Grants, West Hartford

Grants
cuisine: Contemporary American
entrées: $18 – $32
address: 977 Farmington Avenue, West Hartford
phone: (860) 236-1930
credit cards: All major

5 Stars… Extraordinary

Publisher’s Forward

Bob DeZinno
bob@restaurantsct.com

This is the first time I have piped in before one of our site’s expertly written restaurant reviews; I might again, I might not. RestaurantsCT.com is very proud to have enlisted the professional writing and food knowledge of Messrs. Braverman, Innes and Montblanc, under the guidance of our Managing Editor, Frank Cohen. I hope you have enjoyed reading these articles as much as we have enjoyed bringing them to you.

I never know in advance which of our reviewers will submit the next review, nor do I know the name of the subject restaurant. Jonathan Braverman’s review of Grants’ arrived in my email inbox, by coincidence, on the same day as Billy Grant’s email newsletter, Sugo. I subscribe to Sugo as one of the thousands of his customers who appreciate Billy Grant’s work. To no surprise, Billy Grant’s Sugo is every bit as good as his restaurants; in my opinion, it is perhaps the best email newsletter of any restaurant that I have seen. Each edition of Sugo tells Billy’s ever-evolving story of family, food, hospitality, respect, and tradition. He even frequently offers generous praise of the work of other chefs and restaurants in his newsletter! If you know him, this all makes sense.

I first met Billy Grant at a charity event somewhere, sometime. He is at so many, I cannot recall which. I was volunteering as a waiter or wine steward, and he was donating his food and talent to the cause. I was taken by his intense scrutiny of each plate that passed by him production-line style. I have had the privilege of working with the best chefs in the state, yet I am always mesmerized by Billy’s technique and devotion to his food and to his craft. Billy Grant is a gentleman that epitomizes the best of the best, one of the many Connecticut chefs that do so much more for our quality of life than just sell us their food.

Enough from me, Mr. Braverman’s thoughts follow.

If you have not visited Billy Grants’ website, do so: billygrant.com. You can subscribe to his newsletter, and read past issues here: Sugo.

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Billy Grant, chef-owner of beloved Bricco and the eponymously named Grants in West Hartford, is not only one of Connecticut’s most important culinary talents but a force of nature. One seems to bump into Grant everywhere—on radio, on television, in person. He’ll even show up in one’s home if one lets him, via his entertaining newsletter, Sugo. It’s as if there were a half dozen of him running around. No wonder his restaurant’s name is, in effect, pluralized.

Grant seems to be regularly booked at the renowned James Beard Foundation in Manhattan, and when he’s not, he’s apt to be assisting other chefs in that storied kitchen. He’s a behind-the-scenes supporter of many Connecticut restaurants, including top-of-the-heap ON20 in Hartford. He participates in any number of charitable events. In other words, Grant’s an all-around great guy.

None of which factors one iota into the rating I bestow upon a restaurant. I have to stay objective and put my personal feelings aside. But somehow it’s all the more gratifying when one really likes a restaurant and the restaurateur behind it. And some prominent restaurateurs are easier to like than others.

Bricco and Grants are located around the corner from each other on the same tony block of West Hartford, making it easy for Grant to materialize in either kitchen at any time. Bricco is rated one of the state’s top Italian restaurants, although the Italian designation somehow devalues it because some terrific contemporary American food seeps into its menu. But Grants is a full-bore contemporary American restaurant, its owner’s way of reminding people that he’s far more than just an Italian chef (a cuisine, after all, more dependent on top-notch ingredients, simplicity and execution than one offering chefs significant opportunities to strut their stuff). And given his surname, Grant, who emerged from the Max Restaurant Group to become a star in his own right, probably isn’t Italian anyway. Italian food may be the country’s—and world’s—most popular cuisine, but being a prominent contemporary American chef is undoubtedly much more interesting. At Grants, he can go in any direction he wants, fully exercising his prodigious culinary muscles. Dashing between his restaurants, constantly coming up with new ideas, popping up seemingly everywhere, Grant reminds me of a shark—he has to keep moving or he’ll die.

