Town House’s heirloom carrots, one of many stand-out dishes
For local food obsessives like me, this is a big deal. With Blue Hill- and Momofuku-trained (and New Rochelle-raised) chef Chris dos Reis at the helm, the new Town House on Main Street is serving some of the most inspired and inventive cuisine in our city. Judging by a recent visit, your only challenge will be narrowing down choices from a uniformly excellent menu.
Catie and I sampled sweet/crunchy/spicy kimchi tempura green beans, a pillowy pan con tomate, deeply-flavored squid in its own ink, a bracingly fresh radish salad, silky sea bass in a green garlic sauce, and perfectly roasted, amazingly bright heirloom carrots. (You can see I am running out of adjectives.) Another stand-out, which Catie foolishly refused to try, was fried pigs ears in a yuzu sweet and sour sauce — a bit like orange beef, but better, much better. There’s also a secret-ish off-menu burger, which could vie for best in the region. The cocktail menu is equally appealing, with the drunken koala a table favorite. A crazy good flan and squash (yes) donut rounded out our meal, along with some sort of smoky-lemony amaro of which I could happily have had three, but grudgingly stopped at one. You can see I am a fan, and am looking forward to returning to try everything else.
Town House is located in a charming and fully renovated building that housed Speckled Door years ago, but has been mostly vacant since. The owners have ambitious plans to use upper floors for event space, cultural and artistic displays, even podcasts. All-in-all, a really terrific addition to New Rochelle’s downtown.
Town House is open for dinner Thursday through Sunday. Business has been brisk, so make a reservation. Run, don’t walk.