|
| |
Where The News
Is Always Good
By Abigail Leab Martin
Reprinted from the October 2003 issue of "LCT," a monthly magazine published by the "Litchfield County Times"
"I'm really like a composer and I eat in my head. Instead of composing a song, I say, 'Well, I like that. The crunch is good. That flavor works with this.' And so I really eat in my head. There are some dishes I might not even try until they're on the menu."
These are the words of Carole Peck, renowned chef, caterer, cookbook author and co-owner of Good News Cafe in Woodbury. She constructs dishes in her head in the way some people put together the notes of a jazzy composition, making each meal a little symphony of fresh, bold tastes. And as of November 12, Woodbury will have been blessed with its very own culinary Mozart for a decade.
When Ms. Peck and her husband, the Parisian-born former painter Bernard Jarrier, opened their restaurant in 1993, it was great news for the community. A previous endeavor, Carole Peck's Restaurant in New Milford, closed in 1992, ending a four-year run. Its absence was felt keenly.
So, the name of the new Woodbury restaurant reflected the reaction in the region to its opening. "It was good news for me because I found the place I wanted. It was good news for the people who used to eat at Carole Peck's who missed it.... But the big good news was that we were back in business."
The new restaurant featured bright walls in colors such as the current cheerful yellow, offset by periwinkle ceilings and floors. Another room was redone recently for the 10th anniversary celebration in an almost neon lime green.
The cuisine has been an artistic combining of flavors in new ways that are scrumptious and as bold as the decor. The cuisine was also ground-breaking. A decade ago, the use of organic foods was audaciously innovative. The Culinary Institute of America-trained chef laughingly said that, in part, her interest in organics sprang from being "a hippie at the time in the 1970s." But organic farming was a determining factor for her move to the area.
"I could have gone around Greenwich... (but) one of the draws of coming up here was because I really wanted to use local farms and be in a rural area. There was always this appeal for me. And it was no secret to people who trained as chefs that the quality of your ingredients really helps you to have a good end result. You can't start with a rotten tomato and expect it to come out as a wonderful sauce."
Among the wonderful offerings on the current menu are such old standbys as Carole Peck's crispy onion bundle and Jack's pecan-crusted oysters, while the long list of dinner entrees includes the ever-popular free-range rotisserie chicken with buttermilk mashed potatoes, a handful of imaginatively prepared fish dishes, and a mixed grill of lamb loin, wild boar chop, merquez sausage and crisp chicken liver with yucca fries. The dessert menu features a classic creme brulee and much more.
In 1993, many Carole Peck fans thought that her decision to locate in Woodbury was a pioneering move. Ms. Peck credits longtime friend and antiques store owner Monique Shay for playing a key role, and Ms. Peck has had no second thoughts, except for a few brief moments one evening right before her opening.
"It was 8:30... and as I drove around Woodbury, there were no cars or anything around. And here I was about to open this restaurant. It was a little frightening. But we opened and they came. The first week we were seeing 500 to 700 people a day," said Ms. Peck with enthusiasm.
And that response continued over the years. "Here, I really made a concentrated effort to cook the way I wanted to cook. That's what Good News availed me to do.... I became comfortable with myself as a chef. I really did what I wanted to do here and it's been proven--it has worked all these years. We've had tremendously strong and loyal support from so many people in the whole area. They keep returning and sticking by us. That's the best tribute to a restaurant."
In the age of diminishing attention spans and fickleness, the fact that the restaurant has not only endured but also flourished and grown over 10 years is remarkable--and a sign of its quality.
"We're known because our food is always fresh, but also because it is consistent. People come here for that consistency," the chef said, estimating that of her 10 "cooks and prep people," at least eight have been there more than eight years. As an example, she mentions Gonzalo Fajardo, explaining, "He started dishwashing with me over at Carole Peck's when he had just come in from Ecuador. And now he's my working chef. He carries the whole place."
Another example of happy constancy is Mr. Jarrier. The couple has been together since 1976. Ms. Peck laughed that she "pulled him into the business little by little like quicksand." Among his many responsibilities, Ms. Peck said, "he's in charge of the managers and hosting and he does all the art."
Mr. Jarrier selects the artists whose work adorns the restaurant walls as part of gallery-style exhibits. Part of Good News' original concept was to also be a gallery space and approximately every two months a new artist is featured. "It gives people who are maybe not known a good venue. Their family and friends get to see their art hung in an appealing space. It also helps artists (because) they even sell things. And it helps them believe in themselves," Ms. Peck declared.
But all that barely scratches the surface of what the couple does. There is also a catering business and Ms. Peck teaches cooking classes at locations such as The Silo in New Milford. And aside from the restaurant's excellent "to go" menu, it offers its own products, such as preserves, dressings and fresh bread.
The couple is already at work on the next 10 years. The anniversary party will be folded into the third annual "Autumn Fest, an Evening of Charity." The Oct. 24 event will be held at the restaurant and is to feature an elaborate buffet. "I like to do this because it is a way to support the real local charities who need the money. And it gets people together as a community to do it," Ms. Peck explained.
Aside from the redecoration of the restaurant's green room, the anniversary has also been marked by the addition of a new bar and creation of a whimsical and colorful mural across from the bar by the French painter Jean Duranel. "We commissioned that. And because he knows us, he incorporated a lot of elements from the restaurant into the mural, which was really nice," she elaborated. It also fits into the sense of fun that enlivens the restaurant.
Ms. Peck is now hard at work on her second book--the first was "The Buffet Book" in 1997. Under Mr. Jarrier's direction, their publishing venture with Dennis Pistone, Ici La Press, continues to create English-language editions of European cookbooks. Currently, the couple also act as hosts of culinary tour groups of gourmets at their home in Provence, but "would like to do a food and art institute instead. That's the ideal thing," Ms. Peck said.
Other than that, her main goal is for Good News to "maintain its steady, honest kind of cooking.... I really would like to maintain that feeling we have here that people can come in and truly walk out satisfied and happy."
|
