New Chester Vegan Restaurant Receives Top Rating from the New York Times

November 29,2012 By Jerome Wilson

Exterior of Chester’s new vegan favorite, 6 Main Restaurant

The 6 Main vegan restaurant located at 6 Main Street in Chester has been given a top rating by the New York Times. The newspaper puts the restaurants that it reviews into the following categories: Don’t Miss, Worth It, O.K., and Don’t Bother.

Chester’s 6 Main Restaurant was placed in the top “Don’t Miss” category, which was accompanied by a long culinary review that appeared in the newspaper on November 16.

“Artistry at Work in a Vegan Menu” was the headline of the Times review, which was written by restaurant critic Stephanie Lyness. In her review Lyness was effusive in her praise for 6 Main’s creator and manager, Rachel Carr. She wrote:

“Rachael Carr speaks modestly about her considerable talents, which turns things like walnuts and avocado into other things like chorizo and ice cream. She smiles broadly when I suggest that her skill, making great-tasting vegan and raw food, might be more difficult than ‘real’ cooking –  after all, making everything from scratch takes on a whole new meaning when you make your own sour cream. ‘You just put stuff in the blender, ‘she says. Right.”

6 Main Restaurant’s Rachel Carr, a rave review by the New York Times

The Times review goes on to report that before she created 6 Main Restaurant in Chester, Ms. Carr served as “the executive chef at the award-winning Cru Restaurant in Los Angles for six years, after which she ran the kitchen at SunCafe’, a raw food restaurant in Studio City.”

6 Main Restaurant Just Opened Last June

Ms. Carr opened her 6 Main Restaurant in Chester last June, and even before critic Lynees’ rapturous review in the Times, the restaurant had been a success. Still, as Carr is quick to acknowledge that by serving only vegan and raw food, “We are a different kind of restaurant.” However, she adds, “We are really happy how we have been received in Chester. People have really embraced us.”

More Times Praise for 6 Main’s Creator, Rachel Carr

Continuing with its praise the reviewer Lyness wrote, “But it would be a mistake to reduce Ms. Carr’s artistry to sleight of hand or mimicry. The forms are familiar — entrees on the often-changing menu also include a raw-food tostada and linguine, and vegan potpie, mole enchilada and beet burger. But her cuisine is unique, distinctive and exciting, eliciting rounds of ‘utterly delicious’ and ‘pretty fabulous’ from my (the reviewer’s) dining companions throughout the meal.”

Look what’s cooking at Rachel Carr at 6 Main Restaurant in Chester

The review continued, “Sometimes Ms. Carr’s renditions almost seem to have an edge over the originals. Whisper-thin, jicama ravioli wrappers contrasted appealingly with the creamy filling, and their fresh, delicate sweetness was delightful with the lively, tart and tangy sun-dried tomato-hazelnut Romesco Sauce,”

The review concludes, “But Ms. Carr’s skills are incontrovertible. She has managed to create a plant-based cuisine that is homey and elegant, satisfying, clean and beautiful without being fussy. And for sheer wizardry, one can only marvel at her flaxseed tostada topped with walnut-pepita ‘chorizo’ cumin-sunflower seed ‘frajols’ and cashew ‘crema.’”

Many Ingredients from a Farm in Old Lyme

Many of the organic ingredients that Six Main’s Rachel Carr uses at her restaurant are harvested from the Upper Pond Farm in Old Lyme. The farm is owned by Bill de Jonge, who also owns the Chester Bank building in which the restaurant is located and who is a principal investor in the restaurant, the Times reported.

The complete Times review of 6 Main Restaurant can be found on the newspaper’s web site.  The phone number is 860-322-4212 for reservations.