The former Easton Village Store on Sport Hill Road has a new tenant and it’s a chef you know. Award winning chef, Prasad Chirnomula, and his business partner, Ron Berry, have transformed the space into Gourmet United, a takeout and delivery-based concept that, with Chirnomula involved, definitely features his lauded Indian cuisine alongside Mexican food under one roof.
If you’ve followed the evolution of Two Roads Brewing Company, it’s quite something. Since the main brewery opened in 2012, one thing they kept doing is continuing to evolve. Not including a laundry list of beer releases, Two Roads went onto open a second facility next to their Hop Yard six years ago that you now know as Area Two Experimental Brewing. Following Area Two and all their fun, funky small batch drops, and in no particular order, Two Roads got into making canned cocktails, non-alcoholic beer, distilling (we’ll have a few teasers on that), and they even purchased the former PizzaCo across the street and turned it into Two Roads Food Hall & Bar and next door, Two Roads Tee Box, a golf simulator, making it a full-blown “campus.”
When brothers Sam and Javier Reyes took over the reigns of Mezon Tapas Bar from their older brothers Richard and Juan, and flipped the concept over to Mariposa Taqueria in 2020, focusing on tacos and Latin American street food, they had big plans on the horizon. Sam, who’s coming off a 2023 Bartender of the Year win at the Connecticut Restaurant Association’s CRAZIES Awards, took that award and the recognition it brought to launch a series of cocktail competitions to highlight area bartenders so they can show off their full display of skills to local cocktail lovers.
The former ON20 Restaurant, known for its soaring views of the Connecticut River and other area landmarks, has been fully renovated and reimagined, with even more stunning panoramic vistas of the capital city. The industrial-chic interior has an expansive bar, an open kitchen with gleaming stainless-steel appliances, private dining spaces and jaw-dropping glimpses of the sky from nearly every vantage point.
ON20, a celebrated white tablecloth establishment for many years, closed during the uncertainty of the pandemic in 2020, but two years ago, Hartford Steam Boiler’s leadership began reaching out to key people to start conversations about reopening the restaurant.
“Yale asked me if I was interested in the space, and I took it as a challenge. A small space, few tables, no pizza – I was able to focus on fine dining.” I’m in New Haven, talking with chef Danilo Mongillo about Strega, his second restaurant of the same name, but with a very different concept.
“You have excellent food here – French, Spanish, American – and I took bringing this level of Italian to downtown, not in competition, but just to bring more good food here. That was the challenge.”
The first time I ate at Strega was the location in Milford (both restaurants are just off the corners of their respective city greens) and I’d returned many times for his creations which were just a little different – the way a sentence is altered when the pen is in a different hand – and made with exceptional ingredients. I ask if the new Strega is based on anything regionally Italian, and he shakes the question off, moving in another direction.
“Fine dining is about the technique. It’s about the balance of the flavors – something sweet, something sour – and the balance with the wine. The balance of the bite.”
Almost a year ago, I covered Crust Issues, brought to you by longtime restaurant guy, John Nealon. I’ve since gotten addicted to several of his pizzeria’s signature grub, namely the outside the box, but creative rectangular, crispy, cheesy, garlic buttery pizzas and the pounded out crunchy coated cutlets—especially the spicy chicken scarp.
It doesn’t help (or maybe it does) that it’s a flat one-mile drive away to get my fix.
Nealon has some cool ideas for the evolution of Crust Issues, one that I’ve consistently bothered and pressured him about (I’ll keep it a secret unless it actually happens), and he’s recently mentioned installing a bar for future cocktail program.
But there’s a weekly tasting he’s been doing every Saturday from 7:30 – 9 p.m. that’s a super casual, fun, tasty, incredibly reasonably priced (it’s $40 per person including beer, wine, soda, or water), and you’ll leave happy, fat, and ready for bed.
Fine dining isn’t dead, despite what René Redzepi might say or think, as he gets ready to shutter the doors of what’s been considered one of the best restaurants in the entire world for nearly twenty years. West Hartford has been missing this ‘option’ in dining for a very long time, up until now. Located at 43 Lasalle Road amid restaurant row, are two gentleman working incredibly hard to bring back the ‘tasting menu’ and the full experience that goes along with it, if you choose. You should choose. Head Chef Tim East brings with him a very diverse background in food as he’s worked at several high profile restaurants around the state with some very notable chefs including Todd English and Bobby Flay. He is no stranger to West Hartford either, as he oversaw the much loved Besito in Blueback square that closed over a rental agreement dispute. Most recently however, he took on a leadership role at the storied Cavey’s in Manchester where he developed a love of French cuisine along with many of its techniques. Tim carries all of this experience and knowledge along with his passion, to a restaurant that is focused on its changing the narrative from what it was before he arrived, to what it is capable of under his leadership, a true destination restaurant amongst the West Hartford food scene.
