The newest project from Steelpointe Restaurant Group is on a golf course, but you don’t need to be carrying clubs to eat there.
Steelpointe partners Peter Prizio and Yanni Taxiltaridis officially opened Boca Grille and Raw Bar at Fairfield’s H. Smith Richardson Golf Course Wednesday, marking their second restaurant in town and third overall. The partners also own Fairfield’s Metro Kitchen and Bar and Boca Oyster Bar in Bridgeport.
Boca Grille and Raw Bar is housed in the course’s new 9,200-square foot structure, which also includes the golf pro shop and locker rooms. Both the course and the restaurant are open to the public, and the partners are positioning their new venue as a family-friendly option for golfers and local residents alike.
Taxiltaridis said he was a little hesitant to open the new business during COVID-19, because of the uncertainty the pandemic has created. But, he said, “a lot of people have been playing golf” throughout the past year.
With spring weather approaching, and vaccine eligibility now available to all adults in the state, he’s excited about better days ahead. He’s particularly looking forward to hosting guests on the restaurant’s new 1,500-square foot patio, overlooking the 18th green.
“I think it’s going to be a home run,” he said.
Boca Grille provides all the food and beverage between the golf course and restaurant, including breakfast for golfers and a beverage and snack cart that services the course. The restaurant opens daily at 11 a.m. for lunch, and serves brunch on Saturday and Sunday.
“We checked all the boxes,” with the menu, Taxiltaridis said. That means plenty of Boca Oyster Bar seafood favorites: raw bar items like oysters and clams, lobster rolls, lobster ravioli, miso-glazed Chilean sea bass with crab fried rice, and seared ahi tuna. But for the golf course setting, Taxiltaridis said they opted to add more steakhouse-style options, thinking golfers may be more likely to come in off the course and order steak dinners.
Appetizers ($16 to $18) are seafood-heavy, with blackened scallops, charred octopus, crab cakes and calamari joining lamb lollipops, “smokin bacon” with a pepper crust and bourbon maple syrup glaze, filet tips and roasted bone marrow. Salads ($13 to $26) include a lobster Cobb, a spinach salad with fried goat cheese and even a poke bowl with seared ahi.
Entrees ($23 to $39) include gnocchi, baby back ribs, a 12-ounce French cut veal chop, rack of lamb and roasted organic half chicken, and pan-blackened salmon with chili lime rice. “Boca signature cuts” feature a cowboy bone-in ribeye for two, domestic Wagyu NY strip, filet mignon and prime rib, with an array of steakhouse-style sides. Add lobster, shrimp, scallops or crab for a surf-and-turf presentation.
More casual fare ($10 to $18) includes wings, nachos, flatbreads and an onion ring tower, along with sandwiches: chicken BLTA with avocado, an 8-ounce burger on an English muffin, buttermilk fried chicken with jalapeño slaw on ciabatta and ahi tuna taco on a yellow corn tortilla with pineapple salsa. Boca Grille also offers vegan options, including a grilled Beyond Meat burger and a taco made with plant-based “chorizo.”
Cocktails ($12) and martinis ($14) include summer-ready flavors like a strawberry jalapeño margarita, mojitos, sangria, Boca frose with tequila and strawberry puree, and a cucumber splash martini, along with classics like a lemon drop, old fashioned and cosmopolitan.
Boca Grille and Raw Bar, 2425 Morehouse Highway, Fairfield, is open daily for lunch at 11 a.m., with a breakfast offering for golfers at 7 a.m. Information: facebook.com/bocagrillect.