Between the explosion of farm-to-table dinners, burger joints, taco bars, pizza wars and new restaurant openings in 2011, there was little time left to be hungry in Connecticut. In fact, it's hard to imagine we did anything else but eat. Below are the top ten most-talked about CTbites news stories of the year and some of the most-anticipated openings of 2012.
Feel free to add your own thoughts, observations, as well as predictions for 2012 and Happy New Year from all of us at CTbites.
Rizzuto’s Italian Kitchen opened in Stamford this past November as the fourth location in Bill Rizzuto's casual Italian dining concept. With restaurants already in Bethel, Westport and West Hartford, tireless and engaging owner Bill Rizzuto chose the Stamford spot (near the Greenwich border) embracing the open space with tri-level dining, a formidable bar and a central beamy oven. Interested to see how they adapted to their Stamford address and eager to try our hand at making our own pizza, we dropped by for a behind-the-scenes look at their kitchen, the new gas-powered pizza oven and what objects of our affection that oven could create for us hungry souls.
Stratford will be home to Two Roads Brewing Co., a large-scale craft brewery scheduled to open in 2012, according to a CTPost.com report. Greenwich resident Brad Hittle, a former executive at Rolling Rock and Pabst Brewing Co. and several partners and investors are backing the project. Referencing the Robert Frost poem, "The Road Not Taken," the brewery will be located at 1700 Stratford Avenue, the site of the former U.S. Baird Corporation.
Bleary-eyed Branchville commuters now have a few more options for their morning caffeine fix. Tusk & Cup Fine Coffee has opened across the street from the Branchville train station at 51 Ethan Allen Highway (Route 7) in Ridgefield. Owners Joe and Laura Ancona, the same family that owns and runs nearby Ancona’s Market and Ancona’s Wines & Liquors, opened Tusk & Cup in November, a fine complement to the family-owned businesses and this burgeoning neighborhood of small businesses.
Life on the Gold Coast just got a little bit sweeter. Chocopologie has opened a pop-up shop in Greenwich at 30 West Putnam Avenue open today through Easter. Serving Fritz Knipschildts' signature chocolates, truffles, cakes, cookies, coffee and hot chocolate, this location is Chocopologie's second pop-up shop and third location in addition to their wildly successful New Haven pop-up shop and SoNo factory and café.
Pies are to Thanksgiving as cookies are to the December holidays. So without futher ado, we are officially kicking off the cookie-baking season with this set of recipes from Stacy Adimando, a Trumbull, CT native and author of the recently published and irresistible, The Cookiepedia. From Almond Biscotto to Mint Thins, more than 50 cookie recipes fill her book and Adminando has graciously offered to share a few of her recipes with us as we get ready to break-out those mixers and dust-off those measuring cups.
Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, co-founders of the site Food52.com and authors of a new FOOD 52 cookbook will be speaking and signing books at the Darien Library on Monday, November 28 at 7 p.m. This event is held in conjunction with Barret Bookstore.
Their site food52.com is a celebration of the best home cooks in the country. Over the course of 52 weeks, they ran recipes competitions on the web site and that year-long exercise has turned into The Food52 Cookbook.
To mark the conclusion of American Cheese Month, 109 Cheese & Wine in Ridgefield is pairing great American brews with great American artisan and farmstead cheeses. Curds & Brew class will be held on Sunday, November 13 at 5:30 p.m. and will be $45 per person. The class and tasting will kick-off with a beer fondue, followed by a pairing of six beers and six cheeses (see list below
Celebrate the opening of Pinkberry Greenwich with a "Friends & Family Event" featuring free Pinkberry on Novemeber 17 at 5 p.m.
WHAT: To commemorate the opening of the Greenwich Pinkberry location in Connecticut, there will be a town-wide celebration and all guests will receive a FREE sample of one of five Pinkberry flavors. The The first 100 guests in line will receive a complimentary Pinkberry Tee-shirt.
When you receive a breakfast invitation with the world's 'best restaurant' chef René Redzepi you say yes first and ask questions later.
This first dialogue, in what hopes to be an ongoing series of intimate food-centric talks, was an insiders discussion of the restaurant industry and CTbites was lucky to simply be a fly on the wall. In town for a talk at Yale, Redzepi was the guest of honor at an intimate breakfast hosted by Carey Savona of Heirloom Restaurant located at The Study at Yale in New Haven. He invited Yale professor Paul Freedman and a gathering of Connecticut chefs with some familiar names, including: Tim Labant, Schoolhouse at Cannondale; Fritz Knipschildt, Cafe Chocopologie; Jean Pierre Vuillermet, Union League Cafe; Bill Taibe, Le Farm; Bun Lai, Miya's Sushi; Denise Appel, Zinc; Pedro Garzon, Cafe Manolo; Roland Olan, Martel; Tyler, Union League Cafe;Brandon Ahearn, Heirloom; and Marcell Simon Davidsen, Heirloom.
What can pizza be? ReNapoli in Old Greenwich answers with one kitchen, two ovens, and three distinct pizza styles. Dining at ReNapoli isn’t just a meal, it's the equivalent of a three-credit course in pizza.
Owner and pizzaoilo Bruno DiFabio has been making pizza for thirty years. A fact made more interesting when you consider he is only 42. A first generation Italian American, DiFabio was already working the lead sauté station at age 16 in his grandfather's restaurant kitchen. Fast forward a few decades, several restaurants, five World Pizza Championship titles and stints at the famed ovens of Spacca Napoli, Da Michele and Trianon in Naples, and you have the genesis of ReNapoli.
Stamford seems to be getting all the attention lately. The latest outpost to open in the "City That Works" is the fourth installment of Rizzuto's, a popular casual Italian spot with outposts already humming in Bethel, West Hartford and Westport.
