Since first experiencing Tommy Juliano's pastry program at Community Table, we have been enamored with his bold and edgy approach to dessert. We are thrilled to hear that the chef has returned to the Connecticut culinary scene as Executive Pastry Chef at ON20 in Hartford.
My magic number for pho is 99. There are those who say 501 is better. I say, are you sure? Because, though I used to eat there back in the day, now my money's on Pho 99 all the way. Friendly service, clean, and more varieties of spring rolls than anywhere else I know. For me, it’s the pho gold standard. Not to mention, ChefPeter Nguyen is a sweetheart of a guy who takes pride in what they serve in his restaurants. The smiling man with the infectious laugh is the heart, soul, chef and secret recipe holder within the Pho 99 kitchen.
“The soup is a BIIIIIIIIIIIG secret! No one, family even--Mary’s (his business partner’s) husband don’t know! My wife don’t know! My cousins—don’t know! There’s a lot of businesses like us who come ask, what the heck are you doing? Unbelievable! What you put in there? I say, I do the same as you do!” Peter smiles, knowing full well what he does separates him from the pack and is absolutely not the same.
Most people look forward to taking it easy and traveling in their 60s. But at age 62, Andy and Louise DiFiore had a different retirement plan in mind. They opened DiFioreRavioli Shop on Franklin Avenue, in Hartford’s Little Italy back in 1982.
Their son Don explains, “My parents were always the home gourmet types. Back in those days, they weren’t called foodies, but they had a lifelong love of food. My dad had been an executive in the office machine world almost his whole life in sales and marketing. And he was probably looking at this more as being a retirement thing for income. Just like a little boutique store. But they stayed with it. My dad would be in the store until he was in his late 80s. And my mom stayed in the store till she was 90. She’s 95 now.”
Then, about five years ago, Don’s father was in a nursing home and his mother was getting too old to run the store any longer. They were going to close it. Then Don’s eldest sister came back home from Chicago to help. “She threw the option at me—do you want to do something with it? Geez, I don’t know.”
Blink and you can easily miss the little white house as you drive down Park Street in Hartford’s Parkville section. So keep an eye out, because it’s home to a fine family business specializing in Thai and Lao dishes—generous portions, reasonably priced. And if you head east of the river, you’ll find the exact same menu and great food in Manchester.
There are many choices closer to home when it comes to Thai, but when the craving hits, I make tracks for King & I. It’s changed management over time, but the food remains just as delicious as it ever was. In fact, it’s amazingly consistent. How is that even possible?
The secret to their success starts in a tiny kitchen with their cook. Behind the scenes, the same woman has been busy stirring up deliciousness for the past 10 years. When the previous owner sold the restaurant four and a half years ago, Hongkham Munesaleum was already part of the kitchen. But now, with her husband, Lam, washing dishes, and his daughter Lilly, serving the front of the house (literally!), it’s all in the family.
Giving Tuesday has become a global day dedicated to giving back. This year it takes place on Tuesday, December 1, neatly positioned after our national day of thanks and a weekend of retail mayhem.
If you’re planning on giving this holiday season around #GivingTuesday, why not consider supporting Connecticut-based charities that benefit the hungry? These charities are near and dear to our hearts at CTbites because while we celebrate food, we also understand that for too many, food insecurity is a major issue. And in our country, and certainly in Connecticut, that doesn’t feel right.
If you’re planning on giving back this holiday season, and especially on Tuesday, December 1, here are a few hunger-related charities making an impact across the state. We know there are many terrific agencies and non profits not listed below, please share additional organizations that we should highlight by adding them in the comments section:
Savor, billed as a “celebration of Wine, Food, and Spirits,” made its grand debut on April 11 and 12 in Hartford, CT. Event sponsors gave us a preview in March, and the actual festival was a resounding success. Savor offered guests a weekend filled with memorable wine, food, and demonstrations.
