I love bagels. I love anything that has to do with bagels, whether it’s simply a toasted plain bagel with some butter or cream cheese (often I choose both – sue me), or a B.E.C. on a sesame bagel, or it’s an everything bagel stacked with the works, like scallion cream cheese, smoked salmon, onions, and capers, I am all in! If you are from the tri-state area, you know the importance of a solid bagel shop, as we take this stuff very seriously, because what the heck would we do without a hearty breakfast sandwich in the morning? As luck would have it, Ridgefield needed a new bagel shop to take the place of what had previously been Steve’s Bagels, and in November of 2023, the same location on Main Street became Ridgefield Bagels and Bakes.
Wave Hill Breads, an artisan micro-bakery located on High Street in Norwalk, plans to open a new 3,000-square-foot retail space on Westport Avenue.
Co-Owner Angela Topi confirmed to Patch plans to open a the new retail space, which will also include kitchen space and two back rooms for educational workshops and team building events, at 239 Westport Avenue.
Though an official opening date has not been set yet, Topi teased the new Wave Hill space will soon be ready to open. "We feel that there is a need for fresh, local, high-quality artisan food on the best bread around," Topi said to Patch. "Also, our wonderful and loyal customers kept asking us to open up a retail space."
Wave Hill currently sells breads, pastries and other items from its High Street bakery, which Topi said will still be the main production facility for their wholesale accounts and farmer's markets while the new Westport Avenue facility will mainly be used for retail.
In her native Romania, Alina Dancho often waited 2 hours in line, for half a loaf of bread. Now customers stand in line for her croissants, cookies, cakes, cupcakes and pastries.
And bread.
Alina’s Cakes & Cookies opened recently in the shopping plaza next to Fortuna’s, Greens Farms Spirit Shop, Gofer Ice Cream and Westport Cigar & Vape. It’s a tasty addition to those treats. It’s also the healthiest option.
95% of her bread is sourdough — an excellent, all-natural source of antioxidants and prebiotics.
Nearly all of her offerings are gluten-free. Her sugar and flour is non-GMO. She uses organic milk, and cage-free organic eggs. Some even come from the chickens she keeps.
“It’s not how much you eat. It’s what you eat,” Alina says, comparing the prevalence of food allergies in the US to Europe. She is adamant about the importance of avoiding pre-processed products like fillings and frostings.
“I want people to eat healthy breakfast foods and desserts, without allergic reactions and diabetes.”
Bread. It’s the culinary foundation for so many cultures, each with its own unique varieties and history. Bread plays a pivotal role, whether it’s mopping up a beautiful sauce after a meal, or given to a child slathered in butter, after school. Bread baking is an art, a science, and a labor of love, especially for those bakers nurturing their sourdough starters, passed down for generations or created many years ago. “Often, our choices of bread are all about feelings. Flavour too, yes, of course. But the emotional resonance of bread is like little else.” -The Borough Market Guide to Baking
The explosion of Bread Bakers in Connecticut is a gift. So please, let us “break bread” together and enjoy this list of exceptional local bread bakeries.
If we missed a local bread baker you know and love, please contact us.
Nicely sized and expertly formed, with a nice bit of pillowy fluff to its appearance. A firm golden crust that your teeth have to work a bit to pierce, which then leads you to the satisfying crunch and the doughy, chewiness inside. Choose a flavor, from the sweet to the savory to the quirky seasonal, finish with a generous schmeeeeeear (also in the above flavors) and enjoy one of the simple pleasures in life: a good bagel.
Here are 30+ spots to score yourself some bagel-y goodness in Connecticut.
maman, NYC’s beloved French Bakery & Café, is expanding to Connecticut with its first location in Greenwich (98 Greenwich Ave). Opening June 18th, the Provençal-inspired café, created by co-founders Elisa Marshall and Benjamin Sormonte, will bring its fan-favorite salads, sandwiches, made-famous-by-Oprah Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookies to the Greenwich community.
In true maman fashion, the decor will feature florals, signature toile print, and vintage and antique furniture, all drawing inspiration from the South of France. Brokered by Brand Urban, Greenwich’s full-service real estate advisory and brokerage company, maman Greenwich is the perfect spot to savor a morning coffee or pastry or grab brunch or lunch with friends. With 2,300 sqft of space, maman Greenwich is also the perfect spot to host events with your closest friends and family.
Maman Greenwich will be open Monday - Friday from 7:30am - 6pm and Saturday-Sunday from 8am - 6pm. On opening day, Maman will have a cookbook signing with Elisa from 10am-12pm, and a Father’s Day Special, serving a complimentary S’mores A La Minute Cookie for dads with any purchase!
Happily, eating plant-based is becoming easier and more accessible by the day. However, finding decadent desserts and sweets that fit this category have historically been a bit more of a challenge, given that milk, butter, and gelatin is usually involved when making things of the sweeter persuasion. Another challenge: finding gift-worthy artisan treats that are visual treats to the palate as well the eyes. You know, the type of special giant heart box of chocolates that Linus toted around waiting to give to Miss Othmar. At the end of the day, no one wants to be left out, including sweet and chocolate-indulging plant-eaters.
