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If Jacques Pépin didn't want to leave the house to eat, he wouldn't have to. This legendary French chef's home in Madison, Connecticut has two separate kitchens and four acres of property, including a bountiful garden — in short, his estate has everything he needs to develop new recipes and host lavish dinner parties. As a result, Pépin loves cooking at home; but when he's not cheffing up recipes, he has also been known to enjoy going out on the town for a more formal dinner.

In his Madison, CT guide, published on NewEngland.com in 2022, he was asked where he likes to eat when he does venture out of his homegrown paradise. He responded, "I do like to be with friends cooking together at home," then gave a comprehensive list of the best restaurants in the Madison area. We've compiled the restaurants that remain in operation here for your reading pleasure. Welcome to the best of Connecticut, according to Pépin!

Clam Castle

The Clam Castle was the first restaurant on Pépin's lips when reciting his local favorites. This spot is located in the town of Madison, and it's actually now called Clam Castle featuring Taco Pacifico. Yes, that's right; this 60-year-old seasonal fresh seafood restaurant changed hands in summer of 2023, passing to new owner Greg Sharon, who decided to shake things up by introducing a Mexican edge to the Clam Castle's offerings. Before taking over the Clam Castle, Sharon had operated Taco Pacifico as a series of food trucks since 2009.

Historically, Clam Castle was a fresh seafood vendor. Since Sharon's takeover, the old fan favorites haven't left the menu – you can still get Connecticut-style lobster rolls here, where the lobster meat is dressed with melted butter rather than mayonnaise, and the famous golden fried clam strips and golden fried full belly clams will have a permanent presence at this institution. However, now you can also order all the tacos your heart desires. The seafood tacos, topped with a lettuce cabbage blend and salsa, are the clearest place where the Clam Castle and Taco Pacifico flavor profiles collide; you can get tacos filled with cod, shrimp, scallops, clams, and even lobster.

Westbook Lobster

Westbrook Lobster, in nearby Clinton, Connecticut, is one of Pépin's favorites near to home. This is another old-school, traditional seafood shack turned professional restaurant. Originally opened in 1963 in Westbrook, CT, Westbrook Lobster was primarily a seafood market for the first twenty years or so of its life, shelling out fresh seafood to other local businesses for preparation elsewhere. In 1989, the business was bought by Larry and Joanne Lariviere, a couple who redesigned the business as a restaurant, moving it down Route 1 to Clinton, CT a few years later. The business remains in the Lariviere family today.

The thing to order at Westbrook Lobster is, rather unsurprisingly, the lobster. You can order it whole, with drawn butter, served with roasted potatoes and a seasonal veggie on the side, or baked and stuffed with buttery seafood stuffing. If you're feeling New England-y, you can also get your lobster on what this restaurant calls a "mega lobster roll" — it has "2x the meat," according to the Westbrook Lobster menu. Pan-seared scallops, salmon, swordfish, and Atlantic codfish also make it onto the menu; and if for some reason you're not feeling like seafood, there are land-based entrées as well, like a buttermilk chicken sandwich and short rib mac 'n' cheese.

Taste of China

Another of Pépin's favorite restaurants is also in Clinton, but this one doesn't just serve seafood. Clinton's Taste of China is a restaurant serving Szechuanese cuisine, specifically from the city of Chengdu. Taste of China is proud that Pépin chose it as one of his favorite restaurants, and cites his endorsement on the homepage of its website.

The menu at Taste of China is not so large that it's intimidating, but you're definitely going to find yourself flipping through it like a magazine to get to all the glossy photos. The thousand years old egg is a must-order — this dish is an egg that has been aged up to several months in a mixture of quicklime, salt, and ash, with a striking black color. On the seafood front, there's a stunning stir-fried lobster with dry red pepper and black bean sauce. The food here is relatively inexpensive, and the quality is high, which is likely what appeals to Pépin.

Bar Bouchée

If legendary Frenchman Jacques Pépin approves of a French restaurant, you know it's legit; that's why his recommendation of Bar Bouchée is one you should take stock in. This French bistrot is located in Madison, CT, a block away from the downtown area. There's a genuine zinc bar imported from France in the space, and an outdoor patio area for more relaxed seating. The name of this restaurant is a gesture to the bouchon, a type of restaurant native to Lyon; as founder Jean Pierre Vuillermet explains on the Bar Bouchée site, "For me, a bouchon represents the heart of French cooking — homemade comfort food — and of French spirit — a lively game of 421 or pétanque."

