Friday Froth: What's New?

Every day is like waking up in a new place when you're a beer fan. The craft beer scene continues to hit higher plateaus. Brewers and beer artisans no longer seem content to simply produce a great beer in a recognizable style, they're reaching out into the realms of winemaking, distillation and cooking just to see what they can offer, what they can contribute to zymurgy. I've mentioned the experimental barrel-aging going on with B. United's Zymatore Project, but every stumbling step seems to put me mouth to mouth with a pint of inspired brewing. It's like the Seattle music scene in 1990, or Parisian cafes in 1870: artists are communicating with artists, experiencing each others' product, and reconsidering what they can produce. 

Yesterday I had a Rogue Chipotle ale. Yes, yes, I know: chipotle has been done, done to death, buried, reanimated in a unholy ceremony using two parts voodoo and one part Guy Fieri's wrist band, and been put down and buried again, but there I was, having to recalibrate what I thought about beer.

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Bar Sügo Opens in Norwalk w/ Authentic Italian

The culinary landscape of downtown Norwalk improved significantly with the opening of Bar Sügo, offering Italian cuisine that Chef/Owner Pat Pascarella’s describes as “food that Italians eat every day.”

Bar Sügo’s menu features a wide variety of cicchetti, e primi, and meatballs as well as larger servings of pasta and pizzas to accompany several beers on tap, including Allagash White, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Strubbe Pils or Thornbridge Raven, or one of the numerous bottles of wine. The interior features a large red and white tiled floor, a copper-topped bar, rustic walls covered with large canvassed photos, with one wall dedicated to displaying the restaurant’s diverse selection of wines…the setting allows for a vibrant atmosphere to complement the delicious food. Chef Pat will prepare variations of Italian cuisine using fresh, flavorful ingredients and keep the price of each of the dishes under $20.

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Food News: Openings, Parties, Election Day & Wine

Half Full brewery in Stamford will host a Halloween party this Saturday, starting at 7p.m. For $50, you'll get open taps of Half Full Bright Ale, InaugerALE, IPA and Pumpkin Ale, Oktoberfest inspired food and Pumpkin Ale floats, via Station Eats, and a costume contest. Half Full recommends taking a cab to this one. 

Feeling stressed about Election Day? Fairway Market in Stamford has a solution. Eat cupcakes.. Go Donkey or Elephant - for $1.49 each - celebrate or sob into your sweets.  

The Spread opens TODAY in SoNo with Executive Chef Arik Bensimon. Don't miss out on this hipster scene and spectacular menu. More here. 

Looking for a good brunch spot? Bar Sugo, Chef Pat Pascarella's new killer Italian venue in Norwalk, is serving a regional Italian brunch Saturday and Sunday with rotating menu items including: Crispy Pork Belly w/ Sunny Side Up Eggs, Sausage & Broccoli Rabe omelettes, pancakes, and all the usual suspects. View menu here. 

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Friday Froth: Hopstacle Course

"Brain Blaster," huh? I crinkle the plastic bag in my fingers and stick my nose in once more to inhale the pungent aroma of the dried green buds it contains. "Its only sounds like 'Brain Blaster'," says Brendan Kingston. "There's no way anything with a name like that gets past the FDA." I drop the bag and pick up a small glass of brown beer. The beer's real name is An Braon, meaning "The Tasty Drop," which is appropriate. We're not here to discuss the forest here, though: we're looking at the trees. Well, vines, to be precise. I'm sitting at the first in a series of educational tasting classes conducted by B. United International, and hosted by Coalhouse Pizza in Stamford.

Every day, CTBites chronicles the myriad ways in which we're lucky to be living in Fairfield County during the current food (and beer) renaissance in America

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Octoberfest On The Meadow & Harvest Fest @ Stamford Museum

A fall family tradition returns to the Stamford Museum & Nature Center on Saturday, October 20 and Sunday, October 21 with the 35^th Annual Harvest Festival Weekend.  This year, the weekend will be kicked off with a new event for adults-only – Octoberfest On The Meadow at 6:30 pm on Friday, October 19 @ 6:30 PM with proceeds supporting the Stamford Museum & Nature Center.  The evening will feature seasonal Oktoberfest brews, as well as Octoberfest favorites including kielbasa with sauerkraut and cherry beer roasted pork shoulder. Guests will be entertained by live music from The Bavarian Boys.

The weekend will continue with the Harvest Festival Weekend, an annual family event celebrating the fall season, from 11 am to 3 pm both Saturday and Sunday.

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South End: A Modern Tavern Opens in New Canaan

In early July CTbites previewed the opening of South End, the newest addition to the New Canaan restaurant scene.  Nearly two months of frenzied activity has confirmed the local appreciation that the creative cuisine of Chef Nicholas Martschenko is alive on Pine Street.

