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.
Please welcome Kimberly Vigier & her first contribution to CTbites. You'll see her experience at Don Carmelo's was a mixed bag, but taste for yourself and let us know what you think.
Nestled next to the East Norwalk train station sits Don Carmelo’s Mexican Grill, the next restaurant venture from area restauranteur, Luis Solis of Norwalk Pizza & Pasta. The restaurant touts itself as a Mexican grill and tequila bar, which drew a full crowd on a Thursday night with not an empty table to be found. The space itself is non-descript and with the exception of the mariachi band playing, one would never guess you were in a Mexican restaurant. Upon being seated, a basket of housemade warm multicolored tortilla chips was promptly presented with a trio of accompaniments: a traditional pico de gallo, a chipotle salsa and a salad of pickled vegetables. The pico was your basic chopped tomato, onion and cilantro mix with a bit too much acidity but was more balanced when enjoyed with a chip. While the flavor of the pickled vegetables was spot on, the mix of carrots, zucchini, onions and garlic would have felt more at home on an antipasti platter, perhaps an ode to the owner’s Italian roots? The chipotle salsa was smooth, smokey and packed a nice punch of heat, the most enjoyable of the three.
Bodega Taco Bar is celebrating its first anniversary with a Cinco de Mayo Fiesta. On Saturday, May 5th beginning at 12 noon Bodega will be serving up their popular "Hand Slapped Guacamole," Tasty Tacos and other signature dishes under the Bodega Big Top. Other highlights of the day will include a Pig Roast prepared in a custom built La Caja China Roasting Box and a “guacamole slapping” demo. Festivities lasting into the evening hours include tequila tastings, cocktail specials, live music and dancing.
“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.
“What’s a nice Greek girl like you doing running a place like this?” I ask Maria Pertesis, who with her mother Katrina, has just opened Cactus Rose, a vibrant new Southwestern themed cantina in Wilton. “My family has owned a Greek diner in Fairfield for almost 40 years,” she offers. “So my mother and I wanted to try something new and exciting.”
And that’s exactly what these amazing women have wrought. Under their husbandry, the former Mediterranean Grill in the Wilton Center has blossomed into a fun-filled, warm, and welcoming hacienda. Indeed, the restaurant came up almost overnight, as if itself a desert flower.
There's a new muchacha in town, and her name is MESA! Bold as brass and situated in what has been, at least during my 10 years in Fairfield County, a most unlikely zone, this modern Mexican is worth its weight in oro. It is fair to say that my last choice when picking an ethnic food destination has always been Mexican. (Having been to Mexico many times, and having eaten the absolute freshest delicious food there, I have always found American-Mexican to be heavy, loaded with too much cheese and way too saucy.) But the times they are a'changin and Mesa is making its way to the top of my destination list. Why you may ask? I'll tell you.
Last night, 35 or so lucky CTbites readers participated in the Inaugural "CTBites Invites" event at bartaco in Port Chester, NY. The "Invites," offer CTBites customers unique culinary experiences in the form of special restaurant "happenings" and special product purchasing opportunities. You sign up while the offer lasts, you pay on line and you're in. Simple as that. At last night's event, those who signed up were treated to a TACOS and TEQUILA and a whole lot more.
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.
Four bloggers, several more friends and platefuls of Mexican food gathered on a recent evening at Pancho's Tacos in Danbury, CT to share tacos and swig margaritas at the area's best-known Mexican joint. From their homespun dishes, including solid tacos and a particularly memorable and devilishly spicy dish called the a la Diabla which has claimed many victimes, you may need to add this to your Danbury, CT agenda.
Stamford is getting their very own bartaco, opening very soon. Inspired during a jog along the beaches of Brazil, restaurateur Sasa Mahr-Batuz of the popular Barcelona Restaurants, came up with the concept of “bartaco.” We've been several times to their Port Chester location for brunch and their beachy tacos and drinks.
Defined simply by good food, great drinks, and an aura of fun, Sasa envisioned a light and airy informal space with style and sensibility – one that could easily be located on a white sandy beach alongside the blue water and sea air.
In case you haven’t noticed, we’re experiencing a taco moment.
The latest in the list of talented Connecticut chefs to jump on the taco bandwagon (or in his case, back on it) is Arturo Franco-Camacho and his wife Suzette, the dynamic pair behind our state’s latest taco joint, Tacuba in Branford. Opening just this past week, Tacuba isn’t exactly in the neighborhood, but trust me when I tell you this is a place you should know about.
The folks behind one of the state’s first taco carts sixteen years ago, the initial iteration of South Norwalk’s Habana, New Haven’s beloved Roomba and upscale Bespoke, they couple is currently running Branford’s Suburban, and now Tacuba and the adjacent wine bar, Swill.
Thanks to Bartaco, your brunch options just got a whole lot more interesting. Lazy weekends, newsprint-stained hands, Bloody Marys and now tacos are firmly in the domain of this weekend morning ritual.
The popular Port Chester taco joint owned by the Barcelona Group, has recently unleashed a brunch menu for Saturdays and Sundays that is a fitting extension of the brand’s signature breezy Mexican beach food. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this scene, think Mexican street food influenced by the tides (and an enviable location on the Byram River) with a backdrop fit for a Hampton's weekend of beach-going and people watching minus the traffic on the LIE.
