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LIFESTYLE LETTER

A Little Dash of Milford Food and drink issues tend to lean toward comfort, and this one does too, though comfort here means something a little more particular than usual: a chef who spent years building other people's restaurants before finally building his own, a home cook who moonlights as a physician, and a dinner party where the wine is plentiful, the conversation careful, and not everything is as it seems. Our cover story features Dan Kardos, chef and owner of Café Melba on Melba Street, through thirty years of service industry experiences. From dish washing to restaurateur-ing, Melba signifies the first establishment he’s opened entirely on his own, and according to his own rules. He talks with us about what each stop taught him, and what it took to trust himself enough to take the leap. This issue also marks a first for us: fiction. We're running our inaugural short story, set at a dinner party on Charles Island where not everything at the table is quite so savory. Read it in a quiet place and see what happens when good food and competing motivations converge in a naturally mysterious – and beloved – local setting. And no food and drink issue would be complete without a mouth-watering recipe. We're pairing a look at Stappa’s fall wine offerings with a dish from Dr. Vito Errico, who spends his days reading scans and his evenings in the kitchen crafting old world meals for family and friends. Taken together, these pieces say something I keep noticing the longer I live in Milford: the most interesting people here are rarely doing just one thing, and the ones who end up doing what they love usually got there by a winding road, a pinch of luck, and a little spice. Thank you for picking up this issue. Pour something good, and dig in.

October 2026 PUBLISHER

Mark Arnold | mark.arnold@citylifestyle.com E D I TO R

Chelsea Spata | chelsea.spata@citylifestyle.com INTERN

Harshitha Kothapalli CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Marie Chutjian, Harshitha Kothapalli, Chelsea Spata C O N T R I B U T I N G P H OTO G R AP H E R S

Mark Arnold, Marie Chutjian, Cole Heitmann

Corporate Team CEO Steven Schowengerdt President Matthew Perry CRO Jamie Pentz CoS Janeane Thompson AD DESIGNER Rachel Chrisman LAYOUT DESIGNER Lillian Gibbs QUALITY CONTROL SPECIALIST Marina Campbell

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Learn how to start your own publication at citylifestyle.com//franchise. Proverbs 3:5-6 Milford City Lifestyle™ is published monthly by Lifestyle Publications LLC. It is distributed via the US Postal Service to some of the Milford area’s most affluent neighborhoods. Articles and advertisements do not necessarily reflect Lifestyle Publications’ opinions.

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inside the issue OC TOB E R 2 02 6 | FOOD & D R I N K

18 Featured

28 36

WHY CHOOSE BETWEEN PRESTIGE AND PLACEMENT?

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Dan Kardos spent thirty years opening restaurants. Café Melba is the first one that's his.

Fully Functional Art Sunshine Ceramics Joins Creative Forces with Café Melba

Low Tide

A Charles Island Dinner Party

On the Cover Chapter XXIV: Bread and Butter Chef Dan Kardos in the Café Melba courtyard Photography: Mark Arnold

Print Prestige Meets Digital Power.

Lifestyle Letter

City Scene

Business Monthly

Local Limelight FOOD + BEVERAGE

Artist’s Palette ARTS + CULTURE

Happy Hour FOOD + BEVERAGE

Must See FOOD + BEVERAGE

Culinary Creations FOOD + BEVERAGE

Realty Report REAL ESTATE

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1: Dress to impress, dress for the moment, always be prepared 2: Summer nights reliving childhood 3: Beautiful families, spectacular weather, and happy people at Fair On The Half Shell 4: The ultimate Dill Seeker 5: Milford is a place for families 6: All smiles from Clukey Chiropractic during Fair On The Half Shell 7: Maris from Bodhi Tree Gardens, offering skin care products, fragrances, and soaps

Photography by Staff

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8: Our favorite fairgoer 9: Sealove Designs brings handcrafted goods to Fair On The Half Shell 10: Boys and Girls Club Board host red carpet event to celebrate Matheus' first cover 11: Get in loser, we're going shopping (at Bond & Co.!) 12: Longboard Champion 2026 13: All ages welcome at the Fair! 14: Fame suits them

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OCTOB ER 2 0 2 6 | C I TYL I FE STYL E . C O M / M I L F O R D

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business monthly A R O U N D U P O F N E W S F R O M LO C A L B U S I N E S S E S

R&M Cutlet Co. Brings Authentic Italian Deli Flavor to Milford R&M Cutlet Co. is an Italian deli and sandwich shop at 575 New Haven Avenue. Opened in late 2025, the deli quickly earned a "Best of Milford 2026" award. The shop builds its menu around signature cutlets, imported Italian salami, and house-made spreads, all layered into fresh sandwiches and antipasto plates made from quality ingredients. Beyond the counter, R&M also caters, offering sandwich platters and party trays for local gatherings and celebrations.

Jeannie Maestre is here for your Personalized Diet Consulting Needs Jeannie Maestre is a Women's Holistic Wellness Coach, certified NASM personal trainer and nutrition coach, and hands-on stretch specialist. Drawing on 18 years as a hairstylist and a passion for holistic health, Jeannie helps busy women and moms in their 30s and 40s reconnect with themselves through a bio-individual, science-backed approach. Her personalized strategies target hormone balance, gut health, and sustainable weight management, empowering clients to feel strong, energized, and confident.