In atmosphere, I prefer Bricco slightly to Grants, but that’s not a put-down because Bricco happens to be one of my favorite restaurants. Grants also has much to recommend it. Lovely street-side patio dining imparts a European feel, which only intensifies when one enters the restaurant and finds a patisserie off to the right. Although its focus now is on whole cakes rather than individual pastries, the patisserie includes a nice seating area for anyone who’d like to stop in, take a little coffee and order something from the dessert menu.

Off to the left, for those more focused on libations, there’s a vibrant bar which is mostly enclosed, preventing the ebullience of its revelers from intruding too much on the tranquility of regular diners. Restaurants with a thriving bar business seem better positioned to weather the vicissitudes of the current economic climate. Heck, people may be a little more hesitant to eat out but, as a recent Hartford Courant article by Anne Vandermey confirmed, the relentless tide of disconcerting economic indicators will surely drive them to drink. And when they drink, they’re apt to eat. As at Bricco, one is allowed to take dinner at the bar at Grants—and many folk do. Unlike Bricco, which only accepts reservations for parties of six or more, Grants accepts reservations for parties of all sizes.

Grants is an elongated restaurant, with tables extending from front to back. The fluting of its square white columns looks as if a wood carver dragged his toughened fingernails down them from top to bottom. Wrought iron (but not overwrought), hardwood floors, tile wainscoting, large antique mirrors, ornate sconces and attractive hanging lamps produce a cosmopolitan feel. As in any restaurant, some seats are better than others. The larger booths are very comfortable (although so deep they challenge servers’ limited reach) and some of the tables are nice as well. The more generously figured (I’ll take the Fifth on that) may find the smaller booths a bit tight, and one side of a large table has an unfortunate bathroom view.

But to the last customer, one will observe the same enthusiasm—and even gratitude—for having gained admission to Grants that also characterizes Bricco’s patrons. With good reason, of course. Not only is the ambiance very appealing but the managers and wait staff are unfailingly knowledgeable and attentive. And most important, the food is phenomenal.

From the start, patrons are pampered with wonderful housemade focaccia that manages to be spongy, slightly crunchy, slightly salty and incredibly tasty all at once. Accompanying the bread is a nicely textured spread of chickpeas, garlic and olive oil. Or customers can avail themselves of some of Grants’ exceptional Monini extra virgin olive oil from the Umbrian countryside. The olive oils restaurants choose to serve communicate plenty about how they feel about their clientele.

Grants’ selection of alcoholic beverages reflects the refinement of its food. There’s an imaginative assortment of special cocktails, a laudable catalog of peaty single malts and some urbane cognacs as well as an array of fortified coffees, ports, dessert wines and after-dinner drinks. There’s a decent selection of bottled beers, but more impressively, a dozen well-chosen draft beers, only one of which, Coors Light, is the usual swill. I delved fairly deeply into Grants’ beer list when I used to make my monthly visit for what I considered the best Kobe beef burger in Connecticut (not currently offered).

But when I dine in a restaurant of Grants’ sophistication, I’m likely to look for a nice wine or two to accompany my dinner. Oenophiles and neophytes alike will find plenty of temptation at Grants. First, there are twenty-three regular wines by the glass ($6.50-$15), not one of which is something one would regret passing one’s lips. But if one wants to move from no regrets to nirvana, there are another fifteen featured wines by the glass ($10-$22) preserved by NitroTap, and these encompass some great selections like a 1998 Muga Prado Enea, Gran Reserva from Rioja, Spain; a 2003 Damilano “Lecinquevigne” Barolo from Piedmont, Italy; a 2006 Ponzi Vineyards Pinot Noir from Oregon’s Willamette Valley; and a 2002 Grant Burge “The Holy Trinity” Grenache-Shiraz-Mourvedre blend from Barossa, Australia.

Even when wine is perfectly preserved, I still prefer bottles to glasses. Despite the pressure put on the customer to make a snap decision about a wine that may be a little harsh and need to breathe, may simply be an inferior choice or may actually be corked, I still relish the winetasting ritual. So from Grants’ impressive international selection of vintages ($25-$350), we began with a nicely understated 2006 Frog’s Leap Chardonnay, Napa, California ($52). Later, we switched to a lovely, delicate, well-structured 2004 Cerro Anon Crianza, Ribera del Duero, Spain ($36) that would be hard to improve upon at that price.

