Bonda: Back in Business in Fairfield

Author's Note: I use my iPhone to take most of my blog pics, but I broke mine a couple weeks ago and I had to get a new one. I forgot to upload the pics I'd taken on the new phone before I restored it with all the data from my old phone, so I lost a week's worth of food images! Still annoyed but that's why there are no images here.

Abbondanza was almost a Saugatuck institution. To most people that means nothing, but Saugatuck is a neighborhood in Westport that was historically Italian until the construction of I-95 in the 50s, which blasted and paved a big divide through the heart of Saugatuck, initiating a slow death to the paesan atmosphere where my dad grew up. Abbondanza didn't open until the 90s, but it kind of re-energized the area, carving out a niche as a gourmet takeout spot for lunch and dinner. Not really a deli where you'd get a turkey sandwich, but everything else from mulligatawny to pasta salad to pork tenderloin with mango salsa.

For a while after college when I was single, living at home and looking for things to spend money on, I would frequent 'Bondanza for lunch and pay the often premium price for fried catfish, chicken cordon bleu or cheese steak Fridays. With a healthy catering business established over the years as well, they decided to try their hand at full restaurant service a few nights a week in the space that was once a gas station. Bonda, as it was called to distinguish it from the takeout part located in the same space, started without a liquor license and only half a dozen tables, but through their loyal customers they flourished and became one of Westport's best rated restaurants per the New York Times and Zagat.

My family has always supported them, and being a ten minute walk from my parents' house, it was an ideal restaurant for a special occasion. In fact, situated exactly midway between my parents and Nicole's parents, it was the perfect spot for our first dinner date (sans parents). Since then we've tried to get in there at least a few times a year (became more difficult when we were in wedding saving mode) to see what's new on the menu and to catch up with the ever-present staff.

So when I went down a couple weeks before our wedding to get some gift certificates for our parents, I was really disheartened to hear that they were closing down in a matter of days. They had scaled back dinner to weather the difficult economy, and during the lean Winter and Spring they decided to reevaluate the business and look for space elsewhere. Hearing that, Nicole and I scraped together some funds needed elsewhere for a sendoff dinner on one of their last nights. Jamie, the owner, said he was seriously looking at property in Fairfield with aim to reopen mid-summer as a dinner-only restaurant. We hoped for the best and got on their email list in the hopes that they could make it happen.

Fortunately they were able to recreate the allure at their new location in charming Greenfield Hill Center. Nicole and I had a table on the first night of their soft opening last Tuesday. The new space (where Fraiche used to be) builds on the old one but gives Jamie a warmer, more intimate setting to work with. The big vintage posters that were a trademark of the old place are still there, but on deep mustard colored walls now with a nice dark wood floor. There is a cool contempo little bar when you walk in just big enough to grab a drink while you wait for your table. For now there are only about 10 or 12 tables, but there is a dining room in the back if demand requires its use, or perhaps for private events.

We always felt good vibes emanating from the place when we used to go because of the people working there, and since they've retained much of the crew we almost instantly felt it again on opening night. Bonda and Abbondanza may sound Italian, but the food is about as eclectic and resistant to typecasting as you can be around here. They seem to represent a dozen or so culinary genres at any given time on the menu. And the wine list is similarly structured to offer a bottle or two from pretty much every major wine region of the world.

The menu was a mix of their last one in Westport and some innovations for their new venture. Nicole had to go for the venerable iceberg wedge as soon as she saw it, while I decided to try something new and go for grilled calamari salad. For dinner she chose a steak frites with french fries and truffle mayo, and I ordered lemon pepper fried chicken with corn pudding. I never order chicken out at a restaurant, but on this menu it was definitely worth a shot.

As always, they start you off with a dish of room temp caponata and some crisp crostini to dip in it. Unlike my "camp grenada", theirs is smoother, more tomatoey and saucy, the better to be scooped up by the little toasts. It leaves your appetite stoked but nothing close to the full that can happen when you hit the bread basket too hard too fast.

Nicole's app is probably the best interpretation of this variation on a classic I've had: two quarters of iceberg, Russian dressing on one, creamy bleu on the other, with a serious slab of Berkshire pork bacon on the side. Unpretentious and fun, it hits a bunch of spots of americana comfort dining in one round. She never gets tired of it, and I never get tired of eating the last quarter or so of the smoky swine that she can't finish.

My antipasto was definitely a contrast; three grilled squid bodies with gigante beans and fennel, dressed with spicy oil and citrus. Now, for me grilling squid is one of the toughest things to get right. "Whatever you do don't overcook it! Just cook until it's opaque and that's it, so easy." Easier said than done if you ask me. I err on the side of raw and it comes out crunchy on the inside. No good. I give it an extra minute past the 2 minute mark when it's curled up and shrunk to half the original size, and still a congealed yizz oozes out. I clean that off and hope no one notices. The point is I'm always a little tentative with that first bit of non-fritto squid. This time I did get a bit of that crunchy texture that signifies slight undercooking. Fortunately the texture improved with each body so that by the third it was near perfect. The beans were firm and a little too waxy for me, the fennel and dressing slightly spicy but mellow, the whole a little undersalted. Hard to compete with an size 9 shoe slab of bacon though.

Despite it being busy, the service appeared seamless to us diners. With help from his wife, Jamie was able to make the rounds to all his loyal clientele, man the bar and handle wine service. After a complimentary, congratulatory round of champagne, we orded a smooth, slightly sweet Costa de Oro Pinot Noir to split the difference between Nicole's red meat and my fried chicken.

The entrees were both new offerings from Bonda for us. Nicole's steak, thin and long, was juicy medium rare and tender as you'd imagine. The fries were diner-cut, golden and with abundant crunchiness. She thought they were too salty, but I thought the salt was spot on. She's normally a salt fiend, but she likes to handle the sprinkling when it comes to her fried potatoes I think. She didn't ask for ketchup. The truffle mayo added considerable heft and burp-inducing richness to the dish, cut by a vinegary watercress salad also on the plate.

The fried chicken was served boneless in two pieces, with a chunky corn pudding and a kind of awkward looking frisee salad. I made the right choice of slicing into the thigh first; the coating was crunchy through and through, no hint of sogginess, the lemon pepper coming through in waves. The meat was perfecto-ly cooked; moist, tasty with the skin on--seriously as succulent as a piece of chicken can be. It went great with the sweet corn pudding, which was chunky but loose enough to be used as a dipping sauce. The frisee salad was actually well seasoned and came in handy when we needed a break from the big flavors of everything else. It gave me a nice refreshment before I went at the second piece of my entree, which was the breast. I said I made the right choice starting with the thigh because a breast can never follow up a piece of dark meat and hope to compare. Luckily I was full and helped Nicole chip away at her fries.

Without a dessert menu for the night, we were served a bowl of fresh berries and some whipped cream to share. For a Tuesday night it was perfect, and I'm glad they didn't give us the chance to order something more gluttonous. As it seems like we always do when we eat at Bonda, we were the last people to get up from our table after a nightcap.

Good dining is about creating an experience; very well made and interesting food, warm staff and a nice setting are what we look forward to at Bonda. It's good to see they still hit it right on the head and have even built on it.