Filtering by Tag: Danbury,Southern

Market Place Kitchen & Bar Opens in Newtown

Restaurant Newtown Avon Danbury Woodbury Organic Local Farm American

CTbites Team

Market Place Hospitality group is delighted to announce the grand opening of their newest location, Market Place Kitchen & Bar Newton, this Friday, December 1st. The restaurant will be open to the general public for dinner and is located at: The Village at Lexington Gardens, 32 Church Hill Road, Newtown, CT. With sister locations in Avon, Danbury, and Woodbury, Market Place Kitchen & Bar is 100% locally owned and operated and committed to sourcing local ingredients and working with local farmers.

Managing Partner Eli Hawli says: “We are delighted and honored to be a local business supporting local farms. As our Market Place family continues to grow, we will continue to provide the same quality of craft cocktails and chef driven cuisine which we know all of our wonderful customers want and expect from us


The Hummus & Pita Co Opening Fast Casual Mediterranean In Danbury

Restaurant Mediterranean Middle Eastern Lunch Danbury Take Out To-Go

Stephanie Webster

The Hummus & Pita Co., known for its homemade, fresh and healthy Mediterranean cuisine, has signed a new franchisee, Rishi Parikh, to open a location in Danbury, Connecticut. The newest store will be located at 15 Federal Road in Brookfield.  

The rapidly growing Mediterranean fast-casual concept brings guilt-free, homemade cuisine to the masses in a comfortable and inviting environment. All menu items are made from scratch on the premises and use only the freshest ingredients to create high-quality, flavor-focused eats. The concept stands out with its freshly baked pita and laffa breads, vegetarian dishes and meats cooked in a traditional taboon oven.


Rice & Beans Food Truck: Don't Miss This Outstanding Mobile Menu

Restaurant Food Truck Latin American Guatemalan Danbury Kid Friendly Lunch Homepage

Ramin Ganeshram

Simple is usually best—particularly when it comes to food—an adage that proved itself more than true on my recent visit to Rice & Beans food truck, based out of Danbury.

The concept: Stewed meat or roasted veggies over black beans and rice m topped with fresh herbs, radish, pico de gallo, and guacamole served up in a bright yellow food truck.  The eatery is the brainchild of chef/owner Jasson Arias and based on the traditional foods of his Guatemalan heritage.

“I grew up eating rice and beans,” says Arias, whose original career was bartending in Stamford. “I thought it would be the great basis for a quick, filling lunch sold from a food cart.”


Ki Asian Bistro & Sushi in Danbury's TNT Lover Sushi Roll via CT Magazine

Restaurant Danbury Sushi

CTbites Team

CT Magazine waxed poetic about this dish from Ki Asian Bistro & Sushi in Danbury. We hear this isn't the only item on this menu that is worth the trip. Here's what writer Erik Ofgang had to say...

 Get ready for an explosion of flavor. The TNT Lover roll is made with chopped bluefin toro (the fatty belly meat of tuna), caviar, tempura flakes, scallion and asparagus topped with raw tuna and served with truffle soy sauce. The result is a sushi roll that can redefine your perception of what a sushi roll can be. At least that’s what it did for me. The raw tuna provides a burst of fresh-as-the-sea notes, cut and enhanced by the crunch of the tempura flakes and the rich truffle soy sauce, creating a taste simultaneously sushi and non-sushi.

The bistro was opened in 2012 by Chef Benny Chow, a veteran of Nobu restaurant in New York, who trained under Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. I discovered the restaurant earlier this year and have been hooked ever since. 

Read the full article on CT Magazine. 


Peaches Juke Joint in Nowalk: Two Guys Enjoy Some Southern Hospitality

Restaurant Norwalk Southern Bar

jeffrey schlesinger

CTbites has been following Greer Fredericks since she opened Mama’s Boy in Norwalk in 2013. She believed that low country southern cuisine could tantalize Fairfield County diners, from shrimp & grits, chicken and waffles to mile high desserts. Mama’s Boy’s food started the trend where down home, stick to your ribs cooking with bold flavors, deep fried, with cheese and calories were an accepted cuisine. Greer’s newest venture is Peaches’ Juke Joint, a fun-loving, take off your shoes, leave your inhibitions at the door and have some fun with a side of food. She hired Paul Failla to oversee the kitchen; many will remember Failla from his days at neighboring Bar Sugo. Ctbites was recently invited to sample Chef Paul’s newest creations and feel the vibes at Peaches.

