Chef Forrest Pasternack Returns to Bailey’s Backyard in Ridgefield CT

Ask Forrest Pasternack about being back in Ridgefield and he’ll tell you that “there’s nothing quite like home.”

Already well traveled in this area and in New York as a renowned chef at several acclaimed restaurant, Pasternack may be best known to locals from his five-years when he headed up the kitchen at the O.G. farm-to-table restaurant Bailey’s Backyard from 2013 – 2018.

After a handful of years away, Pasternack is back!

But where’s he been all this time?

Well, a bunch of places and one big one at the same time.

Birria at Bailey’s?! Why not?! You never know what you might find on their Wednesday night Market Table tasting menu. Low and slow braised short rib on consommé doused, griddled Nixtamal Tortilleria La Milpa de Rosa tortillas.

“I opened my own consulting company and the next thing I knew, I was the corporate executive chef for CulinArt Group,” he explains. “I moved to Rockville Centre, and I was in charge of the Long Island and New York region from Norwalk, Connecticut to Montauk.”

Pasternack started thinking about coming back home when CulinArt was purchased by a larger company, stating that he was brought in for “locality and seasonality” when developing recipes and that all that and more had changed.

More on that Wednesday tasting…Pasternack said it’s not only fun for him and the entire kitchen to see what they can come up with based on what ingredients they can get, but it can serve as a test to see what may make the menu on a more regular basis, like this fried forbidden rice appetizer with tempura battered and fried squash and a farm fresh egg from Snow Hill Farm.

Piping hot cornbread is Pasternack’s family recipe

“It was great to be close to the city, especially for my wife, who’s an architectural engineer, but we had a child, too, so we started thinking about where we wanted to raise him,” Pasternack says. “Knowing the area and knowing how beautiful it is, like I grew up here, my wife grew up in New Fairfield, our family is here, so it’s nice to have people around and it’s been amazing.”

And since he’s been back in Connecticut, there’s a chance you’ve had his food, or at least dined at a restaurant where he revamped the menu. The now closed Pearl at Longshore, menu renovations at both Spotted Horse locations, Little Barn, The Grey Goose Cafe, and Captain Lawrence Brewing Company were all influenced in some way by Pasternack over the past few or more years.

Bourbon + blackberry smash on a pleasantly warm summer evening

For Pasternack, landing back at Bailey’s came naturally.

“I’ve been in conversation with Sal (Bagliavio) ever since I left,” he says. “We’re friends and we have a great work relationship that’s always been amazing.”

It’s also a natural fit. Pasternack is all about Bailey’s ethos of serving local, farm fresh, seasonal ingredients operating in that no rules space of New American cuisine that his partner, Bagliavio, held up for over 20 years.

How fresh does it get at Bailey’s? When Erik Birden of Snow Hill Farm pulled up with the day’s fruits and veggies, Pasternack threw together a bright, summery dish that wasn’t even on the menu. Literally, farm-to-car-to-table.

Mushroom stuffed pork roulade - roasted baby potatoes, shallots, baby peppers, black truffle red wine emulsion. Pasternack said this dish is about the array of meaty mushrooms from Stewart-Watson Farm in nearby North Salem as much as it is the pork. And if you’re wondering about this tasting’s price, they try to keep it anywhere between $55 - $65 per person with the option to add wine pairings.

Partnering with local farms, many of them are 20 minutes away or less like The Hickories, Holbrook Farm, and Snow Hill Farm, is something Bailey’s is continuing under Bagliavio and Pasternack, and they’re even taking it a step further with year-round locality by partnering with Snow Hill.

“That partnership with Erik Birden at Snow Hill is to have full access to their greenhouses to develop a seed program so they can grow for us all year,” Pasternack says. “It’s all organic. It’s like 15 minutes away in North Salem on 120 – 130 acres. We’re sticking to what we do and what I do here. This menu will change every four weeks, and it’s super focused on seasonality and locality.”

Chocolate + Nutella tart - pecans, whipped cream, dulce de leche

Pasternack also mentioned that Frank Candullo’s wood fired pizza pop up, a regular occurrence at Bailey’s in 2020 and 2021, still goes down once a week on Saturdays at the Ridgefield Farmers Market.

As far as what’s new, Pasternack is working on revitalizing the restaurant’s cocktail program—though you should expect that Bailey’s favorites like the Mark Twain will stick. And the kitchen has been flexing their creative chops even further with a different four-course market tasting menu every Wednesday based on what they get from the farms.

And if that’s not enough, Bagliavio and Pasternack are looking to expand the brand.

“We’re trying to expand, not only into consulting, but we’re looking to take Bailey’s into a larger format in another town,” Pasternack says. “It’s in the very early stages and nothing is set in stone, but we are actively looking at properties. Connecticut is an amazing market with great people that love great food.”

 23 Bailey Avenue; Ridgefield
203.431.0796; baileysbackyard.com