Luc's Cafe & Restaurants............An Ultra fine Bistro in Ridgefield

So thanks to Facebook, I have met up with an old friend of mine that I hadn't seen in almost 20 years.  We had gotten together a few times with other friends and we discovered that we actually lived very close to each other. As a matter a fact, we both lived 10 minutes from Ridgefield CT.  So after meeting a few times we decided it was time to introduce our better halves.  My friend Scott had said they have been to Luc's Cafe and had the best mussels there.

So as we were so close to there, we decided that would be our meeting place.  Luc's Cafe has been in Ridgefield since 2001 and is just off the main shopping section in the downtown area.  The space is bigger than it looks from outside as it takes up the lower area or even basement of a larger building above it.  when you walk in, your invited to a cozy bar area that is tight for guests to stand if there are no seats.   I say cozy because both my wife and I clocked the head of a sitting patron twice.  Yes we both hit the same guy at different times.

Now as I said we were in the basement of this older building and you know it when you are seated.  The foundation is part of the decor of the space.  Many old buildings didn't have the nice smooth walls they have today when laying a foundation.  It was piled rocks and you see them and feel them as they surround the room.

Luc's menu is primarily French with staples as Salad Nicoise, Escargot, Steak Frittes, and Cassoulet.  But what brought us here are the Moules.  or Mussels as we call them here.

We started off with Salads and my favorite Escargot.  The snails were served in a traditional Escargot plate which housed the succulent little morsels sans shells. The buttery sauce each snail is submerged in has just the right mix of garlic and spices.  My dish was practically ready to be put back on the shelf as I used a good amount of bread to mop up the extras.  My friend Scott's wife Corrie had never tried Escargot so I insisted she try.  I think I might have created a new fan.

For the Main dishes three of us had gotten Mussels and my wife had a craving for Duck.  Her Duck was served Confit in a port wine sauce and served with Mushrooms and shallots.  They use a fancy word for the mushrooms and shallots but I think you get the idea.  I had a taste of the duck and it was tender and juicy and a good choice if you want duck.

The rest of us got the Mussels.  they cook the mussels in a round dutch oven and serve it to you in that same pot.  They are served two ways.  In a white wine sauce with multiple herbs and a tomato and garlic sauce.  Now I'm usually a big fan of the white wine sauce and Scott and I got the white wine sauce.  Scott's wife Corrie had gotten the garlic and tomato and it was a winner of a decision.  Not that mine was bad, it was delicious.  The garlic and light tomato sauce took it to another level.  We asked for more bread for the mopping which was great and absolutely necessary.  The side of Pomme Frittes (french fries) were crispy on the outside and steamy on the inside.  A perfect fry indeed.

Luc's Cafe & Restaurant is located at 3 Big Shop Lane, Ridgefield, CT 06877.  203-894-8922 or you can go here to see the full menu /www.lucscafe.com/

Thali in Ridgefield CT. Great Indian Meal

This Saturday Evening we had decided to make it a family dinner night.  Anita, my wife, had said that our 7 year old son Jonah had really enjoyed Indian food when they were visiting friends overseas a few weeks ago.  I was worried about our 5 year old but knew once he tried the food, he would like it.  It was a gamble, but in the end, it was one that paid off.

Thali is located on Route 7 in Ridgefield and is part of a Motel there.  Since we had gone with kids, we went early and were actually the first ones there.  By the time we left, every table had people sitting in it.  We had decided to start with Samosa's since we knew they were safe.  Since our son really enjoyed this overseas, we ordered two servings.  The outside of the Samosa's were harder than I had remembered from having them in the past but there were delicious.  Each one was filled with a tender potato and green peas and there was a light dipping sauce to go with it.  Our other appetizer was Ragda Patties.  Now I had expected something different than what we got.  The dish almost looked like a low bowl of Chili with cheese on it, but what was inside was a mix potato, ginger and a flavor of cumin that was in a dark brown sauce with green peas and chick peas.

We were excited when our Main dishes came because the place smelled great as the server approached us.  I am a big fan of Saag Paneer and theirs was real good.  large Chunks of Panner (a solid version of cottage cheese) were mixed in with a savory creamed type spinach that had garlic mixed into it.  To be safe, we ordered Chicken Tikka Masala so the kids had something safe to eat since it's traditionally a mild dish.  The sauce was a thick tomato gravy that had lots of flavor.

The third main was the biggest hit of the night.  The dish was called Chingri Malai Korma.  It was Cardamom flavored sauce with small shrimps in it.  As it turned out, this went the quickest.  Normally our oldest son Jonah isn't a big shrimp fan but he couldn't get enough of them.

The fourth dish was Malai Kofta which was basically the same thing as the shrimp but with a potato paneer ball.  We learned this later when the dishes came and we gave each other the oops look.  But the shrimp dish tasted better for some reason.

We also got Naan and Garlic Naan which were both delicious and we got Jasmine rice.  All of those did a great mopping job that you look for in Indian food.

Overall, the food and service was excellent.  We were under a bit of pressure with ordering since we didn't want to go to far from safe because of the kid factor.  I think in the future, our dishes will have to encompass a dish with no gravy.   When we were done, it looked like a table of left over soup.  The portion of the gravies were very generous and we were just too full to add more rice and Naan to soak them up.

I highly recommend Thali to anyone who likes Indian food and is in the Ridgefield area.  They also have locations in New Haven and New Canaan.  Thali can be found online at http://www.thali.com/home.html