10 Questions with Chef Arik Bensimon of Napa & Co.

Chef Arik Bensimon started cooking at the age of 11 at his Aunt and Uncle's restaurant, Pasta Prego, on 45th and 5th Avenue in New York City. He has been in the kitchen ever since and there's no place he'd rather be (other than a yoga studio). As Napa and Company's Executive Chef he has created a menu that spans the culinary globe while staying close to the farm. Passionate and surprisingly understated, Chef Arik recently sat down with CTbites to answer a few questions about what makes him tick. 

If you had unexpected guests arriving at your home for dinner in 1 hour, what would you whip up? Pasta. I always have really good buccatini in the house and a can of really good tomatoes. I'd probably do a salad to go with it…with fresh greens and I love shaved fennel. 

What is the last dish you cooked for yourself? Whole grilled Bronzino with olive oil and lemon juice. I was cooking at my mother's house.

What are your guilty pleasures in terms of food? Cereal. Kashi (any kind) with almond milk is da' bomb.

Click to read more ...

Rizzuto’s Italian Kitchen in Stamford

Rizzuto’s Italian Kitchen opened in Stamford this past November as the fourth location in Bill Rizzuto's casual Italian dining concept. With restaurants already in Bethel, Westport and West Hartford, tireless and engaging owner Bill Rizzuto chose the Stamford spot (near the Greenwich border) embracing the open space with tri-level dining, a formidable bar and a central beamy oven. Interested to see how they adapted to their Stamford address and eager to try our hand at making our own pizza, we dropped by for a behind-the-scenes look at their kitchen, the new gas-powered pizza oven and what objects of our affection that oven could create for us hungry souls.

Click to read more ...

Hope Pizza in Stamford: Best Greek Pizza in Western CT?

"Gooey," that's what my late great mother craved in her pizza, and this woman loved food more than any person I've ever known. ("Don't talk to me," she would admonish. "I'm eating."}

Well, Mom would have devoured the pizza at Stamford's Hope Pizza, maybe the best of the thirty some Greek pizzerias hidden throughout Fairfield County. What makes Greek pizza gooey is what distinguishes it from the more heralded Connecticut Italian pizzas. Bearing no New Haven char, Colony heat, Batali chic, much less any passionate defenders or detractors in the food press or blogosphere, Greek Pizza flourishes under the radar, boasting few fancy frills, though, admittedly, more oil.

Click to read more ...

Volta: Fun Euro Fare on Stamford’s Spring Street

Spring Street, all of a block long, was once anchored by Bennet's Steak House and Andy Robustelli’s World Travel services. Both were venerable downtown institutions, but dowdy matrons against the vibrant young rialto of restaurants and bars around the corner on Bedford Street. In their place Spring Street this year welcomed Mary Schaffer's luxe Italian Bar Russo and Giovanni Gentile's sleek euro-style café, Volta.

Designed by Giovanni himself, Volta’s pop interior complements the hip crowd, who one recent night were dining on such kewl stuff as brie and bacon crepes, grilled vegetable tartines, duck confit salads, and  creamy sweet potato vichyssoise.  With an Amy Whitehouse track in the background, “My life a wreck you’re making,” a beguiling model delicately sampled a gelato stracciatella while her debonair date sipped Remy XO.  

Click to read more ...

Napa & Co's Kale Salad w/ Bacon, Dried Cherries & Egg

I don't normally beg, and definitely not for kale. However, since consuming the Kale Salad w/ Bacon Vinaigrette, Dried Cherries & Poached Egg at Napa & Co. I've been begging Stephanie to get me the recipe...literally. 

Why all the begging you ask? Chef Arik Bensimon's Kale Salad is simply a superior way to eat kale and I now want to eat it every day. It's the perfect balance between super healthy (the kale) and indulgent (tiny morsels of bacon and dried cherries). It's both crunchy (pistachios) and smooth (the dressing is like crack) It's sweet and salty. A perfectly cooked poached egg sits right on top and makes it a complete and satisfying dish...not just salad. On a recent trip to Napa, every person at the table who ordered the kale salad wanted to order it again. Need I say more? When was the last time you begged for kale?

Click to read more ...

Napa & Co Celebrates 5 Years in Stamford

Opening a restaurant takes guts. Developing a compelling concept, finding the right chef and training a strong team is no small feat. Mary Schaffer and her husband Charles Morgan, owners of Stamford's Napa & Co, make all of this look easy. As they celebrate their 5 year anniversary, Napa continues to stay true to the guiding principles under which it was founded: "a celebration of the bounty of our land...wine country cuisine made from organic, farm-fresh ingredients and artisan products at their seasonal peak." They were innovators in the farm-to-table movement before it was trendy to talk about it, and 5 years later, under the leadership of Chef Arik Bensimon, Napa & Co's kitchen is serving some of the best tasting food in Fairfield County.  The secret ingredient to their success? Here's what Napa has to say:

Click to read more ...

Rizzuto’s To Open in Stamford Early November

Stamford seems to be getting all the attention lately. The latest outpost to open in the "City That Works" is the fourth installment of Rizzuto's, a popular casual Italian spot with outposts already humming in Bethel, West Hartford and Westport.

Rizzuto's Stamford will be located at 1980 West Main Street on the Greenwich/Stamford border, and is slated to open in early November. The new restaurant will feature three-level dining with room for 160 and features such as a California pre-fab pizza oven, custom stone and tile work, and a signature granite antipasto bar and counter seating.

Click to read more ...

