TerraSole, new restaurant, offers northern Italian cuisine, with fresh local foods

Written by Macklin Reid, Press Staff
Friday, 06 November 2009 05:53

TerraSole, combining the Italian words for earth and sun, is the name Pietro and Lana Polini chose to convey the philosophy of their new restaurant on Big Shop Lane. It’s printed on the menu cover:

“Enjoy organic, innovative Italian cuisine in the heart of Ridgefield ... Our flavorful seasonal menus feature hand-picked produce from local Connecticut farms paired with fresh meat, fish and fowl from artisan producers. Our menu is changed daily to reflect only the best ingredients available that day. Our purveyors deliver to us daily to allow for our food to be the freshest...”

The suppliers include The Hickories farm off Lounsbury Road.

“Whatever the market, they have for us, we put on the menu,” said Mr. Polini, a native of Italy who is on the floor as host when the restaurant is open.

“It’s northern Italian cuisine with a touch of French, of course, because southern France — if you go in southern France, they cook like in Italy,” Mr. Polini said.

This is not pepperoni pizza and eggplant parmesan.

“This town, they have a lot of Italian places, but there’s nothing about the real Italian kitchen,” he said. “...This is a new concept.”

“It’s not fried,” Lana Polini said. “It’s only grilled, roasted, braised. It’s lighter. The sauces are lighter — no cream in them.

“Right now beets are in season — we use them,” she said. “Pumpkins are in season. All our fish is wild caught — never frozen. The meat is grass fed.”

Offering a 12-seat cheese and wine bar as well as 60-seat dining room in the Big Shop space above Luc’s off the municipal parking lot, TerraSole Ristorante has lunch and dinner menus that begin with “wine bites” offer a choice of three cheeses for $12 or five for $16, to be selected from a list of 15 cheeses broken into “soft,” “firm” and “hard” categories. Other wine bites range from “Bruschette Miste” (assorted bruschetta) for $5 to “Prosciutto e Funghi” (Prosciutto di Parma, forest mushrooms) for $12.

“Per cominciare” — “to start” — on the dinner menu are offerings from $7 to $16, such as Calamari Grigliati (Thyme-grilled calamari with lemon oil, peperoncino and greens) for $13 or Lumache Servite su Pane Arostito (Escargots simmered with rosemary butter over Tuscan bread) for $14.

Dinner menu items include “farinacei” (pasta dishes) such as Linguine Alle Vongoli Veraci (linguini with Connecticut Littlenecks, Pinot Grigio sauce) or Cavatelli Del Macellaio (Homemade Broccoli Rabe Cavatelli with sausage in light tomato sauce. Both are listed at $19 and the range is $16 to $20.

The dinner menu’s “secondi” — “second plates,” or entrees — include Polletto Alla Piastra (organic baby chicken grilled with olive oil, garlic and rosemary; new potatoes) and Costolette Di Manzo (short rib stracotto; Chianti, juniper berry and thyme) for $25 each. The priciest items, listed at $33, are Costoletta D’Agnello (espresso-rubbed lamb, fall vegetables and natural jus) or Filetto Di Manzo In Padella (pan-roasted organic filet mignon with either peppercorn or Burgundy reduction sauce.)

TerraSole, which had a “soft opening” on Oct. 22, serves from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, with a pause from 3 to 5 in the afternoon when only the wine and cheese bar is open.

On Friday and Saturday the dining room stays open until 10:30. Sundays the restaurant offers a “family dinner” from 3 to 8, featuring chef Sylvia Bianco, who used to own Biscotti in the very space now occupied by TerraSole.

“That night, we have a totally different menu. Whatever she likes,” Mr. Polini said. “She’s going to cook favorite things she used to cook in Biscotti.”

The Sunday family dinner is part of a round of special nights TerraSole offers through the week.

Monday is retail wine night. “I pick three red and three whites and sell it for the same price they sell it in the liquor store,” Mr. Polini said.

Tuesday is “no corkage fee night” — people may bring their own wine and Mr. Polini will pour it free of charge.

Wednesday is “ladies night” — “Every girl, they have a glass of Prosecco, Italian champagne, free,” Mr. Polini said.

Thursday is “live music night” when dining will be accompanied by soft music.

Restaurants and European-style living are part of Pietro and Lana Polini’s history.

Mr. Polini grew up in Bari in the Puglia region. “It’s very famous for olive oil and homemade pasta,” he said.

He came to the United States in 1999 to work at his uncle’s restaurant, La Villa in Westport. He and his wife, who was born in Ukraine and moved to the U.S. as a girl, moved back to Italy in 2006. There the Polinis have a restaurant, Malvisie, in Riccione, on Italy’s northern Adriatic coast. Mr. Polini’s father and brother are running that. Pietro and Lana Polini returned to the U.S. in 2007 and live in Ridgefield where they are raising their twin girls, Sophia and Raffaella, seven months old.

TerraSole Ristorant’s executive chef is Erik Erlichson. “Erik is one of my best chef friends,” Ms. Polini said.

The two got to know each other because both Mr. Polini and Mr. Erlichson have worked with Eugene Jerome, an executive chef noted for the practice of making new style Tuscan food.

“Everyone in my family cooks,” Mr. Erlichson said. “...My grandfather was a chef, from the Waldof-Astoria in New York.”

He grew up in New York, but his parents are European — his mother immigrated to New York from Cannes, France, and his father was born in Poland and grew up in Paris. Mr. Erlichson has lived four years in France and three in Australia.

TerraSole’s phone number is 438-5352 for reservation or questions about the restaurant.

Discuss this and other local restaurants on The Ridgefield Forum.