Italy, even the stone walls were done by hand, by one master builder who was out there every day.
Vinnie’s Saybrook Fish House had its soft opening Nov. 28. It was supposed to be by invitation only, recalls Todd, and we expected 100 people here over the course of three nights.
Instead, the kitchen turned out about 200 dinners every night, and hasn’t stopped since. We thought January and February would slow down, smiles Todd. No such luck.
Vinnie’s menu respects the original Saybrook Fish House sensibilities. There’s lots of traditional New England seafood dishes — Lemon Sole, Stuffed Flounder, Seafood Dream (an update of the classic Fisherman’s Platter) — as well as contemporary offerings like Mesclun Salad, Rack of Lamb with truffled sweet-potato filling, and Grilled Sirloin with balsamic apple gravy, to name a few. Vinnie also hired a chef de cuisine, Luigi Sferrazza, who is responsible for the restaurant’s Italian offerings, including Chicken Parmesan, Scampi and Veal Scaloppini.
For chef Todd — whose most recent stint was as executive chef at John Davenport’s at the Omni New Haven Hotel — it was a change of pace to develop an old-style New England menu. I never thought I’d enjoy frying seafood, he laughs. But he’s clearly mastered the art of the feather-light filet of sole, the flaky cod, the sauteed native mussels and clams.
Vinnie’s Saybrook Fish House is a great place for families and diverse groups of friends, because, not only is the atmosphere warm, attractive and fun, but dinner choices range from the basic (and very good) Fish and Chips ($15), to the decadent-yet-simple Land and Sea, featuring a petit filet mignon and a lobster tail ($32), to down-home dishes like Ella Jean’s Southern Style Pork, i.e., barbecued chops with a side of baked beans ($17).
For those who like to sit at the bar and graze, Vinnie’s is paradise. Raw Bar samplers, Lobster Rolls, Scallop Po’ Boys... these are the stuff that make for long, relaxed afternoons on the shore.
I think you’ll thoroughly enjoy Vinnie’s. Unlike so many sports-celebrity restaurants, it’s not festooned with sports memorabilia (although there is a fascinating exhibit of Vin’s jerseys over the years), and you don’t pay a premium for the privilege of having a famous name attached to the place. Vinnie’s really is about the food, and about bringing that old New England spirit into the next century.
Todd Lyon of New Haven is a freelance writer. |
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