Filtering by Tag: WIne,Thanksgiving

Ore Hill Offers Elevated Micro Seasonal Dining in Kent

Restaurant Kent Litchfield County Fine Dining Opening WIne Farm To Table New American

Erik Ofgang

Somewhere between the main course and dessert round during a recent tasting at Ore Hill the palette cleansers arrive in the form of a sorbet. The secret ingredient in the dish is habanada peppers a selectively bred variant of the better-known habanero peppers that Executive Chef Ryan Carbone explains retain the flavors of a habanero without the spice. So you get all these green vegetal notes and it feels like it’s about to get spicy but the heat never comes, Carbone says. 

The sensation, which Carbone describes perfectly, is one of a kind and exactly the kind of flavor that makes dining at Ore Hill such a treat. The ultra-select, ultra-high-end fine dining experience offers a multicourse immersion in local ingredients and chef-driven cuisine and the kind of big-city tasting menu rarely found in Connecticut. This is accompanied by high-end cocktails and a natural wine-driven wine list that doesn’t shy away from bringing some intriguing and intentional funk. 

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40+ Places For Great Holiday Pies in Connecticut (2024 Edition)

Features Thanksgiving Holiday Holiday Guide Pie Guide Dessert Highlight

Hannah Goodman

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. 

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100+ CT Restaurants, Caterers & Farms for Thanksgiving (2024 Edition)

Features Thanksgiving Holiday Caterer Catering Take Out Homepage

Carly Terzigni

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.

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Guide To Connecticut Vineyards To Visit in Summer 2024

Restaurant Features Vineyard Wine Shop WIne Wine Trail Highlight Homepage

April Guilbault

Rose All Day. Wine o’clock. Wine not? And remember, Sip Happens! Ah, the battlecries of the summer season! From day trips to special gatherings (any bridesmaids out there?), a bucolic, rambling vineyard is the perfect place to while away sun-drenched hours, maybe learn a little something, nibble a little something (wine and charcuterie go hand-in-hand, after all), and sip a whole lot of somethings. Those somethings are local, delightful and flavorful, handcrafted with skill and dedication, and finished off with a wine barrel full of love. A little note for your summer ramblings and sipping: Entries with asterisks (*) are participating wineries/vineyards on the CT Wine Trail. Pet-friendliness is also noted.

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40+ Places For Great Holiday Pies in Connecticut (2023 Edition)

Features Ingredients Restaurant Seasonal Holiday Thanksgiving Catering Pies Pie Pie Guide Dessert Homepage

April Guilbault

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.

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100+ CT Restaurants, Caterers & Farms for Thanksgiving 2023

Features Restaurant Thanksgiving Catering Caterer Holiday Guide Homepage

Carly Terzigni

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! 

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100+ CT Restaurants, Caterers & Farms for Thanksgiving 2022

Features Restaurant Holiday Thanksgiving Guide Catering Homepage

April Guilbault

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!

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40+ Places For Great Holiday Pies in Connecticut (2022 Edition)

Ingredients Features Holiday Thanksgiving Catering Pies Asian Desserts Guide Pie Guide Homepage

Carly Terzigni

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!

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Ruby & Bella’s Opens in SaksWorks on Greenwich Avenue

Restaurant American WIne Cocktails Openings Greenwich Burgers Ladies Who Lunch Homepage

Andrew Dominick

You may not be able to purchase a Polo shirt or a pair of khakis at 265 Greenwich Avenue any longer, but you can set up shop and work remotely there, or you can host a meeting, attend an event, take a yoga or HIIT class, and have a sit-down dinner all under one roof.

What was Ralph Lauren is now SaksWorks, a membership-based work meets life concept. With its flagship in Saks Fifth Avenue and a second in Brookfield Place, SaksWorks Greenwich is part of the company’s expansion that will soon follow with locations in Manhasset and Eastchester in the vacant Lord & Taylor.

We’ll let you decide if this concept or if membership is for you. If it is, and if it isn’t, you can still visit the Greenwich location membershipless (totally aware that isn’t a word) for a cup of coffee, lunch, or dinner.

What’s common in all SaksWorks is an anchor restaurant of some sort. In the case of Greenwich, that restaurant is Ruby & Bella’s, named after owner Richard Baker’s dogs.

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Chef Matt Storch's Recipe for "Day After Turkey & Waffles"

Features Recipe Recipe Thanksgiving Breakfast

CTbites Team

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.

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Shaken and Stirred – Dedicated to Serving You Fresh, Flavorful Catering Throughout CT sponsored post

Features Catering Caterer Parties Private Dining Holiday Thanksgiving

CTbites Team

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...

