Community Is Invited to a Day of Learning with Local Experts
Audubon Greenwich will host the second annual Sustainable Food & Farm Expo on Sunday, May 31, from 10 am until 5 pm. This year’s Expo will showcase high quality food producers, retailers, a celebrity chef, and farmers who will teach guests how to prepare and enjoy a wide variety of local and sustainably grown foods, plus grow some of their own. Register online for tix.
The public is invited to enjoy twenty food exhibitors and vendors plus talks, demonstrations, and tastings with a wide range of experts every thirty minutes. Fleisher’s Craft Butchery and Grass Rxoots will cater lunch, snacks, and beverages suitable for vegans, vegetarians, omnivores, locavores, and those with food allergies or adhering to an organic diet. Chef Silvia Baldini of Strawberry and Sage will share her passion for cooking in three different culinary demonstrations and tastings where locally sourced ingredients take center stage.
Owners Jeffrey and Cai Pandolfino have taken Green & Tonic from a delivery service to a plant-based dine on-the-go favorite with three Fairfield County locations and now a fourth location in downtown New Canaan location at 5 Burtis Avenue. Green & Tonic will offer their unique brand of organic cold-pressed juices, nutritional cleanse programs, meal plans, superfood smoothies, as well as a full menu of prepared foods including salads, side salads, wraps and soups all made fresh daily. The New Canaan store will also debut the new expanded breakfast menu, healthy kid-friendly snacks and a new store design. Green & Tonic hopes to engage the community in discussions about health & wellness "healthy happy hours", bringing in health professionals to address topics like nutrition strategies, natural remedies, sports nutrition, children’s health, and integrative health therapies.
There are some ingredients in this world that, when you add them to anything, they pretty much make it spectacular. Bacon, for example. It would probably make a sneaker taste good. “Air” is another ingredient. Air-a bizarre ingredient on an episode of Chopped? No. Air, as in fresh air. Eating outside. Have you noticed that when you eat a lobster roll outside on a deck overlooking the ocean, it makes you happy? Or eat a grilled burger at a picnic table on a warm summer evening? Or sip a frothy cappuccino at a sidewalk cafe? What is the common ingredient here? Fresh air. Good food combined with a hefty dose of the outdoors.
And lucky for you, we’ve put together a long list of our favorite eateries (40+) that have lovely outdoor dining spaces.
If we missed an outdoor venue you frequent, please share your find below.
As food writers, photographers, and chefs, we have the pleasure of eating a lot of really great food. Fairfield County has experienced something of a restaurant explosion over the past year, as new chefs move in and move on, and menus expand. We've endeavored to expand our coverage beyond those borders, seeking to cover more of the state and sharing those experiences that are worth seeking out. Instead of coming up with a top ten list ourselves, we asked the CTbites extended family to share some of their most memorable meals and dining experiences this past year.
"My Signature Dish" is a new CTbites column featuring a rotating cast of chefs, and the dishes that define their cooking style, or simply make them happy to fire up the stove.
Jodi Bernhard hardly hesitated when choosing her signature dish at Fortina, Christian Petroni’s "casually hip" Italian restaurant in Armonk. Her eyes gleaming, she said, "It's our Pork Braciole." Braciole, hip?
If you grew up Italian, you probably hold memories of Braciole near and dear. This classic rolled, stuffed meat roast, usually serves as centerpiece for those sprawling homemade Italian dinners that lazily linger across Sunday afternoons into evening. Braciole invokes home. And family. Instant Nostalgia.
Ok, so how does a chef modernize a memory? Autograph a treasured family photo?
“That is the gist of our approach at Fortina,” Jodi explained. “ We try to not stray too far from ‘mom's’ version, but still make it a restaurant dish with our stamp on it. We are true to simplicity and flavor.”
The notion of putting “Mom’s dish” on Fortina’s playful, hip menu was Christian’s, one of the restaurant’s owners. (Patroni and and Jodi once cooked together at Barcelona in nearby Greenwich.) Though she and Christian work as collaborators, the task of “restaurantizing” this homey meal was largely up to Bernhard.
