Get those stretchy pants out of the deep, dark depths of your closet…don’t worry, we all have a pair! Once a year, these pants are necessary, as holiday excitement overtakes the part of the brain that tells us we’re full. We fight that voice that tells us to stop, that third and even fourth helpings of mashed potatoes and red wine aren’t going to help us cope with that obnoxious uncle your mom sat you next to out of spite. You know what will help? Pie and pie only. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, as you can eat as much as you want without being judged, though they’ll still try. But keep your head held high, as this year you can brag about the wonderful pies you’ve spent hours upon hours picking out. You even preheated the oven and scooped out perfect balls of vanilla ice cream. So don’t let anyone tell you that you did nothing, because ice cream is not easy to scoop.
All throughout Connecticut you can find plenty of delicious pie options, whether you want your pies fruity, custardy, creamy, or gluten free. As they say, Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful, and while we celebrate our family, friends, furbabies, and crazy uncles we’ve never met, it is important to recognize the true Thanksgiving savior: pie. Lucky for you, this guide is organized by county, so scroll down to find yours! Gobble, gobble.
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and restaurants across Connecticut are preparing countless turkeys and pumpkin pies to serve you and your family. Whether you’re preparing a meal at home or you’ve decided to visit your favorite local restaurant, there are tons of businesses that are hard at work to make sure your Thanksgiving is the most memorable one yet.
From roasting a whole turkey yourself to heat-and-serve meals to a fully-plated multi-course meal served at the table, you can find your level of Thanksgiving exertion among the restaurants in this roundup. Time is running out, so don’t delay – order your Thanksgiving dinner or book your reservations today!
For your convenience, the guide is organized by county – simply find yours to see what local options are available! We have also made note of which locations are providing Vegan options this year. And, finally, if you want to pick up a fresh turkey to cook at home, there is a section devoted entirely to Connecticut farms at the bottom of the guide.
When I visited Fryborg in 2023 for a follow up article on its new Trumbull location and expanded menu, owner Johnathan Gibbons tossed me a tidbit that I teased at the end of that piece about a weekend morning pop up featuring something sweet.
In various rankings online, stuffing generally comes in first place on the Top 10 list of Thanksgiving foods. I personally cannot argue with that for one hot second. Desserts such as pumpkin or chocolate pie have hovered around 5th or 6th place, respectively, wistfully lagging behind mac and cheese and mashed potatoes but ahead of the love-it-or-hate it green bean casserole.
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 & SHOP LOCAL!!
We don’t have to explain how big of a deal Thanksgiving dinner is. Arguably, it is one of the most highly anticipated meals of the year – not just for the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pie, but for the time spent with loved ones.
Some years, you want to go all out and embrace your inner Martha Stewart. There are businesses in Connecticut ready to supply you with the highest quality fresh turkey. Other years, you want to kick back and let someone else do the cooking. There are countless restaurants and catering companies across the state ready to take your order for a fully prepared meal. Or, maybe, you want to switch things up and take the family gathering on the road – as you might imagine, there are tons of excellent Connecticut restaurants open on Thanksgiving with special menus just for the holiday.
For your convenience, the guide is organized by county – simply find yours to see what local options are available! We have also made note of which locations are providing Vegan options this year. And, finally, if you want to pick up a fresh turkey to cook at home, there is a section devoted entirely to Connecticut farms at the bottom of the guide. The time is now to make your Thanksgiving dinner plans, and either place your orders for a catered meal or book those reservations at your favorite restaurant!
If you can cut through the increasing daily frenzy, it really is a glorious time of the year, isn’t it? And we should all make the effort to not get swept up in the busyness, because what is at our doorstep is a season of gathering with family and friends, enjoying meals and celebratory occasions together. We’ve come a long way, baby, and it’s time to celebrate everything that we hold dear, rejoice in it, savor it. And us-being-us (CTbites), we are offering suggestions now to help put your happy over the top. Sharing a meal is, indeed, a special thing with the people you love most and we want you to love this part something fierce. Forks up and Happiest Thanksgiving wishes!
It might be hard to believe with such an unseasonably warm start to November, but Thanksgiving is right around the corner! And that can only mean one thing: it’s pie time. Once again this year, there are dozens of restaurants, markets, farms, and other businesses across the state offering a variety of pies to preorder and have ready to add to your holiday table. Whether you are keeping things simple with a traditional pumpkin or apple pie to compliment your turkey dinner, or you want to mix things up with unique flavors and ingredients, there are desserts on this list for just about every palate. Happy Thanksgiving!
Big news for doughnut ice cream sandwich lovers everywhere. On September 24th, starting at 11:30 AM (and I’d get there nice and early as these will sell out quickly), Karla Sorrentino of Karla’s Kreamery and Rob Vankeuren of Flour Water Salt Bread will come together for a few hours to create some cream sandwich magic. The uniquely delicious Flour Water Salt bomboloni (Italian style doughnut) will have a chance to get intimate with Chef Karla’s new micro batch ice cream. These are two “best in class” desserts so get excited.
This unique culinary opportunity will go down at Flour Water Salt located at 20 Grove Street in Darien. While the shop will hold normal hours that day, the ice cream sandwiches won’t get started until 11:30 AM. While both businesses generally take pre-orders, there will be no ordering in advance for this collaboration. Karla and Rob will be assembling sandwiches to order, and expect to simply wait in line for your sweet reward.
What’s for day-after-Thanksgiving breakfast? Chef Matt Storch of Match Restaurant & Match Burger Lobster has a great idea for all those leftovers. Bust out the waffle maker, that last slice of pecan pie people were simply too full to consume last night, and some tasty turkey bits for breakie.
Enjoy Chef Storch’s Day After Thanksgiving Turkey & Waffles. You’re welcome.
