Good News Cafe

I went to New Haven this past weekend to celebrate N.'s birthday with him and we went to dinner with the parents at a little place called the Good News Cafe in Woodbury, CT. No, there was no proselytizing and I'm still not really sure what the name refers to but anyway....
Owner Carole Peck is sort of the East Coast version of Alice Waters and the restaurant features all that is local and organic and altogether lovely. A sturdy bread was brought to the table and along with it came PAPPADAMS!. I haven't had a pappadam since working at Stickers Cafe in Portland. Peck also owns an estate in Provence, which provided the very flavorful olive oil we dipped the bread in.
I know myself and I cannot finish my entree if I have an appetizer, so I refrained, even though the offerings were tempting. N. had a spinach salad with tamari-roasted sesame seeds, tofu and roasted fruit. It looked bangin', even the tofu.
I had the special, grilled swordfish with a cranberry-squash cake and pomegranate sauce. The swordfish was grilled perfectly but surprisingly, the real standout was the squash-cranberry combo. It was fantastic, especially sitting in a pool of that tart sauce. There were some green beans and mushrooms too, but who really cares about that?
For dessert, I chose the Mile-High Coconut Cake that is supposedly famous. It was good, but Carole, it was a tad dry. Work on that. But really, anything with mango sauce drizzled over it, I'll eat. And eat I did.
Woodbury, CT is kind of out in the middle of nowhere but I was thinking about the next time I could get there as I pored over the extensive menu. You should check it out, if you enjoy making yourself salivate over menus as much as I do.