Bon Appetit Café In Wilton Lives Up To The Promise Inherent In Its Name

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ In Memoriam Roger Martin ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Despite a small enclosed patio in front, Bon Appetit Café in Wilton is easily overlooked in its strip mall setting next to a martial arts workshop.

Bon Appetit’s regulars would probably prefer it stayed that way. Knowing the difficulty of acquiring a table in the pintsized former luncheonette, my companions and I deliberately came after eight. And even at 10:00 in sleepy Wilton, a number of customers still lingered in the bistro.

The restaurant’s décor is not its selling point, but a sense of style

and an abundance of Gallic paraphernalia lend it a certain charm.

I adored this series of French language cookbooks.

The rest of the bistro’s charm comes from its managment, including ownership (pictured is partner Dominique Arrighi)

and staff.

The menu is as diminutive as the restaurant. It turns out that most of the food choices are offered through tempting blackboard specials (I counted twenty-one).

A nice Haut-Médoc elevated our mood.

Good bread

(wrapped in fanciful newspaper—check the date)

and even better unsalted butter followed.

Almost everything we wound up ordering came from the specials board. For our appetizers, we ordered a refreshing iceberg wedge salad with wedges of tomato, crumbled bacon, sliced purple onion and blue cheese dressing,

a rich salmon cake,

and a delightful venison pâté.

The elegant, fresh-tasting pâté was the best that I had enjoyed in years. It hadn’t hardened in the fridge, as so many have. It wasn’t an over-processed commercial product nor yet another coarse pâté de campagne!

For our entrées, we selected calves liver lyonnaise (the best calves liver that I’d tasted since Zanghi on Summer Street closed in Stamford),