Join Bridgeport Rescue Mission for an unforgettable evening of exquisite cuisine and community spirit at Harvesting Hope, a special event dedicated to fighting hunger in Fairfield County. This year, they are thrilled to feature the culinary creations of renowned chef Michel Nischan, alongside other local celebrity chefs, in a night of delicious food tasting and philanthropy.
DATE September 19, 2024 6:00 PM
CHEF LINEUP
Bill Taibe — Don Memo, The Whelk, Kawa Ni Arturo Franco-Camacho — Camacho Garage, Shell and Bones Tyler Anderson — Millwright Matt Storch — Match Burger Lobster Renee Touponce — Oyster Club, The Port of Call Eamonn Keyes — The Chelsea Roshara Sanders — 29 Markle CT. Damon Sawyer — 29 Markle CT.
Five chefs will cook with wish kids in the kitchens at Aitoro Appliance at Taste of Wishes event to benefit Make-A-Wish® Connecticut
Taste of Wishes, Make-A-Wish Connecticut’s s annual event, celebrates scrumptious dishes and magical wishes. This incredible evening - on Thursday, September 26 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Aitoro Appliance at 401 Westport Avenue in Norwalk - will feature local celebrity chefs cooking alongside Connecticut wish kids to raise funds to make life-changing wishes come true.
An evening of fabulous food and drink, attendees will get a taste of each chef’s specialties and a of sense of the many wishes that Make-A-Wish Connecticut has granted.
Celebrity Chef Lineup
Jes Bengtson is the Executive Chef at Terrain Garden Café in Westport.
Dan Kardos, born and raised in Stratford, is the Chef/Owner of Café Melba.
Anthony Kostelis, Chef of the Whelk restaurant in Westport.
Robin Selden is the Managing Partner & Executive Chef of Marcia Selden Catering and Naked Fig Catering.
Matt Storch, a Chopped winner, is the Chef/Owner of Match in Norwalk and Match Burger Lobster in Westport.
As the battle against childhood hunger continues, culinary professionals from across the nation are gearing up for the annual Chefs Cycle for No Kid Hungry event, set to take place in Santa Rosa from May 6 to May 9. This three-day, 300-mile cycling endurance ride is not just a test of physical endurance but a testament to the collective commitment of chefs, hospitality professionals, and food enthusiasts to eradicate childhood hunger in America. Over 100 renowned chefs and passionate supporters will pedal through the picturesque landscapes in support of No Kid Hungry’s mission.
Among the notable participants is Chef Luke Venner of Elm Restaurant in New Canaan. 2024 marks Luke’s third year riding He is the sole rider from CT, but also one of the event's top fundraisers and recruiters.
CLASP, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing homes, support, and services to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), is delighted to announce the return of its flagship fundraising event, Taste of Westport. This year’s culinary extravaganza will take place on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, from 6 to 9:30pm at the iconic Inn at Longshore, located at 260 Compo Rd. S., Westport, CT.
Now in its 18th year, Taste of Westport is renowned for bringing together the finest purveyors of food and drink in the area, and this year is no exception. As attendees “Escape to Saint-Tropez,” they will have the chance to indulge in a diverse array of culinary delights, wines, and spirits from over two dozen local establishments. Those embracing the evening’s theme by wearing white will take home a special gift. Live music will be provided by The Bar Car Band, a favorite fixture on the Fairfield County music scene.
EAT TACOS, SAVE THE TATAS!! The team behind Taco Loco and the Loco Catering Group is bringing back their Tacos for Tatas campaign. Tacos for Tatas isa month long fundraiser during October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month where Taco Loco will donate 5% of sales to the Susan G. Komen foundation.
The Taco Loco Party Trucks are not your average food truck. They are first class mobile catering kitchens serving authentic street tacos and margaritas for private parties and corporate events. They do everything from employee appreciation days, school events, holiday parties, birthdays, weddings, and block parties.
The fundraiser expands beyond food truck parties catered in the month of October catering drop off orders and any future scheduled events where the deposits are paid in October will count towards their fundraiser donation
Chef and TV personality Silvia Baldini is publishing an upcoming book in September titled: LesDames d’Escoffier New York Cookbook: Stirring the Pot, The History Press, an imprint of Arcadiaon September 18th, 2023.
Compiling recipes, advise and stories from 61 of the most influential and accomplished women in the food and wine world, Baldini share their remarkable stories and their personal recipes for everything from simple weekday meals to spectacular party dishes.
Proceeds from sales benefit Les Dames d’Escoffier New York’s Scholarship Fund.
The Glass House presents its annual Summer Party on June 10th from 12-4pm.
The Glass House by Philip Johnson located in New Canaan, CT, is a world-renowned architecturally significant property and historic home.
This fundraising event features art, dance, design, fashion, food, music, activations, and silent auction by ARTSY. The event celebrates 16 years as a historic site and museum and will benefit the preservation of the campus and collections.
