Roots Down: Making The Most Of Quiet Corner’s Fresh Produce

Killingly native Adam Trifone admits he used to think farms were “boring” when he was a child growing up in Connecticut’s Quiet Corner. But now, as the chef/owner of the new Roots Down in Woodstock, he’s working with more than a half-dozen local farms to supply his menu.

“The reason why I do farm-fresh is because it’s the best possible product I can get,” he says. “It’s almost like being a kid in a candy store.”

Before returning home to Connecticut to undertake the restaurant project, Trifone’s education and career led him to Manhattan, Atlantic City, Los Angeles and Boulder, where he developed a background in catering management at arenas and stadiums. Plans for Roots Down began in 2013, with a few inspirations for its name: Trifone’s return to his home state, his love for root vegetables like carrots and beets – and a single from the Beastie Boys’ 1994 album, “Ill Communication.”

The restaurant on Route 171 finally debuted in July after more than two years of planning and construction that was lengthened by a variety of factors, including the need for a new septic system. Locals followed the building’s progress as the space took shape, with 50 seats in the dining room, another 40 in the bar area and an attractive patio with a pergola that accommodates 50 more in favorable weather.

“I’m happy with the way everything has come out,” Trifone says. “The customer response to the feel of it is what I was going for. I was going for something that was kind of in-between upscale and feeling casual, so that nobody had to feel like they had to dress up.” Roots Down achieves the balance with glossy, polished pine tables and booths paired with black chairs and large chalkboards featuring daily specials and names of the farms with which they’ve partnered.

The menu accommodates a varied crowd, with sandwiches, burgers, tapas and entrees incorporating fresh fruit, vegetables and meats from eastern Connecticut farms. Soups are complex, like the “faux pho” Vietnamese beef noodle soup with a twice-simmered spiced beef broth and seasonal vegetables; and the creamy lobster bisque, available in a portion for two with butter-poached lobster, micro greens and roe. A curried Indian lentil chowder topped with hearty sweet potato fritters is robust enough for a meal. “Massaged” local kale salad is seasoned with lemon and honey, with grilled chicken breast or pan-seared skate wing available as an add-on. The beet salad “sells like it’s going out of style,” says Trifone, with fennel, garlic, carrots and local goat cheese.

Tapas and small plates ($6 to $18) are diverse, featuring kibbeh and wood-fired chicken wings with lemon tahini sauce, a nod to Trifone’s Lebanese heritage. Pan-seared sea scallops with bacon bourbon cream sauce are also popular, Trifone says, and he’s been surprised at how well the oven-roasted bone marrow has sold.

The Harvest Plate, with a selection of local vegetable-based appetizers, recently featured fried ricotta-stuffed squash blossoms, roasted pattypan squash with sweet corn puree, pickles made from Boothby’s Blonde cucumbers and Caprese bites with basil-infused tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and balsamic glaze. Burgers and sandwiches ($12 to $16) include the braised beef tongue-topped Linguistic Burger with pickled jalapeno creme fraiche and queso asadero and deep-fried monkfish on a roll with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and spicy remoulade.

Among the entrée offerings ($16 to $36), carnivores will enjoy the braised short ribs with smoked salt-roasted fingerling potatoes and a lemon black truffle butter drizzle; Mediterranean roast rack of lamb; and apple cider-brined half-chicken with creamy polenta and sauteed Brussels sprouts. But the vegetarian moussaka, with layered fresh eggplant and zucchini baked with mozzarella, egg, and labneh, has also proven to be a big seller. Pan-seared sea bass and sausage-stuffed calamari tubes are among the sea options.

Desserts like Turkish coffee cheesecake and black-bottom banana rum torte are made daily in-house. Brunch is served Saturday and Sunday, with shrimp and grits, fried chicken and waffles, Scotch egg and French toast with pan-seared pork belly among the early favorites. The bar makes use of local spirits, freshly squeezed juices and muddled fruits and herbs for its craft cocktails. (Bartender Neal Lyon even produces his own housemade coconut milk from fresh coconuts for a libation with spiced rum.)

Trifone hopes his new restaurant will fill a niche in the dining scene in one of Connecticut’s most tranquil areas.

“It’s nice to have options,” he says. “We don’t have a ton of restaurants out here that work with fresh product. We’re pushing the envelope for that with the local farms…I’m hoping that if we’re successful, it will also help people appreciate the area that we did grow up in.”

>>Roots Down, 18 Route 171, Woodstock, is open Wednesday, 4 to 9 p.m.; Thursday, 4 to 10 p.m.; Friday, 4 to midnight; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4 to midnight; and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4 to 9 p.m. 860-315-5614, roots-down.net.