When it comes to ordering at Bar Bouchée, this place has all the French classics, right down to escargots served in Persillade butter. The menu is limited but thoughtful, an elegant mixture of French dishes like croque monsieur, and Americanized offerings like a domestic lamb burger. The dessert menu features profiteroles and a vanilla crème brulée made with citrus and honey-infused custard.

Oyster Club

The Oyster Club in Mystic, Connecticut is another of Pépin's go-to restaurants for a more formal dinner. You can tell from the Oyster Club's public-facing philosophy that this restaurant isn't messing around when it comes to dining. The kitchen is headed by Executive Chef Renee Touponce, who has been recognized by the James Beard Foundation and was nominated under the category for best chef of the year in the Northeast region and who believes strongly in running a kind kitchen.

At the Oyster Club, offerings change seasonally; there's a huge emphasis here on sourcing local ingredients and supporting the local food community, so the menu is built around whatever is freshest in the region at the time. There's a special outdoor dining area at the Oyster Club that this restaurant calls the Treehouse which offers panoramic views of the Mystic River. The Oyster Club's Treehouse has its own limited menu fashioned after New England shack food, featuring Connecticut lobster rolls and smash burgers, among other more traditional dishes.

Flood waters upstream took out many docks and trees along with it. They have landed on some popular beaches.

MADISON, CT (WFSB) - Cleanup was underway at beaches by the shoreline.

Flood waters upstream took out many docks and trees along with it. They landed on some popular beaches.

Town beaches were closed Friday in Madison, but have since reopened.

Crews worked all day to clean up debris.

Department of public works, buildings, and grounds crews were cleaning up until Saturday evening.

Crews made multiple runs to the dump with trucks full of trees, tree trunks, and branches.

Some people even picked up trash that washed ashore.

To keep people safe, there was no swimming or boat launching at the Surf Club, West Wharf, and East Wharf.

Beach goers had to make other plans but said it was nice the town was making the effort to clear the debris.

“It’s still nice, watching them clean it up and get everything back to normal,” said Hal Stephens of Madison.

“It’s alarming, it’s sad. This is supposed to be the best time of the year in Madison. We pride ourselves on how clean and pristine our beaches are, and then out of the blue to look out yesterday morning, at 9 a.m. have it be perfect and then quarter of 11 trees washing up ashore,” said Austin Hall, Director of Beach and Recreation for Madison.

Madison Harbor Master Steve Adkins said he isn’t worried about the wood in the Long Island Sound but boaters should still keep an eye out.

“Do you advise boaters to take more caution this weekend?” Eyewitness News asked.

“Without question and don’t go out at night, go out in the daytime, enjoy it and keep your eyes open,” Adkins said. “It’s wood, we all can agree it’s wood. The refrigerators don’t float, they’re at the bottom. The wood is floating and it’s on the surface so you can see it. To me it’s much ado about nothing.”

But the Connecticut River is a different story.

“Coast Guard issued a report yesterday saying keep off the river, keep away from the river. That’s smart,” said Adkins. “You go to the mouth of the Connecticut River right now, there’s this brown sludge coming out of the river.”

State beaches have red flags out as well.

At Surf Club Beach, they’ll evaluate how much washed ashore in coming days and will reassess when the beach will reopen to the public.

Debris washes up on shoreline beaches

Debris cleanup on Madison town beaches

Copyright 2023 WFSB. All rights reserved.

This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Arts & Entertainment

Four of Connecticut's major nonprofit performing arts venue operators have formed a coalition.

OLD SAYBROOK, CT - Four of Connecticut’s major nonprofit performing arts venue operators have formed a coalition to promote the positive economic and cultural impact of each venue, to highlight the vibrant and diverse programming offered throughout the year, and to share resources. The new Community Arts Venues group is comprised of the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center (the Kate) in Old Saybrook; Fairfield Theatre Company (FTC) in Fairfield; Wall Street Theater in Norwalk; and New Haven Center for Performing Arts, Inc. which operates College Street Music Hall and the Westville Music Bowl, both in New Haven.

“The Kate is delighted to collaborate with these organizations as we bring attention to the positive impact within our communities,” said Brett Elliott, Executive Director of the Kate. “Even more, we are looking toward the future and how that impact may become greater, more vibrant, and play a larger part advocating for the amazing cultural landscape of Connecticut.”

