Filtering by Tag: Derby,Trumbull

Fryborg Food Truck Opens Restaurant in Trumbull

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Andrew Dominick

“A lot of the food we serve is inspired by being a kid,” says Fryborg owner Jonathan Gibbons. “In Milford, an older guy in his 80s comes in regularly and he remarked that my food is like when he was a kid. That made me feel really good. The food, the video game table, the bubble hockey, it’s all about nostalgia.”

For many, me included, “nostalgia” is the right work to describe Fryborg.


Fryborg Bringing Hand-Cut Fries to Trumbull (via The Trumbull Times)

Features Openings Trumbull French Fries Comfort Food Kid Friendly

CTbites Team

This article appeared in the Trumbull Times on January 5th. Read the complete article here.

Jonathan Gibbons is being cautiously optimistic.

He hopes that the latest outpost of his restaurant Fryborg will open at 10 Broadway Road in Trumbull some time in May. But he’s well aware that might not be possible.

“Right now, with all of the delays and issues with the supply chain, it’s affecting everybody,” Gibbons said. “I know it will take a while.”

Despite the potential hiccups, he’s excited about bringing the restaurant — perhaps best known for its hand-cut fries with a choice of more than 15 dipping sauces and an array of toppings — to Trumbull this year.

The drive-thru window that had been used by the pharmacy will be used to pick up food. However, Gibbons said, it wouldn’t be a traditional drive-thru, where customers would order food from a kiosk, pay and pick it up. Customers would order and pay ahead of time and pick up the food at the window when ready.

The restaurant would also offer sit-down dining.

Fryborg began as a food truck in August of 2012. In 2018, Gibbons opened a restaurant in Milford. When he saw the space in Trumbull was available, he said it appeared to be a great opportunity to expand his brand.


Bianco Rosso Opens Newest location in Trumbull w/ Chef David White

Restaurant Trumbull wilton Italian Homepage Lunch Pasta Dessert

CTbites Team

Earlier this summer, husband and wife team, Cristina Ramirez and Mario Lopez along with brother Jaime opened Bianco Rosso’s newest location, in Trumbull, to eager diners. Noted Chef David White (most recently of Vespa, Westport) was brought on to oversee all culinary matters and is joined by award-winning Pastry Chef Susanne Berne where the two have joined forces to create a delectable menu. Acclaimed Mixologist Jaime Johel oversees the creative specialty cocktail menu. The energetic restaurant opened to rave reviews. We had the opportunity to visit the new restaurant last week and sample some of Chef White’s culinary prowess. 


Bow Tie Cinemas Now Features Food, Drinks & A Stylish Renovation

Features Norwalk Food Movies Westport Trumbull Homepage

Andrew Dominick

If you’ve walked into either one of the Bow Tie Cinemas in Norwalk lately, you and I likely had the same reaction. I froze for multiple seconds. I’m certain my “wow” face was visible, mouth hitting the ground cartoon-style and all. I marveled at the renovations at the SoNo Ultimate Regent 8, the movie theater I grew up going to since it opened, and now it’s unrecognizable in the best way possible. 

Gone are the packed-in, partially broken seats, that have been replaced by padded, comfier electric recliners so you can put your feet up, kick back, and zone-out during a film. As a frequent moviegoer, that’s awesome, but this is a food site. I’m here to dish about the revamped concession stand that you’ll not only see in the South Norwalk Bow Tie, but also at the Ultimate Royal 6 on Westport Avenue, and soon at the Trumbull Marquis 6 with construction slated for early November. 

The upgraded concession area includes a full bar, with menus put in place by local restauranteur Greer Fredericks (Mama’s Boy, Peaches), who consulted on the project with assistance from Thomas Siano, who runs the bar program at her current restaurant.


BAD SONS Brewery Opens In Derby: Designed For Guests

Ingredients Features Derby Brewery Beer CT Beer Beer Garden Road Trip

James Gribbon

First of all: Beacon Falls, Ansonia, Derby, Seymour, Oxford, Naugatuck, Shelton - in acronym, BAD SONS, collectively "The Valley." Once the manufacturing heart of an industrial state, the factories shut down to reopen out west, overseas, or not at all, but their brick shells remained. Once known for hats, watches, and artillery shells, there is new life to be found in old factories in the valley, which have become perfect incubators for the Connecticut brewing industry's baby boom.

The BAD SONS brewery inhabits a space in Derby just down the Housatonic river from the Yale crew team's boathouse, about 300 yds from the Dew Drop Inn. This coal-era brick monolith may be where "BAD SONS" comes to mean "Valley Beer."


H'Cue Texas BBQ in Derby Brings Great BBQ To The Valley 

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James Gribbon

Barbeque took a circuitous route to land in Connecticut. The root word, possiblybarbacoa, is reportedly Carib indian for cooking food on a raised grate over a fire. This, then, is Barbeque: the verb. You may hear people using the word this way as we approach the Fourth of July: "hot dogs, hamburgers, we're having a barbeque." Historically correct or not, I am not down with the verb: "barbeque" is a noun. It is meat - deeply, carefully smoked - and the goal is a harmonic balance of aroma and flavor, the joining together of fire and food.

The path to opening the new H'Cue Texas BBQ in Derby has as many twists, turns, stops and starts as the route to its spiritual home in Lockhart, Texas.


