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"The more you know food and the more you work with it, the more you like to have seasons for things."
-Carole Peck
Explore Good News Cafe, Fine Dining for all seasons.
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Welcome to Carole Peck's Good News Cafe
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Good News Earns
Recognition as Leader
in Connecticut & U.S.
Start spreading the News: Carole Peck's Good News Cafe has earned recognition as one of the most exciting, innovative and delicious jewels on the culinary scene in Connecticut, New England -- and the nation!
The prestigious 2007 Zagat's Survey of America's Top Restaurants. has named Good News Cafe as one of the nation's best. Our friends and patrons enthusiastically agree: For the fifth consecutive year, Good News Cafe has been named Best American Restaurant Statewide in Connecticut Magazine's 2007 Readers' Choice Poll, published in the monthly's January issue. Good News Cafe also earned repeat honors as Runner-up in the poll as Best Restaurant Overall in Connecticut. Among restaurants in Litchfield County, CT Magazine readers again cited Good News Cafe for Best American, Best Desserts, Best Vegetarian, and Best Appetizers.
Litchfield County Times editor Douglas P. Clement has found new reasons to celebrate Carole Peck's creativity at Good News Cafe in every season. In his latest review published in the December 2007 issue of "LCT," Clements wrote, "Carole Peck doesn't play fair. At the acclaimed chef's Good News Cafe in Woodbury, the seasonally shifting menu is packed with things -- from starters through to desserts -- that all seem like have-to-have-it dishes. Her legions of fans are thrilled that the talented chef seems to become more 'seductive' with every passing season." (Read more by accessing this link to "Go Ahead and Order the Pasta.)
Clement wrote in his feature in the Spring 2006 issue of the LCT's "Passport Magazine":
"Litchfield County has long been a fine dining destination, and while bon vivants are able to debate the merits of a dozen fine establishments, those who place a premium on truly innovative cuisine, served as part of a lifestyle immersion experience that the French would love, know that one chef and her restaurant stand apart from all others. It's Carole Peck and her Good News Cafe in Woodbury." (To read Clement's complete article, please click on this link to the Passport Magazine Spring 2006 Good News review.)
Connecticut Magazine restaurant critic Elise Maclay recently awarded Good News Cafe a ranking of "extraordinary," the magazine's highest honor. Elise Maclay's review began with an insightful commentary on what sets Carole Peck apart from most chefs and restaurateurs, both locally and nationally:
"Carole Peck is the bravest chef I know. She is also the safest to follow. Rest assured, where Carole Peck is today, the culinary hotshots will be tomorrow. Organic, free-range, locally farmed, artisanal, natural-Peck's been insisting on it for years. Getting there first is her game and she's at the top of it right now." (To read Maclay's complete article, please click on this link to the CT Magazine March 2005 Good News review.)
Litchfield County, home to the Good News Cafe, has celebrated the joy of dining with Carole Peck since opening of her first restaurant in the county in the late 1980s. The celebration has continued in Woodbury since Good News opened its doors in 1993. In the 2005 "Litchfield County Dining" readers' survey published in the April issue of LCT Monthly, Good News Cafe received top honors for Best American, Best Vegetarian, and Best Desserts.
Chef Peck's culinary innovation at Good News is aptly summed up by reviewer Janet Reynolds in Preview Connecticut magazine: "This is adventurous eating without being scary or off-putting. While Peck places a premium on local produce-organic wherever possible-she also leans heavily toward the unusual or offering a twist on the obvious." (To read Reynolds' complete article, please click on this link to the Preview Connecticut Good News review.)
We thank our loyal longtime patrons and new friends over the past year for consistently supporting our farm-fresh modern cuisine. We guarantee that our innovative lunch and dinner menus will always be in season, and we will never compromise on quality.
Whether we have already become a frequent stop on your dining itinerary or you're visiting us for the first time, a date at Carole Peck's Good News Cafe is a great way to enjoy a light lunch or leisurely dinner. Don't forget to check out the Menu section on this website, even if you're a longtime patron: Carole regularly changes the dinner and lunch menus at the Good News Cafe to take advantage of the best that each season offers.
Good News Cafe show features unique landscapes
created by Windsor painter Catherine Doocy
Windsor artist Catherine Doocy takes an exhilarating journey from the natural landscapes she draws from memory to the inner artistic vision she expresses in the paintings of her new exhibition "Transitions," continuing through May 26 at the Good News Cafe and Gallery.
While sweeping horizons, windswept trees and rich-hued natural landscapes compose the original inspiration for much of Doocy's work, they provide only a starting point for her reinterpretations of the natural world.
"I invent landscapes from memory subconscious visions that materialize on paper or canvas," Doocy explained. "A few brushstrokes, stains of color or smudges of charcoal can conjure up a field, a cloud, a day. I use the vernacular of the landscape as a method for exploring composition and color. My work is about the process of painting rather than a specific landscape. It is about illusion, not representation; about drawing, not twigs and branches."
To learn more about Doocy and her new exhibition at Good News, click on this link to the Gallery section.
Join Carole and Bernard in Provence
for an Intimate Culinary Tour in 2009
Carole Peck is now accepting bookings for 2009 to join one of her intimate Provence Culinary Tours. These extraordinary weeklong sojourns in Provence provide unique introductions to the great foods and wines, restaurants, and culture of this sun-splashed region in the south of France.
Carole and her husband, Bernard Jarrier, will welcome you to their newly restored home in the village of Montfrin, Prieure Notre Dame, which boasts a history dating back to the 12th century and luxurious contemporary amenities. They will serve as your personal guides on a weeklong tour featuring cooking classes with top chefs, dining at local bistros and fine restaurants, wine tastings, farmers' market visits, and much more.
