You’ll want to read the whole Chapter One menu at this fine Mystic restaurant

November 01, 2023 3:00 pm • Last Updated: November 02, 2023 4:26 pm

By Rick Koster
Day Arts/Features writer

There aren’t many bad first chapters in the canon of great literature. Consider these first chapter openers, just for concentrated examples:

Oysters on the Half Shell at Chapter One in Mystic

Garlic Parmesan Truffle Fries at Chapter One in Mystic.

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.” — Shirley Jackson, “The Haunting of Hill House”

“Call me Ishmael.” — Herman Melville, “Moby-Dick”

“For a long time, I used to go to bed early” — Marcel Proust, “Swann’s Way”

“Frank and Joe Hardy, as they awakened on that dewy June morning, had no idea that, only two blocks away from their comfortable Bayport home, was a murderous rare stamp counterfeiter called Buxter Coogler.” — Franklin W. Dixon, “The Rare Stamp Counterfeiter Puzzler”

Sadly, I’m not capable of penning any such great openers, but I always assuage my feelings of literary inadequacy in symbolic culinary fashion, which is to say I heartily recommend a visit to Chapter One Food & Drink, the very fine restaurant featuring casual New American cuisine in Mystic.

Chef’s Famous Pesto Pasta at Chapter One in Mystic

Located on West Main Street in a truly prime village location, Chapter One features two sections in a sort of side-by-side shotgun shack floor plan. As you walk in, the left side is dominated by a lovely bar that runs the length of the wall. There’s a partition extending from the front of the place partway down, where it opens into the parallel space, which is a dining room proper. French windows open onto the street, and a sand-and-black color scheme with an industrial ceiling and hanging black lamps provide sleek comfort.

We’ve visited twice in recent weeks; both times, our service was wonderful. On the first stop, we ducked in only a few minutes before the Chapter was scheduled to close. Our offers to return another time were cheerfully rebuffed and we felt welcome throughout our meal.

Yellowfin Tuna at Chapter One in Mystic

On the most recent visit, our server Joe was exceptional — witty, quickly efficient and happy to lower the volume on piped-in music given that is was a slow night and hard to converse over the tunes.

There are nice beer and wine lists as well as a roster of creative and well-crafted designer cocktails. The food menu is divided into short but thoughtful sections of appetizers, soups and salads, sandwiches and entrees.

Here’s what we tried:

Garlic Parmesan Truffle Fries ($8) were resplendent with visible herbs and spices, and the flavors of the large specimens co-mingled nicely. We did agree they could have been a bit crispier.

From the raw bar, three local oysters ($3 each; clams $2.50 each and jumbo shrimp $4.5) were sweet and delicious, nicely presented on crunchy ice and served with horseradish and a tangy cocktail sauce.

I was particularly pleased by the “Devils On Horseback” — which is NOT the title of an opening chapter of great literature but, rather, richly flavored Medjool dates stuffed with mellow Gorgonzola cheese and wrapped in smoked bacon. Two skewers with three of these devils each ($16) provided a delightfully distinctive and empathetic collision of sensations.

The Arugula Salad with Salmon ($15 for plain salad; salmon was an additional $15 with other toppings available) was bright and satisfying. The peppery arugula was splashed with sun-dried tomatoes, oranges and cranberries, and the salmon was nicely cooked. We held off on the balsamic dressing for fear it might be overwhelming, and it worked out deliciously.

The Chapter One Bolognese ($28) was a significant step up from the browned-hamburger-in-broth one finds under this heading in a lot of menus. Ladled over exactly-right cavatappi pasta, a dazzling combo of stewed veal, meatballs and sausage in a luxuriant port wine/tomato sauce. Carved shards of Parmesan cheese topped it all off with an exclamation point.

The Yellowfin Tuna ($32) was sushi grade, sliced generously, encrusted with black sesame seeds and lightly seared. Perfect. Underneath was a rice stir fry with lots of fresh vegetables. The texture of the rice was nice, with something giving a pleasing crunch (water chestnuts? Onion? Not sure.) The wasabi sauce was respectfully light and provided a nice kick without dominating.

And the Chef's Famous Pesto Pasta ($24) menu description highlighted the pesto cream sauce. The dish was a fresh take on the usual uber-green, uber-basil pestos: more delicate in flavor as you'd assume because of the cream but with the added flavors and textures of sauteed shallots, garlic, ribbons of basil and tomatoes all mixed in with the al dente linguine. Truly memorable, and carnivores can add chicken, shrimp or scallops for $10.

Downtown Mystic is justifiably renowned for its quality shops, restaurants and New England tourist-village feel, and we’d recommend Chapter One to anyone visiting -- or to folks who live there.