These venues offer arts and entertainment events that feature national touring artists and local performers and represent most genres of music, dance, comedy, film, theater, and family programs. They range in size from an intimate 225 seats up to 9,700-seat capacity and serve more than 200,000 patrons from throughout Connecticut and surrounding states. Combined, these venues employ 160 full and part-time staff members and, in the past year, presented more than 750 events. For FTC and the Kate, the quantity of programs filled nearly the entire calendar with 205 and 331 respectively during the 2022-2023 fiscal year. The Kate, College Street Music Hall, and Wall Street Theater operate in historic theaters that were thoughtfully restored for modern uses and the Kate is on the National Register of Historic Places.

John Reid, Producing Artistic Director of Fairfield Theatre Company, said, “FTC is very pleased to work closely with these fine organizations, who are the cultural lifeblood of our cities and towns. To ensure that we can all continue to offer the very best in live music and the arts, we are working together to secure sustainable funding. COVID-19 brought some very challenging times, economically and otherwise, and the pandemic reinforced the enormous impact that live music and the arts have on the overall well-being of our community.”

This level of activity has contributed greatly to the economic vitality of each of the home communities and regions surrounding the venues. The most recently published Arts & Economic Prosperity Report by Americans for the Arts showed that in 2017, the average patron spent $33 in the local economy when attending an arts event, in addition to the ticket price. Most coalition members are potentially contributing between $1.5M and $6M to their communities. An economic impact study for College Street Music Hall estimated the venue generated over $16,000,000 in economic impact annually.

Find out what's happening in Madisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Additionally, members of the Community Arts Venue group utilize local vendors and provide touring artists with accommodations and meals, spending upwards of $350,000 each year for these services. These venues were some of the first to reopen with special safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding ways to retain staff and provide arts and culture programs. The flexible nature of their operating models allowed for socially-distanced seating for film, live music and comedy and some presented events outdoors.

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MADISON, CT — A full-keeled sailboat that had recently arrived from Barbados and was moored on an 800-pound seasonal mooring adjacent to Tuxis Island in Madison experienced severe damage after large waves impacted the anchor.

Steve Adkins, Madison’s Harbormaster, said on Aug. 24, Island Magic, the sailboat from Barbados, was checked at 1500 hours by a competent fellow sailor who provided photographs for the owner in Maine with Family.

During the night, winds increased to the expected 20 to 25 miles per hour from the south with large waves impacting the anchorage, which is exposed to the south with a 15-mile fetch to Long Island, Adkins said.

Sometime between midnight and 2 a.m., Adkins said a very large set of waves caused the yacht's bow to dive blow the pennants, fouling them on the two anchors on their bow rollers.

Sharp edges of the anchors caused extreme chafe, which parted the pennants separating Island Magic from the mooring. A strong incoming tide was running, which propelled the boat slightly westward, ultimately grounding at West Warf, directly in front of the Hotel, Adkins said.

Adkins said a guest and his wife noted the boat at 2 a.m. on the rocks near the West Warf Stone pier.

An early riser posted a picture on Friday at about 6 a.m. Adkins said he was shortly on the scene.

Large waves pounded the boat, and she was down by the bow, indicating water intrusion. Given her swamped condition and the large waves, Adkins said, rescue opportunity had passed.

Sea Tow completed recovery by Sunday, Aug. 27. The yacht was refloated by airbags and towed to Pilot’s Point South in Westbrook and hauled, showing severe damage and the loss of 90 percent of her keel, exposing the underside and interior systems, Adkins said.

As the pennants were severed very close to the soft barrel, Adkins said he was perplexed until they consulted with professionals who said it definitely chafe, which led them to match up the pennants with the anchors they matched to the chafe points, Adkins said.

This is an unfortunate end to a beautiful yacht, Adkins said.

Adkins said they’ll advise Madison boat owners that bow anchors should be removed while in Madison Harbor on a mooring.

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MADISON — The new lower beach pass rates for nonresidents are making waves on social media.

With this year’s price for nonresident weekend daily parking passes reduced by 50 percent, some residents are complaining that this is just too low a price, will encourage more out of towners to the shoreline and make it difficult for residents to find parking spaces.

“Perhaps nonresidents should consider Hammonassett [sic] instead,” Carla Egletes wrote on a Madison, CT Facebook post.

“I’m sick of trying to get onto our beaches in favor of nonresidents; they should be paying a lot more — we’re the taxpayers, not them,” the Madison resident wrote.

Some 135 comments — both positive and negative — are registered on the site for a May 24 a post on the Madison, CT Facebook, about the new rates.

Under the new prices, nonresidents can visit any of the town’s three beaches, The Surf Club, West Wharf and East Wharf, daily for $20 per vehicle and $112 for a seasonal parking pass.