Don Rene Taqueria is Fresh, Family-Owned, and Full of Flavor Tucked on South Broad Street, Don Rene Taqueria has been serving up traditional Mexican fare for more than a decade, family-owned from the start. The menu leans into variety, from Beef Birria and Pork Carnitas to Baja Fish and Ribeye Asada, plus appetizers like esquites and shrimp ceviche. Ingredients come from local farmers markets, and desserts like tres leches and churros round out the meal.

CONTINUED >

B USIN E SS M ON T H LY

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business monthly CONTINUED

Pizza Lyfe is a Crust Above the Rest With locations in Westport and Milford, Pizza Lyfe is the newest chapter in a family restaurant legacy spanning three decades, following Quattro Pazzi and Organika Kitchen. Their signature move is the crust: naturally fermented, 100% sourdough, and made with unbleached whole grain flour. Beyond pizza, the menu includes meatball subs, salads, and grain bowls built on seasonal, locally sourced ingredients. It's an approach that's earned them "best pizza in Westport" three years running.

Photography by Nutmeg Millennial

Scoops for Every Season (and Every Species) at Scoopy Doo's Scoopy Doo's on Helwig Street is Milford's seasonal scoop shop, open May through the warmer months with more than 75 flavors of ice cream, gelato, frozen yogurt, and Italian ice, plus custom ice cream cakes. Dog owners take note: there's a puppy-safe ice cream on the menu, too. Hours shift with the weather, so it's worth a call before heading over — or follow along on Instagram for the latest on openings and new flavors.

The Proof is in the Pastry at Scratch Baking Scratch Baking has been a fixture on Broad Street for years, known for treating every customer like a regular. That warmth hasn't changed under new ownership: founder Lesli recently passed the reins to her longtime manager, who's kept the shop running with the same care that earned it a following. Scratch turns out pastries, lunch sandwiches, quiche, and custom cakes for birthdays and other celebrations, with catering available for bigger occasions.

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Dan K ar dos spent th ir ty ye a rs opening r est aurants. C afé Me lb a is th e f ir st one th at's his .

NO SIGN REQUIRED

ARTICLE BY CHELSEA SPATA | PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK ARNOLD

It’s a humid summer morning, and a rush of cool air hits me as I step into Café Melba. All around me is the sound and smell of a restaurant that sleeps – before the prep crew arrives to chop and dice, before the ovens kick on, before the front-ofhouse staff slinks in. The scents of fry oil, degreaser, and Fabuloso compete for my attention, and I’m instantly transported back to the many evenings I spent waiting tables after college – slicing lemons, balancing martini glasses, rolling silverware, flirting with line cooks, and subsisting on nothing but free bread and Diet Pepsi.

LOCA L LIM E LIGH T | FO OD + BE VE RAGE

Restaurants are nostalgic spaces. For Dan Kardos, owner and chef at Café Melba, they are all he’s ever known. “I’ve worked in restaurants since I was fifteen,” he tells me that morning. “I’ve done every job – dishwasher, server, cook, even corporate strategy. I’ve opened five or six other restaurants, but this is the first one I’ve done entirely on my own, and according to my own vision.” We’re sitting at a table in Melba’s outdoor courtyard. The space is intentionally reminiscent of the ruin bars of Budapest’s old Jewish quarter – bars built into buildings left in rubble after the devastation of the 1940s and ‘50s, later reclaimed by young artists who filled them with color and eclectic furniture. Nothing matches on purpose. The walls are covered floor to ceiling in art, almost all of it local: sculptures from Tony Jabornik, a Czech Republic native who lives up the street; paintings from local artists Gigi Motley and John Tarka; murals by Jess Ortega across the parking lot at the laundromat and ice cream shop; pieces Kardos has picked up on his own travels through Europe. “There’s never enough hanging up,” Kardos tells me, surveying the walls. “There’s always room for more.” Kardos, 45, fits well in this space: an amalgamation of aesthetics himself, he dons lime green athletic shorts, a black Café Melba T-shirt, a le petit laundry baseball cap (the name of the laundromat he owns across the street), and gold wire-rimmed glasses. Every now and then he swirls his iced coffee from Scratch Baking or smooths his reddish-brown facial hair. He talks with his hands and seems to have trouble sitting still. After growing up in Stratford, Kardos graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 2000 and landed a job at the Waldorf Astoria in New York before he was even twenty. Then came September 11th, which shut down that part of the city and cost him his place on staff. “I could wait to get my job back, or I could figure it out,” he says. He chose the latter, bouncing between kitchens until he met Bill Taibe, who ran a restaurant called Relish on Washington Street, right as South Norwalk was becoming one of the region’s hottest restaurant scenes. “There were no restaurants in Westport at that point. Nothing in Stamford. Barcelona wasn’t even open yet,” he recalls. What followed was two decades of kitchens up and down the East Coast. He spent years with the Barteca Group opening Bar Taco and Barcelona locations, helped open The Whelk in Westport,

"Honestly, it was the courtyard that drew me in. I thought it'd be cool for a low-key, neighborhood, off-the-radar kind of place."

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"I've never had that before, where people know my house and I know theirs... That sense of community is really what I've taken away here."