Chefs Cycle is a fundraising endurance event featuring award-winning chefs and members of the culinary community-fighting childhood hunger outside the kitchen. Since 2015, the culinary talents who take part in Chefs Cycle raise critical funds, which No Kid Hungry uses to help communities across the country feed kids. Chef Luke Venner of Elm Restaurant in New Canaan, CT, is preparing for his 2nd year in the Chefs Cycle event. We sat down with him to discuss the importance of this fundraiser and the hopefully inspire other chefs to join him in 2024!
On May 7th, come sip, explore, shop and socialize at an exclusive, local event to benefit Filling In the Blanks. Sunset Wine Party is hosting this inaugural New Canaan event: a festive, upscale wine tasting evening at the Country Club of New Canaan on May 7th, 2023. All net proceeds benefit Filling in the Blanks, a celebrated local non-profit which supports area children experiencing hunger by providing them with meals on the weekends.
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.
That’s the motto of Tony Pham, owner of Mecha Noodle Bar. It also happens to be the guiding principle of Eat Justice, an initiative created by Pham alongside co-founder Richard Reyes. The project involves a network of Connecticut businesses who turn portions of revenue into monthly donations to local and international nonprofit organizations. “But it’s more than just a check,” Pham tells me. “We’re trying to create a movement.”
The Eat Justice model is fairly simple: businesses designate a selection of goods to serve as their Eat Justice ‘fundraisers.’ They then raise the price of these goods by just fifty cents, and, for each one purchased, they reserve that extra fifty cents for a monthly donation. For example, at Mecha Noodle Bar, each purchase of a ramen dish increases the restaurant’s Eat Justice funds by fifty cents. While customers barely notice the fifty cent price difference, by the end of the month, Mecha regularly raises nearly $20,000 for charity. Pham points out that, by baking the donation into the price of a menu item, Eat Justice avoids the awkwardness and ineffectiveness of directly asking consumers to donate towards a cause.
SAVE THE DATE for a very important evening. Filling In The Blanks will be hosting their Third Annual Plates With a Purpose Event on November 19, with tons of food, fun and festivities. Guests will be treated to a culinary adventure at the Loading Dock designed by Abigail Kirsch with guest chef Luke Venner. Enjoy specialty cocktails, a not to be missed wine & spirits auction, while dancing the night away. VIP ticket packages include carefully curated wine tastings and a VIP lounge. TICKETS ON SALE NOW.
Filling in the Blanks is a non-profit organization that fills the weekend meal gap for children that qualify for the free or reduced school meal programs. By providing a bag filled with healthy food for the weekend, children experience increased academic achievement and greater increase of success.
The evening will help raise funds to support Filling in the Blanks' mission to fight childhood hunger in local communities. We are excited to see everyone at Plates with Purpose 2022!
Please join CTbites and Filling In The Blanks on November 19th, and if your dance card is busy and you can’t attend the gala, please consider making a donation here. Every dollar helps feed a child who would otherwise go hungry.
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.
How can I help? What could I possibly do to help?There’s always a way you can show support and no action is too small. On a global scale, these are organizations where you can donate that will help support Ukrainian families and children with much needed food, housing, and medical supplies. Locally, we have listed our state’s Ukrainian and Eastern European restaurants, delis, and grocers. Placing an order or simply stopping by to say hello sends a message of support of our fellow man.
And by all means, please add your favorite Eastern European establishments in our comments section if they aren’t already on the list-the more the better. Thank you.
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
The Cardinal Shehan Center is a non-profit organization located in Bridgeport, CT. Since 1962, the Center has served the recreational, educational, and social needs of moderate and low-income families and young people of lower Fairfield County, particularly inner city Bridgeport. Their mission is enriching lives through learning.
The Shehan Center has an active after school culinary program that services children between the ages of 5-14. This cooking program teaching children core cooking and kitchen safety skills that they can take home and utilize. They have 100 kids in the program, and this number will jump up to 300 during the summer. In conjunction with the Westport Farmers’ Market, the kids also take part in “The Farmers to Kids to Community Program” where children can learn to cook with a live chef from the community.
They need your help to build out their kitchen and to give these children a place to learn.
PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING ANY OF THE BELOW ITEMS IN GOOD CONDITION.
Local nonprofit with employment-driven mission supports job recovery for industry hit hard by COVID
Goodwill of Western and Northern Connecticut today announced “The Goodwill Give Back,” an initiative to support employment recovery in the restaurant industry.For every 5,000 donation instances to Goodwill this April the nonprofit will donate $1,000 to the Connecticut Restaurant Relief Fund. The mission of the CT Restaurant Relief Fund is to provide immediate financial relief to Connecticut’s restaurant industry with funds designed to save these businesses and protect its workforce.
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!)