Taking Sides in the Stamford Pizza War

The first hint of a Stamford pizza scandal came from a casual tip from a friend who knows how we obsess over pizza here at CTbites. “Have you heard about this new place called Rico’s?” he asked. “It’s just like Colony and some say it’s better.”

Rumors, speculation, and then the recent ad taken out by Colony Pizza in the Stamford Advocate on July 22 had piqued all of our interest. The ad read, “There is no other restaurant in Fairfield County that is authorized to use our name or our recipes.”

This not-so-thinly veiled threat was direct taking aim at the new Selleck Street pizzeria Rico’s, opened by former employees of Colony Pizza, the epicenter of the traditional bar-style pizza with it’s cracker-like crust and rivers of grease

Click to read more ...

Bartaco Stamford Location Coming Soon

Stamford is getting their very own bartaco, opening very soon. Inspired during a jog along the beaches of Brazil, restaurateur Sasa Mahr-Batuz of the popular Barcelona Restaurants, came up with the concept of “bartaco.” We've been several times to their Port Chester location for brunch and their beachy tacos and drinks.

Defined simply by good food, great drinks, and an aura of fun, Sasa envisioned a light and airy informal space with style and sensibility – one that could easily be located on a white sandy beach alongside the blue water and sea air.

Click to read more ...

Stamford Restaurant Week Starts August 22nd

Mark your calendar. Stamford Summer Restaurant Weeks start Monday August 22nd and continues through Monday September 5, 2011. This year, 28 of Downtown Stamford’s restaurants are offering special prix fixe menus for lunch and dinner. View the complete list of participating restaurants below:

Click to read more ...

Napa & Company Recap: Ode to a Blogger's Feast

Sometimes, a culinary experience is so sublime, Calliope is evoked. On Monday evening, 16 bloggers were invited to experience NAPA & CO, featuring their talented Executive Chef Arik Bensimon. We came, we ate, we were inspired. Tiny tidbits were passed, 6 courses were served, and wines were perfectly paired . But prose wouldn't do it justice. Only through poetry and some visual food porn can you, too, feel a part of our pilgrimage to edible rapture:

Click to read more ...

Grande Burger Opens in Stamford

Sometimes you just want to go out - no specific plans, no goals for the evening besides just wanting to go hear loud music and blow off steam. It would be nice to have a few drinks, you think, but whatever will do: just get me a beer/cocktail/shot, man. Sometimes you're just in an "eat to live" kind of mood, and anything filling will do. Other times you're more discerning, selective: you could really go for a burger, but generic "burger" arriving wrapped in paper won't cut it. For those times, there's the new Grand Burger in Stamford. 

Yes, the former G/R/A/N/D ultra lounge has been re-imagined as a burger place, and the menu is the result of the discerning eye of Executive Chef Nick Bilello, creator of Burger Bar in SoNo.

Click to read more ...

10 Things You (Probably) Don't Know about Olive Oil

Steve Jenkins is exultant. "I landed it for five bucks a bottle!" 

After 6 harrowing years of International hustle and heartbreak, the self proclaimed Rock Star of Olive Oil has finally brought his plunder home. Liquid sun fills the Fairway bottle he victoriously holds aloft: a robust Baena from Andalucía.  It's identical to the oil produced for six generations by Spain's celebrated Nuez de Prado family. 

"I won't buy it from them." Jenkins pauses for effect. “The importer is a robber."  

He offers a sip. The ride starts smoothly enough on the tip of my tongue.  By the time the oil reaches the back of my throat, I'm on a roller coaster through a fruit orchard. Jenkins grins, "Love that finish." 

Steve doesn't just love, he ravishes olive oil. Indeed, he's more of a curator than a retailer, offering over 100 different varieties of olive oil on his shelves, priced from 10 dollars a liter to over 40.  For the past decade, Fairway's legendary grocer/explorer/buyer has been foraging the groves of the Mediterranean basin all around, trudging its hills and climibing its 400 year old trees, consumed by his quest for the planet's finest olives and oils.

Click to read more ...

Sneak Peek @ ZAZA Italian Gastrobar in Stamford

Teaser billboards in the windows of Stamford's soon-to-be-open ZAZA portray a scantily clad woman really "enjoying" her pasta. You can't miss it…that's the idea. The Racanelli family, owners and operators of Pizzeria Molto in Fairfield know how to create a little buzz (as anyone who has waited for a table at Molto on a Saturday night knows all too well). Leveraging the success of Molto, their new venture will continue the tradition of the Italian gastropub and is slated to open in early June. Situated on busy Broad street with sidewalk seating, "ZAZA will have more of an urban feel with an active bar scene." says GM, Nick Racanelli Jr. ZAZA's casually chic interior, covered in white marble, red leather, and oversized images depicting Italian street scenes, is both welcoming and sleek. Black glass chandeliers hang like jewels over the communal tables, begging for the party to begin. The decor is clean and sexy, while the menu aims to please. Here is a sneak peak at ZAZA Italian Gastrobar.  

Click to read more ...

A Field Guide to Fairway Market's Smoked Salmon

Gossamer thin slices of novy, redolent of smoke, salt, and the sea, layered on a bagel with a schmear  -- I salivate as I write the words --  used to be a food group you couldn't easily find in Fairfield Country.  We might as well have been in Kansas.

Then, as if by wizardry, a piece of the Upper West Side was transplanted to Stamford's South Side last year.  That's when Fairway Market opened its new 80,000 square foot foodie emporium on Canal Street.  And the most outstanding feature of this wonderland greets you just past the spectacular array of cheeses:   a deli case featuring 10 varieties of smoked salmon and lox from oceans around the world.

Click to read more ...