LOCA L LIM E LIGH T | FO OD + BE VE RAGE

and eventually took over the kitchen at Harvest Supper in New Canaan, owned by well-known New York restaurateurs Jack and Grace Lamb. Later he headed south, eventually landing a research-and-development chef role with a large hospitality group that ran seventeen restaurants, bakeries, and breweries. By his own account, it was a great job – and one he wasn’t built for. “I didn’t fit in. I can’t have a boss,” he says simply. That restlessness eventually pulled him back to Connecticut, when friends who’d bought a dive bar in Milford called and asked for help with the menu. That partnership turned into Liberty Rock, a Milford bar that ran for nearly a decade before closing recently when the building was sold. By the time the pandemic had passed, Kardos and his wife Julie were living just up the street from a small strip that included a vacant juice bar. He wasn’t picturing a restaurant. “Honestly, it was the courtyard that drew me in,” he says. “I thought it’d be cool for a low-key, neighborhood, off-the-radar kind of place.” His real plan, he says, was something closer to a private studio – a space for cooking classes, the occasional themed dinner, maybe a cigar night – with a restaurant as an afterthought. The day the space went vacant, he pulled over when he saw the property manager hanging the for-lease sign and asked them to take it right back down. Café Melba opened in October of 2023 with no sign, no website, and no phone number. It’s been packed ever since. But Kardos affirms that his lack of marketing has more to do with functionality and economics than it does mystique. “For the first year, even two, people would ask why I didn’t have a sign,” says Kardos. “But you found the place. You got here. What do you need a sign for?” It started, he admits, as simple privacy – he didn’t want industry friends banging

on the door asking what he was building while he still had tools in his hands. But once the restaurant opened, the mystery became its own kind of marketing. People noticed the unmarked building and asked around. Word spread. The sign that does exist is nailed to the fence out back, more relic than advertisement. As for the phone number, Kardos says matter-of-factly: “Staff is expensive, and we change the menu all the time,” he says. “If I’m not taking reservations, why do I need a phone number?” The menu is built around European small plates – French, Spanish and Italian dishes like duck confit and escargot, given what he calls “a little modern spin” and a rotating cast of seasonal ingredients. About five items stay constant; everything else changes often, partly because ingredient pricing shifts and partly because Kardos likes to keep experimenting. In the cooler months, he also runs hands-on classes in pasta-making, mozzarella, and risotto – all taught by Kardos himself. Running the business, Kardos has learned, means resisting the urge to simply do more. Café Melba is currently open just three nights a week – Thursday, Friday and Saturday – after Kardos discovered that adding a fourth day didn’t grow revenue so much as spread the same sales across more overhead. Thursdays now carry a standing deal: half-price wine bottles and ten-dollar sandwiches, a promotion that reliably fills the room. What he wants, he says, are guests who come back two or three times a month – neighbors, not tourists chasing a deal. Reservations are reserved for parties of eight or more, both because the restaurant’s outdoor space is weather-dependent and because Kardos wants to preserve a come-one, come-all feel rather than exclusivity. Weekend daytimes, when the CONTINUED >

OCTOB ER 2 0 2 6 | C I TYL I FE STYL E . C O M / M I L F O R D

restaurant is closed for regular service, are given over almost entirely to private events – baby showers, bridal showers, and birthday parties booked at prices he keeps deliberately reasonable. That sense of neighborhood runs through nearly everything Kardos describes. Longtime customer Robin Kramer hosted her son’s wedding at the restaurant; her husband Ken now leads a jazz night in the courtyard once a month, an event that fills the outdoor space with regulars and newcomers alike. Kardos has also shown up at the local farmers market to buy ingredients from vendors and cook them on the spot for anyone watching. “I’ve never had that before, where people know where my house is and I know theirs,” he says of settling into Milford. “That sense of community is really what I’ve taken away from this place.” Next door, Kardos is also slowly building out Melba Crème, an ice cream shop housed in a former bakery he took over across the parking lot, now outfitted with a full kitchen and a new pizza oven. Seasonal staffing and unpredictable weather have kept its hours limited so far, something Kardos hopes to expand in time. For now, though, his focus stays on Café Melba itself. He has no interest in opening another

restaurant in town until this one feels finished, even though, he admits, it probably never fully will. “I’m in the kitchen every day,” he shrugs. “I’m a decent chef – there are plenty better than I am, of course, always – but people seem to like what I’m doing here. I try to keep that quality consistent.” Asked what makes a good restaurant owner, he doesn’t hesitate: understanding your customers, understanding your product, and staying willing to adapt. “If you don’t have a real understanding of food, which is what you sell at a restaurant, you’re in trouble,” he says. “And that goes beyond knowing what tastes good. You also have to know what things cost, what you can get when, and what the people you’re serving actually want.” It’s a lesson Kardos has learned across three decades and multiple restaurants, and a lesson he’s prepared to apply to Café Melba for the foreseeable future. “My landlords really took a chance on me,” he reflects at the end of our conversation. “They gave me a shot, and what came out of it is my interpretation of what a restaurant can be, not necessarily should be.” He pauses, nodding slowly, looking around, and taking in what he has built over the last three years. “This is what works for me, what works for this community. I’m proud of it.” CONTINUED >

LOCA L LIM E LIGH T | FO OD + BE VE RAGE

OCTOB ER 2 0 2 6 | C I TYL I FE STYL E . C O M / M I L F O R D

IF YOU GO Café Melba, 232 Melba St., serves modern European small plates Thursday through Saturday: Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 5 to 9:30 p.m. There's no sign out front and no phone line — the front door is the only way in. The menu changes often depending on what's in season, though regulars can usually count on finding breads and spreads, salads, meat, and seafood year round. Thursdays carry a standing deal: half-price bottles of wine, plus a $10 burger and $10 chicken sandwich. Seating includes an outdoor courtyard, but the area is weather dependent, so plan accordingly if the weather turns. Reservations are accepted only for parties of eight or more; smaller groups are seated on a walk-in basis. Private parties, including bridal showers, birthdays, and similar gatherings, can be booked for weekend daytimes, when the restaurant is otherwise closed to the public. Rates for these events are kept intentionally modest. To see photos, upcoming events, or samples of recent menus, follow them on Instagram at @cafemelbact. 232 Melba St., Milford Thurs 5–9 p.m. | Fri–Sat 5–9:30 p.m.

