Instantly familiar, yet completely new, Fairfield’s six-week-young The Chelsea has already settled quite nicely into the dining scene. With an Unquowa Place address, a steady lunch and a boisterous evening crowd–its practically a Fairfield County regular.
This is thanks in large part to a familiar and accomplished trio of owners responsible for creating many hot spots we know and love: Scott Beck, co-owner of Match and The Loft in South Norwalk; Matt Storch, Chef and co-owner of Match in South Norwalk; and Kevin McHugh, Co-Owner of Grey Goose in Southport and Spotted Horse in Westport.
Beyond the obvious street cred, the palpable success of the restaurant is found in the breeziness of its well-designed space (McHugh’s cozy palette of reclaimed rough sawn wood, white subway tiles and raw glass fixtures) paired with a globally-inspired menu long on classics. The Chelsea’s menu is a witty take on many dishes we all know and love, combined with a consistency of quality that comes from veteran owners and chefs who know the Fairfield County appetite very well.
I’ve enjoyed food from many different countries over the years but funny enough, never from Peru. So with three friends in tow, I decided to try Fiesta Atlantic, a Peruvian restaurant in Stamford. Having eaten Venezuelan and Mexican, I expected a fusion of both. It turns out Peruvian food is indeed a melting pot of different cultures but surprisingly, the food is notable for its Italian and Chinese influences. In the 18th century, Lima was the financial center of a vast Spanish Viceroyalty. Chinese laborers and Italian settlers washed up on its South Pacific shores bringing their own spices and cooking techniques.
The Chelsea, located in the heart of Fairfield on Unquowa Place, will open in a just under a month in mid-July. The new 80 seat restaurant includes 12 outdoor seats, a lively bar, a global gastropub menu and a hefty dose of whimsy. The trio responsible for creating what will likely be Fairfield County’s newest hot spot are: Scott Beck, co-owner of Match and The Loft in South Norwalk, and Tavern in Monroe; Matt Storch, Chef and co-owner of Match in South Norwalk; and Kevin McHugh, Co-Owner of Grey Goose in Southport and Spotted Horse in Wes
If you've ever missed a train or slogged through a daily commute, you know it often comes down to being at the right place at the right time. A few minutes late and you may find yourself recalculating your entire day's schedule. But if pizza is your business, and your ovens are quite literally at the tracks, you're always at the right place at the right time.
Situated on the northbound side of the Fairfield train station, Nauti Dolphin in Fairfield serves up New York-inspired slices and pies that not only serve clock-watching commuters, but loyal Fairfielders who find themselves visiting the station whether or not they have a train to catch. Paired with fairly inexpensive prices, over ten years, and a constant stream of commuting stomachs, Nauti Dolphin is one of the town's favored neighborhood pizza take-out and delivery joints.
School is back in session, and I don't mean the kind that requires boarding a yellow school bus. I'm talking about an education involving terms like bloomy, soft-ripened, blue-vein, washed-rind, and brined or full bodied, flowery or peppery. Ridgefield's 109 Cheese & Wine Shop's Spring/Summer class schedule is out with a full offering for any level of wine, craft beer & cheese appreciation. These classes expertly led by owner, Monica Brown, a wine and cheese connoisseur who, along with her experienced team, is dedicated to bringing a curated selection of the best products from around the corner to around the world to 109.
“It is the Americans who have managed to crown minced beef as hamburger, and to send it round the world so that even the fussy French have taken to le boeuf hache, le hambourgaire.” – Julia Child
Forget the fish, hold the pasta, toss the vegetables to the side…May is National Burger Month, thirty-one days dedicated to one of my favorite culinary creations …the hamburger. And in honor of this great event, CTbites is please to highlight both the places that were included in the two Recommended Hamburger Lists from 2011 plus additional establishments from my continuous search for scrumptious hamburgers.
Here (in alphabetical order) is a list of recommended hamburgers from Greenwich to Westport to enjoy during National Hamburger Month.