Ask any Fairfield County food truck fanatic what their favorite one was over the past handful of years and they’re likely to mention Nosh Hound if they know what they’re talking about.
The stacked sandwiches, the tacos, the burgers, and the bowls, and yes, even the “F” word…FUSION. It all really worked for Nosh Hound. I, for one, sought out Sam and Maycie Ralbovsky’s truck at every Mill River Park event. My final Nosh Hound memory was at Half Full’s Oktoberfest in Downtown Stamford when I obliterated a pork schnitzel sandwich.
Several months ago, I’m certain my reaction to my dear friend, Katy, mentioning RSVP was something like, “Yeah. That means respond.” If we’re being technical, it’s actually “répondez s'il vous plait” or translated from French to English, “respond, if you please.”
Until Katy finished her thought by telling me that RSVP a French restaurant in Litchfield County that she heard about from one of her friends who’s a bartender. “He raves about it,” she said.
As is always the case, time passed. We kind of forgot about RSVP and barely looked into it for weeks, even months. Only occasionally we’d briefly bring it up, referring it as “THAT French place in Cornwall.”
You follow Tony Pizza Napolitano on Facebook. You wait for a post with a schedule and menu—it usually posts by midday on Monday. Days and times typically read something like, “Silverman’s Farm on Wednesdays, the Norfield Grange in Weston on Thursdays and Fridays, 4 – 7 p.m. for all three days.”
But that’s not written in stone. It’s wise to check the weekly posts to make sure. If pizza strikes your fancy on Silverman’s days, just show up. If you’re a Thursday or Friday pizza person, you have to direct message the Facebook account to work out and confirm a time slot. No advance orders necessary, you can do that when you arrive. Cash is preferred but Venmo is OK, too.
There it is. All laid out for you. Easy-peasy, right?
Good.
But who is this “Tony,” anyway?
The “Tony” in question is Anthony Kesselmark. He has been a Weston resident for a decade and counting, and he previously owned a few restaurants in Dutchess County, a burger joint in Poughkeepsie and a few pizzerias in that area, one of which was Pizza & Stuff in Beacon.
Within its pages, the almanac honors the dedication, hard work and contributions farms make to the world and society. The Farmer of the Year award was created in an effort to recognize the farmers who do the hard work.
“The judging was tough,” Sandi Duncan Philom, managing editor, said.“We didn’t realize how genuinely inspired we would be by the stories of people who not only dedicate their lives to an occupation that’s often overlooked and overworked, but who also have such passion for growing and taking care of the animals and the land that feed the world.
Citizens For Easton (CFE) is pleased to announce the 3rd annual Easton Farm Tour. This celebration of Easton's local and sustainable farming community is a self-guided tour taking place on August 14 from 10am to 2pm.
This free event begins at the Easton Firehouse Green on Sport Hill Road (Route 59) where visitors will sign in and receive a copy of the beautiful Easton Farm Map – “Easton is a Farmers’ Market.” This great guide will serve as your road map and pass to enjoy the many farming delights that Easton has to offer. Farms on the tour include: Aspetuck Valley Apple Barn, Buttonwood Farm, Gilbertie’s Herb Gardens, Gray Friesian Farm, J&L Orchids, Lion Hill Farm, Maple Row Growers, Maple Row Tree Farm, Pee-Wee Horse Farm, Sherwood Farm, Silverman’s Farm, and Sport Hill Farm.
This year we will have food and entertainment on the green. Skinny Pines Pizza will be serving up pies in their mobile wood-fired oven.
Sustainable, seasonal, local, organic, and green might be popular phrases these days among the media and the masses, but to those who truly care about where their food comes from, whether they contain pesticides and want to support their communities, these are very powerful words indeed. By buying locally, seasonally and organically, the consumer never has to worry about food recalls. More importantly, the consumers know not only where their food comes from, but get to know their farmers by name. These are the people who also truly care about the future of their children and of children for generations to come… These are the people who truly care about preserving the world around them.
Patti Popp of Sport Hill Farm is just this type of person.
Don't miss the second annual Easton Farm Tour. This celebration of Easton's local and sustainable farming community is a self-guided tour taking place on August 14 from 10am to 2pm.
This free event begins at the Easton Firehouse Green on Sport Hill Road (Route 59) where visitors will sign in and receive a copy of the beautiful Easton Farm Map – “Easton is a Farmers’ Market.” This great guide will serve as your road map and pass to enjoy the many farming delights that Easton has to offer. Gilbertie’s, Sport Hilland Sherwood Farms are a few of the highlighted destinations.
Skinny Pines – the Easton-based wood-fired pizza truck - will be on site with their mobile wood-fired oven, using locally sourced Easton produce. Who doesn't love that?
Come have lunch, listen to music and learn where your food comes from.