BODEGA: hispanic/spanish/:Latin mini-mart, kind of like a 7-11, but usually smaller and more like a liquor store atmosphere. The word came from the actual Spanish word for "grocery store"- le bodega.
The following are two takes on opening night @ Bodega Taco Bar in Fairfield, the 1st by Stephanie Webster, the 2nd by a new CTbites contributor, Emily Sackett.
Chef Michael Young, owner of the popular Valencia Luncheria, is expanding his cult following and heading to Fairfield. His highly anticipated new venture, Bodega Taco Bar, opened this week at 1700 Post Road representing a culinary journey from Venezuela to Mexico. The concept? "Tacos and tequila with a slice of Brooklyn" says Young. The new menu features Mexican beach food… tacos, tortas, and well priced platos. Loyal Valencia diners will find that the menu retains the casually vibrant Latin American flavors they have come to crave, but at Bodega Taco Bar, breezy cabana meets bar scene chic resulting in tacos with a playfully upscale twist.
A flour tortilla wrapped around a variety of proteins and often garnished with cilantro, as prepared traditionally with endless regional Mexican iterations. Add condiments such as cheese and you’re veering into Tex Mex territory. Compare them to the ubiquitious chain with the cute canine spokesperson, and consider yourself kicked out of the will. Best when served from a Mexican grandmother’s kitchen, a truck in Los Angeles or Stamford, CT.
There are many who take their tacos seriously. And for the unfortunate few of them who live in Connecticut, at times it can feel like a futile culinary pursuit. The new Casa Villa in Stamford erases many of those painful memories with a new and practically posh incarnation at 622 East Main Street, in the space formerly occupied by Myrna’s.
Growing up in California, fish taco’s were very common. When we moved to the East Coast, they were almost impossible to find. I’ve been making this dish for years and everyone loves it! These Salmon Fish Tacos are a little bit o'sunshine with the crunchy purple cabbage and blood orange slaw.
I still remember the first time I had ever seen a blood orange, my husband and I were in Venice and we wandered past a fruit stand selling Sanguines- blood oranges. We peeled one and the ruby colored flesh immediately took us by surprise. The flavor is similar to an orange, but a little sweeter and a little tarter.
Warning. Entering the new sprawling beach shack-inspired restaurant bartaco in Port Chester may leave you with a case of geographical amnesia. Between the five steps it takes to reach the bar from the door, you’ll be transported to a surf shack in Montauk or Baja, any memory of the city of Port Chester erased once you’re surrounded by its white washed walls. And better (closer) yet, a land-locked version will be coming to Stamford soon.
Long before a group of gourmet purveyors began staking claim to what is now a blossoming culinary corner of Ridgefield known as the Marketplace at Copps Hill, Southwest Cafe has been roasting, grinding and blending red and green chilies into dishes that serve as the cornerstone of its New Mexican cuisine.
Just over twenty years ago Barbara Nevins opened Southwest Cafe inspired by a life in New Mexico and a love for its cuisine largely defined by the chile. Toss any notion of that green grocery store bell pepper out of your mind. A chile in the New Mexican sense is a nuanced creature with multiple personalities that restaurants such as Southwest Cafe exploit to their fullest and many New Mexicans trade as currency
After several visits to Red Lulu and dozens of fervid reader comments later, it has become quite clear we are dealing with a different sort of dining beast in Fairfield County. The contemporary interpretations of Mexican fare combined with a trademark cultivated cool make Red Lulu in South Norwalk an interesting yet polarizing new space.
I like to think of it as a younger bare-midriff version of sister restaurant Lolita Cocina in Byram. With that review already in the bag, Red Lulu demands a different sort of attention, more of a wink and a nod to it’s quirky roots. For these reasons it reminds me of one of my all-time favorite movies, Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb, a satirical comedy that doesn't it take itself too seriously.
Here are some other reasons why we should stop worrying and just enjoy Red Lulu.
Lolita Cocina is not just a restaurant, it's a scene. From the endless rows of tequila lining the bar to its hopelessly sexy digs, it's hard not to feel as if you've stumbled upon a modern Mexican speakeasy complete with a mouth-watering menu. One doesn't dine at Lolita as much as escape and feel as if they've discovered a slightly hipper version of oneself.
Located on Mill Street in Byram, Lolita Cocina's personality reflects its zip code, an up-and-coming neighborhood sandwiched between Port Chester, known for an abundance of south of the border restaurants, and the posh town of Greenwich located literally at the southern tip of Fairfield County.
The hipster Mexican vibe begins as soon as you cross the threshold into a roughly elegant space punctuated with striking red glass Murano chandeliers and swaths of brick and black leather banquettes. Dim lighting, fun music and the din of the near-nightly crowds that flock to Lolita fill the space to complete its inimitable scene. But don't let the carefully cultivated cool throw you, this place can throw down some serious food.
Executive Chef, Juan Manuel Reyes, of Lolita Cocina & Tequila Bar in Greenwich, came to Byram by way of Mexico City and several prestigious restaurants in Manhattan. His passion for the bold bright flavors of Mexican cuisine is felt throughout Lolita’s menu, and he has a unique ability to create comfort food with a kick.
When we recently dined at Lolita Cocina (review coming soon) we couldn't help but audibly kvell over his delicious cornbread. The version on the menu is bathed in garlic butter, but I think it's fair to say that if you drizzle a little melted butter or honey over this side dish, you'll have some happy guests. Enjoy.
