Breakfast with a dash of lunch, paired with a cocktail and not a single dirty dish to clean. That's brunch in a nutshell. What more could a mother want for Mother's Day?
CTbites wants you to throw down your top candidates for BEST BRUNCH in CONNECTICUT.
Is it a spot with white table cloths, or the neighborhood joint with individually wrapped maple syrup packets. Either way, we won't judge (much).
Mohegan Sun’s first annual BBQ Fest will be held June 1 - 3, 2012 in the Winter Parking Lot in Uncasville, CT. Headlining this event will be plenty of BBQ, cooking demonstrations, live music and host Mike Petit of NESN’s Grillseekers, asemcee for the three day event. Tickets are $30 per day including 8 food tickets and go on-sale Monday, April 16th at 10am through Ticketmaster.com or at Mohegan Sun’s Box Office. Kids 10 and under get in free (does not include food tickets).
The weekend will include loads of BBQ including ribs, pulled pork and classic BBQ chicken from the nation’s best barbeque experts and vendors. Guests will be able to visit the Farmer’s Market featuring Sardilli Produce & Dairy.
Competitive Eating Champion Joey “Jaws” Chestnut (famous for his hot dog championship titles) will appear in a rib eating contest on Saturday, June 2 at 4 p.m.
Holbrook Farm and Chef Michael Bick of Some Things Fishy Catering are hosting a BYOB farm-to-table dinner on Sunday, May 20, 2012 at Holbrook Farm in Bethel, CT. The event is $55 per person. To make reservations, email or call 914.572.5648 to make reservations.
"John, Lynn, and I have been good friends for over 5 years coming to my events and often speaking about the importance of local and sustainable food sources. It just seemed like a natural thing to have dinner right on the farm where I get my produce," said Michael Bick.
Holbrook Farm is a family farm run by John and Lynn Holbrook. They have lived on the 13-acre property for 34 years. "Holbrook Farm has been clean of pesticides and herbicides for at least the last 30 years that we have owned the land. We don't spray with pesticides, we try to use beneficial insects and companion plants," John Holbrook says, "and we don't use herbicides. Weeds have a place in the ecological mix as long as they are controlled."
The Mexican-inspired food trend is at a fever pitch with the opening of the third Chipotle in Fairfield County today on Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich, CT. The tenth location in Connecticut and third in Fairfield County, their soft opening is tonight, April 16 from 5 to 7 p.m. They will be offering patrons the entire menu and fountain drinks at no charge for today only. A liquor license is pending.
Chipotle is now open at 49 Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich, CT. Hours are Monday through Sunday, 11 am to 10 pm, tel: 203.625.5394.
A fixture in Ridgefield's marketplace, Cello Restaurant seems to be in a perpetual state of experimentation. The last dining experience I had there was at an East meets West Sake dinner (Paul is Italian and his wife is Japanese) where their mult-course menu blended their native cuisines, pairing them with wine and sake. Running into Paul at The Marketplace (a group of artisan gourmet food and craft shops) in Ridgefield one afternoon, the conversation turned to his latest passion for the interesting cuts of meat he is procuring from Craft Butchery in Saugatuck. Although I was intrigued to share a 36-hour Confit of [Pork] Jowel, it seemed a bit ambitious for the majority of home cooks who may not yet have sprung for a sous vide supreme. So we settled on sharing his recipe for lamb bacon. Paul pairs this to the jowl dish which is served with a rosemary parsnip puree and braised red cabbage.
Celebrated author Amy Bloomwill host FOODSTOCK, Wesleyan’s first food writing conference, on Saturday, May 5th, 2012 from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. This event is FREE and open to the public. Online registration is required at www.wesleyan.edu/FOODSTOCK and registration will begin on Thursday, March 22nd.
FOODSTOCK will feature talks, Seminars, Book Signings, a Farmers Market, Food Trucks, a Cocktail Party, and more!
Danbury's Food For Thought 2012will be held on Wednesday, March 28th, 2012 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm at the showroom of Connecticut Kitchen & Bath, 87 Mill Plain Road, Danbury, CT. Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased by contacting Joann Cueva at 203-743-5565 or Joann@danburychamber.com.
In addition to highlighting the Danbury area's food scene, the event will host a lively discussion about the latest food, restaurant & cooking trends with a special guest food critic & News Times Managing Editor Jackie Smith as well as (yours truly) Amy Kundrat, Executive Editor of CTbites.
