Tim LaBant, chef/owner of The Schoolhouse at Cannondale in Wilton for the last eight years, lives in a house two miles from the restaurant, which is only open Wednesdays to Sundays. And that is all by design. LaBant has a wife, co-owner Julie, and four children, whom he enjoys spending time with. So perhaps the first rule of The Schoolhouse is balance family and work.
The restaurant is actually in a former one-room schoolhouse that dates from 1872. A kitchen was added to the back in 1980.
“It”™s been a restaurant from 1980 to 2004, but it was a casual hot dog-hamburger kind of place,” said LaBant, who leased the building in 2006 and gutted it for a nine-month renovation that preserved the molding and the blacksmith”™s nails, among other 19th century details.
- The Schoolhouse in winter. Photo courtesy The Schoolhouse
“It”™s modern but reflective of the time period,” LaBant said of the Shaker-style wainscoting, slate bar and white, dark-chocolate brown and salmon palette. “It”™s a bit of a mix but comes off pretty well.”
As for the palate, well, LaBant thinks of that in terms of a palette as well.
“It”™s my personal palette ”“ the mood of the season, the creativity of myself and the staff.” The menu may feature chestnut soup, Portuguese octopus, lamb sausage, Painted Hills short ribs, Berkshire Pork loin, dark chocolate soufflé and spiced bread pudding.
It changes frequently with no one item generally appearing for more than two months.
“We support sustainable Connecticut farmers,” he said, “but it”™s winter in New England and the leaves are off the trees. Nothing”™s growing.”
LaBant orders from different purveyors, making the most of winter vegetables like Brussels sprouts, squash and parsnips. He also uses a root cellar and the different food-preservation techniques that New Englanders have relied on for centuries, like pickling and curing.
“We”™re not cooking for a family though, but for a restaurant,” he added, “and our amount of storage is limited.”
LaBant grew up in Wilton with a mother who was a “fantastic cook.” But it wasn”™t until he was nearing the end of college (Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio) that he got in front of a stove. He cooked out in Boulder, Colo., and got a job at IBM in IT sales. By then cooking had taken hold and he completed his culinary training at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., where he earned high honors and numerous awards. This son of New England went on to sharpen his skills in Boston under Frank McClelland, chef/owner of L”™Espalier on Boylston Street, and Ming Tsai, perhaps best-known for the PBS series “Simply Ming.”
LaBant was shopping around for real estate for the catering business he had started when he saw The Schoolhouse and realized the space deserved a restaurant. Tim LeBant Catering & Events is still going strong, perhaps another reason that The Schoolhouse is in session Wednesdays through Sundays.
As LaBant said, “Never bite off more than you can chew.”
This article was first published in WAG magazine, the Business Journal”™s sister publication.