LOCA L LIM E LIGH T | FO OD + BE VE RAGE

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FULLY Functional Art Sunshine Ceramics Joins Creative Forces with Café Melba ARTICLE AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARIE CHUTJIAN

As a longtime Milford resident and dedicated Wanda’s Sugar Shack kid, I was honored to take over her space in Harborwalk and breathe new life into it. Sunshine Ceramics officially opened on the summer solstice of 2023 in that same downtown location where so many wonderful memories live. On any given day you can still come in and find plenty of chocolate, but you’ll also see smiling faces and friends covered in clay, laughing, loving, and making one huge mess. The decision to open a pottery studio was easy; art has saved me many times over throughout my life, but clay always drew me in the most. There is something so inexplicable about the material, the way it grounds, centers, humbles, teaches, and nurtures your spirit. The way you can take a handful of mud, our most primal material, and create something beautiful, useful, and lasting — something to long outlive our mere existence, something that in no way resembles its former self. That is exactly what pottery does — it creates an inner experience that will long outlast ourselves, creates a version of us that in no way resembles what we were before we dove headfirst into the most immersive and captivating art form available. I was desperate to share this feeling — to make this experience accessible to as many people as possible. I was confident that opening a pottery studio would be good for the community; what I never thought to imagine was the beautiful community that would grow within it. Now entering year four of our journey, we have done and seen so many wonderful things. We have watched friendships form and grow; we have witnessed people finding passion for something, finding themselves and each other. The most important part of what we do at Sunshine is create space for community to flourish and connections to form. Over the years we have started to

A RT IST ’S PA LE T T E | ARTS + CU LT U RE

expand our reach beyond the shop walls, into the wilds of Milford and surrounding areas through collaborations and off-site events — the most recent and exciting of which is our partnership with Café Melba. When Chef Dan and I began discussing what our collaboration would look like, I was overcome with excitement. As a culinary school graduate myself, I understand deeply how important a dish is for plating; it serves as the chef’s canvas, a vessel for their art, to be enjoyed as a part of the dining experience. As a potter, my greatest wish is that my pieces are seen and used as a part of daily living — fully functional art, just as it’s meant to be. CONTINUED > OCTOB ER 2 0 2 6 | C I TYL I FE STYL E . C O M / M I L F O R D

This project embodies all of my passions, and I hold it very close to my heart. Being given creative freedom is what an artist craves most deeply, and knowing that Chef Dan let me breathe fully into this with no restrictions is what made it so special; I have never been more proud of a final result. Bringing friends and family to Café Melba for an incredible meal, seeing my dinnerware in use, is the culmination of many years of practice, patience, and perseverance through countless failures, of trusting the process, and of believing that passion and relentless pursuit of what you believe in most deeply will always materialize. Though our mediums might be a bit different, Chef and I share a very common mission: rejoice in our communities, bring together all the corners of what makes us special and unique, and craft with care. As Sunshine continues to grow, my aim is simple: continue to do exactly what we’ve been doing. Create space for people to exist and grow in. Create space for your wildest desires to breathe, for your passions to come to life. Create space for all to live in, to the fullest extent. We need community and love now more than ever. We are here for exactly that. Come see us for a class, a workshop, an experience, and I promise you’ll leave with more than you imagined.

A RT IST ’S PA LE T T E | ARTS + CU LT U RE

Come Clay with Us Sunshine Ceramics is located at 22 Broad Street in Downtown Milford. The studio is open Tuesday through Friday, 2 to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. (closed Mondays). Classes run for eight weeks, two hours a night, and include wheel throwing, hand-building, and private lessons, with clay, glazes, and firing all included in the fee. Basic tool kits are available in-studio for $15. Open studio access is available through membership. To book a class, browse upcoming workshops, or purchase a gift card, visit sunshineceramicstudios.com. For private lessons or general questions, call (203) 892-4468 or email sunshineceramics22@gmail.com. You can also follow along on Instagram @sunshine.ceramics.studio.

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ARTICLE BY HARSHITHA KOTHAPALLI | PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK ARNOLD

Passion, Picnics, and Pinot Alexa Charles on turning her family's land into Stappa Vineyard, where Sunday tradition and experimentation come together in every glass A hidden gem in plain sight is the best way to describe the beauty and comfort of Stappa Vineyard. The classy yet inviting atmosphere is what makes Stappa feel less like somewhere you simply stop for a glass of wine and more like somewhere you are meant to stay. For owner and operator Alexa Charles, that was always part of the vision. Stappa originally began as a retirement property for Charles’ parents, both of whom are from Italy and grew up surrounded by farming and vineyards. When the family first discovered the property, part of it had been damaged by a fire, and much of the land was covered by trees. Together, the family worked to clear the property and eventually transform it into the luscious vineyard it is today. “It was really about getting a space where all of us could reconnect again,” Charles said. Rather than gathering for the traditional Sunday dinners, the family began turning them into what they called “Sunday picnics” on the property. That sense of connection remains at the heart of Stappa’s mission. Charles grew up

H AP PY H OU R | FO O D + BE VE RAGE

around her family’s tradition of making wine, but it was not until she truly developed a passion for the process that she fell in love. Charles quickly began experimenting with different varieties and constantly evolving her knowledge. “For me, I’m still learning as I go,” she said. “But I just kind of fell in love, and here it is today, in all its glory.” Today, Stappa handles its winemaking process from start to finish. It begins with growing and harvesting the grapes before moving through crushing, pressing, fermentation, and aging. The vineyard also uses a natural clearing process and avoids animal byproducts in its wines. For Charles, that hands-on process leaves plenty of room for creativity. Experimentation has become one of the things she enjoys most about winemaking. Stappa’s upcoming limited-edition California Pinot Noir is expected to arrive in the fall season. The vineyard has also produced experimental wines in the past, including a White Pinot Noir and the 06477 orange wine, which received a silver medal in California.

