CTbites Chef Demo Tent @ 11th Annual Blues Views and BBQ September 1-2 Features Events Chef Talk Festival ellen bowen August 20, 2018 This year Blues Views and BBQ will feature 20 bands, hours of family fun at the famous Imperial Jam with the bounce park, Touch a Truck, airbrush tattoos, pie and rib eating contests and our second stage showcasing local and family friendly musical entertainment all day long. The festival will be held in the Imperial Ave commuter lot in addition to the Levitt Pavilion. Don’t miss the KCBS BBQ competition, and CTBites returns on Saturday 9/1 with cooking demos providing culinary inspiration. CTbites Chef Demo Tent Lineup12 Noon-Chef Jonas Daniela from Amis Trattoria1 pm- Chef Pietro Scotti from Da Pietros Restaurant 2 pm- Chef Carlos Baez from The Spread and El Segundo 3 pm- Chef Jess Bengston from Terrain Garden Café 4 pm- Chef Adam Roytman from Bar Sugo Read More
Barbacoa Smokehouse Opens in Fairfield: Casual Customized BBQ Restaurant BBQ Fairfield To-Go Lunch Kid Friendly Homepage Opening Jessica Ryan August 19, 2018 Barbacoa Smokehouse is one of the most recent restaurants to grace the Fairfield food scene. The smokehouse marries modern technology with a rustic and relaxed setting. Kiosks replace waiters, though Ambassadors are on hand to help and answer any questions you may have. So how does a restaurant with no menu yet tons of options work? The idea is that each customer can create something unique. Certain to appeal to Millennials and Gen Z-ers, this digital-age friendly way of ordering your food is incredibly easy to use. If you can get cash from an ATM, you can order your meal! The touch screen computer guides you through the process quickly and seamlessly in four easy steps. Read More
Mystic’s Grass & Bone Can Be Your New Sandwich Shop & Butcher via CT Magazine Restaurant Butcher Mystic Lunch Take Out Sandwich Specialty Market Connecticut Magazine August 17, 2018 Connecticut Magazine shares a unique find in Mystic. Half sandwich shop, half butcher, these guys know a thing or two about meat. Check it out. A sandwich is a common thing. Delis and grinder shops can be found throughout our state. But once in a while a new sandwich comes along and causes us to look with fresh eyes at this most classic of foods. Down in Mystic, the brains behind the operations at seafood-focused Oyster Club and burger-centric Engine Room have launched a new venture called Grass & Bone, structured around making the best sandwiches they can, with the freshest, most locally sourced ingredients they can muster. Read More
Tix on Sale! Kitchen Crawl 2018 Culinary Fundraiser: 4 Fabulous Chefs/ Mixologists + 4 Designer Kitchens Features Events Fundraiser Homepage Stephanie Webster August 16, 2018 Experience 4 of CT's hottest chefs in 4 of Westport's most beautiful designer homes, while helping to feed the hungry in our community. SAVE THE DATE: September 29th. Tickets are now on sale for the 2nd annual Westport Kitchen Crawl.Here's how the Kitchen Crawl works. Guests purchase a $85 ticket and proceed to 4 different Westport houses, where chefs from The Spread, Mecha Noodle Bar, Match Burger Lobster, and Jesup Hall will be cooking just for you. Cooking demos and specially prepared bites will be enjoyed alongside wine and beer provided and paired by Stew's Wines... all in spectacular designer kitchens. This year, the chefs are bringing their mixologists so get ready for some killer cocktails. All proceeds benefit Food Rescue US. Using technology, Food Rescue US empowers communities to reduce hunger and food waste through direct-transfer food rescue. Our vision is a hunger free and food waste free America. Read More
