If it weren’t for the large neon “Let’s Eat Donuts” sign greeting you as you enter Donut Crazy’s newest location in New Haven, you might think you stumbled into a Yale library. Walls bathed in a Yale blue lacquered paint, a seating area with cozy leather chairs and a couch, and soaring ceilings make the 1450 square foot space seem more spacious and studious than it is. Just beyond this warm welcome is a hub of retail activity and a dining area of small tables, and a well-lit wall of Donut Crazy doughnuts in all their colorful and sugary glory.
“I wanted to give the space a library meets bar feel, not treat it like a typical commercial space, and the blue is a nod to Yale,” explained Donut Crazy owner Jason Wojnarowski.
For those uninitiated into Donut Crazy’s world of over-the-top sugary doughnut confections, this location feels like a giant step forward both in selection and ambiance. All of their baked goods are made in-house in a Donut Crazy Kitchen by an overnight team of bakers. In New Haven, Donut Crazy will offer its typical selection of “Dailies” and “Crazies.”
New Haven is about to get their very own Donut Crazy. On Thursday, October 27th, Donut Crazy New Haven will be opening at 290 York Street, with an opening party from 2-5 pm.
For those unfamiliar with the Donut Crazy menu, readers should take note that while they offer the traditional breakfast dounghnut you've come to expect at a shop bearing this name, the key word here is "Crazy." These outrageously delicious doughtnuts are straight out of your ultimate food fantasy (or mine, anyway). Creative varietals including: French Toast (Glazed donut sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar drizzled with vanilla and maple icing); PB&J, (filled with grape jelly, topped with smooth peanut butter and chopped peanuts); and my favorite September special, Pumpkin Pie with pumpkin pie filling, spiced icing and shortbread crumbled cookie dip.
And doughnuts aren't all Jason Wojnarowski, Donut Crazy founder, has to offer. They will also be serving ON TAP nitro coffee, cold-brew coffee, iced teas and chocolate milk using Arethusa Farm’s milk and Shearwater's fair trade Coffee. In addition, they will be serving made-to-order breakfast sandwiches, also available on a glazed donut if you dare! For folks who prefer something more savory, they will have bagels & lox and avocado toast. The bakery team also makes muffins and sconces from scratch and will continue to surprise guests with some really special confections.
Have you ever had a Boston creme donut, filled and glazed fresh to order, just for you? So the chocolate glaze is still beautifully wet and shiny, like an object of edible art when it’s passed your way?
Or perhaps you’d prefer a cannoli donut, filled to order, then dusted with powdered sugar and topped with a flourish of ricotta cream. This is just the place to get them. And, whoa, the aroma alone will draw you in, straight from the roadside trailer where they’re made fresh each day.
An air horn sounds as a truck rolls by on Route 81 in Higganum on a Tuesday morning. Owner Jeff Blaschke and I wave from the bright orange picnic tables. “That happens a million times a day,” he says with a smile. Open just five weeks, Redneck Gourmet Donuts is putting Higganum, Connecticut on the map. “We have approximately a thousand customers on a Saturday and Sunday, each day. Maybe a little bit more on Sunday.”
Happy National Doughnut Day. Yes, it’s a recognized national holiday, and CT has great doughnuts for sweettooths ready to celebrate. Here are places serving delicious ones...if you have a suggestion for a shop we missed, please let us know below.
I recently headed over to Donut Crazy’s newest location in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport with Jessica Grutkowski, owner of the Buzz Truck, who shared that she will be adding this local vendor to her offerings. While I fully admit I have never met a donut I didn’t like, these aren’t your typical donuts; they’re indulgent and decadent, and enormous!
As you step inside you’ll notice how physically different this donut joint is. Most don’t share a space with a Vietnamese restaurant, which in this case is the recently opened Nom Eez. So I asked Jason Wojnarowski, founder of Donut Crazy about this curious new home and this most unusual pairing, because as I saw it, Pho and donuts don’t necessarily go hand in hand. Wojnarowski, a builder by profession, was hired by Matt Storch (owner of Nom Eez) to renovate Match a couple of years ago. What resulted was not only a friendship but the current Pho-Donut partnership.
As announced in The New Canaanite, New Canaan’slocal news website, Donut Crazy has announced its third location and will open in New Canaan, hopefully by the end of the year.
With two location up the Merritt in Stratford and Shelton, the donut shop that features creatively conceived donut combinations named “Cherry Bomb,” “Cannoli,” “Maple Bacon,” the holiday "Noggin Donut" (Eggnog custard filled, rum flavored frosting, sugar, whipped cream topping, with a pinch of nutmeg) and the “Fat Elvis” (Bavarian cream center topped with peanut butter bacon banana chocolate honey), Donut Crazy will occupy the space that formerly housed the Sweet Shoppe and Merle Norman Cosmetics at 4 South Avenue.
