Connecticut Restaurant Week provided a great excuse to return to one of my favorite haunts—Backstage, which is located next to the Warner Theater in downtown Torrington. In my eyes, Backstage provides an ideal balance between casual atmosphere, friendly service and great food. Its combination of great beer selection and elevated comfort food fare is, for me, the very definition of gastropub.
My companions and I were in a beer mood, sampling several and passing our glasses around for others to try. Backstage has 40 beers on draft, over 80 by the bottle, plus specials. Our choices included a Two Roads Brewing Co. Road 2 Ruin, Half Full Brewery Pumpkin Ale, City Steam Brewery Naughty Nurse, and others I can no longer recall.
My companions and I ordered the entire Connecticut Restaurant Week menu of executive chef Geoffrey Ryan, plus a few other menu items we also wanted to try. From the appetizer section of the special menu, we enjoyed the chef’s daily soup, which was pork and black bean; the New England clam chowder; the littleneck clams with Nodine’s Smoke House chorizo; and a salad of bittergreens in a Naughty Nurse Ale vinaigrette.
From the entrée section of the special menu, we relished chicken saltimbocca with sage and prosciutto, Marsala wine, creamy ricotta risotto and seasonal vegetable; grilled pork tenderloin with Greczyk Farm applesauce, creamy whipped potatoes and seasonal farm vegetable; grilled filet medallions in hollandaise sauce with Greczyk Farm potato hash and sautéed spinach. We never got to try the potato gnocchi with harvest vegetables, because it was so popular it sold out before we could get to it.
From the dessert section of the special menu, we savored pumpkin bread pudding with Arethusa Farm vanilla ice cream. But we never got to try the Greczyk Farm apple tart Tatin, because it, too, had sold out.
So let’s take a look at the regular menu items with which we supplemented our fabulous meal. From the appetizers, we had the fried Brussels sprouts with applewood smoked bacon and salt; the Maryland lump crab cakes with lemon dill aioli, farm tomato relish and sweet potato crips; and porter-braised beef short rib with 72-hour veal demi-glace and sweet potato gratin. From the entrées, we had the pan-seared Maple Leaf Farms duck breast with raspberry honey glaze, mapled squash purée and seasonal vegetable. From the desserts, we had the berry shortcake, the s’mores mud pie and the double chocolate layer cake, all of which went beautifully with an Arethusa Farm cheese plate.
It was a another great meal but the kind I have learned to take for granted at Backstage.
THE VERDICT: Backstage in Torrington is a terrific place to dine, not just during Connecticut Restaurant Week, but anytime.
FEEDBACK: Let us know if you’re as big a fan of Backstage as we are!
CONTACT INFO: Backstage, 84 Main Street, Torrington, 860-489-8900, www.backstageeatdrinklive.com