“ I ’m opening myself up; I ’m let ting you critique me... but it ’s more like welcoming you into my family.”

The vineyard’s upcoming events offer visitors even more reasons to spend an afternoon on the property. This includes a Fall Market on September 26, a Steal My Style Market on October 4, and a holiday market on December 12. The markets bring together local artisans and vendors, along with live music, creating an experience that extends beyond the vineyard itself.

Above all, Charles wants Stappa to feel personal. The vineyard is not simply a business or a destination; it is an extension of her family and a place where people can come together and create their own memories. “I’m opening myself up; I’m letting you critique me, and I’m seeing you enjoy it,” Charles said. “But it’s more like welcoming you into my family.” OCTOB ER 2 0 2 6 | C I TYL I FE STYL E . C O M / M I L F O R D

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A Charles Island Dinner Party

ARTICLE BY CHELSEA SPATA PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK ARNOLD, COLE HEITMANN

Low Tide 36

M UST SE E | FO O D + BEVERAGE

An Invitation to a Friend, to Supper October 10 | 7 PM Charles Island | Milford CT Please join us for an evening of food, wine, and hearty conversation with renowned chef and restauranteur Alda Bennet. *** Frances Hill watched intently as the seagulls traipsed back and forth looking for food. They were discerning, these gulls, in the way they prodded, tested, exalted their favorites from the sand. Frances couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten something with such curiosity and focus. The train to Milford, Connecticut was less than three hours from Boston, and Frances spent the majority of the ride re-reading everything she’d learned about Alda Bennet and Charles Island: the former, a Michelin-star-chef-turned-recluse at the height of her career, and the latter, a “thrice-cursed” island sitting just beyond the Milford coastline in the middle of the Long Island Sound. Both were equally mysterious in their accessibility: Bennet had been photographed numerous times visiting farmers markets in the small coastal town. Now in her early sixties, she was petite with short gray hair and carried the expression of any mother or grandmother: peaceful, inquisitive, warm.

CONTINUED >

OCTOB ER 2 0 2 6 | C I TYL I FE STYL E . C O M / M I L F O R D

“As she shielded her eyes from the sun, she noticed the tombolo: a waxing stretch of sand that connected the island to the mainland for a brief period.” Charles Island was now a bird sanctuary. Frances had arrived at Silver Sands State Park one hour before the scheduled event. She’d followed the boardwalk down to the water and laid a thinning, blueand-white-striped hotel towel on the sand to wait. Charles Island, she saw, was closer than she’d imagined – close enough to swim to, if you really had to get there – or back. As she shielded her eyes from the sun, she noticed the tombolo: a waxing stretch of sand that connected the island to the mainland for a brief period during low tides. A few people moved cautiously across the exposed sandbar. From where she sat, it looked like they were walking on water. The weather was still warm in early fall, and Frances had opted for an “elevated casual” look as no dress code had been provided. She wore light linen pants, a sleeveless black blouse, and a pair of black sandals. She’d relished the opportunity to do her makeup in peace – slowly and thoughtfully, without interruption or rushing to get the kids to their next activity. She’d even glued small fake eyelashes to the corners of her eyelids. When she saw herself in the hotel’s bathroom mirror, she smiled at the stranger before her. “What’s happening, Frances?” She turned toward the voice, but the man was already passing her as he sat reclined atop a bright orange beach cruiser bicycle. She watched as he abruptly stopped the bike ten feet down the sand, his back now to her, and hopped off hazardously, the handlebars crashing to the ground as he dismounted. Oh, no,” he said, regaining his balance and turning toward her, then back to the bike, his eyes darting feverishly between the confused woman on his right and the fallen cruiser on his left. It was only then that Frances was able to see him fully: small in stature and dressed in gray-green coveralls. He wore thick-rimmed glasses that had tilted during his whimsical arrival. A camera swung from his neck as he approached her.

M UST SE E | FO O D + BEVERAGE

“Fraaaaances,” he half-spoke, half-sung as if they were old friends. He made no effort to shake hands but instead grasped his camera in front of his chest and beamed up at her, silent. At five-foot-seven, Frances felt unusually tall next to him, but he didn’t seem to notice or mind. She nodded and raised her eyebrows expectantly. “Oh right yes, I’m Mark,” he said, turning quickly to snap a photo of the water. He looked back at her, his smile even wider. He must have been in his mid-forties, but he was boyish in the way he moved with the speed and attention of a hummingbird, drawn from one thing to another with equal intensity each time. “You ready?” he asked, already walking away. “We’ll take the tombolo,” she could hear him call, his voice muffled by the wind. “HA, just kidding. Although I’ve always wanted to. The boat’s right over there. But my bike. Hmmm. Do you think it’ll fit? What do you think I should do with my bike?” He was looking at her again, this time with childish wonder, a genuine plea. It reminded her of the way her oldest daughter had looked at her when she lost her first tooth. “I can help,” she said. She took a step forward. Between the two of them they wrestled the bicycle down the sand and onto the bow of a mud-crusted little boat idling at the edge of the shallows. Mark climbed in first, then reached back for her hand – an unexpectedly steady grip, apparently reserved just for this – and steered them out past the sandbar, where three strangers were picking their way across the last of the exposed tombolo, ankles wet, heads down, careful as gulls. As they covered the short distance, she watched the island grow – low, wooded, ringed with dark rock. Someone had strung small gold lights through the branches nearest the water. At the top of a short stone path stood a long table draped in white linen, lit by that same string of bulbs. Two place settings.

