Condé Nast Traveler Taps Mystic As A 'Secret Food Destination'

MYSTIC, CT — It's easy to dine well in a big city. Whether you find yourself in NYC, L.A. or Hartford, you're usually only a short Uber away from a top-tier deli or restaurant.

In less cosmopolitan burgs, like those that dot the I-95 corridor, such concentrations of epicurean eminence are a bit more rare.

The editors at Condé Nast Traveler tasked themselves with tracking down these "secret food destinations" and the smaller cities and towns that house them, but could find only seven across the country. The magazine called these places the "best small towns in America for a food-fueled getaway, for travelers who plan their itineraries based on their taste buds."

Mystic was No. 3 on their list of best, secret food destinations:

1. Tupelo, Mississippi
2. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
3. Mystic, Connecticut
4. Lake Chelan, Washington
5. Saugatuck, Michigan
6. Conshohocken, Pennsylvania
7. Ketchum, Idaho

The editors recommended Deviant Donuts, a "craft coffee & donuts shop" in the Olde Mistick Village neighborhood, as the starting point for foodie tourists looking to day-trip in the seaport hamlet.

Patch asked Sam Covington, the manager of Deviant Donuts, what magic there was about Mystic that draw out the best from its chefs, bakers and short order cooks.

She said there was no magic, just supply and demand.

"A lot of people come through here, and a couple of people opened up some nice restaurants and gathered a lot of attention," she explained to Patch. "So we all just kind of started thinking of things that would help improve the variety of options."

Other than Dunkin', there were no doughnut shops in town at the height of the confection's craze a few years ago, Covington said. She saw an opportunity to bring a "fancy artisan doughnut addition to the area."

The most consistently selling item on Deviant's ever-changing menu is its French toast doughnut, a maple cream cheese strawberry mousse filled pastry rolled in sugar and topped with a fresh slice of strawberry. But the shop manager recommends her vastly underrated "nanaimo bar," layers of graham crackers, milk chocolate, white chocolate and pecans, based on a popular Canadian dessert.

For "elevated lunch options," the Condé Nast Traveler scribes point to Rise and its fresh Buddha bowls and grilled provolone sandwiches, pub and winery crawling Bank + Bridge Brewing, Barley Head Brewery, Jonathan Edwards Winery, or Saltwater Farm Vineyards

The best local restaurants "offer a true flavor of the destination, lending insight into its food, culture, people, and landscape," according to the magazine. Little wonder, then, it steers travelers to Oyster Club for the five-course tasting menu dinner party experience, curated daily by award-winning chef Renee Touponce. The magazine also recommends Red 36 Bar + Grill for the water views, and Bravo Bravo, for its house-made pasta.