On this review visit, our waitress, Anita, brought each of us a generous amuse, an elongated glass tray with three square depressions, one holding a piece of soft-shell crab atop an avocado purée, a second containing marinated shrimp with a touch of cilantro, and a third framing marinated salmon over a chickpea purée spiked with harissa. Although we hadn’t even ordered, we were already breathing rarefied culinary air.

Well, one should breathe it in deeply. One should drink in a gazpacho ($7), as the Spanish love to do in oppressively hot weather. Nothing seems to replenish lost nutrients better than a nice Spanish-style gazpacho. Coulda had a V-8? Shoulda had a gazpacho! Grants’ rough-textured purée of cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, cilantro, jalapeño and lime juice came garnished with delicate pieces of crabmeat, microgreens and crème fraîche.

What else is a perfect summer treat? Chilled seafood, bien sûr! On the night of our visit, three varieties of oysters were being served: Whale Rock and Blue Point oysters from the Connecticut shore and Canada Cup oysters from the waters off Prince Edward Island. The bivalves were served on a stand over ice with lemon, grated horseradish, cocktail sauce and mignonette dressing, all of which I chose to ignore with oysters of this caliber. Save the condiments for those inferior (but still fun) oysters one can get in Florida for as little as a dollar a dozen. These oysters were primo, and the kitchen staff had done a wonderful job of retaining their reserve juices. Although Blue Points tend to be my favorite oysters, I also enjoyed the less briny, more oystery Canada Cups and the plump, voluptuous, salty Whale Rocks. Even if one has a favorite oyster variety, there’s more pleasure in experiencing some contrast than in simply selecting one’s favorites.

Grant really likes figs, and I have always enjoyed the uses he finds for them. At Bricco, he has featured a fig pizza with fig jam, prosciutto, Gorgonzola, arugula and Parmesan. At Grants, some of the same elements are reunited in an appetizer of black mission figs ($9) stuffed with buttermilk blue cheese, wrapped in speck ham and served around well-dressed mixed greens with roasted almonds. My guest, Angela, termed the combination “orgasmic.”

Angela wasn’t wrong, but if that analogy were continued with so many earthly delights remaining I would have had to depict our four-hour meal as a Bacchanalian orgy. And while there was plenty of hedonism in our extended feast, such a characterization would do an injustice to the subtlety, restraint and balance that characterizes Grant’s cooking. A sumptuous slice of leek and goat cheese tart ($9) served over plate painting of beet vinaigrette was no less praiseworthy than the figs. The sweetness of the leeks offset the sourness of the goat cheese, while the richness of the eggy tart was balanced by a salad of mixed greens and apple matchsticks in an apple vinaigrette.

As one can see, dishes at Grants are so well-designed that it isn’t really necessary to order a salad. But one may wish to anyway, because Grant has a great touch with salads. At Bricco, I frequently order his Bibb lettuce salad with red onion, cucumber, sun-dried tomato, Gorgonzola and pine nuts in a lemon vinaigrette. On my last visit to Bricco, however, I couldn’t pass up a special of arugula, watermelon cubes, shaved fennel and toasted almond in a Cabernet Sauvignon vinaigrette—and it proved to be sheer heaven. Now at Grants, I contemplated a French country salad ($8) in which Bibb lettuce was matched with big flavorful pieces of applewood-smoked bacon, grape tomato halves and polenta croutons in a buttermilk dressing, and it proved to be yet another triumph. Rather than being mayonnaisey, the buttermilk dressing had a nice tinge of vinegar that kept the combination from being overly rich.

There were so many more starters we wanted to try. Well, all of them, actually. Grants’ jumbo lump crab cake ($10) was just spectacular, the right balance of softness and crunchiness with crab flavor to spare. It was paired with a saffron aïoli (we only wished there had been a little more), a roasted red pepper confit and some nicely dressed greens tossed with shaved fennel and sliced radish.