“The texture was velvety and the flavor robust. Salty, herbal, a hint of spice, a surprising oakiness that reminded her of chardonnay.” “Don’t worry about the size,” Mark said, following her eyes, setting his camera down at last. “Alda likes it small. Intimate. She says a big table is like a book nobody’s read.” He laughed. Frances shrugged. “I’m a Buddhist,” he announced to nobody in particular. A woman appeared from the direction of a low stone chimney – not Bennet, Frances understood immediately, though it took her a moment to say how she knew. This woman moved like an apparition through the dim light, appearing to float instead of walk, her slight frame occasionally lost to Frances’s eyes as she set down a carafe of something without a word. Alda Bennet came around the same corner a moment after, unhurried, wiping her hands on an apron that had clearly seen forty years of service before this one. In person she was even smaller than her photographs, softer at the edges – the kind of woman you’d trust immediately with your Thanksgiving turkey or your children. “Frances Hill,” she said, not as a question, and took both of Frances’s hands in her own, cool and dry as paper. “You wrote about a woman who ate a whole peach standing naked in her kitchen. I think about that peach more than I think about most people I’ve met.” Frances laughed, startled, flattered despite herself. “I didn’t think anyone still read that book,” she said. “I read everything once,” Alda said, already turning toward the table, already finished with the moment. “And the true

things twice. Sit. Here – some wine.” Her abruptness reminded Frances, already, of Mark. She wondered if they were lovers, or perhaps siblings. As if on cue, Mark appeared with the first course: a shallow bowl the color of low tide, pale gray-green, with three unshelled oysters resting in it like stones. “Chowder,” Alda said, though it looked like nothing Frances had ever been served. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but a gray soup wasn’t it. In the months leading up to the dinner, she had let her mind wander – less about the type of person Bennet would be and more about the kind of food she’d have the chance to taste. She had pictured vibrant colors, luscious fruits – foams, purées, pink fishes and crimson meats, jellied eggs and wet sugared garnishes, edible flowers, delicate sauces, animal innards presented with such craft and balance that she’d suck her own teeth when she was finished and wonder how she’d gone her whole life without it. Alda watched as Frances lifted the soup spoon to her lips. “Well?” she asked. The texture was velvety and the flavor robust. Salty, herbal, a hint of spice, a surprising oakiness that reminded her of chardonnay. Frances felt transported but couldn’t place the flavor in her past. She tilted another spoonful onto her tongue, hoping to excavate some memory, some Proustian flood of things past – but it remained just out of reach. “It’s good,” Frances said finally.

CONTINUED >

OCTOB ER 2 0 2 6 | C I TYL I FE STYL E . C O M / M I L F O R D

Alda stared intently at her guest. Up close, Frances could see that while her hands were worn – scarred from years of burns and accidental slips of the knife – the skin on the woman’s face was full and taut. A pale purple vein curled around her right eye as if placed there on purpose, and Frances had the intense desire to reach out and trace it, to follow the woman’s blood river to the mouth where everything converged in its own hot, scarlet soup. Frances could feel Alda become aware that she was being studied. The woman’s soft, maternal smile begun to fade. Her head tilted downward and she pursed her lips. Suddenly, she clapped her hands once in front of her. Thwack. “A meal is a story,” she said, lacing her fingers together. “If this soup were the beginning of a story, what kind of story do you think it would be?” She was staring up at Frances with the same desperate innocence Mark had shown her on the beach. But something was different. Alda’s eyes were squinted not with curiosity or hunger but with the unsettling glaze of expectation. Her smile returned, but Frances had the unmistakable feeling that her host – who had yet to explain why she was there, why any of them were there – was losing patience. “Um,” Frances began. “Something set in New England? A dreary landscape. Yeah, an almost oppressive setting.” She was actually thinking about Alda’s question now, about how she would describe this understated chowder in narrative prose. “Ordinary characters, not much happens with the plot, but they feel deeply. Maybe one of them has a secret the others don’t know. And something happens between them, something that alters their relationships permanently – ” “Yes,” Alda said calmly. She had moved so close to Frances’s face that Frances could see the brown flecks in her eyes as she licked her lips just inches from her own.