Dew Drop Inn in Derby: Adventures in Chicken Wings And More

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James Gribbon

"When I was first looking for a location, I didn't even want a place with a kitchen." It's not what you expect to hear from the owner of a bar which has become more famous for food than its drinks. When Bronx-native Jay Carlucci bought the Dew Drop Inn in 2006, "I just wanted a neighborhood bar, I wasn't even looking north of White Plains." One major reinvention and many smaller renovations later, the Dew Drop is a linchpin of both the restaurant and social scenes in Derby, and a regular top three finisher in every list of the best wing spots in Connecticut.

"It was rough then, but it was definitely a local hangout, a neighborhood bar." His vision was to take the concept and make it better. Within the first few months every light beer was taken off the menu, and Carlucci heard about it: 'You're crazy, you didn't make money in the valley selling new beers.'


Friday Froth: A First Look At The Hops Company in Derby

Restaurant Beer Brewery Derby Burgers

James Gribbon

I was running late early on a Sunday afternoon when the obligatory traffic jam on I-95 caught me like doomed comet streaking toward the Sun and sudden annihilation. It took the sight of a wrecked Ferrari to remind me I'd forgotten my car. I was driving, yes, but the car I'd forgotten - like the aforementioned comet - was set in motion by gravity, not gasoline. Jack's Abby was hosting a pine car derby at The Hops Company in (quelle apropos), Derby, and I'd planned on making the campaign of my old car from Cub Scouts the B-story to this column. The lapse in memory had left me momentarily enraged until I remembered I'd just seen someone's red F430 Spider completely taco'd by the rear bumper of an 18-wheeler. Score one for perspective. 

The Hops Company is the work of Umberto Morale, who spent his early life in his native Rome before coming to the U.S. and bouncing between the restaurant scene, college, and Wall Street. He had the vision of an inclusive, German style beer hall in his head, and looked at properties all over the state before seeing the location in Derby and signing immediately.

Best Bar Burgers in Fairfield County: 2014 Edition

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Jeff "jfood" Schlesinger

May is National Burger Month and it’s that time of year again for CTbites to unveil its “Best Bar Burgers of Fairfield County.” The last twelve months brought us several suggestions to try and I tried many of these additional locations. The 2014 list included some outstanding bars and haunts that served delicious burgers, so good in fact that only one newcomer was as delicious. (See complete list below)

Not only was this an outstanding burger, but it earned my top spot as the Best Bar Burger in Fairfield County. 

Bick’s Burgers & Fries – 2014 Best Bar Burger in Fairfield County


Shearwater Coffee Roasters: Bringing Organic Coffee to Fairfield County

Ingredients Coffee Specialty Market Trumbull

Kathleen Atkins

Americans have a loving obsession with coffee.  We crave our daily fix, whether it is black, iced, with extra cream and sugar, or a shot of espresso.  We crave the aroma, the taste and how coffee brings people together.  However, coffee is so much more than just a beverage; it is a huge global business. 

Ed Freedman of Shearwater Coffee Roasters is in the thick of this global business, but is marking his own stamp on it.  Shearwater Coffee Roasters, headquartered in Trumbull, Connecticut is the first and only USDA certified organic coffee roaster in Fairfield County.  Shearwater bases its business on the three core principles of organic, artisan and altruism.   They pride themselves on being committed to the integrity of organic roasting.   “Organic is not a product line,” says Freedman.  “It’s a way of life and what we do. “  

The coffee plant is often grown with harmful chemicals, pesticides and herbicides. 


Exceeding Expectations at Trumbull's Parallel Post

Restaurant Farm to Table Trumbull Lunch

Amy Kundrat

The Trumbull Marriott’s Parallel Post restaurant is the result of a prescient collaboration with a James Beard nominated chef and a well-known hotel chain just off the beaten path of Fairfield County's regular dining haunts. Leveraging its proximity to the region’s small and robust network of farms, and the fisheries of Long Island Sound, this three-month-old restaurant draws its inspiration from the bounty of land and sea. The effect is a modern and seasonal New England menu that skews upscale, but without any pretense.

Chef and restaurateur Dean James Max was tapped by Trumbull’s Marriott to reimagine its restaurant—an intensive project that included a two month renovation of its dining spaces. Opened at the end of November 2012, the restaurant has been gaining momentum, thanks in large part to this embrace of local farms, a superlative understanding of seafood, a talented team led by Executive Chef Christopher Molyneux, and a welcome, if seemingly inauspicious location inside the Trumbull Marriott.

Kids Talk: The Under 10 Set Reviews Sunny Daes

Kids Bites Restaurant Fairfield Stamford Trumbull Westport ice cream Kid Friendly Dessert

Multiple Eaters

When Ben & Jerry's closed in Westport this Fall, there were murmurs of discontent amongst the younger crowd. Where does one get homemade ice cream with solid mix-ins in this town? Fortunately help was just around the corner...literally. Sunny Daes opened just months later and now Westporters young and old don't have to drive to Fairfield to get their fix.

This full service ice cream shop has 68 flavors of frosty desserts says owner, Sergio Keskin. Plus, it isn't shipped in on trucks; it's made right behind the counter. If this isn't enough to get you in the door, they also serve gelato, frozen yogurt, soft-serve ice cream, and ice cream cakes

Sure, I could tell you how good the ice cream is, but I thought it made more sense to let the kids tell it like it is...