Cookies are, by definition, hard to resist. Fairfield resident Michelle Jaffee has made resistance even more difficult with her new line of cookies, Sweet & Simple, adorable in their individual cellophane wrappers, brown and white labels and retro daisy logo. What’s more, the label proclaims, they’re “baked with love.”
We at CTBites like to support the local, entrepreneurial spirit. (Plus – let’s face it -- we don’t hate eating cookies.) So we set out to sample the sweets.
It’s 8am on a Friday and we’re here to observe the inner workings at Isabelle et Vincent, aka The French Bakery in Fairfield. Eight a.m. is nowhere near the dark morning hours one would associate with a baker’s schedule, and yet there’s plenty going on even at this “late” hour. In one corner of the kitchen, a wide galley space behind the counter lined with ovens, a gigantic standing mixer, and speed racks of measured flour and finished pastries, strawberry tarts are being assembled. The scent of fresh berries, an enormous pile of ruby red, hit us before we even laid eyes on them. In fact, the entire space is a feast for the senses. Piles of baguettes, stacks of macarons in a rainbow of color, glistening apple tarts, fondant covered eclairs, and savory quiches...close your eyes and just imagine a symphony of freshly baked bread, butter, sugar, fruit, and chocolate. It’s incredible.
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.
Fairfield will be the destination for one of the liveliest new restaurants to open in Fairfield County this year. The original trio behind Match in SoNo, Scott Beck, Matt Storch and Kevin McHugh, are the brains, culinary brawn and co-owners who just inked a deal to build-out and run a soon-to-be-named restaurant slated to open early summer 2012. The new venue will reside in the heart of Fairfield in the former location of Greenhouse Grill on Unquowa Place.
The restaurant will feature a “global-classics" menu with several small plates to encourage sharing, a lively bar, sidewalk dining, an opening façade and ample free parking...not to mention one of Connecticut’s most talented chefs.
Can a diehard food lover survive 5 days without solid food?
I love food. I love to eat it…raw food, cooked food, gourmet food, diner food, farm-to-table food, bar food. My first paychecks came from restaurants – seating or serving those seeking food. Decades later, I now earn my living taking photos…and yes, you guessed it, the subject matter of which is, quite often, food. So how in the world did a food-lover like me end up committing to spend 5 day chewing exactly none?
Food trucks have been a growing trend for the last few years. The L.A. Times reported on one of the first food trucks to gain massive popularity, a fusion of Korean, Mexican, and barbecue back in 2009. And a recent article from USA Today about food trends in the U.S. hailed the food truck, what was once the “roach coaches” for construction workers at lunch time, as the hot new thing.
But the street-side vendor is certainly nothing new. New York City has been rife with dirty water dogs. And, you can’t turn a corner without bumping into a falafel stand. Roam the urban alleyways from India to Vietnam and some of the tastiest foods can be had from street vendors. Although, be sure to bring your Pepto-Bismol with you.
Here in Connecticut, we’ve got coffee trucks, cupcake trucks, even a cheese truck. Quel surprise! Fairfield is now home to a freshly made crepe and waffle truck., Christophe's Crepes
I’d been lamenting the lack of good Chinese food in Fairfield County, a complaint I’ve shared with quite a few food lovers here, including a friend who’s a Westport transplant from Singapore. To stop my whining, said friend took me to her family’s favorite Chinese restaurant in Fairfield, Hunan Pavilion. Ever since, I haven’t been deprived of good Chinese nearby, and now neither will you.
Hunan Pavilion has been in the same Post Road location in Fairfield for 22 years and it’s very good. But to insure a truly exceptional experience, skip over the conventional menu and jump right to the Shanghai Bund Select (or Shanghai New Menu), an edited list of house specialties and an eclectic mix of Shanghai, Szechuan, and Hunan cuisines. Also ask for the menu in Chinese, even if you don’t speak a word of any dialect. The Chinese menu isn’t overly extensive, and if you aren’t shy about it, the staff will patiently translate, and this is where the hidden treasures can be found.
