Home Care In Bantam, CT

MORRIS — Just over the Morris town line on Bantam Lake, West Shore Seafood's takeout meals and fresh food market have become a popular stop on Route 209 for weekenders, vacationing families and local residents.

Susie Bertaccini Pregno opened West Shore Seafood in 2007. She started small, with fried fish, clam and shrimp baskets, burgers and fries. Today, the menu has expanded to include clam chowder and small plates with crab and fish cakes, salmon burgers, seared tuna and calamari.

A new chef has also joined the staff in the kitchen, Rob Thompson, who previously worked at the Canterbury School and Sisco Catering, as well as the Bank Street Tavern and the White Horse. "He's got great ideas and great experience," Pregno said.

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As she spoke, Thompson came out of the kitchen holding a fried wonton, which was crispy and hot, stuffed with pulled pork, cheese and red onion. "What do you think?" he asked, as Pregno munched on the treat.

"These are great," she said with a smile.

West Shore Seafood's menu has something for every taste. Sandwiches range from traditional lobster rolls — served warm with melted butter or cold with mayo — to fried fish, grilled swordfish, a salmon BLT or a Cajun shrimp wrap, and grilled chicken or an Angus burger, all served with homemade coleslaw. Onion strings or fries can be added. Caesar or house salads can be dressed up with chicken, fish or shrimp for an additional charge.

West Shore also offers chicken, fish, shrimp or pineapple tacos, fried platters with fish, clams, oysters or shrimp, and baked or grilled meals with cod, salmon, swordfish or tuna. Children's meals have chicken fingers, popcorn fish, a hot dog or grilled cheese. Special offerings are the smoked fish dip, wings, hot honey Brussels sprouts, various spicy and sweet sauces, and roasted vegetables, rice, spicy rice and a seaweed salad.

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The takeout window fills orders, and diners can take the food away or enjoy outdoor dining under the restaurant's big white tent or at a picnic table outdoors. The restaurant grounds offer plenty of parking and room to stroll after a meal. Bantam Lake is just across the street. Diners are also welcome to BYOB.

During the last 16 years, Pregno said, the business has grown steadily; when the pandemic came in 2020, and many eateries had to close their doors, West Shore Seafood was ready.

"We were already poised for outdoor eating and takeout, and it was busy, very busy," she said. "People came out to order from us because we were one of the few places that were open."

Pregno and her husband, Mike Pregno, have a three-year-old daughter. Mike runs a painting business, and helps out when he has time, said his wife.

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The biggest challenge for any food business is inflationary costs, and seafood is no exception, Susie Pregno said.

"As it is, seafood is expensive and not always available," she said. "There's a seasonal aspect to it, too, and there's fuel costs and labor shortages that all affect the price. It hits every step of the industry. Pricing is very volatile."

To compensate for rising prices, she's added chicken wings, which are brined and smoked in-house. Crab cakes and lobster rolls remain her best-sellers. Along with the seafood dinners, West Shore has also added a few plant-based items, like the pineapple taco, she said.

"We also have a vegan special, Korean-style mushrooms with other vegetables, over rice. People really like that," she said.

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To take advantage of the BYOB option, Pregno is also planning to add "mocktails" to the menu, with mixers available to purchase. "We'll have a blueberry margarita, and we'll use seasonal fruits and herbs, so people can bring their own alcohol and mix them themselves," she said.

The seafood market inside sells fresh fish, shellfish, and prepared foods to go.

Pregno is working on a catering menu and a new website as she looks ahead. She's also hoping to add more parking.

"We have 32 spaces now, but sometimes it's not enough," she said.

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West Shore Seafood is located at 449 Bantam Lake Road, Morris. To reach the restaurant, call 860) 567-8000 or visit westshoreseafood.com.

May 2, 2023

Emily M. Olson is the community editor for the Torrington Register Citizen, the New Haven Register and the Middletown Press.

She is a 1997 graduate of Western Connecticut State University with a degree in English and a minor in journalism.

