My friends John and Martha
accompanied me to downtown Torrington to celebrate Belgian Independence Day at Backstage,
which is conveniently located next to the Warner Theatre.
We were exuberantly greeted at the door,
then shown to a table in one of Backstage’s many casual yet comfy dining rooms.
The atmosphere was very festive, with black-yellow-and-red Belgian flags flying from every possible vantage point.
Always happy to educate the dining public about fine brews, beer master Christopher Verrilli explained the Belgian beer selection that Backstage was featuring to us.
Backstage’s regular beer selection, of course, is very impressive as well.
Our waiter, T.J.,
brought us both the regular menu
and the special Belgian Independence Day menu, from which we ordered pretty much everything.
“Independence from whom—the French?” I asked, betraying my ignorance. “No, from the Dutch,” one of many peoples apparently to overrun Belgium, was the answer. In fact, Belgium was once nicknamed the “cockpit of Europe,” because so many battles between other European countries wound up being fought there.
We visited a while with my boss and restaurant savant Bob DeZinno,
then placed our beer order. Backstage’s flights of any four beers on tap are just $7, a price that makes it possible to work one’s way through a good portion of the draught list. Throughout the evening, John and I sampled four completely different flights of beer.
We were having too much fun! But Martha, our designated driver, just stuck to iced tea.
I’m not sure how Belgian it was, but we started off with the daily soup special, a sweet corn and jalapeño bisque, a hint of heat offsetting the natural sweetness of the kernels.
Freshly baked bread was also welcomed.
Our next item was a Belgian classic, moules frîtes, the mussels prepared in a broth with Belgian-style beer, bacon and garlic. The fries, naturally, were served with mayonnaise.
A croque-madame followed, a pressed cheese and ham sandwich topped with fried egg.
Then we strayed from Belgium for prosciutto and cantaloupe served over arugula with shaved Parmesan.
There were three loosely Belgian-themed entrées—and we tried them all. (Remember, Belgian beer was in many of the dishes, too.) The first was parsley and peppercorn ground beef steak with mushroom gravy, milky carrots, toast points and Belgian mashed potatoes.
Grilled Arctic char in a lemon beurre blanc was served on a bed of baby bok choy with sautéed vegetables.
And finally, a grilled hand-cut 16-ounce boneless rib-eye steak in a rosemary demi-glace was served with garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed mushroom and onion.
Aren’t John and Martha just the picture of contentment?
We finished with four desserts, one more amazing than the next. There was pumpkin bread pudding,
banoffee pie (an English banana and toffee pie),
a chocolate sampler,
and a peanut butter and jelly layer cake.
There’s a real ebb and flow of customers at Backstage, as people come for normal dinner hour, pre-concert meals and post-concert meals. One minute a room can be empty,
the next minute the same room can be hopping.
The bar area always seems to have a good crowd, however.
It certainly doesn’t hurt when a good band is performing in an alcove.
And keep in mind, as Backstage Live!, this concern also presents major concerts of its own upon occasion in a space leased behind the restaurant.
I looked around the remainder of the restaurant, checking out the loft space
and its views to the street,
and even watching food prepared in the kitchen.
I finished by briefly interviewing executive chef Chris Smith.
Backstage, 84 Main Street, Torrington, 860-489-8900, www.backstageeatdrinklive.com