Cooking with wood fire has a preternatural, almost primal appeal. You could argue that as cavemen, it was our first foray into comfort food. The intense heat and smoke has the power to transform otherwise unassuming ingredients. The six-month old Fortina in Armonk, begins with this deceptively simple ethos–Italian food, cooked simply, in wood fired ovens–and elevates it with a thoughtful culinary execution and a familiar, if familial, disarming vibe.
“There is a complexity to the simplicity,” said Rob Krauss, one of Fortina’s three partners along with John Nealon and Christian Petroni, nailing what makes the restaurant’s cuisine tick. I’m fairly certain Krauss is also referring to the restaurant’s team, an extended family of sorts that works equally hard at the food as they do cultivating the culture at Fortina
More than the sum of its wood-fired parts, Fortina relies on the culinary prowess and Italian heritage of partner and Executive Chef Christian Petroni, formerly of Barcelona Greenwich, as both muse and ringleader. “My background is Italian, I grew up spending summers in Ponza. One of my favorite restaurants is Peasant. As a young cook, Frank de Carlo was an inspiration as a chef. I was intrigued by cooking in wood ovens. There is something about it that is so gratifying. It’s a beautiful thing.” Along with chef de cuisine Jodi Bernhard, formerly of Barcelona, the kitchen has the creative chops responsible for its daily printed menu.
Green & Tonic Opens Second Location In Greenwich with foods that find their power in both taste and healing.
As a California native who has spent the last 17 years living in Connecticut, I know health food in its many forms. I also know junk food disguised as health food. I’ve eaten my share of overpriced twigs and sprouts on tiny plates, overcooked veggies flavored with too much salt and oil, “natural” juices loaded with sugar and calories, and ingredients I couldn’t pronounce. In other words, you can’t fool me, baby. Butwhen I walked into Green & Tonic after it opened its second location in Greenwich, my doubts quickly vanished. This place walks the walk on healthy food. Oh, and it tastes good too.
Co-owner Jeffrey Pandolfino, a Johnson & Wales graduate with vast experience in the restaurant business, who ran his own operation for many years and also spent time at Pret A Manger, was motivated to serve healthy, organic food for another reason – he knew the healing power of food.
Fairfield county residents will be soon crossing the border (passports not required)-- into Upper Westchester County's suburb of Armonk, after this week's opening of Fortina. Chef Christian Petroni, recently Executive Chef of Greenwich's Barcelona Restaurant, is joined by John Nealon, ex-GM of the same provenance and Nealon's childhood friend, Rob Krauss as business partners. Both Nealon and Krauss originally hail from Westport. Petroni, a local himself, is also co-owner of Cooked & Co., in Scarsdale.
Recalling the many memorable meals he had eaten during his time spent in Italy, Petroni's vision was to bring Italy's simple authentic flavors, cooking methods and presentation to the dishes he serves at Fortina. This vision is executed with the help of 2 wood burning ovens imported straight from Naples, Italy which serve as a focal point in the main dining room. In fact with the exception of just a few menu items, everything is cooked in these fiery hearths...even a pasta dish or two! (And you should hear Petroni when he speaks of his ovens...like a proud new Papa )
One of the easiest ways to make Earth Day every day is to green your kitchen. Here are some delicious and fun ways to reduce your family's "foodprint" while eating well. You can also view some of Analiese's tips on this Channel 8 news segment.
