Celebrating Local Seafood at "The Whelk"

Last Thursday night, my husband Gil and I were invited to a sneak preview of Bill Taibe's new seafood restaurant, The Whelk, in Westport's new Saugatuck Center.  The ever creative Chef Taibe is featuring sustainable seafood from local and regional sources. Like at his LeFarm restaurant, Bill concentrates on where his ingredients are coming from.  He gets to know and builds a relationship with the people whose hard work brings food to his kitchen.  For example, Bill and chef de cuisine Dan Kardos, went out on Norm Bloom's oyster boat to see how he seeds, farms and harvests oysters around the Norwalk islands.

The result is unmistakable--fresh, sweet, local bivalves you can enjoy raw or cooked at the Whelk.

In his inimitable manner, Bill Taibe kept his sea-centric snacks coming all evening.  We really loved, the barbecued clams, blackened pollock sandwich with spicy slaw and the poutine which is grilled octopus and squid with french fries topped with beef gravy.  And my husband especially loved the lamb burger with meat from Craft Butchery.

 
The perfect complement to these delicious and surprising dishes was the fresh Bitter Hound made for me by Raffa.  It has Tito's Vodka, grapefruit juice, bitters and tonic poured over ice.

Although perfectly satisfied with our savory dishes, Bill did not want us to leave without dessert, which was a  cream filled chocolate whoopee bar, and we were happy to oblige.

Bill and his team are gearing up for the opening scheduled for the end of January and after sampling his creations, the calm, casual and fresh restaurant interior and his delightful staff, he is sure to satisfy customers for a long time to come.  Bill's understated and calm demeanor comes through in the atmosphere and in the people he works with.  What a great addition to Westport's culinary community.  Thank you Bill!

 And if you are wondering what a whelk is, I had to look it up myself.
 It's a sea snail!