Food & Drink
{NIGHT OUT}
LeFarm
256 Post Rd. E., Westport,
203-557-3701; lefarmwestport.com
One step into this restaurant’s charming foyer and you’re sure to think, through just one doorframe off the Post Road in Westport, you’ve traveled three hours north to a quaint Vermont hole-in-the-wall. The soothing gray-and-white walls, coupled with small barn wood tables, easily lend the feeling that everything here is made from scratch. A look at Chef Bill Taibe’s ever-changing menu confirms it too: appetizers range from cauliflower porcini soup with porcini oil and shaved brussels sprouts to griddled Hudson Valley foie gras with healthy granola, figs and pomegranate dressing. LeFarm’s entrees have included inventive twists on hearty comfort food such as braised lamb and onion cannelloni, ricotta gnocchi with braised pork-mushroom-tomato gravy, codfish “Day Boat” over a bed of warm escarole, faro, black olives and topped with Meyer lemon butter, and lamb steak served on soft polenta, broccoli, sofrito and rosemary.
We loved the light texture and hints of olive in the cod dish and found the lamb steak more work to eat than a roast, but full of flavor. (Fair warning to vegetarians: While pasta and some salads are options, LeFarm seems meant for the carnivore at heart.) The ever-changing cheese list is New England-sourced (pick from a list of six), and the wine and beer lists (which also change) are anything but boring (try the Old Engine Oil from Harviestoun Brewery in Scotland).