Hearty souls splashed through the rain Dec. 7 on the way to Barcelona Restaurant in Fairfield, and were rewarded with a tornado of pork. Old world cheeses supplied by event host Michele Buster of Forever Cheese sat on the tables, piled on wooden boards, and would be joined by small blocks of quince jam and a roast suckling pig that ought to be legally classified as a mind-altering substance, but the star of the show, from start to finish, was a shoulder of cured Iberico ham.
Calling all chiliheads: On a portion of Fairfield's Black Rock Turnpike that should be dubbed “restaurant row,” sits a newly opened storefront restaurant, Chilibomb.
The brainchild of Stamford native, Peter Weberg Jr., Chilibomb is the first in the area to serve an impressive array of mouthwatering chilis in addition to having created an Oscar worthy brand for his business. Peter started making chili simply because, he liked it...a lot. From there, he started entering his chili into the numerous fairs and chili contests around the area. You may have also known him back in the late 80’s when he ran a food truck called Buffalo Pete’s serving hot dogs ‘n’ chili. After jobs in the food industry behind the scenes, he decided it was time to bring his chili dream to life. “Chilibomb,” aptly named after his hot selling chili of yester year, was finally coined and trademarked in 2008.
I’m tough on crêperies. I can’t help it. I’m constantly comparing their crêpes to the ones of my French childhood summers spent in Brittany, the northwest peninsula of France and the crêpe’s birthplace. My great-grandmother made them in her two room farmhouse –– she poured the mixture of buckwheat flour, salt and water onto a billig, a hot, round, buttered, grill surface, then with her rozell, a small toothless rake, she spread this batter into a fifteen-inch-round sphere the thinness of butterfly wings. As the batter bubbled there and the edges browned, she coaxed the half cooked, wobbly, crepe onto her long, wooden spatula and flipped it over, intact. The crêpe continued cooking this way until completely golden, signaling to her to scrape this fragile delicacy gently off the billig with her spatula. From here she held the hot crêpe between her fingertips and the spatula. She then placed it onto a waiting plate, setting the crêpe down with the same carefulness as though she was putting a drowsy baby onto a pillow.
As a recent Westport transplant from New York City, one thing I find myself pining for from my former life is good sushi. A recent visit to ShikiHana in Fairfield has changed all that. Located in a strip mall in Fairfield, ShikiHana has the nondescript atmosphere of countless Japanese restaurants, but the surprise is in the food: some of the freshest, well prepared sushi I’ve had in a while.
Liz Rueven is a CTbites contributor and the founder of a new blog, Kosher Like Me.
The Stand Juice Company opened a second location in Fairfield , CT five weeks ago and they are rockin’ already. Carissa Dellicicchi and Mike Hrizdo, the dynamic husband and wife duo behind the Stand in Norwalk (opened in 2006), complement each other perfectly.
Carissa is the cook and creative force and Mike is the organizer and funny man. They first met in Miami at a raw foods market and bonded over their love for organic vegetarian eats and their passion for exploring the connection between better eating and healing the body.
Attn. Fairfield County fro-yo lovers. Pinkberry has some big news and great new services coming to their Fairfield location! And if you reside further South, they've got something for you too. Downtown Greenwich store is opening soon.
Curbside Pick Up
For those times when you need your Pinkberry fix but you don't feel like braving the parking challenges of downtown Fairfield, let the fro-yo come to you. Yes…I kid you not. Just call in your order 15 minutes prior to desired pick up time and sidle (or idle) up to the curb. One of Pinkberry's friendly servers will happily walk your frozen dessert to your car.
The following is our first mother & daughter review. Jessica Ryan is in the 7th grade.
Rebecca: The other day my mother, brothers and I went to try Chip’s, a new restaurant on Black Rock Turnpike in Fairfield (where Blockbuster’s was) for lunch. The restaurant was busy, sunny and clean. As soon as we walked in a waiter brought us to a booth by the window. The restaurant is spacious with lots of tables in the middle and booths all along the sides. There were a couple of large TVs hanging from the ceiling and we could see the kitchen from where we were sitting.