Nibble: CT Food News & Events For Week of August 19-26 Features Festival Events News Emma Jane-Doody Stetson August 16, 2018 Hartford Baking Company is turning eight and has decided to break out the bubbly to celebrate! On September 1st, the West Hartford Center location (965 Farmington Ave, West Hartford) will be launching beer and wine sales and expanding their operating hours until 10 pm nightly. A roster of small plates will be added to the menu to pair with the beer and wine selections.The first annual New Haven Cocktail Week kicks off on August 20! There are 25 participating venues all offering special cocktail lists you can try throughout the week along with 2 tastings and seminars per day. Stamford Restaurant Week returns August 20-September 2. 20 Downtown Stamford restaurants are serving up special lunch & dinner prix fixe menus. Lunch ranges from $14.18 to $22.18 and dinner ranges from $28.18 to $38.18. Stamford Restaurant Weeks are presented by Stamford Tables. New at El Segundo, join them for Trivia Night on Industry Night every Monday 7:30pm. Best Trivia Ever hosts an Epic Trivia Battle alongside global street eats. Read More
The Podcast: An Interview w/ Chef Jes Bengston, of Terrain Garden Café Features Podcast Chef Talk Interview Ken Tuccio August 15, 2018 Jes Bengston, from Terrain Garden Café in Westport, started her career dropping baskets of french fries into a fryer and now she's an award winning Chef who has cooked at the James Beard House. Jes sits down with Ken Tuccio to tell her fascinating story and why she feels she found a home at Terrain. Listen to the interview here. Read More
It's A Woman's World: Julie Mountain and Dana Noorily, Owners, The Granola Bar Features Interview Chef Talk CTbites Team August 15, 2018 Fairfield County is full of trailblazing women, particularly in the culinary world. Which is why, with 2018 being proclaimed the Year of the Woman, we felt compelled to honor the pioneers among us. Our series, “It’s A Woman’s World’ is devoted to Fairfield County female influencers who’ve forged their own paths, often in food-related fields long dominated by men.How'd they do it? Read on. This week, we feature Julie Mountain and Dana Noorily, Owners of the uber popular, Granola Bar. Stay tuned to see who’s next. And feel free to send suggestions for your candidates to steph@ctbites.com. Read More
Guide To Great Gelato In Connecticut Restaurant Dessert ice cream Gelato Kid Friendly Best of CT Homepage April Guilbault August 14, 2018 The humidity is making your hair look like Rosanna Rosannadanna’s. You are sweating just…standing…still. What can help ease the ills of this sweltering weather? Gelato. The cool will survive! Cups and cones of creamy cold, Italian, La-Dolce-Vita-I’m-on-a-Vespa gelato. Luckily, scattered across our fair state, a wide variety of gelato can be found and now you have a reason to smile about this crazy heat and humidity. Scoops, scoops away! Brava! Read More
Hola! Evarito’s Mexican Opens in South Norwalk Restaurant SONO South Norwalk Mexican Kid Friendly Cocktails Lunch Norwalk Homepage Andrew Dominick August 11, 2018 SoNo’s biggest recent mystery involved the space where Washington and N Main streets meet. Stacked piles of wood blocked all hopes of peeking inside. A fox shaded on the ends of the wood made passersby more curious. What stumped a bunch of us even more was another fox that popped up in the windows, this time in emoji form, accompanied by the hashtag #Hola. What was this riddle? A restaurant? Another bar? In SoNo, that’s what it usually is. But definitely something with a Spanish cuisine theme, right?!I was puzzled. I posted about it many times. I asked around to no avail. People asked me what it was. I had no freaking clue. Eventually, I heard it would be a Mexican restaurant concept by the good folks at Skal Restaurant Group, who run things at The Cask Republic locations and The Ginger Man Greenwich. All of this was later confirmed (sort of) by a fittingly odd Instagram account that tagged me in a lot of posts as they did food and drink research in Mexico. It’s a secret no longer! Evarito’s is now open in South Norwalk! Read More