She started her career at the Patent Trader newspaper in Westchester County in 1998. After a brief period as a reporter with the Register Citizen in 1999, she joined the former Housatonic Publications group as a reporter. She was managing editor of the former Litchfield Enquirer and helped run the weekly newspapers at Housatonic and the Litchfield County Times. She returned to the Register Citizen in 2009.

On a sweeping bend on the short stretch of road between Litchfield and Bantam stands a sturdy block of mansion with a sign out front. Made of rough-cut stone and backed by its own pond, the house has the permanence of geology, like it’s always been there. The mind wonders about the old stories contained in those sturdy walls even as you walk into its newest, Materia Ristorante.

In venerable New England tradition, Materia is also an inn, with the house kept as original as possible, having become a four-bedroom accommodation. For executive chef David DiStasi, it’s been a long and globally winding road which led him here. “When I was 14, my father and my brother Michael [who now runs the inn] started a catering business,” he says of his early years in Watertown. “It was never, ‘Oh, I want to be a chef,’ growing up. Food was just there, all around me, and my first restaurant job was at La Tavola in Waterbury.”

The seed had been planted, however, and with some encouragement, DiStasi attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. His first post-graduation stop was at Eric Ripert’s famed Le Bernardin in New York, where he learned lessons that still inform his cooking to this day. “Their style … the attention to detail still comes into play, the standards they set. The sauces, I love sauces now, and incorporate the techniques into the Italian food I make.”

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After four years at Le Bernardin, DiStasi’s father asked if he wanted to visit cousins in Australia. “I made a point of eating at Sepia in Sydney, and as soon as I did, I knew it’s where I wanted to work.”

What made him want to move to the other side of the world? “The food was so technique driven, but so clean and simple,” he says. “Martin Bern had training in a lot of Japanese techniques, and the more I learned about it, the minimalistic approach, it was similar to Italian cuisine. Two or three flavors, boom: done. It’s all about the ingredients.”

Not only a name — materia translates to matter, stuff or, in a culinary context, ingredients — but a philosophy was born.

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Unusually for Connecticut restaurateurs, DiStasi offers tasting menus of small plates, a bit of a culinary tour of his abilities. I had traveled to Bantam specifically for the five-course pasta tasting, the degustazione di primi. Since tasting courses are only available for the whole table, my companion and I both take the same recommendation, and dig in.

The first course is an amuse bouche of yellowfin tuna crudo with gazpacho drizzle and cucumber brunoise. Deep pink, firm and flavorful, the Boston-caught tuna’s meaty texture is offset by crunch in the form of a crisp cracker made from risotto rice foam. A drizzle of tomato gazpacho adds more delicious umami.

Why does DiStasi introduce guests to a pasta tasting with a dish of fish and tomato? “It’s super fresh, a great way to start if you’re going to have a lot of pasta and bold flavors. The clean, simple tuna, the brightness of the gazpacho ... it almost wakes you up before you get into the fatty risotto.”

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The risotto arrives brilliant, lively green in a house-grown basil pesto with stracciatella cheese, and additional fresh basil. Beautiful in texture, intensely creamy and herbal with the slightly acidic, almost yogurt funk of the cheese, the dish is additionally perked up with a pairing of La Gioiosa prosecco amorosa. The sweet, bubbly, DOC prosecco creates a refreshing counterpoint to the richness of each bite.

A one-year visa meant DiStasi had to leave, or stay another four years in Australia. With the opportunity to fulfill seemingly every chef’s dream, he planned a move to Italy, landing at Michelin-starred Trattoria Enrico Bartolini in Tuscany. Skills DiStasi learned at the CIA, Le Bernardin and Sepia came into focus in Tuscany. “I’m trying to be a classic, true Italian restaurant — do here what they’re doing there. My inspiration comes from living in Italy, dishes I’ve eaten, reading up and learning about their history.”

DiStasi is quick to say Materia is not a Tuscan kitchen, nor Neapolitan, or Genoese. “It’s an Italian kitchen. I take inspiration and flavors from all over Italy and make it mine.”

