Filtering by Tag: Cookbooks,Ramen

Kung Fu Kitchen: Hand-Pulled Noodles & Michelin-Recognized Dumplings Opens in New Haven

Restaurant Asian Food Chinese Dim Sum Ramen Opening New Haven

Leeanne Griffin

Connecticut may not be home to an official Michelin Guide, but this new Chinese restaurant in New Haven has Bib Gourmand-approved hand-pulled noodles, soup dumplings and much more.

Kung Fu Kitchen recently celebrated its soft opening on Orange Street in the city’s Ninth Square neighborhood, marking the first Connecticut location of chef/owner Peter Song’s concept. Song opened the first Kung Fu in Manhattan to great fanfare a dozen years ago, adding additional city restaurants and outposts in Orlando and Boston. 


X Ramen Opens in Southport with Ramen, Dim Sum, Boba + ROBOT SERVERS!

Restaurant Westport Ramen Japanese Chinese Korean Homepage Noodle Soup Asian Food

Jessica Ryan

After hearing so many good things about X Ramen from my friends, I was looking forward to trying it out myself.

The New York inspired Chicken, Ramen and Boba eatery is the concept of two brothers who grew up locally in Fairfield County, in the restaurant biz. The restaurant is located in the former Wafu space. It’s spacious interior is bright and airy and offers plenty of comfortable seating. The vibe inside is youthful and whimsical, with brightly colored anime posters and TVs lining the walls. In the center of the room, overhead, a lovely display of Japanese umbrellas and lanterns hangs overhead. 

X Ramen’s fairly extensive menu is as fun as the decor. The offerings feature various Asian favorites from Ramen to Udon, assorted appetizers from bao buns to fried chicken, dim sum and a creative boba menu offering classic teas, fruit, tease, and fancy “signature” teas and slushies. The dishes are straightforward, simple and uncomplicated, perfectly suited for both the novice as well as the seasoned ‘slurper.’


CTbites Holiday Gift Guide For Food Lovers (2024 Edition)

Features Gift Guide Holiday Shopping Shopping Guide Cookbooks Homepage

April Guilbault

And here we are again, on the threshold of the holiday season! The weather might be a little warmer than usual (but then again, it snowed this morning. Anyone else keeping up with all of this?) but the holiday spirit is in full swing! With that comes the quest for the perfect gifts for all those lovelies on your list. We have scoured and explored and found some delicious and interesting gift ideas for you…fresh delivered milk anyone? We have divided this curated list into four sections: Gifts, Cookbooks, Subscriptions, and a few “Beyond Connecticut” items not to be missed.

Happy Shopping and Happy Holidays to you, our fellow foodies!


Momosan by Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto Opening at Foxwoods

Features Opening Celebrity Chef Foxwoods Ramen Japanese

CTbites Team

Foxwoods Resort Casino today announced the opening of Momosan by Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, set to debut in spring 2025. The new addition brings the globally renowned chef’s celebrated Japanese cuisine to Foxwoods, marking the seventh location of his acclaimed ramen restaurant. The partnership between Foxwoods and Chef Morimoto continues the resort casino’s commitment to delivering world-class, diverse culinary experiences in a dynamic and ever-evolving landscape.


New Cookbook from Nominee for Best Caterer 2024, Alison Milwe Grace of AMG Catering

Features Cookbooks Caterer Recipe Education

Stephanie Webster

We have long loved Alison Milwe Grace of AMG Catering. Not only does AMG elevate the catering industry in Connecticut, but she also supports the community in so many other ways. We are excited to announce the release of her first cookbook, SAVOR, Recipes to Celebrate, just in time for the holidays.

“I have always loved how cooking brings people together and I wrote this book to share my love for food and encourage others to savor time with family and friends. Savor, A Reason to Celebrate is a collection of some of favorite and simplest recipes. I want everyone to see that we don’t need a major holiday or a complicated recipe to gather with friends and family and celebrate,” says Milwe Grace.

Savor is a carefully curated collection of Milwe Grace's favorite recipes, themed classes, and menus for enthusiastic home cooks to create festive gatherings for friends and family. Whether you are celebrating Cinco de Mayo, need inspiration for a backyard barbecue, or want to impress your guests on New Year's Eve, Savor will be the cookbook you reach for again and again.