Shaken and Stirred Catered Events is turning up the heat this holiday season. From Thanksgiving meals and holiday parties to wedding receptions and corporate events, the team at Shaken and Stirred will deliver nothing but class, expertise, and delicious food to you and your guests.
Being a chef-led service, Shaken and Stirred can provide handcrafted, custom menus for every event. As the holiday season approaches, it’s time to begin planning dinners and parties for your family, friends, and coworkers...
There are cake people and there are pie people, but when it comes to holidays, Thanksgiving is all about the pie. Fruity, custardy, creamy, double-crust, single crust, crumb and lattice topped, chocolatey, piled high with swoops of light-as-air meringue, fluff-filled chiffon, even savory; there is a pie for every palate around your holiday table. A slice of this, a slice of that, they are hard to resist. We won’t even go into the fact that pie for breakfast the day after a holiday quite possibly takes, well, the cake. Whether you are a traditionalist or a try-new-things-ist at your holiday table, we have the pie for you. Or at least, these delightful vendors do. Happy Thanksgiving and forks up, people!
Bring on the good food, the gratitude, and the tablecloth you use once a year-Thanksgiving is here! This holiday, thankfully, will be more about in-person celebrating than seeing how many Zoom family chats we can schedule between the appetizer course and the dessert course. Man, doesn’t it feel good to greet a holiday with thoughts of “looking forward to this!” rather than “how the heck are we going to do this?”. To that end, one of your biggest challenges this month will be which of these wonderful establishments to order your food from and you will win no matter who you choose. From turkeys and pies you can bake yourself so they are bubbly warm when you serve them, to vegan and gluten-free options and dine-in options across the state, bellies will be full and happy. You can even send a meal to a loved one or donate one to spread the love. Oh, and make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of the list, where you will find places to order fresh turkeys. Eat up, celebrate well. Psst-We’d be remiss if we didn’t tell you that we are grateful for our fabulous readers. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Danbury Connecticut has been on a donut driven sugar rush ever since Grounds Donut House has arrived. With completely unique flavors like Arnold Palmer Iced Tea, Orange Milano & Chips Ahoy, there is no doubt that you will leave the donut haven with smile on your face and a yearning for more. We are also excited about their new…wait for it… Ice Cream Injected Donuts available for in store purchase only.
Located off of the Lake Avenue Exit, Grounds Donut House serves donut lovers creative donuts, premium coffee, over-the-top coffee drinks, and for the 21+ crowd, alcoholic beverages featuring local brewers with donut-y friendly flavor profiles. Grounds keeps their menu pretty consistent, as they have their everyday classics, but they also rotate new donuts in to allow their customers to try new flavors each time they come into the donut house.
It’s always exciting to hear about a new concept opening from one of your favorite CT chefs, but it is even more exciting when that chef partners with a groundbreaking philanthropic organization on a mission to educate young adults and celebrate local artists while creating a free destination for fine art and music in the city of Norwalk.
Chef Bill Taibe and his team (Andrea Dinan, Caitlin McGowan and Kelly Clement) have officially opened the doors to their brand new Art Space Cafe,located inside the breathtakingly beautiful Norwalk Art Space. The Cafe will be open for breakfast and lunch, 9am-4pm, just steps away from Norwalk’s Waypointe and downtown SoNo. The Art Space Cafe is an order-at-the-counter, casual affair, and will likely become a go-to spot for breakfast meetings, grabbing a quick latte, or a lunch hang in the serene sundrenched dining space.
If the buzz around KFC’s 2020 rollout of their fried chicken and donut sandwich says anything about our appetite for this decadently delicious combo, I’d say with great certainty that the new Citizen Chicken & Donuts, opening today in West Hartford, has some serious legs. From the folks who brought you Hartford Baking Company, Citizen Chicken & Donuts has made a smart addition to the team, a chef who knows things about Southern cooking, and definitely knows his fried chicken. Texas born, Chef Van Hurd, of Sayulita’s, Taino Smokehouse, and Riverhouse Catering, will be at the helm alongside Hartford Baking Company founder, Scott Kluger, who will handle the carb-ier side of Citizen’s menu, including the donuts, brioche sandwich breads, cronuts and other goodies. Kluger says “Fried chicken is not our background or culture so it’s nice to have somebody from that world to bring real authenticity to the menu.” It’s really the perfect pairing, and you can find this comfort food mecca at Hartford Baking Company’s original location on New Park Avenue in West Hartford.
Many of us have sharpened our kitchen chops this last nutty year as we’ve spent more time at the stove than ever before. But it is time to give yourself a break while supporting local restaurants. It’s a tasty win win. Here are some Connecticut places that will dazzle you with a tremendous Thanksgiving spread either for takeout of eat in. So families, put the knives down, let yourselves be served, but sharpen those debate skills. Afterall, the Thanksgiving table tends to be a place where families air it all out or bring deep seated secrets to life? Okay, okay, or just go around the table and say what they are thankful for. Right, let’s go with that one.
Here are 50+ CT Spots for Thanksgiving Dining To Go!
We continue our merry Thanksgiving romp with a recipe from Marcia Selden Catering. The Seldens have cooked for, quite literally, thousands of hungry guests, and this is their go-to recipe for Butternut Squash & Apple Soup. It is incredibly simple to make and always a crowd pleaser. Make sure you garnish with the Pepitas. They add some nice texture to the creamy (dairy-free) soup.
Chef Judy Roll of Judy’s Bar & Kitchen knows her way around a pie, and if you visit her spot in Stamford, you’ll know why she was asked for this recipe. Quite frankly, we selfishly wanted it for our own recipe rolodexes, but we thought we’d share. Aren’t we nice? Enjoy Judy Roll’s recipe for Brown Sugar Apple Pie.
