When I told my editor here at Rural Intelligence that I would be glad to take on the restaurant review of Fern in Lakeville, Connecticut, she wrote back: “I have scheduled your review for next week's issue. Is that realistic, or should I reschedule it?” What she didn’t write was “or should I reschedule it like I had to when you missed your last deadline?” She didn’t have to – that much was implicit. (And who knew that the word “realistic" could be used so woundingly?)

So that left two open days for me to get to Fern – February 14 and February 15. I’d already enlisted my buddy to be my dining companion and we were looking forward to taking a road trip just south of the border from our Berkshire County stomping ground. And as I sometimes do before I visit a restaurant, I got in touch with my cosmopolitan friend Elisa to find out if she’d tried it. She hadn’t, but heard such good things about it, she and her husband were going to dine there on Valentine’s Day.

I checked my calendar – Wednesday, February 14, was indeed Valentine’s Day, and Ash Wednesday, to boot. Now, my buddy and I are currently “the bachelors” in our social circle, me four years into my divorce and he three years out of his last serious relationship. Valentine’s Day registers on our consciousness in the way the Roman Catholic feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica might register as a holiday in the mind of a Zoroastrian. But clearly, we were not going to go to Fern on February 14, because two bachelors eating together in a stylishly sexy restaurant amid a myriad of couples celebrating their undying love was a recipe for turning what would be an ordinary Wednesday evening for a single guy into “Ash Valentine’s Day."

And so Thursday, February 15, it was, although I will say that if Cupid lets his arrow fly in my direction and I’m unable to duck in time, next Valentine’s Day I will certainly consider impressing my date by taking her to Fern. This contemporary Italian venue opened in 2023 and is newest of the popular Hudson Valley restaurants owned and operated by Chef Gianni Scappin and Luciano Valdivia (Market St. in Rhinebeck and Barbaro in Millbrook).

The dining room – formerly home to the Lakeville Fire Department – is an airy, white-walled space, one side of it floor-to-ceiling glass doors. I imagine that during the daytime, the natural light they allow in must be pleasant and, when rolled up in warmer weather, might impart something of a breezy Mediterranean feel to the room uncommon here in rustic New England. On the snowy night I visited, I appreciated the winter-gloom-defeating openness of the handsome main room, its booths and smaller bistro tables lit by large holophane pendant lamps accentuating the tall ceilings.

Opposite the glass doors is Fern’s wood-burning pizza oven, from which emerged delicious-looking pies with a nice crust char – a great advertisement to come back to Fern if, like me, you opted for something different on the menu. A pizza and a glass of wine would be a perfect way to enjoy Fern’s long U-shaped bar, which is bordered by several tables in a cozy dining area separate from the main room.

On my buddy’s urging, we started with a roasted beet salad off the specials menu – not ordinarily my favorite, but I very much enjoyed the way the sweetness of the main ingredient was set off by bitter fresh arugula and the slight sourness of the vinaigrette. From the primi piatti offerings, we split what was my favorite of the dishes we tried – a plate of gnocchi with shrimps and trumpet mushrooms cut up to roughly the same size as the dumplings. Each forkful ended up being a different happy surprise, depending on how the three flavors and textures – the soft and slightly gooey gnocchi, the chewy mushrooms, and the more pliant shrimp – came together as I chewed. The dish was dressed with a truffle sauce, but I can imagine Chef Scappin employing any number of other sauces with equally delicious results.

My buddy’s main course was a no-nonsense steak frites – a 14-oz. ribeye colossus with a generous side of shoestring rosemary fries. The aioli sauce accompaniment was tasty, but unnecessary IMHO, as the simply-seasoned (salt, pepper, a hint of rosemary, and olive oil) steak was perfectly grilled to medium rare with a nice char, everything you might want from that cut of beef. I opted for a chilly weather Italian classic – osso buco, a perfectly braised, meaty shank served with creamy polenta and winter vegetables that were slightly under-roasted for my taste, but very flavorful nonetheless.

As with all love affairs, alas, our meal at Fern had its bumpy moments. There was a certain drift in the service on the night I ate there – a lack of familiarity with the menu and wine offerings, plates coming out in the wrong order, and the second glasses of wine we ordered having to be canceled as we finished the last bites of our main courses. There is so much that’s right about Fern that I can’t believe what we experienced was anything but an aberration. When the problems came to the manager’s attention, she quickly made things right – but better to get things right than make them right, especially on a meal likely to be a splurge for many.

So I bet you’re wondering – did I make my deadline? I did. And on Friday, I had the chance to see my cosmopolitan friend Elisa’s Valentine Day’s photos from Fern on Facebook. She and her husband, as always, looked gorgeous and completely in love, their palpable joy of being together veritable confirmation of the bachelor wisdom of not going out to dinner on a romantic holiday with a buddy. Still, whether your motto is "tojours l’amour" or "all in love is feh," I wager you’ll find even an ordinary Thursday evening at Fern a pleasant night out.

Fern
9 Sharon Road, Lakeville, CT
(860) 596-1930
Monday, Thursday and Sunday: 5-9 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 5-10 p.m.

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Written by
Albert Stern