Carson's offers nostalgic aura and tasty dishes

September 15, 2016 12:00 am • Last Updated: September 16, 2016 8:28 am

Carson's Thanksgiving sandwich. (Alex Nunes)

It'd be understandable if a walk outside Carson's Store on Main Street in Noank, with all its seaside, rugged wood-siding glory, elicited a few questions from passersby:

Is this a diner?

Is this an ice cream shop?

Is this simply a state of mind and being?

Well, the correct answer is: all of the above.

The spot is charmingly quaint and near cinematic in its period touches. It's not an amalgamation of kitschy objects, thrown together and then hung on the wall at random by a septum-pierced hipster in an attempt to "look 50s" so much as a space preserved in time (it first opened in 1907 and had a tearful closing a couple years back before reopening). Indeed, one could call it a time capsule.

The floor is checker-squared linoleum. The counter, stools, molding and curtains are a nostalgic palate of greens ranging from seafoam to forest. There's a neat row of booths, rock candy for sale in large glass jars, and a multi-wand machine for mixing milkshakes to the perfect consistency.

Don't be surprised if the ambience sends your mind wandering to scenes from your favorite Hollywood diners: JT in "Grease"; Vince Vaughn in "Swingers"; or, in my case, Viggo Mortensen fighting off a couple of thugs with a coffee pot in that film where he's really a bad guy, but you don't actually know it until halfway through the movie (remember that one?).

The four page menu has plenty of breakfast and lunch offerings to satisfy your average vegetarian and your most die-hard of meat lovers. There's a series of hearty benedicts on the breakfast side: sausage and red peppers ($13.50), Florentine with spinach, tomato chunks and hollandaise ($12.50), bacon pesto ($13.50), and smoked salmon ($15), to name a few.

On the lunch side, you'll find a list of sandwiches, from the rather tame turkey ($7), tuna ($7), and club ($9), to the adventurous: portabella boursin ($9), Thanksgiving with cranberry and stuffing ($8), and pesto BLT ($8.50).

At one point during my visit, I overheard a young man at the counter inquire to his server: "How serious is your BLT?" Her response: "Pretty serious." I decided to go with the pesto BLT, reasoning that a blended mix of basil, olive oil and hard cheese could only make a BLT that much more "serious."

This take on the diner staple was certainly flavorful, and the pesto complemented the crisp of the bacon. At the same time, I wondered if the pesto was even necessary. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and perhaps it's not worth trying to improve on the already beloved bacon, lettuce and tomato, with a little bit of mayo.

The Thanksgiving was an adventure certainly worth taking. It was a well-conceived and moist mix of stuffing, thinly sliced cranberry, mayo, and cold cut style turkey held together on a toasted ciabatta.

It's difficult not to consider any meal advertised with the word "smothered," and so I also tried the smothered home fries ($12) on the breakfast side of the menu. This was an eye-catching melding of sautéed home fries, peppers, onions, two eggs, and choice of bacon, ham or sausage (or vegetarian, if you ask), topped with chopped chives. It was a tasty and satisfying mix even without meat, which is the option I went with.

I couldn't walk away without trying some of the ice cream provided by Buck's out of Milford, which has been delivering frozen treats to restaurants since the 1950s. The options available at Carson's are vanilla, chocolate, coffee, strawberry, "swamp" (Oreos and M&Ms in vanilla ice cream), maple walnut, and coconut almond fudge. Each flavor can be ordered in small ($4), medium ($5), or large ($6).

Instead of the hard, scooped form, I decided to go with a coffee ice cream milkshake ($6) and a root beer float topped with the standard scoop of vanilla ice cream ($5). The milkshake was blended to a deliciously thick consistency. Served in a Styrofoam cup with a thin straw you'd use for soda, it's near impossible to drink this milkshake at a pace any faster than an IV drip. The float consisted of a can of A&W root beer accompanied by a classic scoop of vanilla. Also a worthy option, it had that perfect foamy, fizzy mix of soda and cream.

If I had to pick a limitation at Carson's, it'd be the seating. Booths can only sit two people, seated across from one another. Parents can try to squeeze in a small child next to them, but anyone who's tried something similar before knows it's certainly less than optimal. If you come in a large group, your options are the counter or to pull together some chairs and tables out front.

The service, however, is commendable and certainly makes up for the aforementioned shortcoming. Meals come out quickly and with a smile. And despite the throwback appeal, Carson's is equipped with an iPad and card swipe that takes virtually any form of credit.

Simply put, it's old-school sensibilities, modern convenience, and a satisfying meal.

Editor's note: This version corrects information about the menu.

The interior of Carson's Store on Main Street in Noank. (Alex Nunes)