Overseeing the front of the house is Keith Siskind, his business partner, and the duo redesigned the interior at South End to create a relaxing atmosphere by intertwining rustic charm with modern comfort. The tables are carefully arranged to allow for pleasant conversation and the overall noise level creates a vibrant buzz without overwhelming intrusion. With upwards of 85 seats, 30 of which are contained around the energetic bar area, South End offers pleasant ambience to enjoy the wonderful cuisine that emerges from the kitchen.

The duo’s ambition to create the “Modern Tavern” is a rousing success. Siskind developed an excellent relationship with two local breweries, New Canaan’s Charter Oak and Stamford’s Half Full (Bright Ale) and both are prominently displayed on the taps overlooking the bar.

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New Canaan's Harvest Festival: Craft Beer & Chef Tastings

Tickets are now on sale for the first annual Harvest Festival on Saturday, September 29 at the New Canaan Nature Center!  Held outdoors on the Nature Center’s grounds, the event will feature craft beer tastings, live bands, “local bites” provided by area chefs and outdoor games. This event is open to guests 21 & over with an afternoon tasting sessions from 3pm – 6pm and an evening session from 7pm – 10pm. 

All attendees will receive a tasting mug at the door which they can use to sample a variety of craft beers. Participating brewers are: Berkshire Brewing Company, Charter Oak Brewing Co. - CT, Cisco Brewers, Estrella Damm, GW Beer - CT, Half Full Brewery - CT, Harpoon Brewery, Thomas Hooker - CT, Murphy’s Stout, Palm Breweries. 

Chefs from several area restaurants will provide “local bites” to complement the beer tastings. Roger Sherman Inn, Carpe Diem, Boulevard 18, The Tuscan, Chicken Joe’s, Joe’s Pizza truck, Deep River Snacks, El Rancho de Pancho, Asia Hamachi, Zumbach’s coffee. 

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Half Full Brewery Opens in Stamford Tomorrow!

Four years after Conor Horrigan decided to make the leap from regular working stiff to found his own brewery, the dream becomes a reality this weekend in Stamford. Half Full Brewery will be open for tastings and tours tomorrow, September 8 from 12 – 2p.m. Tours of Fairfield County’s newest brewery commence at 12:30 and 1:30, and visitors will have the option to buy filled growlers and take home a generous portion of Half Full’s signature brew: Bright Ale. 

The crew at Half Full describe their venture thusly:

The Half Full Brewery is a “lifestyle” brewery that came to life after Conor decided to quit his day job and travel Europe and the concept behind our brewery is as simple as its name and motto sounds:  whether your glass is literally or figuratively “Half Full”, you can “look forward to more…”

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Friday Froth: Outside and Inside

It can all seem so simple, these twenty two moving parts. Eleven on eleven, they violently mesh, or they fly apart. Some people look at this whole and perceive only a lumpen, tangled jumble. From orbit, the Amazon rainforest is reduced to a green carpet. A glance at the watch's face shows only two hands. A second's worth of recognition, then on to something else, the actual time already forgotten. On the watch's face is the hour. Behind that: gears, escapments, jewels. Under the green, jungle canopy: rivers, streams, lives, civilizations. Guttural cries, naked violence, and the necessary imbalance of the scoreboard are the most apparent facets of American football. Tribal, atavistic pleasures, occasionally waved off as simple things by and for simple minds. Motivating and informing it all, though, this. Twenty two individual goals made systemic by design; the moving parts of a machine imbued with a will and given a target. Put the parts together and see if the result is harmonic precision, or an expensive spray of ragged metal and oh dear, I seem to have a hairspring lodged in my cornea. That beer in your hand is more than just "a beer."

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5TH Annual Blues, Views & BBQ Festival + CTbites Chef Tent

Come on down to the 5th annual Blues, Views & BBQ Festival this weekend, September 1st and 2nd.

This event celebrates food, music and family with an exciting line-up of bands, craft beer, barbecue and cooking events, ribs and pie eating contests as well as fun for the whole family. And let's not forget the CTbites Chef Demo Tent on Sept 1st, where 6 top Fairfield County chefs will demo recipes and serve up tasty vittles all day long. 

Food vendors include: Bobby Q's Bodacious BBQ, Winnie's Jerk Chicken & Fish-Caribean Cuisine, Blue Lemon Restaurant, Dave & Jerry's Hot Dog Trolley-Beef Hot Dogs, French Fries & Fresh Squeezed Lemonade, Bar Q BBQ -Beef Brisket, Smoked Chicken Wings, Melt Mobile -Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Wild Bill's Olde Fashioned Soda, Rolling Cones Ice Cream, Rita's Italian Ice. Aurora's Gypsy Cafe-Desserts, Kettle Corn

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