Hachiroku’s Third Act: The Loop Opens in New Haven’s Arts District

Restaurant Opening New Haven Japanese Grocery Store Japanese Market Sushi Ramen Wine Bar Homepage

Todd Lyon

What are you doing on Saturday morning at 10 a.m.? If you’re tuned into the Japanese cuisine scene in New Haven, we know where we’ll find you: Standing in line to be one of the first to experience The Loop, a brand-new marketplace, food court, and kitchen by the enlightened crew that brought us Hashiroku Shokudo & Sake Bar, and Hachiroku Handroll Bar & Tapas. CT Bites was lucky enough to get a private preview, and we’re here to tell you: The Loop is about to revolutionize the way we eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

To catch you up: Yuta Kamori was a stranger to New Haven when he opened the first Hachiroku on Orange Street in 2022. But soon, very soon – in spite of not even a sign out front -- he had a passionate fan base and, much to his surprise, an outpouring of support from local chefs and restaurateurs. “I walked in cold,” he recalls, but found “good people here – people who spread the word.” By 2023 he had premiered the second Hachiroku, a spare, elegant sushi bar on State Street, which opened to great acclaim and which, like his first place, quickly became a statewide favorite.


Yuki’s Kitchen Opens in Westport with Authentic Korean, Japanese & Chinese

Restaurant Opening Westport Japanese Korean Chinese Kid Friendly To-Go Asian Food Noodle Soup Ramen Sushi Homepage

Dana Yee

I recently had the pleasure of dining at Yuki’s Kitchen, a charming Korean, Japanese and Chinese culinary haven that left me utterly impressed and thoroughly satisfied. From the moment I stepped in to this primarily take-out spot, the quaint friendly ambiance and attentive service set the stage for a memorable gastronomic experience. Ken and Yuki Piao, a husband and wife team, have been in the Fairfield/Westport area for more than +10 years and decided in November of 2022 to open a lovely tiny haven of authentically excellent Asian food. We also had the pleasure of enjoying some special dishes prepared by Yuki’s mother visiting from Korea for 2 months.


CT Chef & TV Personality, Silvia Baldini, To Release Cookbook Sept 18th (For A Great Cause)

Features Author Cookbooks Book Fundraiser

CTbites Team

Chef and TV personality Silvia Baldini is publishing an upcoming book in September titled: Les Dames d’Escoffier New York Cookbook: Stirring the Pot, The History Press, an imprint of Arcadia on 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.


25+ Spots for Great Ramen in Connecticut

Restaurant Features Asian Noodle Soup Ramen Japanese Noodles Best of CT Homepage Highlight

April Guilbault

Sluuuuuurp. Siiiip! Sip! Just a few of the sounds you might hear when consuming a steaming hot bathtub-sized bowl of delicious, noodlicious ramen. Whether you’ve got a simpler bowl of noodles and broth on the brain or one brimming with a myriad of toppers, not much is more satisfying than slurping to your heart’s content. To take the chill off these end-of-winter days, we’ve got the consummate listing for your next craving. Dive on in, the slurping is good!

Here are 25 Spots for great ramen in Connecticut.

If we missed a Ramen spot you love, please contact us.


Ramen & Bao Opens in Oxford CT with Soup Dumpling, Unique Ramen +

Restaurant Openings Oxford Ramen Asian Japanese Dumplings Lunch Homepage

Carly Terzigni

When you enter Ramen & Bao, the latest culinary addition to Oxford’s Quarry Walk, there is no question that you are in for a memorable experience. Right away, you are greeted by the tranquil sounds of water trickling from a fountain as you turn the corner, signaling that it is time to kick back, relax, and enjoy some delicious ramen, dumplings, steamed baos, or whatever may strike your fancy.

Chef Jin is no stranger to opening up successful restaurants in Connecticut, as Ramen & Bao is a sister restaurant to Natural Kitchen in Milford and Tomo 68 in Naugatuck. So we knew we were in for a treat when we sat down at a carefully presented place setting, complete with ornate soup spoons, bowls, and chopsticks. Needless to say, we were ready to dive in.


CTbites Sits Down with Culinary Legend, Lidia Bastianich

Features Interview Celebrity Chef Charity Cookbooks Lidia Bastianich Homepage

Andrew Dominick

Lidia Bastianich is an iconic culinary television show host, a multi-time published author, and an acclaimed restauranteur. In Connecticut, we’re all familiar with her partnership in the now closed Tarry Lodge restaurants in Westport, New Haven, and its Port Chester flagship whose next door was Tarry Market, an Italian specialty shop. And let’s be real, all of us locals have dropped a paycheck’s equivalent at Bastianich’s Eataly locations in NYC, and if you’re further out, you’ve likely done so in Vegas, L.A., Chicago, or at Boston’s Eataly.