Sneak Peek at Tribus Beer Co. Opening In Milford Features Friday Froth Beer CT Beer Brewery James Gribbon August 10, 2018 Like oncoming headlights appearing out of a foggy night, genetics are indicators which don't tell the whole story. Heredity may lay out a path, but time and observation tell where it leads. Phil Markowski helped launch New England Brewing Company in 1989, and decades later did the same as the master brewer at Two Roads. In the last Froth I talked about how NEBCo's dandelion head was spreading seeds all over Connecticut - from new beers under their current brewer, to Counter Weight Brewing in Hamden from his predecessor, and a tip about the inaugural tapping of beers from Tribus in Milford, the newest offspring of the ancestor brewery. This week, for the first time anywhere, we'll take a look at Tribus and its beers to see where this is all headed. Read More
Podcast: An Interview with Stony Creek Brewery Opening At Foxwoods! Features Podcast Brewery Opening Ken Tuccio August 09, 2018 Stony Creek is opening up a brewery in Foxwoods. Yes, the casino. It's a big deal … not just for Stony Creek but for the Connecticut beer scene as a whole. Ken Tuccio traveled to Foxwoods to chat with Andy Schwartz from Stony Creek about how this Foxwoods brewery came to be, what it's been like working with Foxwoods and how this could be a great boom for Connecticut beer. Listen here. Read More
Nibble: CT Food Events For Week of August 12-19 Features Events News Homepage Emma Jane-Doody Stetson August 09, 2018 Brasitas in Stamford is turning 20!! Join them on Wednesday, August 15th for a very special night filled with live music, dancing, and complimentary hors d’oeuvres.Thimble Island Brewing Company in Branford presents the Thimble Music Festival on Saturday August 18. There will be draft specials, Local Vendors, food, Live Music, and Free Giveaways. Washington Prime SoNo will celebrate their 4th Anniversary on Friday August 17...Yacht week style! Sponsored by Gooseneck Wines, Cruzan Rum, and Avion Tequila, Hapa Food Truck will be offering their delicious eats late night, all night. Read More
Catering Design: Marcia Selden Recreates A French Kitchen for 200 (sponsored post) Features Catering Marcia Selden Catering August 08, 2018 Robin Selden of Marcia Selden Catering shares the story...Our Catering Chefs are creatives at heart! They design menus, create recipes and customize events all year long. They have to constantly stay on top of food + design trends, to ensure that we give our clients a knockout party, every single time. Recently, a client asked us to recreate the feeling of a sparkling French restaurants’ open kitchen. In a luxurious tent in Bridgehampton for over 200 guests, we did just that. Read More
Gaetano's Moves Arthur Avenue To Connecticut Restaurant Features Deli Westport Italian Sandwich Lunch Catering Specialty Market Cheese James Gribbon August 07, 2018 Some time several decades ago Milanno Ukehaxhaj left Kosovo at an opportune time on his way to America and making me a sandwich. That is skipping over a lot, but we'll get to the details in later paragraphs, and anyway it was a very good sandwich. This sandwich was not made when I visited the deli earlier this month with his wife and business partner Diana feeding me information as well as chicken parmigiana, it was made during my lunch break at a summer job I held in 2000, which is when I fell in love with Gaetano's. Read More
Floating Tiki Lounge Making Waves In Stamford Harbor (via Hey Stamford!) Restaurant Stamford Bar Cocktails Hey Stamford! August 06, 2018 Finding a good spot for cocktails by the water is not tough to do in Stamford. Between rooftop bars in Harbor Point, The Beer Garden in Shippan Landing, Prime, Mexicue, or Crabshell, you can always find a great restaurant by the water. Though, with the addition earlier this summer of Fairfield County’s only floating tiki bar, there’s now even a place where you can drink ON the water.Captain John’s Tiki Tours & Boat Rentals launched earlier this summer and has been making waves in the Stamford Harbor ever since. The floating tiki bar is the brainchild of (Captain) John Davis. I had a chance to tour the harbor with the Captain recently and can say it’s really a great experience! Read More