This networking and food-centric event hosted by the Women’s Business Council will showcase a variety of the Danbury area's food scene, including: Basilico, Brasilis BBQ, Brio Tuscan Grill, Hanna’s Middle Eastern Restaurant, Jay’s at the new Crowne Plaza, Koo Neo-Japanese Cuisine, Matrix Banquet & Conference Center, Mezon Tapas Bar & Restaurant, Molly Darcy’s Irish Pub & Grill, Pito’s Q - Shortcut to Puerto Rico, Stew Leonard’s, Victoria’s Wood Fired Pizza, VIVO! Bar & Grill & others.
Food for Thought is a great way to support local business as well as get to know the Danbury area's food scene. Hope to see you there.
“From Masala to Mole” is Chef Prasad Chirnomula’s recent gourmet battle cry. The man who revolutionized Indian cuisine in Connecticut with Thali, opens his newest Mexican-inspired concept in Westport in the form of the lively south of the border hot spot that is Oaxaca Kitchen.
Leaving the Indian subcontinent, Chef Chirnomula has fully embraced the flavors of Mexico’s Oacaxa region, an area known for its mole dishes, barbacoa, mezcal and chocolate. The layers of flavors and spice found in Oaxacan dishes, a region often referred to as “land of the seven moles,” evokes a similar feel to the masalas and bright yet rich flavors found in Chef Chirnomula's native Indian cuisine.
Pizzeria Rosso is opening up not one, but two new locations in Connecticut in addition to their original Norwalk take-out outpost which has been open just under a year. [Read: Pizzeria Rosso Opens in Norwalk, June 2012]
Pasquale (Pat) Pascarella is the chef and founder of the successful yet still young pizzeria. His second Pizzeria Rosso is set to open at 960 Main Street in Bridgeport in just about three weeks. The new Bridgeport location will be open seven days a week and boasts forty seats with two four-pie Baker's pride ovens. The menu will be largely the same, but more of a focus on pizza and less pasta and will be BYOB with the possibility of a future liquor license. With Webster Arena just up the street and the Barnum Publick House opening across the street, Pizzeria Rosso will be open until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday night.
A third location will open in Greenwich, giving Pizzeria Rosso the run of Fairfield County.
A healthy and convenient take on fast food, Naked Greens is a welcome respite from South Norwalk’s palate-busting dining scene. Chilled shelves stocked with salad greens and a salad bar filled with an array of natural ingredients, stands as the core of a signature made-to-order salad and wrap-filled menu. Soups complete the healthy trifecta, as steaming cauldron-like containers, a harbinger of its Soup Alley not-so-recent-past, stand along the counter offering a selection of hot soups made fresh daily.
Similar to my omnivorous approach to food, I’ve been known to devour almost anything when it comes to food in print. And although I love any and all food magazines, my allegiances bend toward the recipe-driven and away from the trendy and overly-styled. It’s nice to know that some serious time has been logged in someone else’s kitchen before amateur hour and its inevitable chaos, commences in my own.
Firmly in the category of “not afraid to get their hands dirty,” Fine Cookingmagazineis one of those few who are dedicated to the act of cooking. Their meticulous seasonally-driven recipes reflect a dedication to process and a glimpse into their tireless recipe testing. So when I learned their headquarters and test kitchen also happened to be firmly inside our Fairfield County borders at Taunton Press in Newtown, CT, it only became a matter of time before I invited my CTbites-self for a tour and taste.
In the new book Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms, Eugenia Bone, food writer and frequent contributor to Saveur and Food & Winetells the story of how her mother went into labor with Eugenia in a restaurant in Florence while eating tagliatelle with truffles. Tables were hastily cleared for Eugenia’s birth and thus began her lifelong affinity for mushrooms.
Bone, who is also the co-president of the New York Mycological Society, will be reading from her new book at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum this Sunday, March 4 from 3 to 5 pm in Ridgefield, CT.
A book signing, wine reception, and wild mushroom tasting will follow, including a tasting of truffle fontina risotto balls, wild mushroom crostini, and cheese and charcuterie platters featuring black truffles, generously provided by No.109 Cheese & Wine. To RSVP for this event or request more information, please contact Lise Sharfin, lsharfin@aldrichart.org, 203.438.4519, extension 26, during regular Museum hours.
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is located at 258 Main Street in Ridgefield, CT. More information at aldrichart.org/events.
Bethel is where in Connecticut? Fairfield County? Yes and yes.
The Bethel Chamber of Commerce is hosting their first-ever Discover Bethel Restaurant week from February 27 through March 4 with participating restaurants offering prix-fixe specials for breakfast, lunch, dinner and take-out. Menus and participating eateries can be found on the Bethel Chamber of Commerce website.
This tiny town sandwiched between Redding, Newtown and Danbury boasts a few great places we've written about such as The Sycamore and Pizzeria Lauretano, as well as a few others firmly on our to-do list.
