Restaurants in Westerly

Before the kitchen uses them in rolls and bisques, hard-shell lobsters from northern Maine and Canada are stored in Brewsters Seafood Market's chilled tanks filled with saltwater pumped directly from Shinnecock Bay. They’re among the many locally caught, grown, and produced fish and shellfish available each day at the market, which stays stocked with tasty items such as tuna, mussels, and clams.

Over at the Brewsters restaurant, chefs take seafood right from the display counters and craft dine-in and takeout entrees such as oyster po' boys, linguini with clam sauce, and flounder stuffed with shrimp, scallops, and crabmeat. Along with an eatery and market, the facility accommodates an on-site smokehouse where a fishmonger smokes everything from eel to swordfish .

Ballou’s Wine Bar revolves around three prized delicacies: chocolate, wine, and coffee. From those staples, dozens of indulgent dishes ensue, including chocolate, Nutella, and peanut-butter-chocolate fondues and homemade truffles developed by Debbie, half of the husband-and-wife team that runs Ballou’s. Her chocolate fondue and homemade truffles are so deliciously decadent that they’ve earned the wine bar a spot on the Best of New Haven Reader’s Poll list for best desserts. In addition to rich desserts and froth-capped cups of cappuccino, guests can order wines from local and international vineyards, as well as a wide selection of pastas, sandwiches, and flat breads.

Wreathed by an idyllic white picket fence, Sweet Pea’s pale yellow Victorian homestead belies the progressive cuisine simmering within its the kitchen. Chefs drizzle center-cut meats and grilled fish with exotic flourishes, such as ginger-soy vinaigrette and dill aioli. In keeping with the rustic exterior, the sunlit dining room serves as an antique gallery, letting eyes feast as patrons savor pan-seared salmon or taste the wood finish on the 19th-century pendulum clock to ensure its authenticity.

The old-fashioned photography lining the wood-paneled walls at The Tributary Restaurant sets the mood for modern camaraderie. Waiters emerge from the kitchen with arms laden with clams and mussels, bearing large portions of veal and filet mignon to tables. After spooling pasta layered with fresh seafood and leeks around forks, patrons can hug friends who let them finish their leftovers, or hug stuffed animals while drifting into contented postmeal slumber.

Walls the colors of dijon mustard and acorn squash lend warmth to an environment founded on dark hardwood floors and awash with white linens. The aromas of Mediterranean and Spanish cuisines waft throughout the handsomely dressed, yet unfussy, restaurant, inviting visitors to discover how Bistro Mediterranean and Tapas Bar earned a "Don't Miss" rating by The New York Times.

In the 4,500-square-foot dining space, which seats 150, tables populate with tapas of chorizo, pork, and cod, plus surprising accents of piquillo peppers and quail egg. Entrees include seafood stews and Spanish paella, as well as grilled cuts of meat doused in wine. A breezy patio accommodates outdoor dining in warmer months, and a 45-seat bar enables guests to sip on glasses of wine while they wait for a table or wait for a strange-looking blind date to give up and go home.

Drive-in movies. Car hops. Rock 'n' roll. Though human nature compels us to view the past in varying shades of gold, the 1950s almost transcends nostalgia. For those who were there, the smallest of triggers can set off waves of fond memories: a ringing bell leads the mind’s eye back to the polished counter of a soda fountain, and an oldies radio station evokes weekends spent passing quarters through the jukebox slot.

On September 11, 2001, in the midst of tragedy and after 19 years as a flight attendant, Brenda Stranberg decided that she was tired of playing back memories of America’s greatest decade in her head. Looking around her at a cultural landscape that her childhood self would hardly recognize, she teamed up with old friend Naif Makol Jr. and founded Skooter’s, an old-fashioned diner and coffee shop inspired by the simple pleasures of life more than half a century ago. Though somewhat of an anachronism, the diner’s open kitchen has proven wildly popular among the various generations that frequent the sit-down counter to sample thick milk shakes, loaded hot dogs, and burgers topped with fried onions. Between bites, guests can toss coins into the antique jukebox or admonish the diner’s soda jerks for callously dousing their friends with fountain drinks.