A new culinary director from a “food-centric” family has transformed a Connecticut restaurant’s menu into a feast of fresh meat off the farm, seasonal vegetables and fruit, and local products.
Guests will recognize the fresh ingredients as those they see in the grocery store, new culinary director Vincent Gilberti said and management describes the new fare as “unfussy, abundant and deeply satisfying dishes.”
It’s one-of-a-kind fine dining, as some of the offerings are: radicchio and red endive salad with maple Banyuls vinaigrette, apple and almond; ricotta agnolotti with chanterelle, corn and Parmesan; miso-glazed black cod with cranberry beans, aji dulce and garleek; and grilled beef strip loin with salsa Rossa & summer squash.
But Gilberti strives for no one to leave hungry or unsatisfied after their experience in the dining room of Belden House & Mews luxury hotel in Litchfield. There are no more delicate portions or unrecognizable foods.
Vincent Gilberti strives for no one to leave hungry or unsatisfied after their experience in the dining room of Belden House & Mews luxury hotel in Litchfield. (Courtesy)
“I want the food to feel accessible to everybody. I don’t want the menu to be laden with unusual ingredients,” Gilberti said. “I want people to feel comfortable, feel nourished. When it comes to feeding people, I want people to leave with a full belly. Like they’ve gotten the value they expected out of the meal.”
The restaurant’s rebrand of sorts is an effort to draw folks from the community and beyond, not just hotel guests, as there is ton of foot traffic through where they are located, in Litchfield’s downtown historic district, Gilberti said.
“I want them to feel. ‘Yes were in a luxury brand hotel, but we’re a restaurant in town and the restaurant is accessible,’ ” Gilberti said. “A restaurant is ideally community driven.”
The dinner menu has been reimagined and Gilberti is working on the lunch menu while visiting farms in the area to forge new relationships with local producers.
Gilberti has a tasty track record, as he’s also been executive chef and now also culinary director at Belden House & Mews sister hotel Troutbeck, located about 35-minutes west in Amenia, NY. Both hotels are luxury and have both been awarded a Michelin Key to indicate in the industry that they are among the best.
The menu and approach at Belden House in Connecticut will be similar and that’s cause for foodies to celebrate because the reviews online for Troutbeck’s restaurant are stellar.
Vincent Gilberti strives for no one to leave hungry or unsatisfied after their experience in the dining room of Belden House & Mews luxury hotel in Litchfield. (Courtesy)
“Excellent first time experience,” one reviewer wrote of Troutbeck’s restaurant. “Upscale ambiance, amazing service and truly beautifully presented and served meal. Over the top pink oysters and may perfect breast of Duck outstanding. The cashew meringue cake and perfect Cappuccino was the icing on the cake…”
Another wrote, “truly beautifully presented” meals and “amazing service.”
A woman on a romantic trip to Troutbeck wrote, “The wine list impressed us but the food preparation and presentation was truly remarkable. The chef and his team are a talented bunch – foodies should certainly put this hotel on their destination list.”
Gilberti started working in the kitchen of a Greek restaurant in North Carolina at age 16 as a busser, dishwasher and overall helper and was fascinated with the kitchen. Eventually he became a cook.
Later, he graduated from French Culinary Institute in Manhattan and worked as executive chef in many fine restaurants in the city.
Gilberti comes from a “very food centric” Italian family, in which his grandparents cooked big meals every Sunday for the grandchildren and other family.
Gilberti said he wants the food in the hotel dining room to be “deeply satisfying, like when you go to Grandma’s house and she made lasagna and you feel good eating it like you’ve had all your needs met.”
Gilberti is a fan of “whole animal butchering” meaning you buy the whole animal for freshness and use delicious parts that may be overlooked if buying in portions.
That adds “versatility” to the dishes, such as serving a pork coppa or very tender portion of the pig near the collar.
While Gilberti has a big title, he travels back and forth between the two restaurants and even pitches in cooking for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Vincent Gilberti strives for no one to leave hungry or unsatisfied after their experience in the dining room of Belden House & Mews luxury hotel in Litchfield. (Courtesy)
The restaurant already has relationships with local farms and businesses, he’s looking to expand that to support area businesses.
He wants inherently tasty and fresh foods so the product needs as little manipulation as possible, Gilberti said, such as hakurei turnips that are naturally crisp, juicy and sweet.
Gilberti makes all the pasta from scratch and one of the most popular dishes is agnolotti, which is like little pasta envelopes filled with ricotta and mushroom filling with corn.
“Good things take time,” he said.
Dining and Cooking