So if you find your passport and make your way up to Bethel (for the record, I'm allowed to make this joke because this is my 'hood) my recommendations are: pizzas at Pizzeria Lauretano; La Zingara for one of the best Northern Italian meals in Fairfield County; soups at Wah Lah Soups, especially the Chicken pot pie; and my go-to train snack is always a scone and a cup of Redding Roasters coffee at Daily Fare.
And although it's not officially on the list of participating restaurants, you'd be remiss if you didn't stop by The Sycamore on your way home for their thin French-style burgers and a root beer float. You'll need to sustenance to return home after your long journey, after all.
Chef Prasad Chirnomula is bringing his James Beard House dinner to The Clarke Culinary Center in South Norwalk, CT on Thursday, March 15, 2012.
From Mole to Masala, Chef Prasad's menu weaves together the cuisines of India and Mexico reflecting his Connecticut restaurants, Thali and Oaxaca, providing a unique opportunity to taste the ingredients, spices and spirit of both Mexico and India. This event is $200 per person and pre-registration is required.
"We are very excited about this unique and intimate evening," said Marco Barallon, manager of The Clarke Culinary Center and Clarke showroom in South Norwalk, CT. "This is going to be a wine dinner like nothing you've ever experienced."
In this Clarke event entitled, "Journeys of Cultures from the James Beard House," Chef Prasad is recreating the dinner he prepared when he was invited to cook for an audience at the site of the James Beard Foundation in New York. Seating is limited and preregistration is required online at ClarkeCorp or by calling 800.842.5275.
Barrel aged cocktails have arrived in Connecticut. And for a song, Saugatuck Grain & Grape in Westport will bring you one step closer to making your very own sixty day-old Manhattan, Negroni or any spirit-driven cocktail that your heart may desire.
In a culture that typically prizes the fresh and made-to-order, aging cocktails may sound sacrilege. So what exactly is a barrel aged cocktail and why mess with a good thing?
Overlooking Darien's Metro North station, Executive Chef Nick Bilello has reappeared in the kitchen of Darien Social, a modern American "neighborhood bar and restaurant," set to open today.
Having opened the original Burger Bar & Bistro in South Norwalk in 2006 and worked in the kitchens of Habana and Ocean Drive, Bilello adapted his style and approach to Darien, with a menu that will include “snacks and small plates” such as local oysters, pork belly “BLT sliders” and Swedish meatballs (with foie gravy). An organic beef “social burger” topped with caramelized onion, black pepper truffle mayo, and Shelburne cheddar should also figure prominently on the menu.
The Sun WineFest 2012 is a destination weekend for food lovers in the tri-state area who descend on the Mohegun Sun Convention Center for a fabulous line-up of food and wine-filled events beginning Friday, January 27 through Sunday, January 29, 2012. Tickets are still available and we are pleased to be able to offer a pair of tickets to one lucky CTbites readers for Sunday's Grand Tasting.
The largest Pinkberry shop in Connecticut has opened at 369 Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich, CT. We got to take a quick spin around their newest shop (they are also open in Fairfield and West Hartford), sample the goods and get back in line for more.
New Yorker columnist and bestselling author Adam Gopnik will discuss his new book, The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food on Wednesday, January 18 from 10 to 11:30 am. The event, presented by JCC Greenwich, will take place at Versailles Bistro & Patisserie, 339 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich.
Over café au lait and croissants, Mr. Gopnik will begins with 18th-century France and carries us to the kitchens of the White House, Barcelona and beyond getting at the heart of our love affair with eating. Book signing to follow. Admission is $20. Tickets can be purchased at jccgreenwich.org or by sending a check to JCC Greenwich, One Holly Hill Lane, Greenwich, CT 06830. Additional information: 203.552.1818
Join Bobby Q owner Bob Le Rose and special BBQ guests and brewers for an unforgettable night of craft brews and BBQ on January 12 from 7 to 9 p.m. This event is priced at $60 per person which includes
This special dining event will feature special guests including the award-winning BBQ pitmasters Steve Z of R2BQ and Dave Conti of Red Planet BBQ and top microbrewers. Bobby and his crew will pair their signature BBQ dishes including pulled pork, burnt ends, ribs and chicken, and a variety of sides with a selection of craft brews.
If you've ever been to one of Bobby Q's Blues, Views and BBQ events (2011 Poster & Preview) you know this will be a festive and memorable evening. Space is limited and is 21 and over only, and reservations are first come, first served.
If you haven't yet been to a CTbites event yet, make this your first. CTbites Invites are a great way to dig deeper into the local food scene with those who appreciate and seek out great food and experiences like you. Hope to see you there!
Breakfast with a dash of lunch, paired with a cocktail and not a single dirty dish to clean. That's brunch in a nutshell. What more could a mother want for Mother's Day?