M UST SE E | FO O D + BEVERAGE

“You know how to compose,” Alda stated as she took the spoon from Frances’s hand and slurped some of the chowder herself. “You understand what a story needs, how to match character and object – like that woman and the peach. You would never stand in your kitchen naked and let peach juice drip down your arms, would you? But she would. That woman would. Because you made it so.” “And you do the same with food, then?” Frances asked. “Oh, I have no idea,” Alda chuckled. “I’d hope people would say that. But really, I’m no composer. I’m more of a translator.” Suddenly, Mark was at her side, clearing the first course and setting the second down in front of her. On the plate were two small round cakes so yellow they were almost orange, with hot pink spots settled like mold atop the crust. Frances lifted a fork and lightly poked at one of them: spongey, sticky – they looked like something her daughter would have asked to have at her birthday party. “Far cry from dreary New England, huh?” Alda winked, and nodded for Frances to take a bite. It continued like this for the rest of the meal: a course was delivered, Frances would taste, and Alda would ask for a story on the spot. As Frances became increasingly thoughtful in her responses, Alda grew energized, almost child-like in her desire to be told a tale nobody else had heard before. Occasionally the nameless woman would appear at Frances’s side to refill her wine glass, and soon Frances began to feel at ease in this strange space. Like a jazz musician, she found herself loosened – riffing, laughing. Alda laughed along with her. Somewhere in the middle of course nine, Frances – foggy from the wine and sweating softly beneath her blouse – put her fork down and closed her eyes. She breathed in the familiar scent of the earth, of garlic, of an extinguished candle and a woman’s perfume – was it her own? – before turning toward Alda and musing, “that peach was never supposed to be a peach. It was supposed to be a bulb of garlic. They wanted beautiful, sensual, feminist. I wanted grotesque.” Alda, now reclined in her chair with both hands rested atop her belly, nodded slowly, satisfied, the way a doctor nods at a symptom she’d expected to hear. “What would that version have looked like?” And Frances told her. She described to Alda the original manuscript, the incomplete but true version of the story she’d written during graduate school, when she was still proud to tell people she read books for a living. She heard her own voice going warm and easy across the table,

luxuriating in the strange relief of being listened to like this, and it was only when she reached for the bread and found she’d already eaten all of it that a thought surfaced, distant and cold: she’d said this before, tonight. Three times. In three different ways. She looked up. The woman with no name was refilling her glass again, silent, watching the water. “Where’s Mark?” Frances asked, realizing she hadn’t heard the camera in some time. “Photographing the birds,” Alda said. “He does that. Don’t worry – the boat isn’t going anywhere without you.” Frances turned toward the water on instinct and found only water – no sandbar, no ribbon of wet sand, no strangers picking their way home. The tombolo she’d watched that afternoon from Silver Sands had vanished beneath a flat sheet of black tide. She hadn’t noticed it going. “How long until he’s back?” she asked. “Hours,” Alda said, not unkindly. “Plenty of time for dessert.” It arrived as a small dark tart – purple flower petals candied and flattened across the top of a glistening black custard. Pansies freaked with jet, Frances thought to herself, a favorite line from a favorite poem from a time that wasn’t so distant as she remembered. “I have a proposal,” Alda said, and for the first time all night she looked older than she was. “I want the ending to that story. The real one. The one you haven’t said out loud, not even to yourself.” “And if I give it to you?” “Then it becomes something,” Alda said. “Something people taste. Something finished, instead of something going stale on a desktop for another decade.” She glanced, without quite looking, toward the woman still standing at the edge of the table. “Ask her how it feels, finally being finished.” The woman said nothing. She had never, Frances realized, said anything at all. “And if I don’t?” “Then you go home hungry,” Alda said, “same as you came. Nothing lost – except you’ll always know exactly how it ends, and exactly what you were too tired to do about it.” Frances thought of the poem on the invitation, the one almost no one read anymore, and its old promise that nothing said at that table would ever be repeated outside it. She understood now that Alda had never promised any such thing. Only that it wouldn’t be repeated in words. Somewhere past the dark, the tide kept coming in.

OCTOB ER 2 0 2 6 | C I TYL I FE STYL E . C O M / M I L F O R D

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CREAMY SAFFRON-LEMON RISOTTO BRIGHTENED WITH LIMONCELLO, FRESH HERBS AND PARMESAN, TOPPED WITH PAN-SEARED GARLIC SHRIMP

RISOTTO DI LIMONE CON GAMBERI ARTICLE BY VITO ERRICO, MD | PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK ARNOLD The key to a great risotto is balance. The limoncello in this recipe provides a subtle citrus sweetness, while the fresh lemon juice, Parmesan, and saffron add brightness, richness, and depth. The finished dish should be creamy, savory, and lemon-forward.

LEMON PARMESAN RISOTTO WITH PAN-ROASTED SHRIMP Ingredients • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice 4 cups chicken stock 1/4 cup limoncello 2 shallots, minced 4 tablespoons butter, divided 1/4 cup olive oil Zest of 1/2 lemon Juice of 1/2 lemon, plus more to taste 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1 pinch saffron 2 tablespoons warm water 1-2 teaspoons fresh sage, chopped 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves Salt and ground black pepper to taste

FOR THE SHRIMP:

• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

• 2 tablespoons butter • Garlic seasoning to taste • Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions 1. Steep

the saffron in the warm water. 2. Warm the stock in a saucepan over low heat. 3. Heat olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter in a large sauté pan or Dutch oven over medium heat; cook shallots 2-3 minutes until softened, not browned. 4. Add rice; stir 1-2 minutes to toast lightly. 5. Add limoncello; stir until mostly absorbed. 6. Add stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring often, letting each addition

Dr. Vito Errico Dr. Vito Errico is a radiologist by day and a passionate home cook by night. He is a Yale-trained neuroradiologist and a senior partner at Diagnostic Imaging of Milford. For more information, visit dimilford.com.