Vicky Cirilli, event coordinator, promised wines focused on “quality not quantity.” CT Distributors offered just that, bringing in some of their best bottles for guests to sample. It seemed that the majority of the wines featured retailed for about $50 and were carefully chosen for the weekend. As a result, Savor attracted wine savvy guests eager to learn, making the experience especially enjoyable.
There is truly a Mexican restaurant for everyone. There are the quiet ones that scream “authentic! authentic! authentic!” and then there are the more modern ones with the guac that is “hand-slapped” or “slapped to order.” Excuse me? Was it naww-ghty? Mex goes 50 Shades, I see. And if the recent lime shortage (I can’t think of lime-hijackings without giggling, sorry) has you in a tizzy and wondering just how the heck you and your margaritas are going to make it through the summer, just head to these places. Let them figure out the limes, you can figure out how many drinks and how much lime-infused guacamole to have.
Here's our list of the 16 Best Taco Restaurants & Trucks in Connecticut. Feel free to add your favorites to the list below.
Ted’s Montana Grill, the classic American grill co-founded by media entrepreneur, environmentalist and philanthropist Ted Turner and award-winning restaurateur George McKerrow Jr., announced that a new restaurant would be opening up on 35 Front Street in downtown Hartford on May 12th. The restaurant will be 4,600 square feet and will seat 160 guests. This is the second Ted’s Montana Grill in Connecticut; the first location is in The Promenade Shops at Evergreen Walk in South Windsor.
Ted’s Montana Grill serves time-honored favorites in a relaxed setting reminiscent of the 19th century American frontier. The design of the Hartford location is inspired by old western saloons, with all the romance and classic touches that make it feel luxurious, but in a casual, warm way. The décor will feature Mahogany paneling, pressed tin ceilings, brass fixtures and beautiful crown molding.
From traditional comfort food to unique signature dishes, all meals are made from scratch fresh daily - nothing frozen or microwaved. Chefs only use fresh Certified Angus Beef, National Bison Association-certified bison, all-natural chicken and premium seafood. Ted’s Montana Grill also believes in fresh, sustainable, organic and locally grown ingredients.
Chef Jeffrey Lizotte is the executive chef of Hartford's acclaimed ON20 restaurant and Connecticut’s only nominee for FOOD & WINE’s annual People’s Best New Chef award [you can vote online through March 31 at 5 pm].
A Connecticut native, Lizotte has been executive chef of ON20 since 2012. A graduate of Cornell's School of Hotel Administration, Jeffrey has worked under chefs David Bouley and Eric Ripert, and completed stages in France at the acclaimed La Tupina in Bordeaux, and the two Michelin-starred La Bastide St. Antoine in Grasse, France. In 2009, Lizotte returned to the nutmeg state as Chef de Cuisine at ON20, becoming executive chef in 2012. The same year, he earned a silver medal at the Bocuse D’Or USA and was awarded Valhrona Best Pastry while representing the U.S in the international culinary competition Trophee Passion.
A talented Connecticut chef, CTbites invited Lizotte to participate in our '10 Questions' column to understand what makes him tick as a chef both inside and outside of the kitchen.
If you had unexpected guests arriving at your home for dinner in 1 hour, what would you whip up?
Pasta Carbonara – everyone likes a good pasta dish. It is simple and one of my favorites.
Photo courtesy of Julie BidwellFull disclosure: I’m crazy about Paris. For many years, when David and I went to Europe we stopped off to visit his college roommate who lived in an elegant apartment near the Eiffel Tower. The 7th Arrondissement has no shortage of fine restaurants and bistros de luxe, but more often than not we would have an apéritif in the apartment before heading off to a lively brasserie or bistro populaire in the Latin Quarter.
I still love French bistros and keep my eye out for new ones in Connecticut. Some are French in name only, but the minute I entered À Vert, a new brasserie in West Hartford, I was in Paris. The zinc bar, the wine list chalked on the mirror. The pressed-tin ceiling, the white tile and exposed-brick walls—authentic, romantic and real, including the warmth and friendliness that define bistro dining in the City of Light.