Bastianich, though, has Connecticut connections beyond her restaurants as an avid supporter of Person to Person, a Darien based nonprofit that provides food, free clothing, emergency financial assistance, scholarships, and gratis summer day camps to those who need it.


Menya Gumi: Ramen, Donburi, and Epic Sandos in New Haven

Restaurant Openings New Haven Japanese Ramen Noodles Sandwich Lunch Comfort Food Homepage

Brian Lance

I lived in Japan for four years in the early 2000s. I spent much time eating my way around Tokyo and the Kanto sprawl. Surely much has changed in those 20 years since I left. Still, I long for the food I left behind. Not the flashy foods of trendy restaurants I visited (and loved). I miss the fried chicken skewers from 7-11, Circle K egg salad sandos, and the noodles of all the quick-bite ramen shops without chairs, for none of which I remember names. Yoshinoya, Pot & Pot, and sushi go-rounds that didn’t serve elaborate rolls. I miss all the places in the cavernous Shinjuku Station underground with their window displays of plastic katsu curry and oyaku-don.

Yeah. It’s the love the Japanese food culture places into even it’s fast(ish) food that I’ve sought since coming back to the states. Occasionally, some of my old friends who were there with me will send pics of some gem they found in a strip mall. I do the same. But of the handful of places that I found, none takes me back there like Menya Gumi.

Angel Cheng opened Menya Gumi in March 2020, right as the pandemic hit the U.S. Menya survived to deliver an upgraded touch to the food of my past. Cheng works somewhere between Japanese tradition and American food crazes.


New Cookbook from CT's Own Dorie Greenspan: BAKING WITH DORIE: SWEET, SALTY & SIMPLE

Features Cooking Cookbooks Baker Baking

CTbites Team

Known for her multiple James Beard Award and IACP Award-winning cookbooks, CT’s own Dorie Greenspan is back with 150 all new signature recipes in BAKING WITH DORIE (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; October 19, 2021; $35.00;). This new collection, her fourteenth cookbook, arrives exactly thirty years after her food writing debut, much to the delight of her legion of fans.


Cook with Jacques Pépin & Friends Vol 2 On Sale March 9th!

Features Cooking Virtual Cooking Classes Recipe Recipe Video Cookbooks Homepage

CTbites Team

The latest Video Recipe Book from the Jacques Pépin Foundation features over 40 culinary luminaries and will be available March 9th. After a successful Vol. 1 release, The Jacques Pépin Foundation, (JPF) an organization that enriches lives and strengthens communities through culinary education, proudly debuts Cook with Jacques Pépin & Friends: Vol 2. This Video Recipe Book features over 40 lauded chefs across the country including Marcus Samuelsson, Ingrid Hoffmann, Michael Voltaggio, Rick Bayless, Michael Symon, Carla Hall, Diego Galicia, Traci Des Jardins, and, of course, Jacques Pépin.

Each dish and drink featured in Cook with Jacques Pépin & Friends includes a personal, instructional video as well a printable recipe. The Video Recipe Book is available to all JPF Members, and in addition to Vol. 2., members can access Vol. 1. Combined, nearly 100 recipes and more than 12 hours of video instruction live on the Membership site. Every JPF Membership directly supports community-based culinary training programs nationwide that provide pathways to individual empowerment, better health and employment. Membership starts at $40 per year.


CTbites 2020 Gift Guide: Great Gifts For Your Favorite CT Food Lover

Features Ingredients Gift Guide Best of CT Specialty Market Shopping Specialty Products Local Artisan Cookbooks Cooking Classes Holiday Homepage

April Guilbault

How to find the perfect gift for this crazy ass year-well ain’t that the question of the day! As many of us are staying a little further away from stores and not partaking in the usual activities we have in past years, we got creative and found the creative for your gift-giving! Artisans, chefs, and vendors are all rising to the occasion with fabulous out-of-the-box thinking and we discovered a treasure trove of unusual, beautiful, tasty items and experiences that will infuse a blast of goodness into this particularly memorable holiday season. Give, get, live, love, and celebrate the moments of sparkle. To quote the infamous Clark Griswold, “we’re all in this together”.