Terra Ristorante Opens Today in Danbury

Danbury Italian Lunch

CTbites Team

Terra Ristorante, a Northern Italian restaurant located in the heart of downtown Greenwich, is opening its second location in Danbury, CT, the eighth restaurant for the Z Hospitality Group. Over twenty-five years ago, founder and owner, Ramze Zakka, opened Terra in Greenwich, the first of his eight eateries, to fulfill his dream of owning a restaurant that serves simple and delicious food in a more relaxed alternative to the already existing white glove and fast casual restaurants. Terra was a bistro that introduced authentic Northern Italian food where guests would feel like they were transported to Florence for a genuine dining experience. Everything from food and beverages to Italian music has been carefully curated to achieve this goal.

Outrageous BBQ at Mason Dixon Smokehouse in Stamford

BBQ Southern Stamford Bar Comfort Food Lunch

Jeff "jfood" Schlesinger

World-class BBQ returns to CT with the homecoming of renowned pitmaster Nestor Laracuente, who is overseeing the kitchen at Mason Dixon Smokehouse in Stamford. When I heard that Nestor was teaming up with Mason Dixon, I was ecstatic, the mounds of his perfectly prepared meats that I raved about at Hoodoo Brown were indelible etched in my memory. Would Mason Dixon fill the void that I have felt for months? Bottom line…yes, the food is spectacular.

Laracuente is a soft-spoken lover of meats and Southern rock who spent years perfecting his craft. After leaving CT last year, he returned to Brooklyn where he spent time with his buddy at Beast of Bourbon in Bed-Stuy. His time was spent experimenting with new rubs, new dishes, waiting for the right opportunity for his return to Connecticut. His newest venture, of which he is part-owner, opened a few weeks ago and it is slowly expanding the menu. 


Soul Tasty Opens in Stamford: Southern Food from the Soul to the Table

Restaurant BBQ Delicious Dives Southern Stamford To-Go Comfort Food Lunch Kid Friendly

Jeff "jfood" Schlesinger

Fairfield County offers some of the best food in the country, from trucks to fine dining, and when a restaurant serves food from the soul, it is special, it is uplifting, it makes you overjoyed. Every now and then I visit a new place that fits all these categories. Stephanie Webster, my CTbites partner, and I were looking for a new place for a lunch meeting and we chose Soul Tasty...we wanted to see what the buzz was about. It is located on Main Street in Stamford at the end of a dead end that doubles as the entrance to a pedestrian bridge and parking is incredibly difficult, have patience, it is worth it.

Soul Tasty is the brain-child and dream of Chef Jean Gabriel, Jr. When you walk in, you can feel the love. The walls are brightly painted, a little graffiti on the rear counter pronouncing FEED YOUR SOUL and a colorful menu above the hot trays holding the products of the chef’s homage to the Southern recipes of his grandmother.


Mezón Tapas Bar and Restaurant in Danbury – From the Heart, From the Home

Restaurant Caribbean Danbury Tapas Latin American

Lou Gorfain

Even though it’s one of the largest cities in Connecticut, Danbury was once regarded as a restaurant wasteland. The downtown eateries catered to a family demographic who sought a reasonably priced menu that took few culinary chances.   Very mid-century. However, in the past few years, a vibrant international food scene has burgeoned on the city’s west side.   The cuisines are sophisticated, diverse, and creative, reflective of 21st Century dining.

Many credit Richard Reyes’s Mezón Tapas Bar and Restaurant with transforming Mill Plain Road into destination dining. The year was 2011.  Reyes was then a former Wall Street Executive who decided to come home to Connecticut and open a restaurant where people could dine on food prepared in the Latin tradition of his family. From the heart. From the home. Richard was all of 25 … and Mezón posed far more of a risk than even the stock market. At the time, Mill Plain Road was dotted with a string of mostly red-sauce Italian/American restaurants. “Sure, we were taking a chance,” he recently told us, “But we helped break the mold.”   