Well, these sweets do exist, Virginia, and they are located in Manchester so your plant-loving special someones can partake in all the sweet flavors and beautiful treats as the omnivores. Every sweet produced at Divine Treasures chocolate shop, which has been going strong since 2007, is vegan and gluten-free. In addition, Divine Treasures confections are made with health and enjoyment in mind. These European-style chocolates are crafted with high-quality ingredients but also, and here’s the amazing part, without refined sugar and corn syrup. Diane Wagemann, owner and chocolatier, studied the art of chocolate making in Belgium and Switzerland and then decided to adapt her grandmother’s family recipes to suit the goal of healthier eating. Instead of adding an abundance of sugars, Wagemann wants the inherent taste of the cacao to be the shining star. She sources the chocolate from small family-owned Fair-Trade certified businesses, so you can be sure that no fillers have been added to the chocolate, which sometimes can compromise the vegan integrity.
New Haven is a foodie hotspot in Connecticut, with no shortage of top-notch restaurants featuring cuisines from all around the globe. That level of quality, sheer abundance of choices, and beautiful blends of cultures extend to the city’s bakeries and cafes, which offer some of the best sweets and baked goods you can imagine. Whether you are looking for a quick dessert or a catered order for your next big event, you definitely do not need to look beyond New Haven’s city limits to find what you are looking for.
The next time you find yourself in New Haven, be sure to carve out some time during your visit to check out one (or several) of these great bakeries listed below. Pro tip: don’t stop at just one dessert; stock up on these tasty sweets like we did and enjoy them all week long.
NOTE: If you have a favorite New Haven Mexican, Italian, Puerto Rican, Brazilian, or Middle Eastern bakery and it’s not on this list, please contact us and we will add it to the list.
To truly depict the joy I feel around Bridgewater Chocolate finally opening a storefront in Southern Fairfield County, after over 25 years in business up North, I may need to quote myself from a previous 2021 CTbites article. I feel the same way, biting into one of their outstanding toffees or coconut igloos today, as I did a year ago, but now, I can hop in my car and grab a box, because their confections are available at their new Westport location, opening September 15th.
With locations in Brookfield and West Hartford, Brand Director, Marlene Steiner says, “Westport’s retail experience will be the blueprint for their flagship stores moving forward.” The customer will be introduced to product in new ways, with clean modern lines, an expansive “build your own box” display, and for the first time ever, a dedicated tasting area at the front of the store. Steiner states, “so much of what we do is about tasting the product, and we love to tech people more about what makes Bridgewater so unique.” In fact, Bridgewater Chocolates, if you’re not familiar, is a sought after luxury chocolate brand shipped around the world. “ Westport watch out….this is dangerous.
At a small shop on Church Lane where chocolates are both made and sold, a Westporter who worked in the health industry during the chaos of the pandemic is finally realizing her sweet dream.
“We just need a little bite of happiness,” chocolatier Laureen Haynes said of the deluxe chocolates she makes herself. “That’s what I’m bringing to the community.”
The Chocolatieree — the shop’s name is a combination of chocolatier, or someone who makes chocolate, and “Ree,” the owner’s nickname — is located in a small building at 66 Church Lane, which previously housed a dog groomer, then a jewelry store.
The front room on a recent weekday featured a display case of hand-crafted chocolate treats: coffee caramel, sunflower seed butter cup, coconut ganache, sea salt caramel and blueberry lavender ganache.
Standing in front of the Chocolatieree kitchen’s tempering machine, owner Laureen Haynes explains the process of making chocolate. / Photo by Gretchen Webster
In the back of the shop is a kitchen, where chocolate was swirling around in a tempering machine, to give the candies the smooth luster that makes them gleam.
If you live in Connecticut, you may recognize Matthew Kirshner. He is the pastry chef, bread baker, and owner of the popular Sandy Hook newcomer, Uncle Matt’s Bakery and Café, but he has spent time baking in our fair state for over 20 years. Kirshner has graced the kitchens of The Roger Sherman Inn, Wave Hill Breads, Bantam Bread Company, and even the Russian Tea Room in NYC. (Side note: Wave Hill and Bantam were just awarded “Best Bread in CT” by Food & Wine). But in June of 2021, after years of being covered in flour in other people’s kitchens, Matt decided it was time to get dirty in his own. Thus, one of Sandy Hook’s most beloved spots, Uncle Matt’s Bakery, was born, serving breakfast, lunch, as well as a wide array of outrageously good pastries, and artisan bread.
