My ninth Westport Restaurant Week visit brought me for lunch to Dressing Room,
which is located in the shadow of the Westport Country Playhouse.
Dressing Room supports worthy causes like local firefighters,
always a good idea for a restaurant.
I teased a visiting fireman, saying “I see firemen have better taste in food than policemen.”
“We’re better cooks, too!” he retorted.
“So true!” I answered. “I once did a piece on firehouse chefs in New Haven, Bridgeport and White Plains.”
Of course, one would be hard pressed to find a better cook than owner and founder Michel Nischan, who teamed up with Paul Newman in late 2006 to open Dressing Room—A Homegrown Restaurant. Nischan, a leader in the sustainable food movement, is a dual James Beard Foundation award winner for his cookbook, Taste Pure and Simple, and his work on the PBS television series, Victory Garden. Nischan surrounds himself with good people, including his executive chef Johnny Holzworth and pastry chef Michael Devlin.
Nischan and his wife, Lori, shown here flanking a staff member,
have been important fixtures in the Connecticut and New York food scene for a number of years. One would also be hard pressed to find nicer people, and their niceness rubs off on all of their staff, like our waitress, Kim.
My dining companion was Irene Dixon,
a long-time friend who is simply one of the nicest people anywhere. Among Irene’s many honors, she is the vice president of the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce, a board member of the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, and winner of a Corporate Citizenship Award from the Norwalk NAACP. Director of sales and marketing for the Hilton Garden Inn, she recently was recipient of the Director of the Year Award for all Hilton Garden Inns worldwide.
Briefly abandoning my distinguished lunch companion, I wandered around the restaurant and snapped a few photos. The bar area
and back room
weren’t especially busy, as they tend to be in the evening, but the main dining room was full of people enjoying a delicious lunch in attractive surroundings.
I loved having this fireplace at my back.
Crusty bread
and good hotel butter held our appetites in check while we studied Dressing Room’s Restaurant Week menu.
The lunch menu was divided into three courses: Act One, Act Two and an Encore. For Act One, Irene ordered Dressing Room’s lip-smacking signature ribs, described as “Scott County, Missouri, dry-style,” which came with a lovely, light, vinegary Savoy cabbage slaw.
Be sure to click on food photos for full effect! I ordered the oyster shooter,
the components of which included a sumptuous roasted Beacon oyster served on a pillar of salt
and a cup of exquisite puréed celery soup with bean.
A tough act to follow? Well, Act Two included a grilled chicken sandwich with bacon, lettuce and pesto aïoli served on homemade focaccia with a lovely side salad,
and homemade buckwheat pappardelle pasta topped with a lamb ragù that was simply the best ragù I ever had!
I nursed the pasta dish for about fifteen minutes, taking tiny bites so it would last.
We finished with the Dressing Room’s cookie selection, which included a butter cookie, a chocolate chip cookie, an oatmeal cookie and a ginger snap.
The cookies must have been terrific, because when all was said and done, they were done and gone.
Dressing Room, 27 Powers Court, Westport, 203-226-1114