Tag Archives: Michel Nischan

Dressing Room Ends Its Run

Posted on January 31, 2014 | 13 comments

This message was posted today by founder-owner Michel Nischan on the website of The Dressing Room — his very popular (and quite cleverly named) restaurant next to the Westport Country Playhouse. 

After 8 great years and hundreds of thousands of delicious, local and sustainable farm-direct meals, Dressing Room Restaurant has closed. Founded by internationally renowned chef Michel Nischan and the late actor Paul Newman in 2006, the restaurant was Fairfield County’s first farm-to-table restaurant.

Michel Nischan at the Dressing Room, with a portrait of co-founder Paul Newman.

Michel Nischan at the Dressing Room, with a portrait of co-founder Paul Newman.

We thank our customers who shared our passion and genuine interest in supporting regional growers and responsible farming methods. As a result of their loyal support, and the resulting successful 8-year run of the restaurant, there are now nearly a dozen farm-to-table restaurants gracing discerning Fairfield County palates while supporting Connecticut agriculture.

Dressing Room Restaurant received numerous awards and accolades in the local and national food press, including one of Condé Nast Traveler’s “Top 95 New Restaurants in the World” (2006) and recognition for “The Best Burger in America” by Steve Raichlen, USA Today (2010). This is a testimony to meals made with the best locally grown, artisanal and organic foods.

The Dressing Room.

The Dressing Room.

Lori and I want to thank our talented staff and their families, whose selfless dedication to our cause made the vision a reality. Nearly every team member was with us from the very beginning, and each nurtured their guests with a sense of genuine hospitality not seen in many restaurants today.

When Paul and I founded the restaurant, we wanted to change in the way people thought about food. We believed that all people should be able to put the same ripe tomato on their family’s table, regardless of their income

Lori and I will always hold Dressing Room Restaurant dear in our hearts. Our talented culinary and service team made it one of the most amazing restaurants ever to grace Connecticut. We operated as a family unit, bonded together by a strong set of core values and love of good food.

Wholesome Wave logoWith a more deeply dedicated focus on Wholesome Wave [the national non-profit founded by Nischan to help underserved urban and rural communities gain more affordable access to healthy, locally grown foods while supporting the small and mid-sized American farmers], I am proud that more people will have access to amazing meals. We encourage you to support farm-to-table restaurants, farmers’ markets, and healthier food choices. After all, it’s all about food. Good, pure, affordable, wholesome, delicious, local food. For everyone!

Reached tonight, Michel told “06880”: “Lori and I have been thinking this over for a while. Wholesome Wave is ready to explode. The Dressing Room was awesome and wonderful, but I reached a point where I need to devote all my time to one thing. Wholesome Wave is what I want to do when I grow up.”

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Posted in People, Restaurants, Westport Country Playhouse

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Michel Nischan’s Prescription To Eliminate Diabetes

Posted on September 16, 2013 | 2 comments

Westporters know Michel Nischan as the founder and owner of The Dressing Room, the restaurant next to the Westport Country Playhouse that was local, sustainable and organic before those 3 words were trending.

But he’s also the president and CEO of Wholesome Wave Foundation, a nonprofit that helps low-income people obtain healthy, fresh and affordable locally grown food.

Plus, he’s the father of a son who, more than a decade ago, was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.

Michel Nischan

Michel Nischan

That was around the time that Nischan was commuting to a fancy New York restaurant. The subway was filled with people who could not afford the expensive meals he was creating for elite, affluent diners.

That realization, he said last week on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” nearly made him quit the restaurant business entirely.

Instead, he teamed up with doctors — his son’s, and others. Nischan thought that if they could prescribe healthy food and exercise — and not simply medicine — diseases like diabetes could be controlled. And perhaps, even reversed.

Today, Wholesome Wave has piloted a program in 7 states. It offers free produce, plus tips on cooking and economizing.

Wholesome Wave logoAt a pilot program in the Bronx, NPR said, participants receive a prescription that can be swapped for Health Bucks — $1 per day, for each person in the family — accepted at 140 farm markets in the city. That means a family of 4 gets $28 of free produce a week.

“It’s a little unusual,” admits a Lincoln Hospital pediatrician, because doctors are accustomed to writing prescriptions for drugs.

But it works. A 14-year-old girl used to gorge on chips, candy, soda and ice cream. She told NPR that she’d never eaten a pear or cantaloupe.

Over the past year, she tried peppery radishes and greens. She lost more than 20 pounds, and she thinks her taste buds are changing. “I don’t know how to explain it, but [the fresh food] tastes better.”

From his own son’s diabetes, Michel Nischan has planted the seeds of a national, wholesome wave of nutritional, wholesome eating.

To listen to the NPR “All Things Considered” interview, click here or below:

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Posted in Children, Organizations, People, Restaurants

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Mr. Nischan Goes To Washington

Posted on December 3, 2011 | 8 comments

According to yesterday’s NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Michel Nischan is “usually found cooking in his restaurant in one of Connecticut’s toniest towns.”