Rizzuto's Stamford will be located at 1980 West Main Street on the Greenwich/Stamford border, and is slated to open in early November. The new restaurant will feature three-level dining with room for 160 and features such as a California pre-fab pizza oven, custom stone and tile work, and a signature granite antipasto bar and counter seating.
Master ChocolatierFritz Knipschidlt, owner of Café Chocopologie in South Norwalk uttered these words that inspired his upcoming October 20 class at Clarke Culinary Showroom.
"This is the time of year that everyone starts thinking about pies and baking. The holidays are coming, and thoughts turn to Thanksgiving and what to make for dessert to serve after the turkey," continues Knipschildt, who will share his secrets of creating fabulous pies during his class at the The Clarke Culinary Center on Thursday, October 20th from 6-8PM.
Pre-registration for this and Clarke's impressive fall class line-up are required and can be done online at www.clarkeculinarycenter.com or by calling 800-842-5275, ext. 206.
It may draw inspiration from the cantinas of New Mexico and the mid-century Americana of Rt. 66, but Boxcar Cantina in Greenwich is most deeply rooted in the soil of Connecticut.
Locally sourced and organic ingredients have been a signature of Boxcar’s New Mexican-inspired menu for the past seventeen years well before Farm-to-Table was a claim to fame. With a weekly presence at the Westport Farmer’s Market and a green restaurant certification, the first thing you may notice upon arriving at this Greenwich restaurant are several small raised herb and vegetable garden beds filled with a variety of lettuces, herbs, tomatoes and peppers (depending on the season) that will invariably make it onto your plate. If you're as curious as I was, when I stopped by earlier in the growing season, an impressive lineup of lettuces included: Emerald Oak Lettuce, Mascara Lettuce, Lollo Bionda Lettuce, Lollo Rossa Lettuce, Gourmet Lettuce Mix, and Claytonia.
Do you have a killer pumpkin recipe? If so, this Ridgefield Marketplace contest is for you.
The Marketplace Great Pumpkin Sweet or Soup Recipe Contest 2011is accepting recipe entries now through October 10. Submit your recipe and if your recipe is chosen as a finalist, you will compete during "The Fall in Love with Ridgefield Weekend" on Saturday, October 15, 2011 at The Marketplace in Copps Hill located at 109 Danbury Road in Ridgefield, CT.
Winners don't just get bragging rights but will receive gift certificates they redeem at Marketplace businesses including: Ridgefield Organics, 109 Cheese & Wine, Southwest Café, The Cakebox, Cello Restaurant, Ross Bread, Tre Restaurant, The Cutting Board, Ink Stationary, Bise, Everywoman's Spirit, and Quilters Alley. 1st Place Winner gets a $150 Market Place Gift Certificate, 2nd Place receives a $50 Market Place Gift Certificate and Peoples Choice gets a $100 Market Place Gift Certificate.
The Marketplace at Copps Hill Plaza in Ridgefield is located at 109 Danbury Road in Ridgefield. For questions, please contact: Monica at 203.438.5757.
The Shake Shack is tackling Oktoberfest from October 7 through 16 with a special Bavarian-inspired menu of burgers, beers and custards. Here is a sneak peek of their Shacktoberfest menu:
German-style Biers
A regional Oktoberfest selection featuring a $12 option that includes a 25 oz. Shacktoberfest Stein and seasonal bottles for $8.
Brat Burgers & Bratwursts
The Brat Burger will feature a burger topped with split & griddled bratwurst with German-style slaw. Usinger's bratwursts will include a Shackmeister, a marinated cheddar brat and a Currywurst, a griddled and slices bratwurst topped with Shack-made curry ketchup.
The weekend morning meal. This sacred cow for many, consists of copious amounts of coffee, newsprint (for you digital hold-outs), and a healthy combination of carbs and protein. In addition to providing fuel for the errand-filled, kid-chaffeuring day ahead, brunch can also be one of the most frequently debated destinations of your weekend.
Since they began serving brunch just a month ago, Sugar & Olives in Norwalk has easily moved to the top of my brunch list. House-made ingredients, a green certification and a happy space make Sugar & Olivesthe type of place you can drop-in with your friends, a gaggle of kids or simply fly solo and enjoy this most important of weekend meals.
The Stone Barns 8th Annual Harvest Festivities will take place on October 1 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Pocantico Hills, New York. Worth the short road-trip just over the border, this day will feature a mouth-watering line-up of food vendors including Skinny Pines pizza, Balthazar Bakery, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, and Stone Barns/Blue Hill at Stone Barns pork sandwiches; live music featuring Dan Zanes & Friends and Spuyten Duyvil; a Farmers Market with delicious food from local purveyors; workshops on food and farming; and more! See below for a complete list of vendors and more information.
I’m a seasonal drinker with few loyalties. Changing temperatures inspire me to rotate my spirits and by the time summer is in full-swing, I’ve traded my martinis and single malts for rum and bourbon-based cocktails. But none have as tight a hold on a season as the Dark ‘n’ Stormy has for summer, with its equal parts spice and nostalgia.
A combination of dark rum, ginger beer and (an optional) wedge of lime served in a high ball, the Dark ‘n’ Stormy packs a gingery bite, conjuring salty ocean breezes, sailing trips and the island nation of Bermuda, all in a single sip. Much of the dark rum we drink hails from small island nations in the Atlantic and Caribbean Oceans, distilled from molasses (a sugar cane by product) and aged in charred American oak bourbon barrels with its dark rum finale reeking of spice and molasses. Paired with ginger beer, this seductive summer drink is the definition of the season and I cling to them until the autumnal equinox pries them out of my increasingly cold, sticky, rum-soaked hands.
