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Anthony Jack's Woodfire Grill
30 Center St.
Southington
860-426-1487

By STEVE & LISA ALCAZARI

Hartford Advocate

Published: 4/22/05

I'll be honest. I'm not even sure I'd had escargot before, but they mean a lot to me. I have this memory of eating at a small restaurant in Spain, somewhere between Barcelona and Madrid. We'd stopped to tour a monastery/vineyard and now it was lunch time in a town known for peculiar sausages and award-winning mineral-heavy local spring water. What I remember about the meal has less to do with what I ate and more to do with how others were eating.

There was a lone businessman seated at a table. Before him stood a bottle of red wine and a heaping plate of escargot. He sat there, dignified, working through the bottle of wine and dispatching the snails too, and I thought, "That's the way to live." Lisa and I had been with our families vacationing in Catalonia, and snails had been something of a theme there. In the evenings, after a rain maybe, small snails made their way about, doing whatever it is they do, covering the dirt roads. One couldn't take an after-dinner stroll without crunching on them. And we'd see the locals out with small buckets, collecting the snails, presumably for eating. Snails are said to be among the first animals eaten by man, and the Romans used to fatten their snails on wine and bran before cooking them. So, in our minds, the snail-eating thing is part of the good life -- the one we want to have.

With all this good-life stuff in mind, Lisa and I decided recently to try the escargot at Anthony Jacks Wood Fired Grill in Southington. Anthony Jacks is a handsome spot on the same street as several other new-ish restaurants. With an open view of the kitchen, leather booths and dark ceiling panels, the room conjures the steak house without feeling like a hunting lodge.

There were a couple of flubs at the start -- I was served pinot grigio instead of the pinot noir I ordered; Lisa ordered soda water and got the regular stuff instead -- but everything was smooth after that. The menu has appetizers like crab cakes served with roasted tomato aioli, a sirloin bruschetta served with horseradish sauce, and a blackened chicken quesadilla. To start, we ordered the mussels and chorizo and the escargot with wild mushrooms. Let me just say, those little mollusks are tasty. They arrived in a garlic-heavy brandy cream sauce, arranged around a sauce-drenched piece of bread. This isn't exactly a light appetizer. The escargot were semi-firm, almost like lobster, and -- an added bonus for the squeamish -- the snails were already removed from their shells, so there was none of that tricky extraction business. The mussels were tasty too, served in a thin tomato broth, with a few flakes of dried red pepper teaming up with the small pieces of chorizo to provide a little fire. A basket had two kinds of bread, one of which was a little spongy and dusted with what tasted like seasoning salt. I had a large uninspired side salad that buckled under the weight of too much shredded carrot.

But who goes to a steak house to get all precious about salad? One tends to focus more on the prime rib. Anthony Jacks serves several lighter-weight dishes like cranberry chicken served with a lemon caper sauce, blackened swordfish, sesame salmon with couscous and a splash of wasabi, and lobster ravioli. There's also a meatloaf served with wild mushroom sauce, and a few burgers and wraps as well. Lisa and I wanted to get a taste of the smoke-kissed delights from the grill, so we ordered a seven-ounce filet mignon and an herb-marinated half chicken. Both of these came with the same chunky, mashed potatoes and the vegetable of the day, which was asparagus. The filet -- ordered and served rare -- was wonderful, with a pleasing, well-salted outer crust that tasted of the flames. On the chicken, a crisp layer of skin wrapped the tender flesh, and the white gravy was practically unnecessary. The dishes were arranged in an almost spare style -- no cavalier sprinkles of excess herbs, towering curls of fried stuff, or abstract splashes of sauce accents.

Lisa and I plowed ahead with dessert, even though we felt a little Roman. My espresso didn't quite send me where I wanted to go. The bread pudding served with a bananas foster sauce and a bit of ice cream was perhaps the fanciest display of the meal, with creative dustings of powdered sugar. I often find the texture of bread pudding a tad off-putting, but with small banana halves, a hint of rum, and a bit of cinnamon, this was hard to argue with.

By MARY ELLEN FILLO

The Hartford Courant

Published: 10/21/2004

Accountability is a powerful commodity, especially when it is quite likely that the customer you cook for on Friday night will be the one you bump into on Sunday.

With that in mind, it's no wonder that Southington native Barry DePaolo, owner and chief chef at Anthony Jack's Wood-Fried Grill, is consumed with making sure that his guests leave his place with their stomachs filled and expectations fulfilled.

"I grew up here, and my family has run or still runs businesses here," said DePaolo, whose family has had a major presence in the community for decades. "I don't want to bump into someone in the grocery store or at some local event or in church and have him or her tell me the meal they had at my restaurant was not good."

The casually chic restaurant, situated on the same street as the family's furniture business, includes one room with a long dark-wood bar and walls covered with a painted mural featuring some of DePaolo's friends and family. The main dining room includes booths, tables and warm red, natural brick walls. French doors, Victorian-era fixtures, and high ceilings complete the décor that manages to be business-appropriate, family-friendly and date-night romantic all at the same time.

But it is the massive oak and fruitwood-fed grill along the restaurant's back wall that serves as the centerpiece of both the dining room and the menu.

While DePaolo readily displays his culinary expertise with fancy dishes like lobster ravioli with asparagus, and escargot and wild mushrooms in brandy cream sauce, it is the grill where he and his staff perform some of the restaurant's best cooking magic.

Five different kinds of steaks, from polite to he-man size; pork loin with maple glaze; and grill-friendly seafood such as garlic crusted talapia and sea-scallop risotto, prove that there is no replacing a real wood fire when it comes to grilling. For me, it meant a perfectly seared steak that had just the right hint of subtle smoky flavor.

A choice of Caesar or house salad, red-skinned mashed potatoes and lots of fresh vegetables round out the entrees. For those seeking comfort food, DePaolo offers a killer three-meat meatloaf and penne with a rich tomato sauce.

Lighter pub fare, including hamburgers, grilled chicken or Black Angus steak sandwiches, is offered, prepared with the same conscientiousness.

Hours: Lunch Mon., Wed.-Sat., 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Dinner Mon., Wed. & Thu., 5 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Sun., 4 p.m.-9 p.m. Closed Tue.

Extras:

Attractions Clubs Bestsellers Garlic-crusted Talapia; Woodgrilled Pork Loin; Escargot and Wild Mushrooms; Wood-fire Grilled Steak and Seafood Clubs Nightclub Cuisine American/New, Family/Kids, Homestyle, Steak House Meals Served Lunch, Dinner Parking Payment Method Visa Price Range Moderate Reservations Recommended Services Private Parties, Carry Out Spirits Full Bar Website http://www.anthonyjacksrestaurant.com Wheelchair Access Yes