That would be The Dressing Room, here in Westport.

Michel Nischan

But according to reporter Allison Aubrey, this week the world renowned chef was in Washington, DC. Nearly 1,000 “corporate movers and shakers” attended a summit aimed at shaping private sector solutions to America’s obesity epidemic.

Actually, Paul Newman’s erstwhile partner was not just sitting listening to lectures. He cooked up a storm.

A creative, healthful, and very, very flavorful storm.

Introducing Nischan, Aubrey said, “you don’t need fancy foraged mushrooms or Connecticut oysters to make a great first course.”

Nischan whipped up something that cost “pennies,” and included “anti-oxidants, fiber and all kind of wonderful things like that.”

He added an entree of heirloom grain risotto with autumn vegetables — a “seasonal feast on a reality-check budget.”

Nischan is “passionate” about seeing a sea change in the way Americans eat, the radio report said.

Aubrey went on to examine the small ways in which restaurant chains like Olive Garden, and retailers like Walmart, are leveraging size and scale to change eating habits (at no cost to their  bottom lines).

The piece ended as it began: with a focus on Nischan.

Chicken thighs call for creativity.

He roasted chicken thighs for the 800 summit attendees, adding cloves and cumin to “drive down fat, and amp up flavor.”

The guests loved the seasonal ingredients, and exciting food combinations. They cleaned their plates.

At least one corporation was converted. Hyatt Hotels announced a plan to remake some menus — starting with its kids’ meals.

That’s one small step for Michel Nischan. And one giant step for the nation’s waistline.

(To hear the full report, click here.)

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Posted in People, Restaurants

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Maria Says: Dressing Room Is #1

Posted on December 24, 2010 | 10 comments

All jokes about $19 meatloaf aside, I love The Dressing Room.

So does Maria Rodale.

I’m just a local blogger.  My restaurant territory is limited:  from Tiger Bowl (on the Southport line) to John’s Best (Norwalk border).

Maria, though, is a nationally known (I guess) foodie.  Her Maria’s Farm Country Kitchen blog is a place to share “yummy organic recipes, thought provoking ideas and issues, organic gardening tips and techniques, recommendations for everyday happy and healthy living, and visits from (my) friends.”

(Oh, yeah.  Her day job is “chairman and CEO of the largest independent publisher left in America.”)

Maria has just posted her 3rd annual “Top 10 Farm-to-Table Restaurants” list.  Her criteria is simple:  “locally sourced organic food, cleanly cooked; not too pretentious; and most important of all, delicious and yummiful!”

There, sitting at the top of the list — above Back Forty, New Leaf Cafe and Rouge Tomate in New York; above Prairie Fire in Chicago; above even the Inn at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee and (of course) Weczeria in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan — sits our humble little Dressing Room.

“Chef Michel Nischan and his lovely wife Laurie serve food grown from their own garden,” Maria writes.  She adds:

But most important, it’s comfort food cooked with love and passion.  I’ve been meaning to get here for years, and it turned out to be an easy on/off from the highway on the way up to Maine.  The salad is divine.  Corn bread with honey?!  YUM.   Ribs.  And the cold cucumber soup was amazing, too.  I highly recommend you find your way here.

Westporters (and those from much further away — like Maria) have been finding their way to the tucked-away-next-to-the-Playhouse Dressing Room ever since it opened.

If you haven’t been there, too bad.  Besides the $19 meatloaf, the menu includes artisan cheeses, awesome salads, “cast iron corn bread,” raised-right-around-here oysters, lobster and swordfish, and a “heritage pork plate.”

If you’re really inspired, you can go tonight.  A special Christmas Eve menu includes stuffed leg of lamb with rosemary potatoes and pan jus, and seared duck breast with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, brussels sprouts and an orange jus.

Tell ’em Maria sent you.

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Posted in Environment, Local business, Restaurants

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Hail To The Chef

Posted on April 28, 2010 | Comments Off on Hail To The Chef

Michel Nischan’s connection to the Westport Country Playhouse is important, but culinary and casual:  He feeds theater-goers before and after shows.

Yet on Friday, May 14 the owner/founder of The Dressing Room takes a few steps east, to make his theatrical debut.  He’s got a walk-on appearance in “She Loves Me,” the musical comedy that’s been extended through May 15.

His role?  A chef, naturally (pun intended).

Michel Nischan

Michel won his spot last November.  He — okay, his wife Lori — bid $2,000 in a silent auction, at the 2009 Playhouse Gala.  She outlasted 3 others — all Playhouse patrons (and, presumably, Dressing Room regulars).

Michel wanted the role for 2 reasons:  He loves the Playhouse, and figured it would be fun.

He won’t tell “06880” what the role entails — “I’m sworn to secrecy” — but says he must prepare for it.

Good luck, Michel.  Break a leg.

And then go back to your real roles rolls next door.

(For ticket information on Michel’s cameo appearance — or any other “She Loves Me” performance — click here, or call 203-227-4177.)

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Posted in Arts, People, Restaurants, Westport Country Playhouse

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