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The second course is an example. “It’s my way of bringing a common dish, spaghetti all’Astice, where they cook the whole lobster in the pan, with long, dried pasta, tomatoes and basil. I wanted to make it more than just pasta with sauce.”

DiStasi’s creation is fresh, housemade ravioli filled with burrata, lemon zest and herbs. Chunk claw meat is served over three plump ravioli, each stuffed with creamy cheese spiked by the sweet acid of lemon zest, drizzled with peppery red lobster sauce. Cream, acid and heat combine with perfect al dente pasta and chewy lobster in delicious harmony.

This is paired with Bramito della Sala, an Umbrian chardonnay shockingly good for an Italian iteration. Smooth but robustly flavorful, it holds up well to the lobster and toothy fresh pasta.

The dishes arrive at a moderate pace, each showcasing a different concept, a different flavor, all mouth-watering.

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Next is a black swirl of squid-ink linguine, with tomatoes, garlic and picked Maine crabmeat served with Aragosta Vermentino, a DOC wine from Sardinia.

Agnolotti di Genovese follows, each dumpling-like surprise founded on drizzles of Parmigiano fonduta, and veal jus. This is the first course paired with a red, in this case an outstanding Terre Nere Montalcino.

Genovese, a dish from Naples, surprisingly, is usually served as a sauce. Agnolotti is Piedmontese, and the chef describes this as another example of why he calls Materia a comprehensively Italian restaurant. “I put the two together — beef and onion, Naples and Piedmont — with the veal jus, and Parmigiano, and I can’t take it off the menu. People would revolt.”

Portions of all the courses are well thought out. My companion and I, even after having five courses, are just pleasantly full. The agnolotti are a microcosm of the experience. Each bite of fresh pasta is stuffed with a generous portion of slow-cooked beef and onion. Again, the simplicity of ingredients giving rise to extraordinary flavors is a hallmark of the experience.

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Later, I ask chef DiStasi what it was like being in Italy. “They’re so passionate about food. That’s our philosophy here: ‘la materia prima,’ the finest ingredients,” he says.

I ask him what that means in Litchfield County, with farms and dairies around every corner. He immediately lists three on his menu: Hungry Reaper Farm in Morris, Vibrant Farm in Bantam and Desantis Farm in Watertown. Baby Romaine lettuce, beets, carrots — caprese salad comes from three farms combined. DiStasi says he’s never had so many compliments on any dish.

A wonderful Montepulciano wine, Podere Castorani Cadetto is served with ribbons of tagliatelle pasta in a beef and pork ragu.

Days later, DiStasi says something which makes me nod vigorously, as if he could see me on the other end of the phone. “The ragu has been on the menu since day one,” he begins. “Probably the one dish I could eat every day and never get sick of it.” I heartily concur.

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Chef swears by “Mutti” brand tomato paste from Parma for its low acidity and fresh-tomato sweetness. This may be his most Tuscan dish, combining just beef, pork, carrots, celery, onion, herbs, good olive oil, and red wine. Deceptively simple, it contains flavor born of excellent yet easily accessible ingredients, plus a lot of time. Popular year round, it promises to be some of northwestern Connecticut’s best comfort food as the year winds down, and the nights grow long.

I watch stand-alone entrées whisking their way to other tables, and a steak catches my eye, since Tuscany is famed for its white Chianina cattle. When I ask if there is anything particularly Italian about the preparation of bistec a la Fiorentina at Materia, DiStasi’s answer is surprising: “In Florence, a steak is a sign of commonality and sharing; no one has a steak alone. It’s cooked over open embers, served very rare, with olive oil, sea salt, and wine. I have a Japanese grill in my kitchen with Japanese oak charcoal; cook it over the open fire. It’s about the experience of being together.”

The final course is millefoglie al pistacchio, crisp pastry layered with piped pistachio cream. “I love pistachio, it’s one of my favorite desserts, and a lot of people don’t quite know what a real one tastes like,” DiStasi explains. “There’s a depth of flavor, and I wanted to show people what they actually taste like.”