1. Buy locally grown food from a farmers' market and learn to cook with the seasons.
Michel Nischan's (of The Dressing Room) latest cookbook is perfect for anyone looking for inspirational ways to cook with the seasons
Analiese Paik is the Founder and Editor of The Fairfield Green Food Guide. She is devoted to raising awareness for eating locally and incorporating sustainable food into your family's daily routine. Analiese organized a sold out screening of the documentary FRESH last August. If you missed it, on February 27th, you have a second chance to see this film. Details are below:
You are invited to a very special screening of the documentary food film FRESH on Saturday, February 27 from 2:00-4:30 pm at Audubon Greenwich. Immediately following the film, a panel of prominent members of the local/sustainable food movement will discuss the critical role we each play in supporting local farms and creating a local market for sustainable products and offer practical ideas about small but important steps we can take to join and strengthen this grass roots movement. Please join us afterwards for complimentary organic wine and local cheese in the exhibition area. A special educational program for children ages 5 and up is being offered free of charge so the whole family can enjoy an afternoon at the beautiful venue.
Photos c/o Ekonk Hill Turkey FarmAnaliese Paik, Founder of theFairfield Green Food Guidehas compiled this exhaustive shopping guide to purchasing your free-range, organic, all natural Thanksgiving turkey. Everything you need to know about where to find the centerpiece of your holiday is here.
There is no better time to aim high for superior freshness and quality in our food than when we’re playing hostess to friends and family at Thanksgiving. All eyes are sure to be on the turkey so now is the perfect time to check that most important food purchase off our to do list. If you’re like me, you are also thinking about where and how the turkey was raised and what it was fed. Well, you are in luck because there are many excellent choices of all natural, free-range, organic, and kosher turkeys available in local stores. If you are looking for extremely rare locally-grown organic Heritage Turkeys, they are available for home delivery. Choosing Heritage Breeds, which have been passed down from generation to generation because they taste good, helps preserve genetic diversity as well as American culinary traditions. Please note that the most coveted birds sell out fast.
Here is a complete guide to buying your Thanksgiving turkey with brands from your local Fairfield County markets.
Wish you could throw a party in your own home, where people could meander from room to room to avoid that stuffy, restaurant feel? Hate being stuck at some long, rectangular table where the only person you are speaking to is the one right next to you? (You know, the one that you had been trying NOT to get stuck with.) Want to be relaxed and enjoy the food with your guests while someone else prepares, serves, and cleans up? Want to stop worrying about the red wine spilling on your white sofas? Tired of stressing about the fancy gadgets in your medicine cabinet that people might discover while they “powder” and snoop? Have your (organic) cake and eat it too at Jennifer Balin’s eclectic and fabulous “space” in Norwalk. SUGAR and OLIVES is the name and quirky and sensational is the game!
National Farmers’ Market Weekis over, but to raise awareness for this event, Connecticut’s Commissioner of Agriculture issued a CT Grown Challenge, asking state residents to eat one locally grown food a day in support of our local Famers. Yes, the official challenge is over, why not make eating locally a goal every week?
Here are 8 fun and possibly new ideas for sourcing CT Grown food, wine and artisanal products that make it easy to rise to the challenge...
1. Visit your local farmers’ market or farm stand and buy some veggies, fruits, eggs, dairy products, meats, seafood, bread, cheese, herbs, honey and baked goods so you’re stocked for the week. Peaches are in season
Photo c/o Kidskonserv.comA few years ago, about 150 days into the 180 days of packing school snacks and lunches, the tedium got to me and I started thinking about all that plastic. Plastic sandwich bags, plastic snack bags, plastic wrap, plastic water bottles, plastic-coated juice boxes. Thrown away. Everyday. By every child in the school, the city, the state, the country. The image of all that plastic sitting in landfills unchanged for thousands of years made me crazy. So crazy, I made a declaration (to myself): No more disposable plastic in the lunchbox!
It seems that recently more and more people in Fairfield County are putting up chicken wire…and it isn’t to keep the deer out. If you have always wanted a “pet” and are tired of paying $4 a dozen for free-range organic eggs, why not buy yourself some chickens?
We recently spoke with a local chef on the benefits of backyard chickens, and she offers some compelling reasons to raise these pecking “pets”.
Then, we’ll take the work out of starting your own flock, and help you source your CT birds, and build your very own coop. It requires less work than you think.
Community Is Invited to a Day of Learning with Local Experts