C ULIN A RY C R E AT ION S | F OOD + BE VE RAGE

absorb before adding more, about 18-22 minutes, until creamy and tender with a slight bite. 7. Stir in saffron, soaking water, lemon zest, sage and thyme; add lemon juice, salt and pepper. 8. Remove from heat; stir in remaining butter and Parmesan. Add more lemon juice to taste—risotto should be creamy and loose. 9. Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat; melt butter, season shrimp with garlic seasoning, salt and pepper. 10. Cook shrimp about 2 minutes per side, until opaque and lightly browned. 11. Spoon risotto onto warm plates, top with shrimp, and finish with grated Parmesan, lemon zest and cracked pepper.

OCTOB ER 2 0 2 6 | C I TYL I FE STYL E . C O M / M I L F O R D

realty report A S A M P L E O F R E C E N T LY S O L D P R O P E R T I E S I N M I L F O R D . ORIGINAL PRICE

SOLD PRICE

%SOLD/ORIG

DOM

BDRMS

B AT H S

Broadway

NEIGHBORHOOD

$3,495,000

100%

4/1

Fifth

$2,150,000

$2,008,000

93%

3/1

Broadway

$1,699,900

100%

2/0

Francis

$1,725,000

$1,450,000

84%

155

3/1

Commodore

$1,649,500

$1,450,000

88%

2/1

Usher

$1,699,000

$1,350,000

79%

103

3/1

Platt

$1,280,000

$1,308,450

102%

3/1

Maple

$1,299,000

$1,225,000

94%

3/0

Edgemont

$999,900

$1,100,000

110%

2/1

Platt

$1,100,000

100%

3/1

Randolph Farm

$1,165,000

$1,060,000

91%

3/1

Sand

$965,000

$990,000

103%

3/0

Randy

$925,000

$985,000

106%

2/1

Housatonic

$999,000

$965,000

97%

2/1 2/0

Third

$929,000

$963,000

104%

River Highlands

$899,000

$960,000

107%

3/1

Henry Albert

$939,000

$930,000

99%

2/1

Tranquility

$835,000

$888,000

106%

2/1

Gulf

$879,900

$880,000

100%

3/1 2/0

Naugatuck

$950,000

$850,000

89%

Randolph Farm

$890,000

$840,000

94%

3/1

Cheryl Ann

$799,999

$835,000

104%

2/1

Noble

$749,900

$826,000

110%

2/1

Beaverbrook

$749,000

$740,000

99%

2/1

Buckingham

$725,000

$735,000

101%

3/0

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events A SELECTION OF UPCOMING LO C A L E V E N T S SUNDAYS IN OCTOBER

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Village of Devon Farmers Market 120 Bridgeport Avenue, Devon Center | 9:00 AM The Village of Devon Farmers Market closes out its 2026 season with four Sundays along Bridgeport Avenue in Devon Center. Local growers, bakers, and artisans set up stalls offering fresh produce, breads, honey, and handmade goods, often accompanied by live music. It’s a laid-back weekly ritual for Milford residents stocking up on seasonal favorites before the market wraps for winter. OCTOBER 3 R D

Jazz’n Downtown: The Ultimate Jazz & Arts Experience Downtown Milford | 10:00 AM Milford’s downtown turns into an allday jazz celebration, pairing live music with browsing at boutiques and artisan vendors. Award-winning performers headline stages set up along the harbor throughout the afternoon. The day builds toward an evening double-bill concert at Parsons Veterans’ Memorial Hall honoring legendary jazz artists Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Tickets (including VIP packages) are available at jazzndowntown.org/tickets. OCTOBER 13TH

Wreath Making Demonstration with Laura J. Scott 55 Prospect St. | 1:00 PM

Woman And Family Owned Business Founded in 2002 Open Monday - Saturday 10AM - 4PM

203.301.4939 insidelivingstyle.com 80 S Broad St, Milford, CT 06460

Join the Milford Garden Club for a Wreath Making Demonstrationwith LauraJ.Scott, who learned the craft from her father and has built a following across Connecticut. This event takes place at the DAR Chapter House and guest fee is just $10. Email milfordgardenclubct@gmail.com to reserve a spot. CONTINUED >

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www.salondecoiffurect.com 113 River Street, Milford CT, 06460 OCTOB ER 2 0 2 6 | C I TYL I FE STYL E . C O M / M I L F O R D

JOIN US FOR RESTAURANT WEEK SEPTEMBER 25 OCTOBER 4, 2026

events

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OCTOBER 17TH - 18TH

Milford Artisan Market Milford Green | 10:00 AM The Milford Green transforms into an open-air gallery for this two-day craft showcase, featuring exhibitors selling handmade jewelry, pottery, woodwork, and fine art. Multiple stages host live entertainment throughout the weekend, while food vendors keep browsers fueled between booths. A kids’ area and artisan demonstrations round out the family-friendly atmosphere, making it one of the shoreline’s most popular fall weekends. OCTOBER 23 R D - 24 TH

Hall-O-Weekend Milford Green and participating businesses | 10:00 AM Downtown Milford’s biggest Halloween tradition returns with a Friday movie night on the Green followed by a full day of family fun. Expect storytime, kids’ yoga, a costume parade, a hay maze, pumpkin patch, face painting, and trick-or-treating at participating shops. The Downtown Milford Business Association hands out maps at its booth so families can plan their route between stops. OCTOBER 3 1ST

15th Annual Milford Trick or Trot 5K Lisman Landing | 8:30 AM

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Runners and walkers lace up for the 15th Annual Milford Trick or Trot, a costume-friendly 5K starting at Lisman Landing on the harbor. A kids’ dash kicks off the morning before the main race, with proceeds benefiting Beth-El Center’s work supporting people experiencing homelessness in Milford. Expect Halloween spirit, waterfront views, and festive finish-line party to close out the month.

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