He laughs. “That, and it’s my own favorite dessert that’s in my kitchen.”

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DiStasi holds dual U.S. and Italian citizenship, but came back to his home state when the opportunity to open Materia presented itself in 2020, while he was still abroad. The other reason, he says, is after living in New York, Sydney and Tuscany — and despite loving them — he didn’t want to live in a city anymore.

“There’s so much more inspiration here than looking at buildings all the time.”

We’re certainly glad he did.

Materia Ristorante 637 Bantam Road, Bantam 860-567-3326, materiaristo.com, @materiaristorante on Instagram Open for dinner Tue.–Sun. Wheelchair accessible

BANTAM - The former Bantam Switch Factory has been renovated and repurposed and is now known as the Bantam Arts Factory.

The building at 931 Bantam Road, also known as Route 202, offers naturally bright sun-lit loft spaces where resident artists are creating everything from woodworking to fine paintings, according to a release.

“With its’ bright natural sunlight, high ceilings and views of the Bantam River, the Arts Factory truly offers an ideal creative space,” said one of the building’s associates, Dick Sheldon, in the release. “There is also an attractive retail space on the main floor facing Route 202, plus co-working space on all four floors.”

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The building was leased out to a variety of enterprises and freelance artists and businesses over the past six decades, the release said.

“In 2015, we decided to renovate and upgrade all four floors into the more current, efficient and safe modern workspaces,” associate Gary Silverstein said in the release. “We installed uniform lighting throughout, painted all the walls white, and put up trim boards in all the hallways where artists can display their works.”

Jay LeBoff, a third associate, said the building had no name after the Switch Factory closed in 1992.

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“Since we now have many artistic entrepreneurs in the building, we logically recently re-named it Bantam Arts Factory,” LeBoff said. “Our ambition is to attract creative folks from around the northwest and central Connecticut regions seeking unique and remarkably comfortable original loft space to co-work in with other artists and small businesses.”

The building is across from Zinni’s and Jackie’s restaurants in the southern region on Route 202, in historic “downtown Bantam.”

The bucolic hamlet of Bantam was established in 1719. Today the Borough of Bantam is approximately one square mile in size and includes a section of the Bantam River and a series of falls known as Bantam Falls, which supplied waterpower to industries and commerce that flourished in the small town, according to the release. A hydroelectric plant built in 1905 generated power for the Bantam Ball Bearing Company, Trumbull-Vanderpoel Electric Manufacturing Company, plus all the street lights and homes, the release said.

The original Bantam Arts Factory building was the Flynn and Doyle Carriage Factory, built in 1878 to produce carriages and sleighs, according to the release. That factory burned to the ground in 1888. The new building became the Connecticut Electric Manufacturing Company in the 1950s and operated until the 1990s as the Connecticut Electric and Switch factory, the release said.

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The building has since housed many other businesses, including an antique shop, a book store an aikido dojo and a photo studio. The building was briefly called the Shops at the Factory as some stores came and went over the years. The antique store rebranded and moved down the street, as did the aikido. The photo studio moved to West Street in Litchfield and the bookstore closed at the end of 2015. A new photo studio is now in the building.

If you're in the mood to be "Foodie-spoiled", I know of no finer destination in all of the Northeast United States than Arethusa Al Tavola right here in Bantam, CT.

I've eaten in thousands of restaurants -- from high-end places to low-end joints -- like the disgusting Church's Fried Chicken in Times Square. I've been pampered, and I've also been disgusted at what I've seen served in my 48 years. I say this, because it takes a lot to truly impress me, and that's exactly what Arethusa Al Tavola did last night.

What an incredibly beautiful establishment. With attention to detail like this, you'd think the owners made fancy shoes or something. (Yes, I know the Manolo Blahnik connection)

We were a little early for our 7:15 reservation, so we wandered through the attached Arethusa Farm Dairy shop right next to the restaurant. The smell of fresh ice cream cones being baking wafted through the Bantam night, it was intoxicating. I've seen Arethusa dairy products in local grocery stores over the past few years, and I've tried many. Let me tell you, ain't nothing like the real thing. Stop into the Dairy shop to truly experience what Arethusa has to offer. There are way more products available than you'd find at LaBonne's.

