We are VERY excited about this week's Bethel food news covered by our friends Hearst Connecticut:
Several local entrepreneurs hope to open a brew pub in the former train station, which they believe will bring a new demographic to downtown [Bethel].
Lisa Tassone, owner of La Zingara on P.T. Barnum Square, and several partners have been discussing a brew pub when space at the station became available. Bethel Cycle closed last fall after operating in the building for about five years. “As soon as we walked into the space we knew it was a perfect fit,” said Tassone, who opened La Zingara about 13 years ago. Chris Sanzeni, an experienced brewer, said the historic building and the artistic nature of making beer is a perfect fit — adding Smirnoff vodka was produced for the first time in the building next door.
Mexicali Rose is the type of small town dive you might take for granted if you grew up with it in your backyard (like I did), or you selfishly want to keep it to yourself (like I do). As a kid growing up in Newtown, I knew it was preferable to its Subway strip mall neighbor, but it wasn’t until I logged many thousands of miles of travel and dozens (hundreds?) of taco joints, that I truly saw this place. Homemade tortilla chips, walls covered in a clutter of Mexican folkloric kitsch, a handful of enamel top tables, and one very kind family that owns and runs the restaurant make Mexicali Rose one of my favorite hidden northern Fairfield County gems.
Photo: La ZingaraLa Zingara in Bethel will launch a new cocktail program beginning April 1 with a menu spanning classic cocktails to their own crafted creations. The backbone of the new menu will be rooted in house made ingredients, including syrups, grenadine, fresh-squeezed juices, and (a handful of) bitters. In addition to the new cocktail program, Ecco Rooftop Eatery & Bar (located just above La Zingara) will reopen on April 1 as well.
"We are finally bringing La Zingara up to par on the cocktails that we have been doing on the [Ecco] rooftop for a while now. We are looking to bring the same quality that we bring to our food. Clean, simple drinks that utilize what is in season. Twists on the classics," said Lisa Tassone, La Zingara and Ecco owner.
Behind every great man is a great woman. And for Dagwood Bumstead, that woman is Blondie.
Bethel's Sycamore Drive-in Restaurant, founded in 1948 and famous for its summer cruise nights, homemade root beer, and thin French-style burgers, has introduced the new Blondie burger, a fitting companion for their popular Dagwood burger. And I believe it's about time, the cartoon is named after the blonde bombshell matriarch, afterall.
Rizzuto’s Wood-fired Pizza Kitchen & Bar in Bethel, CT is celebrating their 10-year anniversary beginning January 25 through February 21 with special $10 lunch and $20.04 dinner prix fixe menus.
Owner Bill Rizzuto opened the neighborhood Italian restaurant in December of 2004, transitioning from his career as a hotelier to restaurateur, now with multiple locations across the state, including Stamfrod, West Harford, and Westport.
Wah Lah is the ideal lunch location for a cozy cup of soup or a delicious pressed sandwich, with a side of small town charm. A fast-casual restaurant that focuses on the holy lunch trinity of soups, sandwiches, and salads, Wah Lah sets itself apart thanks to its amiable and talented owner-chef Keith Burke, and a well-executed and consistent menu that honors classic and wholesome recipes.
Keith opened Wah Lah in 2010. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, he worked in the foodservice industry for 14 years, traveling across the country before deciding to change his pace and put down roots in the small Connecticut town of Bethel. The fast casual dining concept appealed to him, and he decided to marry that approach to the lunch-friendly category of soups with salads and sandwiches soon following.
Wah Lah’s menu is a list of eight to twelve soups made fresh daily
Several years ago Danbury resident Bruce Lyon decided to leave his career in commercial real estate to start his own mobile catering service that specialized in authentic Neapolitan pizza.
And after one of his most successful years in the business, Lyon has decided to move part of the operation -- Victoria's Wood Fired Pizza -- into brick and mortar, leasing a storefront on P.T. Barnum Square in Bethel that had been home to several different businesses over the past few years.
We've more than doubled our business in the past year alone," Lyon said. "And we've had a huge increase this year in weddings. The rustic, style wedding is really becoming popular, and it works perfectly with our business model."
A top secret doughnut recipe, a father and son business, and a dozen or so different types of doughnuts and New York-style bagels mean that mornings in Georgetown just got that much better, thanks to the arrival of Uncle Leo’s “Not Just” Coffee and Doughnuts.
Norwalk residents Leo Spinelli III (age 22) and his father Leo Spinelli, Jr., recently opened Uncle Leo's in the heart of Georgetown, at 19 Main Street, in the former Swirl Ice Cream location. The shop is a second coming for the father and son and the familiar Spinelli surname, who previously owned Spinelli’s Not Just Bagels in Norwalk that closed in 2009.
Earlier this month, Chef Jeff Taibe led a one night kitchen takeover of the Ecco Rooftop in Bethel, located above La Zingara. The chef and his team prepared a five-course wood-fired feast in the intimate en plein air restaurant.
"We chose Ecco because I love the atmosphere. I love how casual it feels sitting on the patio. Another draw was working with the wood-fired oven," said Jeff Taibe. "Plus I wanted to bring some attention to upper Fairfield, there are a lot of hidden gems and great places to go and I feel Ecco is one of them."
