Once restaurants located off the beaten commercial path find their audience, they may thrive. There are countless examples of such restaurants. The Schoolhouse at Cannondale in Wilton, Positano’s in Westport, Still River Café in Eastford, and The Mansion at Bald Hill in South Woodstock spring to mind.
It would be just as easy to overlook Augie’s Restaurant located in the eccentric little Short Beach enclave of Branford. I know every nook and cranny of Branford because, over the years, I have lived, worked and played there. Removed from major thoroughfares, Augie’s is situated on the scenic loop that is meandering Route 142 in Branford. Only people who live—or in rare cases, work—out that way take that road. Thus, it takes conscious forethought to wind up in Short Beach to dine.
Augie’s, which occupies the space that was formerly Che Tango, and before that Cibo, deserves such conscious forethought.
Augie’s is nicely landscaped, with lilies and ornamental grasses
and a little outside seating.
The face of the restaurant is chef-owner John Accardi,
a former New York City restaurateur who, along with his wife Jessica, owns Augie’s. Their daughter, Victoria, helps out in the restaurant.
The restaurant is named after their youngest son. Accardi himself redesigned and remodeled the restaurant. People familiar with the space will notice that the cozy dining room is lighter and better laid out, the awkwardly placed columns and odd corners eliminated.
I confess I was so intrigued by the airplane-style vacancy indicator that I failed to notice the much larger female symbol that indicated it was the ladies’ bathroom. Sorry, ladies.
Dining with me were two of my dearest friends, Tony and Heidi,
who live on the Branford shoreline but nevertheless had never tried Augie’s. Although I wasn’t late, I found them already ensconced at the bar trying the baby octopus appetizer. We moved to a table, where were graciously seen to by Augie’s staff,
as of course were the restaurant’s other customers.
Hence the smiles.
Soon the place was really hopping.
A few customers even chose to eat at the bar.
Encouraging customers to try Augie’s for the first time (and inevitably, to come back) are Wednesday night pasta nights (all pastas are $12) and Tuesday and Sunday burger and beer specials ($9.95). Not just any burger or beer, that’s a six-ounce, Four Mile River Farm, certified Angus beef burger and a draft of Brooklyn Lager. Count me there!
According to its website, Augie’s is “an American bistro with a regional Italian and Mediterranean influence. We focus on quality seafood, meats, artisanal, and whenever possible, local ingredients. Our menu and specials change often, reflecting what is freshest, in season, or just plain exciting to us.” I would summarize by saying that the menu’s mostly Italian, but Accardi’s not about to be limited in his desire to create good, intriguing food.
We began by selecting a wine, not that Augie’s doesn’t have a pretty good beer selection.
On this hot July day, a Segura Viudas Aria Pinot Noir Brut, a dry, sparkling, food-friendly Cava proved to be a great choice.
As soon as our glasses had been poured,
the bottle was plunged into a bucket of ice.
Good Italian bread and a ramekin of butter held our appetites in check while we decided what to order.
As we tried our first dishes, we experienced cooking so flawless and self-assured that we knew with certainty how the entire meal would go. At my insistence, we began with the grilled baby octopus with baby arugula in a lemon-olive oil dressing that Tony and Heidi had already enjoyed.
They didn’t mind getting up close and personal with it all over again.
A world-class tomato soup came with a touch of roasted garlic and a spritz of basil oil.
Breaded Sicilian-style rice balls—crunchy, light and greaseless—were filled with ground meat, peas and Caciocavallo cheese.
Here you see one sliced in half to reveal its delicious interior.
Fried calamari was quite possibly the best I’d had since eating it at a restaurant in Plaza Maria Pita in A Coruña, Galicia several years ago.
That tomato sauce was as vibrant as it looks. Grilled sardines
and bresaola
were also terrific. And I love a bit of salad as a slight breather before heading into the main course. In this simple but elegant salad, the sweetness of beet and the richness of Maytag blue cheese was offset perfectly by a lovely but sharp vinaigrette that coated the sparklingly fresh local greens.
Just as nice, a frisée salad was finished with crumbled Roquefort, applewood smoked bacon, French radish and a lemon vinaigrette.
Our Cava spent, we shifted gears with a bottle of 2008 Domaine Sainte-Eugénie Récolte, La Réserve, France recommended by Accardi.
This nice red wine proved excellent accompaniment to the impressive fare that would follow. First were beautiful, doughy, housemade gnocchi in a gentle Gorgonzola sauce.
The other two pastas we tried also were exceptional, including a pasta with mushrooms from the regular menu
and a swordfish pasta special.
Frankly, eggplant al forno is the kind of southern Italian dish I usually avoid, but by this point in the meal I had complete confidence in Accardi and ordered it to enjoy what I knew the dish could and should be. The combination of tender Sicilian eggplant with plum tomato, pignolis, sultana raisins, Pecorino cheese and a touch of fresh basil was exquisite. “Is someone’s Grandmother back there?” I asked, nodding toward the kitchen. It turned out the eggplant al forno was actually Accardi’s mother’s recipe.
A swordfish special featured generous cuts of that majestic fish with a kalamata olive tapénade, roasted cherry tomatoes and fresh croutons. Roasted fingerling potatoes came on the side.
A steak frîtes was also very good, even if the individual who ordered it replaced the fries with asparagus.
A carnivore’s delight, spectacularly tender filet mignon in a wild mushroom demi-glace came with well-seasoned fingerling potatoes and broccoli rabe.
Finally, we had reached our dessert course. Each of us ordered our preferred form of coffee
and then we savored a panna cotta with fresh berries
and a beautifully rich but not overly sweet chocolate pot de crème.
A Sicilian dessert wine put the exclamation point on a great dining experience.
Finally, my friends photographed me with Accardi, clearly one of Connecticut’s better chefs.
Visit Augie’s for simple pleasures executed impeccably. Accardi makes great cooking look effortless, but precious few restaurants can actually produce food of this caliber. It may take a conscious effort to seek Augie’s out, but that effort will certainly be rewarded.
Augie’s Restaurant, 130 Shore Drive, Branford, 203-315-8200
augies-restaurant.com