Millwright's Sous Chef, Jamie V. Bordonaro, Publishes "Pursuit of Passion" Cookbook

Features Cooking Cookbooks Education Author CT Authors Chef Talk

Stephanie Webster

Chef Jamie Bordonaro’s “day” job is Sous Chef at Millwrights Restaurant in Simsbury Connecticut, but over the past six years, Bordonaro has been working on a project of his own, in all of that “free” time one has as a chef. Jamie recently finished the publication of a cookbook titled, “Pursuit of Passion,” and as you can imagine, he is more than a little excited to finally be able to share the fruits of his labor with the public.

The cookbook is a personal narrative and compilation of Bordonaro’s cooking techniques, flavor profiles, and skills that he acquired throughout his culinary career. But it is so much more than that, and is grounded in purpose that relates to one’s own inner drive and the importance of creating opportunity within yourself to follow your passion.


"Room at the Table; Recipes from the Heart" E-Cookbook By Silvia Baldini

Features Cookbooks Education Cooking

Stephanie Webster

Chef Silvia Baldini of Strawberry & Sage has released a wonderful new E-cookbook, “Room at the Table; Recipes from the Heart.” The cookbook is a collection of family recipes donated by ‘New Canaan Democrats’ members, friends, community leaders, and legislators. It’s a cookbook about the joy and benefits of sharing delicious meals with others. It is also about building a bigger table that welcomes and includes our friends and neighbors, embraces our diversities, and celebrates our expansive attitudes and values of compassion and care for everyone.

Contributors to the project include: Senator Kamala Harris—vice-presidential candidate, Chef Marcus Samuelsson— award-winning chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, philanthropist and food activist, judge on Chopped, Gloria Steinem— Activist, author, Feminist…and oh so many more.


Haruki Ramen & Izakaya Brings Authentic Japanese Pub Fare to Norwalk

Restaurant Ramen Noodles Asian Japanese Izakaya Norwalk SONO Openings Lunch Homepage Waypointe

Tiffany Tu

Amongst the bright and airy courtyard of the Waypointe Apartments resides Haruki Ramen & Izakaya.

Owners, Lily Nimonjiya and Ben Chan, first opened Haruki’s doors in February 2020. They wanted to bring a new side of the Japanese culture to Fairfield. Most importantly, they wanted to showcase what you’d normally find in an izakaya in Japan. “I want to highlight that there is more to the Japanese cuisine than sushi and ramen,” says Nimonjiya.

So, what is an izakaya? In Japanese, it directly translates to, “stay sake shop.” It is a casual drinking establishment with small bites. A more colloquial comparison for an izakaya would be a pub or a tapas bar. Alongside their izakaya offerings, there are also options for ramen and rice dishes. And of course, craft cocktails and an extensive list of sake—47 kinds to be exact.


Cook The Book: Tune In On CTBites Instagram Live July 1st with Chef Emily Mingrone of Tavern On State

Events Recipe Cooking Cookbooks Education Instagram Live Recipe Video

Stephanie Webster

Readers, Diners, New Quarantine Couch Potato-Turned-Chefs! Tune into our new IGTV Weekly Series COOK THE BOOK.

On Wednesday July 1st @8PM, join trained chef and beloved Connecticut Cookbook author, Anna Francese Gass (Heirloom Kitchen 2019) & Guest Chef Emily Mingrone from award winning Tavern On State, as they cook Emily’s recipe for Chicken & Dumplings from our recently released CTBites e-cookbook: Connecticut Chef Recipes for Restaurant Relief

Tune In on @CTBITES INSTAGRAM LIVE!!


Cook The Book: Recipe Demos On Instagram Live Every Wednesday with Cookbook Author Anna Gass

Features Events Cooking Cookbooks Education Recipe Recipe Video Celebrity Chef

Kristin L. Wolfe

Readers, Diners, New Quarantine Couch Potato-Turned-Chefs! Get Ready to tune into our new IGTV Weekly Series COOK THE BOOK.

Join trained chef and beloved Connecticut Cookbook author, Anna Francese Gass (Heirloom Kitchen 2019), as she makes her way one through some of the most delicious recipes in the recently released CTBites e-cookbook: Connecticut Chef Recipes for Restaurant Relief

Starting this Wednesday June 24th @8PM Gass + a weekly featured Guest Chef will bring the book alive and further whet your appetite and drive to get in the kitchen. This week

So, grab your aprons, your whisks, and the new e-cookbook (should we still plug here? for fun, great food, and to continue supporting our state’s wonderful restaurant industry.