Allium Eatery in Westport: Nominated for Best CT Chef 2024

Honeydew, shaved fennel, ginger verjus, spiced peanuts, basil and cumin crema

Now almost three years old, Michelle Greenfield’s Allium Eatery started out, as she puts it, “small.”

Her restaurant, inside, is also small. Put a dozen people in there and it feels full. When the weather cooperates, Allium can take some walk ins for patio dining, otherwise you have a choice between either the 5:30 seating or the 7:30.

Foie gras mousse, pan perdu filled with peach purée, pistachio, pickled shallots

In this case of “small,” small is good, and Greenfield’s restaurant is one of the hottest tickets in town.

No website, just social media, and they’re more active on Instagram, FYI. And chances are, when a table does wiggle free from a prior reservation on busier nights, it’s a given that someone will see their Instagram story announcement and snatch it right up.

One of Greenfield’s friends, Kyle Martinez, helped her get started in 2021 by creating the wine list. She says that even though Kyle is now her wine rep at Worldwide Wines, that she still picks his brain in regards to Allium’s wine list.

“We didn’t even have a full bar or offer a full dinner when we started,” Greenfield says. “It’s evolved, and we’re loving the reception that we’ve gotten. I just wish we had 10 more seats in here.”

She’s right about that. The last time one of our writers stopped by to cover Allium, the libations were wine only, sandwiches for lunch (some of them breakfasty), an abbreviated dinner menu, grab-and-go stuff in the refrigerated case, and the restaurant’s now famous rotisserie chickens, that when you’re right across from a Metro-North station, fly right out the door, and yes, that’s a bird pun.

Tomato - red + yellow cherry tomatoes from Sport Hill Farm, nectarine-tomato espuma (vegetable foam), crispy phyllo, tomato leaf dust oregano. Don’t be afraid to crack up that crunchy phyllo and dig in!

Chickpea fries, rosemary aioli, black pepper honey, shaved aged gouda. These are essentially fritters made with chickpea flour and water that Greenfield cooks like polenta before it’s set and fried. Addictive, and usually on everyone’s table. at Allium

All of the above still exists at Allium. And the rotisserie chicken has become its arguable signature dish, although the other components on the dish change based on seasonality and what Greenfield can get that day or for that week. Most recently, as of press time, the half bird was accompanied by polenta, blistered shishitos, sweet silver queen corn, baby kale, a bright cilantro salsa verde, and the chicken’s natural herbed jus.

“We don’t do anything complicated to it (the rotisserie chicken),” Greenfield says. “We don’t brine it, it’s a house blend of spices, onion and garlic powders, some dried sage in there. Cook it at 475 degrees for 45 minutes, turn it off and spin it for another 10. Right now, we have it with silver queen corn from Patti.”

The “Patti” that Greenfield mentioned is Patti Popp of Sport Hill Farm in Easton, where Allium gets a lot of its ingredients from, and there’s even a dedicated, constantly changing dish called “Sport Hill Farm,” that’s strictly vegetarian, and a nice shout out to her favorite farmer.

“I love Patti and her husband, Al,” Greenfield says. “They’re so hardworking and all the people who work with them are great. I raid her fridge every Tuesday. This week all the zucchini, cauliflower, cucumbers, and cabbage are from her. She also lives super close to me. She’s great and will throw stuff on her steps for me if I can’t get there earlier and I need ingredients.”

Roasted PEI mussels, pearl couscous, lardons, onion confit, fines herb broth, whipped mascarpone, croutons

Cavatelli, lamb ragu, sofrito tomato, golden raisin and tarragon gremolata, crispy panko breadcrumbs, ricotta salata

But believe this, Allium isn’t only roasted veggies on a plate, there’s a creativity and vibrancy here, a style that Greenfield described three years ago and still today as “modern American with French undertones and lots of those techniques true to the French.”

You’ll always find Allium’s namesake dip (creamy labne and caramelized onion), locally made bread by Simon Bowden of Simon’s Bread, usually with some kind of fancy flavored butter for spreading purposes, and if you’re lucky, appetizers like foie gras mousse atop French toast filled with peach puree, or homemade semolina cavatelli tossed in a hearty lamb ragu with crunchy panko breadcrumbs, salty ricotta salata, and a tarragon-golden raisin gremolata, something Greenfield says brings out the lamb’s floralness.

Half rotisserie chicken, creamy polenta, shishitos, silver queen corn, baby kale, cilantro salsa verde, jus

Rotisserie chicken sandwich, should you go during lunch service.

Where Greenfield’s modern American, intertwined with French approach comes from aren’t just from her time at the Culinary Institute of America. She honed them at Bernard’s Restaurant and Sarah’s Wine Bar in Ridgefield for about six years and later went onto run the kitchen at The Schoolhouse at Cannondale for Tim LaBant. She’d later put in a season at Bill Taibe’s Jesup Hall before helping a friend teach culinary arts.

Truth is, her culinary journey started way before that when she was a kid.

Family recipe carrot cake, made fancier. Don’t make the mistake of not ordering a slice.

“No one else in my family is in the restaurant business,” Greenfield says. “I’ve always wanted to cook. I got myself out of every school project by decorating a cake if I could somehow relate it to the assignment. I would cut class to go to culinary, or I’d leave school to go to a restaurant to fold napkins at the hostess stand. I started washing dishes when I was barely 16. Luckily, my parents were super supportive. I was in adult cooking classes when I was a kid. I’m from Newtown, where we had a great culinary program and had a great teacher that just let me do what I do. It was always the plan. I didn’t figure out how to do anything else.”

For Greenfield, Allium Eatery is paying off. What started out as a pandemic project with her sous chef Laura Harrington, one of the things they sought out in a space was one that had the ability to change over to a deli or coffee shop if need be. Now, it’s a restaurant that’s getting rave reviews from her dedicated regulars. And they’ve taken more small steps to expand not only the lunch and dinner menus, but they’ve since added cocktails and a Saturday brunch service with a burger that’s already on my radar.

54 Railroad Place, Westport
203.557.3060, Instagram: @alliumeatery