“Yes, those Surf Club Non-resident [sic] daily and seasonal beach parking pass prices are much too low,” wrote Hank Drought.

He compared the local rates to Westport Compo Beach nonresident seasonal passes, which are $545 (plus sales tax) and daily passes, $45 weekdays and $70 for weekends and holidays.

Last year’s daily rates for nonresidents to park at Madison beaches were Monday through Thursday, $25 and Friday and Saturday and Sunday, $40.

For residents, seasonal rates are $40 for first vehicle and $20 for a second one; senior beach parking passes, for those 65 and older, $10 per vehicle; and veterans, any age, will pay $10 for the first vehicle and $20 for the second vehicle.

Residents can also buy a day beach parking pass for visitors for $10 per vehicle.

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Details regarding purchase of all these passes are on the town website, madisonct.org.

The rates, which have not changed “in forever” are recommended by the Beach and Rec Commission and approved by the Board of Selectmen, said Austin Hall, director of Beach, Recreation and Senior Services.

Hall said that the new rates this year for nonresidents were a condition of “a state grant for the reconstruction of the Garvan Point seawall.”

The town received a $770,000 state grant, which required matching funds, for coastal resilience and beach restoration efforts. Work is estimated to cost $1.5 million.

“A stipulation of that state grant is that the price of a nonresident parking pass couldn’t be more than double that of a resident parking pass,” Hall said.

“So, our resident daily parking passes are $10 per day, so if a resident wanted to buy a daily pass to give to a friend it’s $10 per day,” he said.

“So, our pricing for nonresident daily passes was more than that so we had to lower them to $20 per day,” he said.

In addition, said Hall, the town had to offer a nonresident seasonal pass, which was not an option in years past.

“The state of Connecticut charges $112 for a non-Connecticut resident state park pass,” he said. “So, we are charging $112 for a nonresident seasonal pass.”

Prior to this arrangement season parking passes were not an option for non-residents.

Hall said these same rates will not continue once the Garvan Point work is completed.

Hall declined to comment on the pros and cons of the new rates, but he did say that the work being done at Point “is a necessity to maintain one of the most beautiful assets that we have in town.”

“Maintaining Garvan Point is a critical project for the town, and we have to abide by the state grant guidelines and it’s for the life of the grant project, so this will not be a policy going forward next year,” he said.

Hall said the decision to continue offering the annual nonresident passes, going forward, “will be up to the Beach and Rec Commission or selectmen.”

The town limits the number of daily nonresident parking passes to 75 per day. These are available for purchase at the Surf Club and allow for visits to any of the town beaches.

“Over the last three years we’ve only reached that number twice,” said Hall.

“The other days were in the teens on weekends for the amount of nonresident passes we sold,” he said.

“So, it’s never been a parking issue and I would say most of the nonresidents who do come to town to go to the beaches – you have to purchase it at Surf Club, and they stay at Surf Club because it’s got the concession stand, it’s the largest beach and they’re here already,” he said.

The three beaches in town have the following number of parking spaces for visitors: East Wharf with 53 spots, West Wharf, 38 and the Surf Club has some 450 spaces, according to Hall.

The Fourth of July weekend has been handled differently than the rest of the summer for the past three years.

“We stop selling passes to anybody on Friday at noon,” Hall said. “So, if you do not have your parking pass prior to Friday at noon you cannot come to the beaches for the Fourth of July weekend.”

On that holiday weekend, Surf Club Road is closed to cars that do not have a valid beach parking pass.

Meagan Jane grew up in town and has since moved away but comes back to visit her family “so I visit the beaches often with them,” she wrote on Facebook.

She believes everyone, residents and nonresidents alike, should have the opportunity to enjoy the coastline in town.

“Let people come and enjoy the beaches!” she wrote. “Will there ever be a year where this town doesn’t complain about beach passes?”

“Just be grateful for where you live and stop trying to keep everyone else out!” she wrote.

With beaches fully staffed with lifeguards, gate guards and patrol, Hall said his department is ready to welcome beachgoers to enjoy the town amenities,

“We have some great returning senior level staff, as well as some new people, which is important so we have some continuity in staffing every year,” he said.

He said he does not expect more out of towners flocking to the town beaches this year.

“We have the largest state park a mile from here and any Connecticut resident can enter Hammonasset State Park for free, so I don’t think envision it being an issue,” he said.

Contact Sarah Page Kyrcz at [email protected]