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40+ Places For Great Holiday Pies in Connecticut (2021 Edition)

Features Ingredients Holiday Thanksgiving Dessert Bakery Baked Goods Buying Guide

April Guilbault

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!

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65+ Restaurants, Caterers & Farms for Thanksgiving 2021

Features Restaurant Thanksgiving Holiday Catering Guide Dining Guide Homepage

April Guilbault

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!

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Tim LaBant’s Parlor Sequel Opens in Darien

Features Restaurant Pizza Darien Cocktails WIne Salads Openings Homepage

Andrew Dominick

After opening his first Neapolitan inspired pizza parlor in Wilton at the tail end of 2018, Tim LaBant has a Parlor part two in Darien’s Corbin District.

That particular section of town, according to LaBant, was primed for his style of pizza because it wasn’t represented anywhere else nearby. “I eyed the Corbin District initially and even thought about waiting a few years,” he says. “I didn’t because I figured someone would beat me to it with a similar concept. We wanted to be here first.”

LaBant and his Parlor squad officially started firing up pies in the Forza Forni Pavesi on April 16.

As far as what you can expect from the Darien location, it’s much of what they do well in Wilton. Think pizza, veggies, wine, cocktails, and beer, at least for now. “We might add to the menu,” hints LaBant. “I know people are still doing lots of takeout. No one wants asparagus in a box.”

But that’s not to say there isn’t anything new going down.

Aside from Parlor’s classic margherita, plain cheese, or a pepperoni pizza, there’s a nod to a New Haven tomato pie and an ode to Roberta’s Bee Sting in the “Soppressata” with red sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, garlic, basil, chili flakes, and homemade hot honey.

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Thanksgiving 2020: CT Guide To Restaurants & Caterers For Thanksgiving To-Go

Restaurant Features Thanksgiving Catering Entertaining Holiday Take Out Homepage

Kristin L. Wolfe

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!

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Saugatuck Grain & Grape Pop-Up Store Opens in Westport to Pay It Forward

Features WIne Spirits Wine Shop Specialty Market Liquor Shopping Westport Openings Pop-Up

Stephanie Webster

For those of us who shop or live in the Westport area, you could hear a communal groan of sadness when Saugatuck Grain & Grape closed up shop by the train station in 2018. It was audible. Owner, Mimi McLaughlin ran her small boutique wine and spirits shop like a family, and every time you walked in that door, she taught you something, or opened your eyes to something new. Shoppers walked out excited about a new small producer wine label, a local distiller they’d never heard of…or a cocktail, made perfectly. Her passion and knowledge of all things “grain and grape” created a brand that took her love of educating the consumer and made her a leader in her field.

Fast forward to 2020 and…wait for it…Mimi is back. Last week she opened a Saugatuck Grain & Grape pop-up location at 1460 Post Road East. You can still lean on her for that perfect red wine recommendation, but it’s different this time around. McLaughin says ”I am back because I came to a realization during quarantine, that what I really want to do, is support the local community, those who need it most.” She has put her money where her mouth is, as SG&G is giving 15% of ALL SALES to local charitable organizations.

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Barcelona Wine Bar Launches Wine Education Series in Partnership with Wine.com

Features WIne Wine Chat Wine Tasting This Week In Wine Education

CTbites Team

Barcelona Wine Bar is launching a new, complimentary wine education series in partnership with Wine.com to bring a taste of Spain home. The best news…after the class, you can buy the wines on Wine.com.

The first class, Iconic Red Wines of Spain will be released on April 28th, and will focus on Rioja, Bierzo, Ribera Del Duero, and Priorat wines. While there are specific wines that are available in a bundle on Wine.com for $89.99, Barcelona restaurants have an expansive range of wines from these regions and participants can call BWB to pick-up wine from one or all of these regions to taste along with the experts. The series was created for any Bierzo, Priorat, Rioja, or Ribera del Duero red wine to pair perfectly for the course.

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Barcelona Wine Bar Hosts "Women In Wine" Events Across CT

Features WIne Wine Dinners

Stephanie Webster

Barcelona Wine Bar is celebrating National Women’s Month with a wine focused series titled, “Women in Wine.” This uncorked event will feature 30 different wines from female wine-makers across Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Uruguay all paired with a chef-prepared culinary experience. They will host these events at all of their locations across CT. It is worth noting that these wines by women are always available at Barcelona but they wanted to take a moment to celebrate some badass women in the wine biz.

Tickets to each event are $55 and are available for purchase via Eventbrite (links below):

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