Rich invited CTbites to sample some of the Latin and Caribbean fare that has attracted Mezón’s diverse and discerning clientele from across the region. Though the Paella and the Churrasco are the most popular dishes on the menu, Reyes had other ideas for our feast.


LisaMarie's Food Truck: Paradise Lost, Then Found Off The Beaten Path in CT

Restaurant Catering Danbury Food Truck Lunch

Lou Gorfain

Lisamarie Ault was flying high.  For twenty years she had served as the personal Chef to Edgar Bronfman, Sr., the billionaire magnate of the Seagram’s empire, preparing the best of everything for a man who demanded world-class excellence. That's exactly what he got from a devoted chef who was trained at CIA and cooked at restaurants from Switzerland to Hawaii. Lisamarie led a rarefied life in her own culinary paradise.  

But then she suddenly fell back to earth.  In December of 2013, Bronfman abruptly died, and his family no longer had need for a personal cook.  Lisamarie was out of a job … and a dear friend.  “Mr. B”, as she calls him, had become the father she lost days before she took the position two decades earlier.

“In March of last year, I had no idea what I was going to do next,” she recalls. “Suddenly, out of the blue, I learned that Mr. Bronfman had included me in his will.” On an impulse,  Lisamarie decided to  buy an old food truck, and take it on the road under the banner of "PARADISE FOODS.”


Derby Days Parties @ Mama's Boy in Sono

Restaurant Holiday Southern

CTbites Team

Mama's Boy in Sono is celebrating the Derby in fine style with "Derby Days" April 27-May 3. Greer and her team have a full week of great events planned for your dining and partying pleasure.  The week kicks off a Low Country Crab Boil on April 28th, followed by "Fillies & Lillies," (girls night on steroids), May 1 and culminates with their big Derby Day event on May 2nd. Read the full details below. Call Mama's Boy to make your reservations (203) 956-7171.

CT NOFA 2015 Winter Conference

CT Farms Danbury

CTbites Team

CT NOFA's Winter Conference is Connecticut's largest food, agriculture and sustainability conference, held Western Connecticut State University's Midtown Campus in Danbury on Saturday, March 7.

The conference will focus on the future of sustainable farming through dozens of workshops, an exhibition space with over over 70 vendors featuring local foods, crafts, books, and sustainability initiatives. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Kristine Nichols, Rodale Institute Chief Scientist who will deliver a speech on the "Regenerative Agriculture for Soil & Climate Health."


CTbites Staff & Chef Picks for TOP EATS OF 2014

Restaurant Bridgeport Danbury Fairfield Food Truck Norwalk Stamford Washington Westport New Canaan New Haven Best of CT

CTbites Team

In terms of eating, the CTbites team of writers, photographers, and chef friends have managed to sample and savor more than most. 2014 has been a stellar year for restaurant openings as Fairfield County and the surrounding areas continue to draw great culinary talent.  Instead of coming up with a top ten list ourselves, we asked the CTbites extended family to share some of their most memorable meals and dining experiences this past year.

Here are our favorite meals and restaurants of 2014. 


Jax & Co. Opens in Sono, from the Owners of Mama's Boy: Breakfast, Lunch & To-Go Dinner

Restaurant Norwalk Prepared Food SONO Southern Breakfast Lunch

Jeff "jfood" Schlesinger

Whenever the owner of a restaurant that serves great food announces a second location, I am excited to see where this second venture will lead.  After hearing that Greer Fredericks, the co-owner of Mama’s Boy in SONO, was opening JAX around the corner on North Main, I couldn’t wait for my first visit. JAX opened a few weeks ago and currently serves a wide range of breakfast options, plus a tremendous selection of creative sandwiches at lunch. It is also placing the final touches to its soon to be released take-away dinners, and awaiting the delivery of its ice cream machine.

Located just south of the SONO theatre, the interior is completely redesigned, accented with a red painted art nouveau ceiling and lots of wood throughout…it is definitely the sister restaurant to Mama’s Boy.