As I bite into my first milk chocolate dipped crunchy peanut butter patty, I’m overwhelmed by the feeling that I’ve waited far too long to discover the edible joy that comes from the confections found at Bridgewater Chocolate. A trip to any of their stores, located in Brookfield and West Hartford (as well as a Westport weekend pop-up through December), will elicit a type of longing that will have you dreaming of chocolate at night, and as Michael Stern once stated so perfectly…
Walk into Bridgewater Chocolate, and the air inside is chocoholic heaven, with an aroma that is intense but not cloying, like vaporous cocoa laced with the sweetness of fruit. The store area is fairly small, decorated with the beautiful hinged boxes in which Bridgewater packs its goodies. — Jane & Michel Stern, Roadfood.com
Mazzella strove for this constant improvement throughout his baking journey, always moving up, always seeking to work in places where he could learn more high-level skills. He worked around Italy as a pizzaiolo, then as a panettone apprentice for the 2019 world champion of panettone, and most recently as the lead bread baker for Atticus Bakery in New Haven.
Now, at his bakery, Fatto a Mano, which translates from Italian as “made by hand,” Mazzella applies his father’s work ethic to his baking. He makes Italian-inspired artisan bread and pastry, including sourdoughs loaves and biscotti. Then there's the panettone.
Bite into a sourdough loaf from Atticus and you’ll taste the difference immediately.
It's heartier and nuttier with an addictive chew and bolder character than most other breads, even from other artisan sourdough bakeries. The bakery’s pastries also have a wonderful and unique flavor.
The bakery’s not-so-secret ingredient is simple: whole grains.
The new market is Atticus’ second location. It joins the Atticus Bookstore Cafe in downtown New Haven, which has been a bookstore since 1976 and a cafe since 1981. The location has been dabbling in artisan bread and pastries since 2016.
Are you ready to carb out on THE MOST tremendous bites of bready goodness your lips have savored? Small State Provisions in West Hartford’s GastroPark has finally opened.
Owner, and head baker Kevin Masse has been incredibly patient this last year waiting to open his storefront bakery. Despite it being a difficult time for any industry, Masse’s fan base has multiplied; and, to see him finally open the doors to his beautiful brick and mortar was a pretty emotional moment. As he opened the doors for the first time on Saturday, July 3, he grabbed his camera to capture the smiles and cheers in the line as it wrapped around the door in the parking lot of the GastroPark, now THE place to “Gather and Graze” in WeHa. Small State Provisions’ goodies were sold out in 45 minutes!
Bunnies and chicks and eggs, oh my. So much chocolate, so many jelly beans. Our baskets will runneth over. We’ve got the classics and have also found some new and unusual Easter treats for you to enjoy. If anyone you love is not on this list, feel free to add them in the comments. We all need to know great places to go for holiday treats-I think we can all agree on that. Happy Easter, everyone!
(In case you need dinner recommendations too…head to our CTbites Easter Dining Guide!)
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! In a time when giving a hug has become an event, any reason to celebrate love has to be embraced! Whether you are planning a cozy-delish dinner at home, venturing out (safely) to a restaurant, wanting to give a sweet gift or even try a new class with your sweetie, we’ve got you covered.
Take a lookie! We’ve arranged this listing in a different way this year, with the hopes that you can find exactly what you are looking for easily. About Valentine’s Day, ya got nice dinners, ya got chocolate and ya got time with your honey. So, those are our categories: Restaurants/Caterers, Sweets/Gifts, and Events/Classes. Scroll the list to find what you want and need and enjoy the holiday. There are some great ideas here, proving that nothing stands in the way of love. Pssst: This is also quite possibly the first time the word “thong” has appeared in CTbites copy. Find it.
This recipe for Mexican Hot Cocoa Bombs is from the winter issue of Connecticut Food and Farm Magazine, written by Juli Mancini, Recipe Developer and Food Stylist, who is obsessed with the visual organizational of all things edible, botanical, and chocolate.
Hand made with solid chocolate, these decadent Mexican hot chocolate bombs produce an unrivaled cup of rich cocoa. Hot chocolate bombs are hollow hand crafted chocolate spheres, placed in a mug with a pour-over of hot milk or coffee. Bombs are packed with surprise confections, slowly exposed as the chocolate melts from the heat of the liquid. Mexican hot chocolate bombs are a fine place to start, especially if you love a spicy twist, but personalize your own creations to taste. It’s simple to marble the chocolate for a really beautiful look. Simply package in cello-bags or stack in Mason jars and you have the perfect Valentine gift - unexpected, entertaining, and delectable.
Allow me to preface this article with a warning. Once you’ve experienced master chocolatier Benoit Racquet’s Belgian chocolates, there really is no turning back. These confections, made with Callebaut Fairtrade’s finest chocolate and a whole lot of food-science based love, are highly craveworthy and bordering on sensual. Benoit and his wife Sylvie, have been in the business of chocolate for over five years, but last week marked a special milestone for this team…the grand opening of their first retail shop, BE Chocolat, located at 75 Hillside Rd in Fairfield CT.
For over 13 years, Danish born Fritz Knipschildt, and the House of Knipschildt, have been renowned for creating exquisite quality artisan chocolate. CT residents will recall his South Norwalk eatery, Chocopologie, where Knipschildt explored ways to creatively infuse elements from the savory kitchen into the world of chocolate and confection. Years later, Knipschildt is using his expertise in European chocolate, and has recently launched a new line of chocolate truffles and chocolate bars that are infused with premium, full spectrum CBD. Introducing…Fritzzz.