A gourmet doughnut shop with two locations in upper Fairfield County is preparing to serve its savory treats at the former Sweet Shoppe space on South Avenue, mostly recently Merle Norman Cosmetics.
A chun-bing (spring-pancake), is traditionally eaten to celebrate the arrival of spring in chinese culture. Its origins as a humble culinary tradition are tied to the Qin dynasty (265 - 240 ad), when chun-bing was prepared with fresh spring ingredients to signal the spring harvest and a return to the land. It’s become a year-round staple in northern China where you can find it in street carts, restaurants, and on sunday dinner tables. And now on 21 Broadway in New Haven at Junzi Kitchen which opened this week.
Junzi co-founders Ming Bai, Wanting Zhang, and Yong Zhao grew up in a transitional time in northeast China when the population was experiencing many modernizations. Instead of growing food on their own, supermarkets became a predominant food source for families out of convenience, but it was clear that something special was being lost in the process.
Nostalgia for the spring flavors of home led the fellow Yale grad students to launch Junzi Kitchen. "I wanted to show people that Chinese food can be simple, healthy, and satisfying, something you can eat every day," said co-founder Yong Zhao. The result is an experience that challenges the way you think about Chinese food.
Yes, it’s a recognized national holiday, and CT has great doughnuts for sweettooths ready to celebrate! Here are places serving delicious ones. Thank you, readers, for your contributions!
What's PHO lunch today? As autumn quietly slinks in, there's nothing like a truly authentic PHO to ease us into the chill that awaits. Head on over to Q's Restaurant at 172 Main Street in Norwalk (the old Valencia Luncheria spot) for the real McCoy. Recently opened (about 3 months and counting) and charmingly tiny, Q's is the love child of husband and wife duo Charles Eaton and XiaoNing Liu. Eaton, a Vietnam Vet, met Liu (a native of Old Nanking Province in China) while he was serving a tour of duty in Asia. Together, they have brought a small menu featuring Pho as well as other Vietnamese and Chinese cuisine to their wee, little kitchen.
Jeff Taibe is currently the executive chef of Kawa-Ni in Westport bringing Izakaya style Japanese to CT. Chef Jeff's creative, simple and seasonal cooking style is his hallmark as seen in Kawa Ni's menu. Taibe will be at The Westport Farmers' Market Thursday, September 25th, 10:15 AM demo-ing and serving up a Kawa Ni favorite (well, one of my favorites), Szechuan Stewed Beans.
If you can't make it to the market to watch Jeff in action, please enjoy his recipe for the incredibly delicious, Szechuan Stewed Beans below.
CTbites was invited for an exclusive first look inside Chef Bill Taibe’s new restaurant, Kawa Ni, in Westport’s Bridge Square this week. Kawa Ni means “on the river,” an apt name for a restaurant in Saugatuck whose cuisine and service will take its cues from the informal Izakaya joints found in the Japanese cities of Kyoto and Osaka.
Is it an american restaurant with japanese aspirations? Or is it a japanese restaurant with american inspirations? Both, says Taibe, who distills his love of post war japanese culture and a farm house style approach to japanese food within the walls of the intimate Kawa Ni.
Equal parts food and drink, with a capital F-U-N atmosphere, the 40-seat Izakaya-inspired restaurant will get the party started by the end of the month.
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.
If there is any cuisine that is not represented well in Fairfield County, it is Asian, but all of that is about to change. Bill Taibe, Owner of The Whelk and Le Farm, has informed CTbites that he has signed a lease on the old Bistro 88 space in Bridge Square, Saugatuck, and will be opening his 3rd venue by the beginning of summer. What now you ask? Think Asian.
This new venue will take its culinary and design inspiration from the traditional Izakaya Japanese pubs, which offer a casual dining experience, lots of small tapas-sized snacks, and great drinks. "I've wanted to do Asian since I was at Relish," says Taibe. When asked why Asian, Taibe stated, "In all honesty, it's the food that I gravitate towards most often...and we are always looking to challenge ourselves." "Imagine The Whelk...but Asian."The new venue will be a mix of Japanese and Chinese. "It's our own interpretation of Asian cuisine, but will draw from those regions."
