43 LaSalle Road Tasting Menu Debuts in West Hartford From New Team at Union Kitchen

Fine dining isn’t dead, despite what René Redzepi might say or think, as he gets ready to shutter the doors of what’s been considered one of the best restaurants in the entire world for nearly twenty years. His model may not have been working or seen as sustainable, but there are plenty of others out there that are.

‘Fine’ dining is as much about the service and the experience, as it is about the food and the beverage pairings that go along with it.  One really can’t exist without the other, as they compliment each other in the most perfect way when both executed properly. In its best moments it resembles a carefully choreographed ballet, all the parts and cast-members owning their role, performing live night after night in front of a new audience each time, each with new expectations and new needs. Some of us like to refer to it as ‘organized chaos.’ Does it require a white tablecloth? Some say yes, others say no. I’m on the fence but lean towards adding the linen so that my glassware doesn’t clink every time I set it down. Dining this way does however, require new silverware for each course, a water glass that’s always at least half full, and new glassware when changing wines. Most importantly though it requires time, both from the guest and from the service team. So when I see a ‘tasting menu’ offered by a chef at any restaurant I’m dining at, I’m all in. Luckily for me I have no food allergies or dietary restrictions, and the one food I’ve hated my entire life, thanks to my willingness to try new foods, I’ve learned to embrace as a direct result of the many ways I’ve never experienced it in all the tasting menus I have done. 

West Hartford has been missing this ‘option’ in dining for a very long time, up until now.

Located at 43 Lasalle Road amid restaurant row, are two gentleman working incredibly hard to bring back the ‘tasting menu’ and the full experience that goes along with it, if you choose. You should choose.

Head Chef Tim East brings with him a very diverse background in food as he’s worked at several high profile restaurants around the state with some very notable chefs including Todd English and Bobby Flay. He is no stranger to West Hartford either, as he oversaw the much loved Besito in Blueback square that closed over a rental agreement dispute. Most recently however, he took on a leadership role at the storied Cavey’s in Manchester where he developed a love of French cuisine along with many of its techniques. Tim carries all of this experience and knowledge along with his passion, to a restaurant that is focused on its changing the narrative from what it was before he arrived, to what it is capable of under his leadership, a true destination restaurant amongst the West Hartford food scene.

Situated in the front of house running the dining room and the exceptional wine list that has already received accolades from Wine Spectator along with Best Wine List in the state by Connecticut Magazine, is Vish Badami.

If anything good came out of Covid, it was Vish relocating to West Hartford during the lockdowns in NYC, and then deciding to stay thanks to support from his wife whose roots are here. The wine and spirit scene in this town is lucky to have him and I suspect that surrounding restaurants will start to put more of a focus into these areas as they try to compete, which they will. I’ve always believed that competition in our industry is healthy and desperately needed if we want things to progress forward. Everyone wins, especially the customer, something I suspect Vish understands immensely.

A graduate from the Hotel School at Cornell University with a Master’s degree, a level two Sommelier and climbing, Vish worked along side Chef Vikram Suneram at Rasika when he won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic. Eventually migrating to Manhattan in what seemed like a natural progression for him, he landed a role as manager of Indian Accent, a constant on the World’s 50 Best list by San Pellegrino. He brings all of this knowledge and experience along with the passion for what he does, both being clearly present, to the role he now assumes as General Manager. 

In the couple hours I was lucky enough to spend time with Tim and Vish on this trip as I sampled the newly created seven course tasting menu, along with Vish’s hand selected wine pairings, one thing stood out to me as being glaringly obvious about these two guys. They have a unique and unmatched synergy that I haven’t seen in quite some time. They remind me of one of the most successful Chef/FOH (front of house) teams of all time, Daniel Humm and Will Guidara of Eleven Madison Park. I am lucky enough to have dined at that restaurant while both were in the building and meeting them both on my occasion, becoming a night that turned out to be one of the most memorable dining experiences of my life. It didn’t surprise me at all when I learned that Eleven Madison Park is the favorite restaurant of both Tim and Vish, along with one of Daniel Humm’s signature dishes, the Honey Lavender Glazed Duck, without question the best duck I’ve ever had. So to see it here on the menu presented as Tim’s interpretation for the final savory course, made me extremely happy and I couldn’t wait to get to it as I enjoyed all the courses in a steady crescendo towards it. 