No less thrilling was a Maine lobster salad ($14) with big beautiful pieces of sweet lobster meat arranged over arugula and watermelon cubes in an orange vinaigrette. Now there was that inspired idea of using watermelon in a salad that we also saw at Bricco!

Our final starter was fried calamari ($10), which we had no doubt would be a cut above the norm (although the norm has greatly improved over the last decade). Fresh tender baby squid rings and tentacles were fried with slices of hot cherry pepper to a gentle crisp before being lightly salted and served with a lemon caper aïoli.

Although perhaps nothing tops Bricco’s mustard BBQ cedar-planked salmon short of barbecuing fresh line-caught salmon on an Orcas Island beach, Grants’ slow-cooked Columbia River wild salmon ($32) is also tremendous. Balancing twin asparagus spears, two square fillets were stacked atop a wonderful, slightly sweet, cream-less corn chowder. Almost invisible against the pale background, a few tiny brioche croutons graced the chowder, lending textural interest as well as flavor. Indeed, Grant pays far more attention to texture than most American-born chefs (Asian chefs are another matter). Slow cooking the salmon not only gave it a deeper than usual color, flavor and dewiness but also a softer texture than I had ever experienced.

Honey-glazed duck ($26) was also stellar. Beautiful overlapping slices of bright-colored, fat-rimmed Long Island duck breast were served with teeth-tingling duck confit, fig chutney, local spinach and oblong boulangerie potatoes. Rack of Australian lamb ($30) featured two fat, flavorful, interlocked rib chops cooked a perfect medium-rare and plated beside a chunky “lamb bolognese” capped with the lightest potato gnocchi imaginable and finished with a fava bean purée and minted peas.

Obviously, with little fanfare, both Grants’ duck and lamb entrées were actually served “two ways.” The name “duo of beef,” on the other hand, highlighted the duality. The best duo since the Wright Brothers or Dolly Parton, wonderful, fatty, red-wine-braised short rib was paired with intensely flavorful marinated hanger steak ($28). A Yukon Gold potato purée and summer vegetable medley rounded out this memorable dish.

On to the desserts, right? Well, almost. First, we enjoyed an intervening cheese course heightened with dried cherries, roasted almonds and an amazing Red Bee wildflower honey produced in Weston. The selection of cheeses—a California aged Gouda, a Hillman Farm Harvest Wheel goat’s milk cheese from Massachusetts and a Willow Hill Summer Tomme sheep’s milk cheese with an herbed exterior from Vermont—didn’t blow us away, but I’m sure the lineup changes frequently. The somewhat crystallized honey, on the other hand, was so extraordinary that Angela complained it just didn’t seem fair.

The desserts didn’t seem fair either—at least, not fair to Grants’ nominal competition. No wonder Grants has won “Best Desserts” from Connecticut Magazine, the Hartford Advocate and Hartford Magazine. When most restaurants can’t afford one pastry chef, Grants (with an assist from Bricco) showcases two: Todd Laurito and Fran Marino.

A riff on strawberry shortcake, an almond shortcake ($9) was split down the middle and stuffed with native strawberries, rhubarb and lemon curd ice cream drizzled with balsamic caramel. A really pretty creation, an individual Key lime cheesecake ($8) featured a thin, green, gelatinous layer of lime over an ethereal icebox cheesecake garnished with strawberries and an almond tuile. But anyone requiring a chocolate fix would do well to turn to the fallen chocolate cherry soufflé ($9) served with chocolate cherry sauce and housemade frozen cherry yogurt, a chocolate tuile boomerang wedged in the top of the cake.

My restaurant reviews tend to be wars of attrition in which everyone wins. Well, everyone except our poor, patient servers. As is so often the case, we “closed” Grants’ dining room around eleven. Unlike most restaurants I review, however, the staff wasn’t waiting to turn out the lights because the bar area was still booming. And unlike the boomerang in the regrettable Charlie Drake song “My Boomerang Won’t Come Back,” anyone who leaves Grants will inevitably be fated to return. Grants’ appealing ambiance, caring staff and dazzling food are an irresistible combination.