Noah's

113 Water St., Stonington, CT - (860) 535-3925

Overview Reviews(1) Rate Restaurant Upload Photos Bookmark Email

Posted By Michael Stern on 5/21/2008 9:18:00 AM

Stonington is a beautiful oceanside town and it has several restaurants that offer a terrific view while dining. It also has Noah's, which is on the wrong side of the street for a water view. Still, if you are looking for a great town cafe with a menu of homey food, Noah's is the place to go. It isn’t the least bit fancy; it is more the sort of place where locals linger long after lunch, sipping coffee and chatting as the sun drops towards the west and infuses the dining room with a golden glow.

The way to start lunch is with south-coast Yankee chowder (that’s the steel-gray briney kind). You can have a salad from a menu arranged so you can design one just the way you like it; and meals start with a bread basket that contains flax-seed and cranberry nut bread. Pasta is unfailingly satisfying: fettucine is served in the simplest sauce of butter and cheese, or with good pesto. Main courses include steaks and lamb chops, but I recommend a big, impeccably fresh slab of halibut or grouper, or best of all, a dish of scallops, broiled to supreme tenderness in a breathtaking ginger marinade. For dessert, Jane and I like apple spice cake with warm caramel sauce, maple pecan pie, or that nursery-nice New England oddity, Grape-Nuts pudding.

My most recent visit was on Mother's Day, for brunch, when Noah's was crowded with locals and their parents or children. It was yet another difficult meal, for the menu listed way too many things to try them all. Among the temptations I did not get to sample were a lobster and fresh herb omelet and grilled swordfish with citrus herb butter; and while the last of the day's banana walnut muffins was sold just as I entered, I did manage to secure a slice of Noah's superb sour cream coffee cake -- a delicious balancing act of tangy sweet and sweet tang.

Note: dinner is about $25.

Scorecard

Overall: Legendary - Worth driving from anyplace

ginger-broiled scallops	Portuguese Eggs
Sour Cream Coffee Cake	Reuben Sandwich
chowder	Home Fries
apple spice cake

Rate this place

Reviewers Photos [Upload Your Photos]

"What makes these eggs 'Portuguese' is the inclusion of chorizo sausage. Also included are farmer's cheese, peppers and onions. The whole shebang is baked ... and begs for some of Noah's grilled bread or fried potatoes to sop up its juices."
Michael Stern

"If it is possible for a Reuben to be nutritionally virtuous, this one is: the corned beef is lean and the Russian dressing is applied sparingly. The bread is house-baked onion rye, which, although grilled, is not the least bit greasy."
Michael Stern

"In my book, there are few coffee companions more welcome than sour cream coffee cake which, while sweet, also has that sour-milk tang that makes eating endless amounts of it possible."
Michael Stern

"Noah's home fries are especially well-textured, with lots of crunchy onion squiggles among the nuggets of potato."
Michael Stern

"A dish of scallops on Noah's table in the shoreline's afternoon sun"
Michael Stern

"Noah's is the sort of friendly place where strangers as well as locals feel right at home."
Michael Stern