What is all that activity on the corner of Washington and Main Streets in SONO? CTbites has discovered that SBC Restaurant and Brewery will open its fifth location in the space formerly occupied by Wasabi Chi. Currently name NOLA, SBC's Bill Dasilva told CTbites that the new restaurant will be an Oyster bar with “twists on traditional seafood from New Orleans to Maine” in “a very casual, comfortable and cool” atmosphere. The opening is targeted for February 2013.
Overseeing the kitchen will be long time favorite to many in Fairfield County, Executive Chef Dan Kardos. Chef Kardos began his culinary career with SBC while a teenager and worked in several Fairfield County restaurants over the last few years including Napa & Co., Harvest Supper, @Bar Rosso, and most recently with Chef Bill Taibe at The Whelk.
A week prior to the official opening on Saturday December 1st, SoNo Market Place decided to sponsor a soft opening on November 23rd and I decided that tasting some good local food was a whole lot better than fighting the crowds at the mall.
All of the food purveyors were in full test-mode and my first stop was Flat WhiteCoffee to taste the coffee described to CTbites by owner, John Palino, back in September. This was a creamy blend of rich coffee and steamed milk, a brand brought over from New Zealand, and one that should meet with great success in CT.
But it's not just about coffee at SoNo Market Place. With over 20 food vendors and eateries, this European style market is poised to be a foodie destination. Guests lined up at Wise Guys Pizza for New Haven style pies; Norm Bloom served up fresh oysters and clams straight from the Norwalk waters, and Fish & Chips were on the menu from Gotta Nibble. Caterering company, Festivities, has a permananet spot here with their take-out biz, "Party Express." Local specialty purveyors and well known brands such as Knipschildt Chocolatier, Wave Hill Breads, andNothin' But Granola have also opened shop at the market.
Coffee joints have always been key meeting grounds, but in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, good quality caffeine and WIFI reign supreme. However, cafes such as Green Leaf Organic Bakery and Cafe inWilton,Terrain in Westport, Sugar & Olives in Norwalk, Tusk & Cup in Ridgefield, & espresso NEAT in Darien are going beyond basic coffee service. Here's why...(re-posted with permission from the Fairfield Green Food Guide)
Ah, it’s getting to be hot-beverage season (but then again, maybe it always is). Are you a mom who is back to inhabiting cafes with friends now that the kids are back in school? Or a traveler passing through Fairfield County? Either way, a great cup of joe is always on the destination list. But where to get one? And, more importantly, where to enjoy a sustainable cup of coffee? That’s the trickier part because not all joe is created equal.
“The SoNo scene has lost a bit of luster and we'd like to help bring some flavor back downtown,” says Chris Hickey, Co-Owner of The Spread opening October 2012.
Mr. Hickey, and his partners, Christopher Rasile, Andrey Cortes, and Shawn Longyear may be just the men for the job. With strong backgrounds in hospitality and almost legendary careers managing Bar at Barcelona’s SoNo and Greenwich locations, these four partners are poised to create some dining buzz in Michael Young's former Habana location.
But, despite boasting one of the largest bars in Fairfield County, The Spread is not just about creative cocktails. Enter the talented Chef Arik Bensimon, most recently the Executive Chef at Napa & Co., and now you’ve got yourself some serious culinary street cred to compliment the talent behind the bar.
Gavrielides Restaurant Group, the family behind Harbor Lights, Eastside Café, and Overtons, all located in Norwalk, have added yet another egg to their already full basket of food establishments.
Recently opened “Estia”, which shows off the Gavrielides family’s Greek roots, is a welcome addition to SONO’sWashington Street. It’s official: This tiny block now proudly boasts a veritable potpourri of cuisine, and with Greek cuisine now on offer, it is fast becoming a diners paradise. Let’s hope Estia, along with its’ neighboring partners in crime can live up to the increasing demand for quality, sophisticated food, so SONO can continue to thrive.
Lorca, a 10-12 seat coffee shop that will serve home-made churro and doughnuts, will be opening this October ar 125 Bedford Street in Stamford.
Leyla Dam developed a passion for churro stands as a child growing up in Spain. When she completed architecture school in Brooklyn and was faced with few job prospects in her field, she returned to her roots finding investors to allow her to design and launch a churro and coffee shop. Part of the process of opening Lorca included moving to Seville to learn how to make churros and working with Rachel Haughey at Espresso Neat to learn how to make impeccably brewed coffee. In addition to developing the business and recipes, Dam is also designing the shop, a perfect blend of her passion for the churro and degree in architecture.
As Dam explains, "Basically this is a total dream come true. I get to feed people, meet people, and design without a client. I couldn't ask for anything more!"
Interested in showing off those latte art skills? Or perhaps you just want to learn the basics and sip your way through a fun evening. Either way you are in luck. Espresso NEAT in Darien is hosting their inaugural Thursday Night Throwdown (TNT) Latte Art Competition on July 12. A $5 buy-in will get you into the evening's event. This first event of the season is a customer invitational (everyone is invited). Prizes and sponsors to be announced.
I've said this before, butespressoNEAT, in my biased opinion, serves the best espresso in Fairfield County. Located in Darien, their baristas are well trained experts, and their devotion to their craft is obvious from the first sip of any of their coffee based beverages. Here's the info on their next home brewing class on Thursday May 31st.