On to the main course:

Mrs. Large and I started off our dining experience with the Arethusa Farm Dairy Cheese Plate, which featured nine different cheeses, the best honey that I've ever eaten, five flatbread crackers, and a couple of edible accouterments. Out of this world. The Arethusa Blue was a revelation. Our waitress suggested to try a slice of the Blue Cheese, a dab of honey, and a grape. It was an insane flavor combination. Thank you.

She ordered the One Dozen Vegetables on a Plate, and I ordered the Grilled Prime Striploin of Beef with Spring Ramped Crust. Astounding. Mrs. Large remarked that "If all veggies were prepared like this, people would eat so many more". I concur. It was the first time in my life that I've tried a fiddle head. They just looked too funky to me before. I'm glad that I held out for these, because it was a first-taste that left a lasting impression.

The staff was professional, very attentive, and kind. We were surprised twice during the course of our dining experience. First, by a small one-bite compliments of the chef, and again at the end of our meal, when a small glass of milk and a piece of chocolate arrived courtesy of the pastry chef, James Arena. Thank you!

Browsing through the Arethusa website, I noticed that Executive Chef Dan Magill was recently nominated for the James Beard Foundation award for the Northeast. Well deserved, sir.

As we were making the trek home to Waterbury, filled with cheese, meat, and veggies, we both felt supremely satisfied. Top to bottom, beginning to end, one of the most pleasurable dining experiences of my life. Bravo.

From an "every day" man's standpoint, Arethusa Al Tavola is not for the "Chili's/Texas Roadhouse/Red Robin" crowd. The portions are human-sized, and the price point is a bit steep, but, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

If you want a meal prepared by six different culinary experts, paid attention to by an entire crew of attentive waitstaff, and appreciate the finer details of gastronomic delights, Arethusa Al Tavola is an icon.

LITCHFIELD — Town residents will vote Wednesday on the future use of two important pieces of property: the vintage courthouse on West Street and the old Bantam School in Bantam.

Both sites were used for court facilities until two years ago, when the state’s new courthouse opened in Torrington. The West Street building is now owned by the Greater Litchfield Preservation Trust, while the Bantam school, commonly known as the Bantan Annex, is owned by the town.

Since early fall, the boards of selectmen and finance, and a Town Hall Review Committee, have gathered public comments and heard proposals for both sites.

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The referendum Wednesday has two questions. The first asks whether Litchfield should accept the courthouse from the preservation trust and borrow $7.6 million to renovate it for a new town hall. The second asks for voters’ approval to transfer ownership the Bantam Annex to the Litchfield Housing Trust, which would seek funding to convert it to affordable housing.

The referendum runs from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Residents can vote at the Bantam Borough Hall and the firehouses in Litchfield and Northfield.

Litchfield courthouse

The boards of selectman and finance and the review commitee held three public meetings in October to discuss the proposals for each of the buildings. The first, held Oct. 18 at the Litchfield Intermediate School, drew a mostly positive response to the idea of using the old courthouse on for a town hall. The second and third meetings were held in Bantam and Northfield.

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The preservation trust invested its own funds to develop a plan for the building, including surveys and designs, and concluded Litchfield would be well served by having its town hall inside the building.

First Selectman Leo Paul thinks the trust should have asked selectmen first.

“Four of us on the Board of Selectmen said ‘no’ to this option,” he said. “People are worried that the old courthouse will fall apart, that it will crumble if it’s not used — that’s not true at all. The preservation trust has already said they will sell it if the town doesn’t want it. This is the first time the public has been asked to decide on it.

“Butt the preservation trust never asked us about it,” he said. “They never told us they were planning to buy it. They never talked to the selectmen, to consider it as a town hall site. They just proposed it. I feel it’s being forced on us. The presevation trust is not the community, but they decided on their own that this is where the town hall should be, and the only board member who supports it is Jeff Zullo. The rest of us don’t.”

