FuelLa Belle Aurore (75 Pennsylvania Ave., 860-739-6767, labelleaurorebistro .com, dinners $19-$26) serves lunch and dinner in an airy bistro filled with artwork by locals. The restaurant tries to stay local in other ways, relying on locally grown produce and organic meat and poultry to fill out its menu, ranging from butternut squash lasagna to striped bass in red curry. Illiano's Ristorante (228 Flanders Road, 860-739-7017, illianospizza.com/niantic/) is the most formal location of this small chain of Italian restaurants and offers such traditional fare as pizza and shrimp scampi. A new deli, The Eclectic Chef (281 Main St., 860-739-3960, members.tripod.com/ec_cuisine), serves sandwiches, soup, and homemade cookies. It's mainly a take-out place, but also has a smattering of tables. Frank's Gourmet Grille in East Lyme (135 Boston Post Road, 860-739-0600, franksgourmetgrille.com, dinner entrees $17.95-$31.95) has a wide-ranging menu, from grilled flat breads and pasta to veal and Coquilles St. Jacques.
Secret splendor
Off the beaten tourist trail, seaside village offers its own attractions
SpendThe Book Barn Downtown (267 Main St., 860-691-8078, bookbarnniantic.com) is jammed with volumes and a few resident animals, including a cat named Frank, guinea pigs, and turtles. But for still more books, head to the store's rambling sister complex at 41 West Main St., a collection of buildings - including the Haunted Bookshop (mysteries, thrillers, horror novels), the Last Page (sports, travel, and nature writing, among other genres) and a reading garden. Also make time to poke around Russia on the Sound (369 Main St., 860-739-0067, russia onthesound.org), a store devoted to all things Russian, from nesting dolls to paintings of St. Petersburg. The shop also has a small tearoom. The Mystic Clock Shoppe (273 Main St., 860-691-3331, mysticclock.com), which has been around for 30 years, sells and repairs timepieces, from wall clocks to grandfather clocks. Tumbleweeds (325 Main St., 860-739-9018, tumbleweedsct .com) is a funky shop that lives true to its roots as a '70s record store. The shop is packed, floor to ceiling, with CDs (new and used), records, clothes, and jewelry.
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