About 25 people sat under the twinkling lights of the rooftop, enjoying Taibe's creations presented on vintage china from Borrowed, and paired with the evening's signature cocktail, the Paper Plane, a combination of bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino, and lemon juice, concocted by mixologist Jeff Marron.
There are some ingredients in this world that, when you add them to anything, they pretty much make it spectacular. Bacon, for example. It would probably make a sneaker taste good. “Air” is another ingredient. Air-a bizarre ingredient on an episode of Chopped? No. Air, as in fresh air. Eating outside. Have you noticed that when you eat a lobster roll outside on a deck overlooking the ocean, it makes you happy? Or eat a grilled burger at a picnic table on a warm summer evening? Or sip a frothy cappuccino at a sidewalk cafe? What is the common ingredient here? Fresh air. Good food combined with a hefty dose of the outdoors.
And lucky for you, we’ve put together a long list of our favorite eateries (40+) that have lovely outdoor dining spaces.
If we missed an outdoor venue you frequent, please share your find below.
After several years of immersing ourselves in the Fairfield County dining scene as partners and editors of CTbites, we had the opportunity to trade pixels for print. We are very excited to announce the launch of our book, Fairfield County Chef's Table, featuring over 50 restaurants and recipes, now available at your local book store and online.
The book, published by Globe Pequot Press, was written by Amy Kundrat (yours truly), the executive editor and partner at CTbites. The photography is by none other than CTbites founder and editor in chief Stephanie Webster. It is the culmination of the many years we have been writing about and photographing the Connecticut food scene. This two year project was a blast to work on, and we only wish we could have included 50 more of our favorite restaurants. For more information, please visit our website.
A special thank you to all the chefs, restaurant owners, farmers, friends, CTbites contributors, and CTbites readers who shared their time, expertise, and support. We hope you enjoy the book, experiment with the recipes from some of our favorite restaurants, and share it with your friends and family!
Wirt Cook isn’t interested in stardom. Sure, he was Alex Guarnaschelli’s sous-chef on this season’s Iron Chef America, but he did that just to help his former boss. What Cook loves to do is cook in the kitchen at the Redding Roadhouse.
He and his wife Karen, sister Colleen and her husband Ted Stonebly had just bought the Roadhouse last July when Guarnaschelli reached the last round of the Next Iron Chef competition. She chose two sous chefs for the final battle. Cook was joined by Ashley Merriman, who also had cheffed at Guarnaschelli’s restaurants Butter and The Darby in New York City.
Cook says the team was shocked when they won. In the stress of creating more than five courses, each using the secret ingredient, within the one-hour limit, they’d made mistakes. They thought they hadn’t had such a great day. But Guarnaschelli won. She was the Next Iron Chef. And Cook suddenly had an extra job he didn’t have time for.
Holbrook Farm and Chef Michael Bick of Some Things Fishy Catering are hosting their second BYOB farm-to-table dinner of the season on Sunday, July 22, 2012, 4 p.m. at Holbrook Farm in Bethel, CT. The event is $55 per person. To make reservations, email or call 914.572.5648 to make reservations.
Their first event of the season was captured by Alicia Ghio of Local Food Rocks. Check out her recap and photos, here.
Most of the time at restaurants, I have no idea what to order because there are so many great choices. At Cadiz, however I can choose many different dishes. I can even order ten and share with friends and family.
Cadiz is a place where you order several tapas and share among the group. Don’t be fooled though. It is located in the Bethel movie theater but that doesn’t mean it's cheap diner food. Plus, there are some great gluten-free options.
My family started out with a basket of bread, a small plate of hummus with baked pita chips, and a bowl of Greek olives. The bread had a crunchy and flaky crust with a soft and warm inside. It tasted amazing; a great way to kick off the meal.
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."
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.
Redding Roadhouse is hardly a trendy gastro pub. It’s literally Ye Olde School.
For over three hundred years, there has been a Watering Hole serving up grub and grog to weary travelers at the junctures of Redding and Georgetown Roads in Northwest Fairfield County. Mark Twain was a regular. As were MidCentury Mad Men (Is that Dan Draper romancing a client by the fireplace?).
Indeed, the Roadhouse still offers respite to travelers, though most aren’t just passing by. Since co-owners Michael and Donna Roberts and Lou Macol gave the place a 21st Century culinary makeover, it’s become destination dining for thousands, from CEO’s to carpenters (Is that Mick Jagger chatting with a fireman at the bar?). In fact 70 percent of RRH patrons hail from Fairfield’s Gold Coast, not to mention Boston and New York.
Carly is a 10 year old from Redding, CT with a passion for eating & writing. She has joined the team as our youngest reviewer and she hopes she will inspire kids to be a little more adventurous in their FC restaurant choices. She has developed a restaurant rating scale of 1-5 pickles, 5 being the best. This is her first review.
The Lumberyard
Are you craving some juicy meat and some fun? Drive down to The Lumberyard in Georgetown, CT. The huge menu sounded delicious. I had to look it over twice. The kid’s menu was the usual cheeseburger, grilled cheese, hot dogs and chicken tenders, so I decided to choose something off their regular menu.
Photo: Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media