Travel and Leisure magazine published a feature article by travel writer Linda Dannenberg in the T&L February 2008 issue providing the guest's perspective on the exciting culinary and cultural experience of Carole's Provence tour. You can read Linda's article by accessing the text through this link to the "A Cook's Tour in Provence" posted on Carole's Provence tour pages on the Web.
We are currently taking bookings for the following culinary tour dates during 2009:
June 1 to 7
June 15 to 21
September 21 to 27
October 5 to 11
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Click on this link,
Carole Peck's Provence Culinary Tours,
to obtain detailed tour and reservation information
and view our "virtual" slide shows
providing an inside tour of Prieure Notre Dame
and photo albums from our most recent tours.
Now On Our Website: A Good News "Virtual" Tour & Menu Sampler
You'll always find the Good News Cafe and Carole Peck websites informative, helpful and user-friendly, and we regularly update our sites to make your visit more enjoyable than ever. Here are just a few reasons to visit our websites and share the delight with your friends...
Get a virtual taste of the Good News Cafe on the web. Photographer Charlie Heyman put his skilled digital camera to work so that you might have a virtual tour of our dining rooms and bar--plus a virtual sampler of some of Carole's signature dishes. Now you can get a great taste of Good News Cafe by going to the "Menu" section of this site and browsing through the slide shows highlighted in the left column of the main Menu page. These links will take you to your self-guided tour around the Good News Cafe and to your sampler of Carole's tempting dishes, lusciously photographed by the skilled lens of Charlie Heyman. Enjoy your tour--and don't miss French artist Jean Duranel's delightfully whimsical "Good News" mural!
Check out our current lunch & dinner menus and complete wine list. While you're in the "Menu" section, you'll want to check out our up-to-the-minute menus for lunch, dinner and desserts and our complete list of domestic and imported wines. We make sure to provide you with our current menu and wine list selections, and the website currently features Carole's seasonal lunch and dinner menus for late summer and early fall. We invite you to prepare for your next visit by checking out our latest seasonal selections.
Sample Carole's recipes at home: Our freshly expanded and easier-to-use "Recipes" page on the Carole Peck website features a regularly updated selection of Carole's favorite recipes for the current season. Right now we're offering a selection of Carole's refreshing summertime recipes, including chilled avocado soup, two potato salad, arborio rice salad with lemon shrimp, and an open-faced cornbread sandwich stacked with goat cheese, arugula and slow-roasted tomatoes. You'll also find pastry chef Becky Vermilyea's luscious angel food cake with summer berries and creme anglaise, as well as an extensive file of other great recipes by Carole for every occasion. Check back frequently to see what new recipes we've added with the changing seasons!
Consider Good News Cafe gifts for your next special occasion. What better way to remember family and friends on their special days than with the gift of the Good News Cafe? We offer Good News Cafe gift certificates for purchase through the Shopping Cart in the Gifts section of this website. Whether you're logging in from Connecticut, New York City or San Francisco, you can now order your gift certificates on-line and we'll mail them to you, or directly to the gift recipient if you prefer. In our Ici La Press e-bookstore, you will findThe Buffet Book by Carole Peck available for purchase. It would make an ideal gift for anyone with a passion for cooking and entertaining, whether for an intimate dinner party of 10 or a house party of 100 or more.
These are just a few of the reasons why you'll want to make our websites a regular and frequent stop when you're surfing the Internet! We'll keep working at providing you with the most informative, interesting, and entertaining websites we can achieve--just what you should expect from our commitment to superior quality in farm-fresh foods, great wines and fine dining.
Good News for You!
Welcome to Good News Cafe and Good News it is INDEED! Here in Woodbury, Connecticut, we are a hip, upbeat and friendly restaurant with our focus on food. And good food supplied by local farms using organics whenever available. Our food style, if you need a name, is "Modern American".
Carole Peck's Good News Cafe is a 170-seat full-service restaurant, winning top awards year after year from Zagat's Guide, Connecticut Magazine and The New York Times, to name a few. The Connecticut Magazine 2004 Readers' Choice Poll once again has cited the GNC as Best American restaurant statewide.
The menus offer a delectable range of original dishes including sensational appetizers and salads, vegetarian compositions, amazing roast chicken, fresh fishes, local farm-raised meats and seductive house-made sweets.
The Good News Bar pours some 30 wines by the glass, great Martinis with big olives, thirst-quenching cocktails, aged Scotches, real fresh-squeezed orange juice, and numerous brands of cold bottled beer.
We have fans far and wide who come for the desserts that year after year win Connecticut Magazine statewide honors -- Chocolate Yankee Doodles, Mile High Coconut Cake, Free Form Fruit Tart with Caramel Sauce, and Mocha Pecan Pie, to name a few.
While touring Litchfield County, come in just for a bite or an afternoon sweet treat with espresso, cappuccino, or Revolution teas. Plus, bring home a treat of handmade Bridgewater chocolates and our "Save the Farm" T-shirts. All this is too good to resist. Indeed!
We want you to enjoy all of Bernard's efforts in presenting you an ever-changing venue of artists throughout our Good News Gallery, and we bring back memories with our always-expanding radio collection.
Good News Cafe is open for continuous service from 11:30 am to 10 pm Monday and Wednesday through Saturday, and from noon to 10 pm on Sunday. Closed on Tuesday. Call for reservations at 203.266.4663.
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