Chef Adam Roytman Takes Over Bar Sugo in Norwalk...And It's Delicious! Restaurant Norwalk Italian Cocktails Bar Pizza Pasta Homepage Andrew Dominick August 05, 2018 Just over a year ago, Bar Sugo quietly changed hands. Change, even if it happens slightly under-the-radar, can be either good or bad, but in Bar Sugo’s case, change is reinvigorating. I’m reluctant to say something like, “Bar Sugo is back!” because the reality is, it never left, it’s just kind of different. In this case, different is good, and this is an appropriate time for Bar Sugo’s reintroduction. Bar Sugo’s newness starts with its new owner, Adam Roytman. Some of you might know Adam as a former partner at Walrus + Carpenter and Rothbard Ale + Larder. At each, he was the opening day head chef, and chances are you saw him occasionally tending bar as well. Dubbing him a jack-of-all-trades restaurant guy is a proper description. Read More
It’s Back: Pepe’s Fresh Tomato Pie Returns for the Summer Restaurant Pizza Fairfield New Haven Danbury Uncasville Andrew Dominick August 04, 2018 At nearly every pizza place, I have a set order or a few go-to specialty pies. I’m sure you can relate. This also applies to the legendary—and ever-expanding—Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana. My usual suspects at Pepe’s are the tomato pie, occasionally a white clam (with bacon, obviously), or their still sort of new Margherita with thick-cut pepperoni as an added topping. Every summer, I’m willing to make drastic life changes for Pepe’s fresh tomato pie, so based on mood, one of those other pies gets dropped as fast as a failing relationship. After all, those other pizzas will still be there waiting while you explore other options. Read More
Nibble: CT Food Events For Week Of August 5-12 Features Events Emma Jane-Doody Stetson August 02, 2018 Join Chefs Brian Lewis and Christian Wilki at The Cottage as they prepare a special prix fixe weekday four-course menu celebrating their favorite farms and summer ingredients for $45. The special offering will be available Tuesday - Thursday all Summer long.Summer Soiree Dinners with Chef Geoff Lazlo continue on August 9 at Millstone Farm. Dinners will start at 6pm with a cocktail hour featuring a signature cocktail infused with herbs from the farm and passed hors d’oeuvres. Then, a three course dinner will be served family style while guests dine al fresco. Rosedale Farms & Vineyards presents “BBQ, Bluegrass & Brews” on August 9 from 6:30 - 9:30pm. The evening begins with a reception. Next, head out for a tour of the farm. The evening concludes with an al fresco dinner cooked from scratch with ingredients sourced daily from local farmers, ranchers, and fishermen. The theme is BBQ, prepared on the farm by Max’s Oyster Bar’s Executive Chef Hunter Morton. Tickets are $99. Read More
An Interview w/ CT's Thomas Hooker Brewing Co Features CT Beer Beer Brewery Interview Podcast Ken Tuccio August 02, 2018 You can't understate the importance of Thomas Hooker Brewing Co. in the history of Connecticut beer. However for a while they got lost in the shuffle. Then, with a beer called #NoFilter, they had a bit of resurgence within the Connecticut craft beer community. Ken Tuccio sits down with Jonas Griggs, the head brewer of Thomas Hooker Brewing, to talk about Hooker's spot in the CT beer scene, the importance of #NoFilter to the growth of the company and his plans for the brewery moving forward. Listen here. Read More
Jes Bengston Cooks The James Beard House August 6 Featuring CT's Land & Sea Features Chef Dinner Events Stephanie Webster August 02, 2018 One of our favorite chefs and a passionate supporter of the local CT food community, Jes Bengston, of Terrain Garden Café, will be cooking The James Beard House on August 6th. Nestled in the beachside town of Westport, Terrain is a luxury garden center that celebrates nature and all its bounty—including on the menu of its charming cafe. Join Jes Bengston, as she returns to the Beard House with her plant-based, homegrown harvest for a summer exploration of the best from southern Connecticut’s land and sea, paired with superb Napa-style wines from local Jonathan Edwards Winery. Ticket info here. Read More