My meal began with a silky smooth coconut-pumpkin soup (seen above) paired with an incredible Madeira that I was surprised to be starting a meal with but made complete sense once I tasted them together. On the edge of the plate was a small amount of blue cheese, not initially meant for the dish but came about from Vish trying to add another component that would help coax out more nuances in the madeira. Tim’s willingness to listen and to try it showcases the team-work and willingness to put ego’s aside, all for the betterment of a dish and a customers ultimate experience.

My second course turned out to be one of my favorite courses throughout the meal, it being a beautiful piece of fennel rubbed pork belly with celeriac and marinated peppers. The grower-champagne by LeLarge Pugeot that Vish specifically curated for this dish was absolutely perfect, playing off each flavor of the dish in a way that accentuated the delicateness of it as a whole, while not over-powering any of the competing flavors in any way either.

After devouring this dish and moving through two more courses, both of which were also excellent, I could see Chef Tim personally walking out the duck dish to me as Vish began to offer me choices for my wine pairing, something that completely caught me off guard, but ultimately showcased spectacularly why Vish is good at what he does. I was offered two different wines, one being the main road, an elegant Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley made by the Shaffer Family, but the second wine, being the road less traveled and the road he subtly was trying to get me to subconsciously choose on my own, was an absolute dynamite wine from northwestern Spain, a complex but elegant Mencía. Comparable to great wines from Burgundy, but at a fraction of the price, Vish has taken the time to seek out wines like this, learn about them, understand them, and showcase them by pairing them with the right food at the right moment, all while he blends their background stories naturally into the presentation as he pours each wine table side.

We finished our meal with an almost unreal Basque ‘burnt’ cheesecake that actually happened as an accident in the kitchen while Tim was experimenting one day. Vish paired with it a pretty impressive Amaro from Forthave Botanical Spirits in Brooklyn. It proved to be the perfect ending to what was an amazing experience. 

Currently two tasting menu’s are offered, a five course option for $65 and a seven course option for $90, and both include wine. Yes you read that right, both include wine. Vish will offer you a ‘reserve pairing’ with each tasting and the price is determinant upon what wines you select as he offers multiple choices in each course, depending on which road you choose. He has a very strong working knowledge of each one as he has personally curated each and every wine on the award winning wine list. His entire floor staff are also either certified level one sommeliers, or in the process of becoming certified, something I don’t think any other restaurant in Connecticut can claim, especially in West Hartford. If you are looking to test your wine knowledge, every single day of the week Vish opens up a random bottle from his wine list that isn’t poured by the glass and blind tastes you on it. The cost of the glass is $15 and if you get it right, you get a bottle to take home for free. There are no gimmicks or tricks and he’s only lost his shirt once or twice I’m told. 

As my meal and my time at Union Kitchen came to an end, I had the opportunity to sit down with Tim and Vish to talk about the the response they have gotten since instituting the ‘tasting menu’ option within the restaurant. So far, the response has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive. Vish explained that “we knew we had to come out swinging aggressively both in the price and what we are offering for the price, if wanted to get people in the door and talking about it,” and talking about it we should be. Trying it we should be.

I personally couldn’t agree more and think that this is definitely something that should be on everyone’s radar right now. This bold move will definitely help them in beginning to create their own narrative by doing something different from everyone else in what feels like a pretty saturated food scene. While this restaurant has been here since 2018, it is now finally just growing into its shoes, and that’s okay because good things take time. The restaurant industry is a very hard industry to make it in, even harder now post Covid.

We are all told not to judge a book by its cover, and it definitely applies here. Vish Badami and Tim East are working tirelessly to re-write the pages and prove it. As someone that has worked in this industry as well for over 20 years, I know how hard it is to achieve success and what it takes to make it happen. It takes times for a restaurant to find its identity, along with a well trained and seasoned staff that truly understand the vision while helping to bring it to fruition. Located at 43 LaSalle Road in West Hartford is Union Kitchen and it deserves your attention again.

Oh, and that food I used to hate was mushrooms.