“How adventurous do we want to be?” Maria asks. “On a scale of one to 10?” She’s poring over the menus at Lao Sze Chuan and says it’s so authentic, some of these dishes aren’t found in Chinatown in New York City. Diced rabbit with peanuts. Hot and Sour eel with cellophane noodles. Pork intestines with blood cake.
“We have to have frog’s legs,” she says. “And the clams.” She starts making a list.
Donna and Mark’s list is already on their ipod. They’ve been looking at Lao Sze Chuan’s menu online since three in the afternoon. Maria passes me her list. Yes, the spicy ox-tongue and tripe is on it and I’m happy not to make more decisions. The menus – two of them, the main large, multi-plastic-paged booklet and the additional four page menu of Szechuan specialties -- are overwhelming. Pages and pages of intriguing descriptions like “Silky fowl with black mushrooms and bamboo shoots in casserole.”
I pass Maria’s list to my husband, who glazes over at the sight of her tiny script of five appetizers and 11 entrees. He passes it to Donna and Mark. They cross-reference against their i-Pod list, and add a couple dishes to the feast. Yes! The pig’s ear.
There’s nothing like dining with the right group of people at the right place, and our crew of 10 is excited about our adventure to the commercial belly of Route 1 Milford to see if Lao Sze Chuan makes the most authentic Szechuan cuisine in Connecticut.
If you Google or Bing the word "Wafu" it translates to "Japanese-style," but when I asked Elaine Chen, the proprietor of the new WAFU Asian Bistro in Southport, her definition was "peace and harmony." The new Wafu, located at 3671 Post Road (formerly Friendly's) seems to be a little bit of both. Chen, from the FUJIAN PROVINCE of China, and her husband (the restaurant's lead sushi chef), have created an ASIAN establishment where Japanese, Chinese and Thai food mesh perfectly in a serene and sophisticated environment. Although it's difficult to telll from the exterior, the decor once inside is New York chic (and perhaps a tiny bit over the top with Swarski Chandeliers and neon-blue lighting). Menus are presented on ipads and you sit comfortably at your glossy tables on your white-leathered booth. Sure, it's a bit shi shi, but shi shi works at WAFU. The food is good for a "multi-culture" menu, the decor is funky and, though it looks fancy, it turns out to be a very kid-friendly establishment.
Occasionally, we like to get a few opinions on a restaurant. Here are two shorts from Cathy Siroka and James Gribbon on Shanghai Bistro.
If you’re in South Norwalk and want a simple, easy place to go before a movie or out with the kids – try Shanghai Asian Bistro. They recently opened a second location at 124 Washington St., with their first one in Westport at 1715 Post Rd East. Owner, John Jiang, had been carefully looking for a second location for years, and has seen such a huge change in the traffic and excitement in downtown Norwalk, and finally felt that “now was the right time.”
While the menu has the Chinese classics like shrimp with duck sauce and General Tsao’s chicken, the restaurant also offers an array of other Asian inspired dishes and many ways to customize your order according to your tastes and dietary preferences. Jiang explains his menu as “all-Asian, not just Chinese, a sampling of the flavors of China, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan.”
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.
Upon our return to the United States this summer from living abroad for 13 years, with our most recent move from Hong Kong, my family and I were faced with a serious food challenge. We hadn’t had access to good pizza, bagels and deli for years, so the first few weeks after we moved back, we became “born again” NY carb fanatics, showing our faces at every bagel and pizza joint north of NYC. After a month or so, this eating frenzy thankfully began to wear off. One of the things we miss most about Hong Kong is going out for Dim Sum, or yum cha, as it’s also called in Cantonese. After a friend mentioned Aberdeen Seafood & Dim Dum in White Plains, I knew we had to go to bridge East meets West food chain.
Why TEN? The new TEN China Bistro in Wilton had a lot to live up to, giving itself a number like that. We would be the ones to decide if TEN was indeed an appropriate rating. We were diners on a mission. Chef/Owner Eric Xie would have a lot of "splainin" to do if the food at TEN ended up as anything less. There was only one way to find out...EAT! So eat we did. There are many reasons to try this new Asian fusion restaurant, (in the same plaza as SOUP ALLEY). Would we give it a 10? Well, here's the verdict:
If it weren’t for the large neon “Let’s Eat Donuts” sign greeting you as you enter Donut Crazy’s newest location in New Haven, you might think you stumbled into a Yale library. Walls bathed in a Yale blue lacquered paint, a seating area with cozy leather chairs and a couch, and soaring ceilings make the 1450 square foot space seem more spacious and studious than it is. Just beyond this warm welcome is a hub of retail activity and a dining area of small tables, and a well-lit wall of Donut Crazy doughnuts in all their colorful and sugary glory.
