Compass: A New Direction For A South Main St. Restaurant

By Kaaren Valenta

Steve Vazzano, executive chef and co-owner of The Three Bears restaurant in Westport, and his cousin Jim Malafronte have opened a new restaurant in Newtown, the Compass, offering seasonal new American cuisine with a global influence.

“I moved to Newtown nearly eight years ago,” Mr Vazzano said. “After awhile I kept thinking that what the area needed was a great, affordable restaurant. So for the past couple of years I have been looking for a good location.”

So when he learned that G.P. Cheffield’s restaurant at 97 South Main Street was for sale, he acted quickly.

“I was really trying to buy in Newtown so when I found this place was available, I jumped on it,” Mr Vazzano said. “I wanted to bring something different to this town.”

The cousins formed a company, the Magellan Restaurant Group, and named the new restaurant the Compass, to follow the theme of American global cuisine in the spirit of Ferdinand Magellan, the 16th Century explorer who first circumnavigated the globe.

“Global is a fusion of countries around the world,” he explained. “It is very creative, taking the classics and bringing them up to date, with a focus on freshness and an emphasis on quality.”

The restaurant has a new warm, welcoming interior with accessories –– including custom-designed china –– that reflect the Magellan theme. Two dining areas, a bank of large, wonderfully comfortable booths, and a separate bar offer a choice of seating. The entire restaurant, which accommodates 125 diners, is smoke-free.

The cousins come from a large, extended restaurant family. Another cousin, John Vazzano, owned the Hawley Manor Inn in Newtown before it became the Mary Hawley Inn and subsequently, the Inn at Newtown. John’s family also operates Vazzy’s in Bridgeport.

“We all grew up in the restaurant business,” Steve Vazzano said. “I graduated from the Culinary Institute of America [CIA] in 1990 and took over at The Three Bears about ten years ago. We have four culinary graduates in the kitchen at the Compass –– three from the CIA and one from Johnson & Wales. We’ve got the talent to put out the best food, and we will make it happen.”

Mr Vazzano said he especially wanted to do something different from all of the other, mostly Italian, restaurants in Newtown and also offer consistently good food at lower prices than the restaurant they replaced in the shopping plaza on Route 25.

“I certainly have access to all the best quality vegetables, meats, and seafood,” he said. “I’ve been working with these purveyors so long at The Three Bears that they know exactly what we are about.”

Jim Malafronte, who has spent the last 12 years as a financial planner, is enthusiastic about the new restaurant, which has a staff of 22.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “So far we have been very well received. People have told us that they really like it. But if anyone has a suggestion, we are always open to ways to improve their dining experience.”

Little touches add to the ambience of dining at Compass. Diners may be welcomed with a small taste of pumpkin crosini with smoked trout and horseradish mustard, or a tiny glass of vichyssoise to get the taste buds jumping. A tiny portion of sorbet or granite cleanses the palate between courses.

In addition to changing daily specials, the regular dinner menu features a dozen entrees ranging in price from $19 for cavatelli pasta and grilled chicken tossed with a roast garlic-fontina “alfredo” sauce with veal sausage, smoked mozzarella, toasted pine nuts and arugula pesto, to $28 for a pepper-grilled certified Angus strip steak, a 20-ounce bone-in served with a fried onion-ginger chutney, horseradish whipped potatoes, pan-roasted baby root vegetables with a pinot noir-tarragon sauce and baby arugula salad.

From Australia comes rosemary-mustard crusted rack of lamb served with horseradish whipped potatoes, pan-roasted baby root vegetables, a local McLaughlin Vineyard merlot wine-lamb reduction and toasted pignoli nut-sweet potato relish.

Or try grilled stuffed jumbo Gulf prawns filled with lump crab stuffing, wrapped in applewood smoked bacon and served with a butter sauce of lemon confit and capers, heirloom bean basmati rice salad and tempura broccolini, or the roast breast of wild pheasant with a maple-chipotle glaze, pumpkin-molasses puree, with a sauce of local apples, rum and ancho chilies with a crispy tortilla relish and with cilantro-lime and pomegranate. Very global.