It’s all good, but food beautiful food is the overriding reason to dine at À Vert. How could it not be? It’s owned by two chefs who in recent years have been making the Connecticut foodie world sit up and take notice: David Borselle at Bar Bouchée in Madison and Dorjan Puka at Treva around the corner in West Hartford.
The season we’ve just entered, that glowing, golden transition from high summer to early autumn, with cooler temperatures and the first blush of fall foliage, is the year’s best backdrop for fine dining. This menu of gorgeously-presented, heavenly-tasting farm-to-table cuisine will continue indefinitely—just like the unparalleled views of the cityscape and the Connecticut River Valley that guests enjoy at the restaurant, named for its location on the 20th floor of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company - and here’s the season’s best invitation: ON20 in Hartford, a nonpareil Connecticut restaurant with a very talented young chef, is launching a new $30 prix fixe lunch menu that highlights locally-grown ingredients.
Close your eyes and order anything on the menus created by Executive Chef Jeffrey Lizotte, who, barely into his 30s, has worked with David Bouley, at Le Bernardin and at the two-star Michelin Restaurant, La Bastide St. Antoine in France. He’ll send out plates that are works of art, and bites that will leave you trying to put words to the rhapsody of flavor epiphanies with each forkful.
(ON20 is open Monday through Friday for lunch, Thursday and Friday for dinner, and hosts happy hours Wednesday through Friday.)
Yelp will be hosting a roaring good time at their Prohibition Party at The Russian Lady in Hartford on April 30 at 7:30 pm. Complimentary bites, prohibition-era hooch, jazz, burlesque, vintage swing dancing are planned (fedoras are optional). This party is FREE to attend with a $10 SUGGESTED DONATION to Hartford Preservation Alliance, Yelp's nonprofit partner.
Celebrated author Amy Bloomwill host FOODSTOCK, Wesleyan’s first food writing conference, on Saturday, May 5th, 2012 from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. This event is FREE and open to the public. Online registration is required at www.wesleyan.edu/FOODSTOCK and registration will begin on Thursday, March 22nd.
FOODSTOCK will feature talks, Seminars, Book Signings, a Farmers Market, Food Trucks, a Cocktail Party, and more!
On Friday, September 23rd, the Mark Twain House will host their 4th Annual "Tapping Into Twain" Oktoberfest. This event features a selection of locally produced beers and artisanal ales paired with bites from local restaurants.
This is the event the Hartford Advocate has called "absolutely, positively, without any doubt whatever, one of the best charitable events Hartford has beheld in quite some time."
Breweries participating include Blue Point, Bru Rm/Bar, Cavalry Brewing, City Steam Brewery Café, Hartford Better Beer Co., HDI & Franklin Distributors, Hook & Ladder, Hooker Brewery, Maltose Express, Narragansett, Old Burnside Brewing, Southport SBC, Willimantic and Zok's Home Brewing, with more signing up every day.
I'm no food diva- sure I love a fine dining experience. I enjoy white tablecloths- and the particularly high-end places that scrape the crumbs from your table between courses. But there is a time and a place for this sort of event.
Though I love a great restaurant, I am equally satisfied by a well made sandwich, burger, or just about anything from a greasy spoon diner. When I worked in Boston I frequented the street meat kabob purveyor, and enjoyed a couple visits to Clover- a vegetarian food truck. Cheap, hearty, and satisfying, I miss these lunch options more than I miss Barbara Lynch.
So when Gmonkey mobile, a sustainable & vegetarian food truck, began tweeting their presence in Hartford earlier this month, I knew I had to try it.
Taste of Hartford 2010 will take place from Mon., July 26 through Sun., August 8.
Hartford's top restaurants will participate in Taste of Hartford's summertime promotion, offering 3-course gourmet dinners for only $20.10. Patrons can visit the individual restaurants to take advantage of this special price. No tickets are necessary, though reservations are strongly recommended.