Swank While Homey, Ruby & Bella’s Brings Focused Modern Cuisine To Greenwich, Connecticut

Greenwich Avenue, the main drag through Greenwich, Connecticut, has evolved from a suburban street of local boutiques, antique stores and eateries into a stretch resplendent with international fashion chains in this fabulously affluent town—with an average annual family income of $209,000 (far higher than Beverly Hills’s). Over the years the restaurant scene has gone upscale, too, and, again, chains are taking over what had been once locally owned, like Thomas Henkelmann at The Homestead Inn (just closed for a year-long renovation) and L’Éscale, whose lease is up soon. 

A few good upscale restaurants remain, including Mediterreneo and the new Macelleria Italian Steakhouse, and they are now joined by a gem of a  restaurant set within a historic building long unoccupied and now taken over as SaksWorks, an innovative concept for a club open to businesspeople who wish a secluded state-of-the-art-equipped space in which to hold meetings, conferences and soirées on a daily or weekly basis. 

The restaurant Ruby & Bella’s (named after the owner’s dogs) sounds more like a saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota, than an elegantly rustic dining room done with antique wood, captain’s chairs, folk pottery and seasonal flowers amidst a counterpoint of striking modern black-and-white photos by David Yarrow, soft, comfortable green velvet banquettes and carefully modulated romantic lighting. So, too, the table settings have simple white china and dish towel napkins next to fine stemware. 

       The short, focused menu has a strong New England tilt and the ingredients are both first-rate and seasonal. You get the sense that supervising chef Julian Alonzo and executive chef Jason Leckey (formerly of The Cottage in Westport) worked to produce simply conceived, impeccably prepared, very handsome dishes that would impress by their savoriness without any extraneous ingredients. It’s the kind of place that prompts women guests to peruse their walk-in closets to choose a casually chic winter outfit that might include Bogner or Moncler ski jackets. 

 Among the seven starters, I recommend a lustrous ahi tuna tartare with sweet avocado and white soy ($21), and the two meaty lump crabcakes with a Brussels sprout slaw and tangy Pommery mustard ($21; as a main course $40). The historic debate as to whether New England clam chowder should have a somewhat thin, milky broth or a rich, creamy one might end after a spoonful of the luscious, bacon-and-potato-rich variety at Ruby & Bella’s ($19), which would make for a splendid lunch all on its own, especially because the lily is gilded with a mini lobster roll on the side, and the item is graced with Old Bay Seasoning and mayo with celery, carrots and tarragon. (A more ample version is listed at $34.) By the way, when you sit down a basket of terrific Balthazar bread is set on the table. 

  There are also seven main courses, appended with a special or two. Flavorful skirt steak comes not with French fries but with fried rice and the lagniappe of a quail’s egg ($29). A very generously proportioned chicken paillard with frisée lettuce, watercress and chopped cippolini onions ($26) could easily be bland were it not for the fine quality of the poultry. 

 I am not a big fan of cauliflower, so I shall report that my wife and guest, who are, found a whole roasted baby cauliflower absolutely delicious. Roasted whole, this softball size vegetable takes on a caramelized surface from a dressing of tahini-pomegranate syrup and twelve types of seeds. One night the entrée special were fat, silky sea scallops with Anson Mills polenta, carrots, Brussels sprouts and bacon ($36).

 The provenance of the salmon, Faroe Island, is as good as you can get for a farmed fish (they swim in open water within large nets), though Ruby & Bella’s, served that day with spinach, spaghetti squash and chanterelle marmalade ($33), still lacked the taste and texture of true wild salmon.

However strict your New Year’s diet, take a break and have dessert (all $12)  at Ruby & Bella’s, like the homey bread pudding with citrus, pistachio gelato; a pot au crème with raspberry and granola, and an irresistible plate of Cookies and Milk with vanilla ice cream. 

 Like the rest of the menu, the wine list is short, more so than I’d expect for a restaurant of this caliber, and the labels, at least at this point, are overly familiar, though mark-ups, even on Champagne, are amazingly moderate. 

Right now, open less than a month, Ruby & Bella’s is carefully balancing its menu and ambiance, and when this winter of our discontent allows evening light to lengthen, this is sure to be the most desirable restaurant in Greenwich and well worth a trip from the surrounding area and New York. 

RUBY & BELLA’S 

265 Greenwich Avenue

Greenwich, CT

475-272-8680

Open for lunch and dinner daily.