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- Connie's Rustic Kitchen and Tavern Small Business Partnership
Father-Daughter Team Brings Culinary Magic to Connie's Rustic
Kitchen and Tavern in Wrentham, Massachusetts
Connie and Fatima Perez, father-daughter and owners of Connie's Rustic
Kitchen and Tavern in Wrentham.
Article and photos by Eric Hurwitz. Article created on 11/4/17.
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Connie's Rustic Kitchen and Tavern in Wrentham, Mass., feels
like it is located in the middle of nowhere, but, fortunately, is
situated close enough to Boston, Mass., and Providence, R.I., to make
the outstanding dining experience worth the drive.
For a few minutes, the roads leading to Connie's suggest nothing but
rural open land and lakes, but seemingly out of nowhere appears three
restaurants adjacent to flat land that looks more like the Midwest than
New England.
Rural Shears St. in Wrentham.
One of those restaurants is Connie's Rustic Kitchen and Tavern, and its
appearance immediately looks warm and inviting. The old cottage-like
building, which once housed The Anvil (a dive bar) and Mr. Dooley's
Tavern (Irish Pub) has given way to its most welcoming-looking version
at 303 Shears St., courtesy of Connie's.
Connie's Rustic Kitchen and Tavern in Wrentham.
Father Connie Perez and daughter Fatima Perez commute 45 minutes to an
hour daily from Everett -- one of the most densely populated cities in
the state -- to this sparsely populated Wrentham neighborhood to
passionately create various types of cuisine based on their unique and
specialized cooking and baking backgrounds. Connie, an El Salvador
native, has worked 25 years in the restaurant industry -- mostly close
to the Boston area -- with experience including Ristorante Saraceno in
the North End of Boston, Carlo's Cucina Italiana in Allston, Devlin's
Restaurant in Brighton, Dolce Vita in Boston and Brothers Restaurant in
Brookline. Fatima found her baking passion in high school and then
attended Newbury College in Boston for culinary management. At 23, she
has already worked at the highly-regarded Petsi Pies in Somerville.
This real-life, every day version of take your daughter to work day has
resulted in a restaurant experience where a father has finally realized
his own dreams by owning a restaurant and a daughter learning the field
while already bringing undeniable natural talent that just can't be
taught in school.
This is the dream restaurant for Connie and Fatima, and the dream
dining out experience for those having tried Connie's Rustic Kitchen
and Tavern -- first starting at the delightful entrance.
Entrance to Connie's in Wrentham.
Once stepping into the recently renovated restaurant that opened on
July 5, 2017, Connie's evokes a cozy, quaint atmosphere that looks like
the perfect dinner place to relax over drinks and home cooked meals.
With gleaming wood floors, alernatingly high and low ceilings, wall
sconces and country-style chandeliers providing ambiance, a beautiful
bar and a little alcove where red sofa chairs provide a comfortable
setting, it seems like every step of the way reveals that there's not a
bad seat in the house. It's simply a beautiful restaurant.
Cozy restaurant setting at Connie Rustic Kitchen and Tavern.
Bar and dining room area at Connie's.
As we know, however, the winner of a beauty contest does not always
translate well to substance and meaning, but, fortunately, Connie's
food offerings are the real draw here. Whether American, Mexican, Asian
or Italian, Connie's Rustic Kitchen and Tavern has something for
everyone in a family-friendly atmosphere. The menu is filled with
appetizers, burgers, sandwiches and paninis, salads and soups, but
often not typically-prepared dishes. Most dishes seem to be done with a
flair, case in point, the lamb shank with jalapeno mac and cheese,
asparagus, and root vegetables, and the stuffed chicken involtini with
spinach prosciutto fontina, chardonnay mushroom sauce seered with
mashed potatoes and green beans. If all that sounds too ambitious,
diners can go the opposite route and order familiar dishes like New
England clam chowder, fried calamari, a Caesar salad, chicken parm,
Shepherd's pie, or an angus burger with lettuce, tomato and onion.
"People can find a bit of everything here," said Connie. "It's a great
opportunity for us to bring different styles and backgrounds to our
restaurant."
Connie's also offers have gluten-free, kids and catering menus, as well
as offering a Sunday morning brunch with selections like pancakes, eggs
Benedict, French toast and bacon. What's more, the drinks list is
ambitious and includes 13 beers on tap and its signature rapsberry lemon drop martini.
Fatima says that some of the more popular items are the nachos, Philly
steak baked spring rolls served with smoked chipotle ketchup dipping
sauce, short ribs tacos, fish and chips, meatloaf dinner and stuffed
portobello with eggplant, tomato, mozzarella and red pepper coulis (a
form of thick sauce made from puréed and strained vegetables or fruit).
The filet mignon with bleu cheese, mashed potatoes, spinach and a demi
glace is worthy of the best of Boston with its tender flavor and well
chosen food combinations.
Filet mignon
from Connie's Rustic Kitchen and Tavern.
As mentioned, Fatima is a naturally-talented pasty chef. On her first
try, she came up with this perfectly-created, mouthwatering pumpkin
creme brulee...
Pumpkin creme brulee from Connie's Rustic Kitchen and Tavern.
Some other recent desserts created by Fatima include an apple cider
doughnut ice cream sandwich, a brownie sundae and cheesecake. Yum!
Connie has brought an amazing tour de force of culinary approaches to
his restaurant while a young, gifted baker in Fatima learns the
restaurant industry while immediately contributing through her own
considerable talents. It's a fabulous match, made even better by being
working together as family to make nearly 100 percent of its menu
selections from scratch.
"It's all pretty great," said Fatima. "My dad was looking to open a
restaurant and fell in love with this building. It's nice to be in the
countryside away from all those buildings."
While in the area, don't forget to enjoy that beautiful countryside
before or after the meal -- it's some of the prettiest scenery in the
Boston suburbs with placid waters and big skies included!
Mirror Lake near Connie's Rustic Kitchen.
Sunset at Emerald St. in Wrentham near Connie's Rustic Kitchen
and Tavern.
Connie's is definitely worth the drive from
Boston and
Providence, as well as for shoppers 10 minutes away at the Wrentham
Premium Outlets in Wrentham and Patriot Place in Foxborough.
Additionally, those
from nearby Franklin, Norfolk, Walpole, Medfield, Millis, Medway,
Bellingham and
Woonsocket should definitely take note of this fantastic newcomer to
the southwest of Boston dining scene. Already
established with nearly 100 percent filled-to-capacity crowds on
weekend nights, Connie's Rustic Kitchen and Tavern keeps evolving as
the father-daughter team grows as family and co-workers.
"Fatima learns a lot from me," said Connie. "And I learn a lot from
Fatima...We are very excited about having our own restaurant. "
Connie's Rustic Kitchen and Tavern is located at 303 Shears St. in
Wrentham MA. Tel. 508-384-3457. Web site: https://www.conniesrkt.com/.
Facebook fan page: https://www.conniesrkt.com/
Related article:
What
it's like to dine at the Bull Run Restaurant in Shirley, Mass.
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