There are veal choices, duck breast, pork chops, mild New Zealand venison, free-range chicken, swordfish and halibut, and a housemade wild mushroom ravioli served with braised heirloom beans, sautéed jumbo sea scallops, seared spinach, and a drizzle of saffron oil.

Dinner appetizers, $8–$14 are equally inventive. Point Judith “Moonstone” oysters are pan-roasted with pancetta, fennel-pine nut buerre blanc, seared spinach and a roasted red pepper confit, while shiitake mushroom dumplings are pan-fried and served with a soy-lemongrass broth, gingered mango chutney, and stir-fried Chinese long beans.

There is a choice of seven salads, from organic baby lettuces with a champagne-roast shallot vinaigrette with herbed pita croutons, shaved Vidalia onions and roasted red peppers ($4), to an autumn salad of bosc pears, Belgian endive and wild chicory with crumbled gorgonzola, walnut oil vinaigrette, roasted pumpkin seeds, and baby golden beets ($7).

Soups, $7–8, include peppered celery and celery root bisque, Maine lobster and butternut squash bisque, and consommé of five wild mushrooms with heirloom beans, smoked chicken quenelles, and a crostini of caramelized onions.

Desserts, $8, all housemade, include traditional favorites such as crème brulee and soufflés, to seasonal choices like wine-poached bosc pear, pumpkin cheesecake, and apple dumplings, to a molten chocolate cake that features a warm “liquid center” and is served with espresso crème angaise, fresh mint-chartreuse ice cream, and sambucca truffle.

There is a large bar menu that includes a raw bar and “small bites” such as venison-black bean chili, fried calamari, grilled chicken tostadas, burgers, grilled gourmet pizzas, and a dozen other choices.

The lunch menu, served Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30 am to 2 pm, offers entrees, $10–$15, prepared with the same creativity as the dinner entrees; sandwiches, $8–$12 (including a grilled yellow fin tuna club served on toasted sourdough with nine herb aioli, applewood smoked bacon, beefsteak tomatoes, baby lettuces and accompanied by warm spaetzle salad and tempura battered onions); housemade soups and salads, $6–$11, and appetizers, $4–$6.

Brunch, $24, is served on Sunday from 11:30 am to 2 pm. It includes both a starter buffet and a served entrée and is accompanied by a choice of champagne, mimosa, bloody Mary, blood orange screwdriver, or a tropical fruit cooler. Coffee or tea and dessert also are included. The buffet features an assortment of baked goods, fresh fruit, house-smoked salmon, cheese, and seasonal salads; the ten entrée choices include a jumbo lump crab omelet, grilled chicken and sweet potato hash, roast loin of pork, a house-made sausage-potato and caramelized onion frittata, Atlantic salmon “ramoulade” (served over bamboo rice with braised Asian greens, ginger-garlic vinaigrette, and crispy rice noodles) to eggs Benedict and apple pancakes, all with an inventive touch.

There is an extensive wine list a dozen available by the glass, $7–$8, including the house Concha Y Toro Xplorador wines from Chile. But now diners can order a bottle of wine, or even a red and a white, and take home what they do not finish.

“There is a new law that will allow diners to order a bottle of wine and if they don’t finish it, to have it corked, rewaxed, and take it home,” Mr Malafronte said.

A Trumbull resident, Jim Malafronte says he is already looking for land to move to Newtown. Steve Vazzano grew up in Easton, but after marrying his wife Sheri, they moved to Newtown where their daughter Brooke, 11, attends Middle Gate School.

Compass is open for dinner Tuesday through Thursday from 5:30 to 9 pm, Friday and Saturday until 10 pm, and Sunday, 4 to 8 pm. Lunch is served Tuesday through Saturday, 11:30 am to 2 pm. The bar menu is served daily from noon to closing. Gift certificates are available. All major credit cards are accepted. For reservations call 270-6717.