Do you like the coffee you get at NEAT? Did you know you could enjoy that coffee without even leaving your house? No, we’re not starting a delivery service, but we are relaunching an educational series that will equip you to make a stellar cup of coffee in the comfort of your own home and bathrobe. We’ll guide you in the fundamentals of buying, storing, grinding, and brewing and help you get the best at home as well as at NEAT.
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Class size is limited to 8 people for maximum learning and tasting.
Email education (at) espressoNEAT.com or ask someone NEAT to sign up.
$10/person, includes 10% off whole bean coffee & Clever brewers after class.
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.
Yep...You heard me correctly. The Sono Baking Company is expanding their bakery mecca and opening up shop in Westport. This Sono institution has just signed a lease on the charming new barn at the A & J Farm Stand, right on the Post Road (seen above). The Westport location will feature a cafe serving grab-n go-items as well as a full espresso bar to accompany their wide selection of baked goods, cakes, pastries, cookies and artisan breads. Owner John Barricelli says "We hope to be open in late August or early September." We hope so too. A good espresso is hard to come by around here.
Have you ever wondered why coffee houses bother with options at the brew bar? Do you think you could tell the difference between a $3 cup and a $6 cup if you tasted them side by side? Yes, much like wine, coffee has different varietals, single origin beans, as well as organic options. EspressoNEAT would like to invite you into their coffee obsessed world for an afternoon of sniffing, sipping, slurping, and spitting. (Nobody can handle all that caffeine at once.) They will be using a few handy tools to help keep track of what you're drinking and your discerning palate will never approach a cup of coffee in quite the same way.
Did your mother ever scold you as you reached into the fridge in the wee hours to grab a slice of leftover pizza? Bread, cheese, tomatoes…breakfast of champions, right? Fat Cat Pie Co. which is well known for their wafer thin crusted pizzas laden with decadent toppings (see our pizza shout out), has validated this college craving by mastering the fine art of pizza for breakfast. Yes, it is a little known fact. Fat Cat opens its doors in the am serving a casual breakfast and lunch daily from 8am to 2pm. You may not find a hash brown to speak of on this diminutive menu, but you will find more interesting fare including breakfast "pies" with local organic eggs, sandwiches boasting the culinarily renown Bloodroot bread, as well as a selection of home made baked goods and granola. It is a laid back affair with top notch coffee and a barista who cares (note the latte art). For a diner seeking something beyond the "diner," Fat Cat is a breath of fresh air...and fresh ingredients.
Alicia Fidalgo is the voice behindThe Clean Plate Club blog. She shares her time between West Hartford & Boston.
On a chilly Sunday morning I recently had the pleasure of visiting Hartford Baking Company in West Hartford, CT. Located in a strip of shops on New Park Avenue, the bakery's interior juxtaposes the cozy comfort of a local bake-shop with urban-inspired industrial design.
Baked goods run the gamut from sweet to savory: muffins, sticky buns and scones, as well as beautiful crusty European-style bread.
I was greeted by Donny Raus of RAUS Coffee at his home in Stamford, CT with a freshly brewed (French Press) cup of coffee waiting for me. This coffee, roasted in his own roaster, was so good it needed neither milk nor sugar. (I usually take both.) As I sipped my hot, smooth and bold cup of coffee I learned about the young man, his passion, and I scored some great tips for getting the best possible cup of coffee in your house (Check out Coffee 101 Tips below).
Being greeted with a cup of locally roasted coffee and the promise of a healthy prepared meal each day may be the only foolproof way to overcome the indignity that is a Metro North train commute. Located inside the Bethel train station, Daily Fare offers a nourishing and caffeinated segue into the freneticism of a work day and the welcome flexibility of a healthy prepared take-home meal for lunch or dinner.
This coffee shop-meets-gourmet-to-go is not just for commuters. For many of us faced with the daily demands and dwindling hours of busy schedules, Daily Fare affords us hungry and time-crunched souls the luxury of well balanced meals instead of shopping, cooking and preparing a meal. For many of us who like to cook, it can be a much-needed respite. For others who can't cook or don't want to, it's like having your own personal chef without having to foot the bill.
Coffee is ritualistic on many levels and if you worship it like many do, chances are you belong to one of its tribes.
There are those who home brew, and those who prefer their local barrista. There are the "fast food drinkers" who worship daily at the counters of Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, and those who will not deign to cross their "millions of customers served and counting" threshholds. This brings me to the "I only drink espresso and its gotta come from a very expensive machine" drinkers and their crunchy cousins who have been carefully polishing their chemex carafe for decades. Embracing simplicity in preparation and materials, the French press method has enjoyed a strong revival as many of us attempt to simplify and take back the brewing process to our own hands. Translate this method commercially and you have businesses like west coast favorite Philz and in our own backyard espressoNEAT who have elevated coffee to an art, brewing each cup, one by perfectly crafted cup, at a time.
Have you ever wondered why coffee houses bother with options at the brew bar? Do you think you could tell the difference between a $3 cup and a $6 cup if you tasted them side by side? Yes, much like wine, coffee has different varietals, single origin beans, as well as organic options. EspressoNEAT would like to invite you into their coffee obsessed world for an afternoon of sniffing, sipping, slurping, and spitting. (Nobody can handle all that caffeine at once.) They will be using a few handy tools to help keep track of what you're drinking and your discerning palate will never approach a cup of coffee in quite the same way.