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The referendum question asks residents to approve spending $7.6 million to convert the old courthouse into a town hall, with three floors of office space to bring all municipal offices to the center of town. The Litchfield Town Hall is too small to accommodate all departments, which is why the zoning office, parks and recreation and the fire marshal are now housed in the Bantam Annex.

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Last month, when the referendum question on the trust’s courthouse plan was brought to selectmen, the board rejected it 4-1, and proposed building a new town hall for $9.2 million. On Nov. 13, the Board of Finance refused the selectmen’s proposal for a new town hall.

The preservation trust then gathered 145 signatures — it only needed 20 — and petitioned the finance board for a special meeting and referendum to vote on its proposal. The special meeting was held last week, and adjourned to Wednesday’s referendum.

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Perley Grimes, president of the preservation trust, has maintained throughout the process that “the town must decide” the fate of the old courthouse.

“We succeeded in finally getting the voters to decide, and that’s what’s going to happen,” he said Monday. “The trust is very encouraged by this referendum (Wednesday) because it finally gives the voters a chance to decide. We’re looking forward to the results.”

Before the old county courthouse was proposed for a town hall, renovation of the old town hall or a new building were options considered by the review committee. In September, the preservation trust announced its intention to give the courthouse to Litchfield. That announcement was accompanied by a complete set of plans, engineering and environmental studies for the courthouse to transform it into a municipal building, while preserving the historic structure and “returning it to Litchfield,” according to Grimes.

Bantam Annex

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The fate of the Bantam Annex building is another long-debated decision. If the referendum question is approved on Wednesday, the housing trust hopes to build 14 rental apartments and 10 single family homes on the annex property, or “workforce” housing, reserved for individuals and families who work for the community and who meet income requirements.

The post office, located adjacent to the old court offices, would remain where it is. Litchfield’s parks and recreation department would also stay in the building, while other town offices housed there, including the zoning office, social services and the fire marshal’s office, would move to the “new” town hall on West Street.

A number of residents want the Bantam Annex to stay in town hands. At past public meetings, people have expressed concern about using the property for affordable housing, saying it could be delayed by a lack of funding from the federal government. Paul, however, said the Bantam Borough’s reluctance to change the property’s zoning, which is 2-acre residential, made this happen.

The Bantam Borough is overseen by a Board of Warden and Burgesses and has its own zoning and planning commission to oversee development. It is part of the town of Litchfield.

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“My sense for the Bantam Annex is simple — it’s zoned as 2-acre residential, and so there’s nothing else we can put there,” Paul said. “Since 2006, we’ve been asking the Bantam Planning & Zoning Commission to change the zoning, and they haven’t done that. So the only capable use is housing.”

Paul said the Annex property was appraised for $1.1 million, and was deemed appropriate for up to 65 affordable housing units, which is “an intensity that’s far too much” for the property, he said.

“When you consider what the housing trust wants to do, and the property’s value, this is the best use,” Paul said. “Housing trust present Bob Petricone and I went to see the federal Commissioner of Housing about it. They told us to apply for predevelpment money (for designs). Within two weeks, they gave us $264,000, for the trust to use for those designs. So there’s money there to develop the property. That housing would also put $100,000 on the town’s tax rolls. It won’t happen overnight — it might take ... a few years. But this is the best use.”

Dec 17, 2018|Updated Dec 17, 2018 8:10 p.m.

Emily M. Olson is the community editor for the Torrington Register Citizen, the New Haven Register and the Middletown Press.

She is a 1997 graduate of Western Connecticut State University with a degree in English and a minor in journalism.

She started her career at the Patent Trader newspaper in Westchester County in 1998. After a brief period as a reporter with the Register Citizen in 1999, she joined the former Housatonic Publications group as a reporter. She was managing editor of the former Litchfield Enquirer and helped run the weekly newspapers at Housatonic and the Litchfield County Times. She returned to the Register Citizen in 2009.