Green Grunion Food Truck: San Diego-style Burritos in Danbury

Restaurant Danbury Food Truck Tacos Beer Mexican

Amy Kundrat

The Green Grunion food truck is the brainchild of Paul Mannion, a Bethel native whose three year foray in San Diego served as inspiration for Danbury's San Diego-style burrito business on wheels. A restaurant industry veteran (you may remember his friendly face from behind the bar at Bethel’s La Zingara), Paul launched the business nearly a year ago in Danbury inspired by the burritos he came to know and love during his time in San Diego.

I finally tracked down the Green Grunion after many positive reader recommendations, and a fuzzy memory of Paul telling me his grandiose plans from behind the Zingara bar last year. But first, a quick burrito primer for the uninitiated East Coast-dwellers (read: you, me, and everyone we know, Connecticut).

Look up burrito in the dictionary and you'll likely conjure an image of the tightly-packed Mission style behemoths found in San Francisco's Mission District and interpreted loosely at a Chipotle near you.


Best Bar Burgers in Fairfield County: 2014 Edition

Danbury Darien Fairfield Norwalk Trumbull Westport New Canaan Best of CT Burgers

Jeff "jfood" Schlesinger

May is National Burger Month and it’s that time of year again for CTbites to unveil its “Best Bar Burgers of Fairfield County.” The last twelve months brought us several suggestions to try and I tried many of these additional locations. The 2014 list included some outstanding bars and haunts that served delicious burgers, so good in fact that only one newcomer was as delicious. (See complete list below)

Not only was this an outstanding burger, but it earned my top spot as the Best Bar Burger in Fairfield County. 

Bick’s Burgers & Fries – 2014 Best Bar Burger in Fairfield County


Bick's Burgers Opens in Danbury

Restaurant Danbury Lunch Kid Friendly Burgers

Amy Kundrat

Bick's Burgers opened on Friday, March 7 on Ives Street in downtown Danbury. And while I will save the true burger review for our resident expert, Jeff, here is a very early look at what to expect from Fairfield County's newest burger joint from our quick stop on opening day. 

The Bick's Burger concept is fairly straightforward–a modern take on burgers, elevated with homemade touches, and delivered with a solid 75/25 burger. The business is a partnership between Chef Michael Bick of SomeThings Fishy Catering, and his entrepreneurial son, Ian Bick.

In a nod to its humble diner roots, Bick's embraces the décor of the 50's drive-in diner. A row of counter seating and stools faces the kitchen's flat top griddle, and a black and white checkered floor and red vinyl booths complete this homage.  

There are several homemade touches on the menu. Homemade buns, including brioche, truffle brioche and sesame


[Video] Behind the Scenes with Stanziato's c/o Local Food Rocks

Restaurant Danbury Pizza

Amy Kundrat

There is a synergy that sets Matt Stanczak's Stanziato's Wood Fired Pizza in Danbury apart. The combination of a chef/owner with a sincere devotion to his craft, a respect for simplicity, a loyalty to local ingredients, and last but certainly not least, Matt's fearless and fun leadership, make the sum of Stanziato's greater than its parts.

Local Food Rocks captured the essence of Stanziato's perfectly in this behind-the-scenes video of how they build their fires (Jenga-style), what makes their pies so amazing (slow fermentation, good old Danbury water), and a couple trips to local farms you may recognize.

This talented duo behind the blog and RMedia.TV deserves its own shout-out. Alicia (passionate home cook and blogger) and Renato (the man behind the camera and guitar) Ghio are literally a rocking duo. Check them out.

If you watch one thing this weekend, make it this. And if you go to Stanziato's, don't miss the soppressata and chilies pizza and pair it with a salad.  


CTbites Staff & Chef Picks for TOP EATS OF 2013

Restaurant Armonk Bridgeport Danbury Fairfield Norwalk Washington Westport New Canaan Best of CT

CTbites Team

As food writers, photographers, and chefs, we have the pleasure of eating a lot of really great food. Fairfield County has experienced something of a restaurant explosion over the past year, as new chefs move in and move on, and menus expand. We've endeavored to expand our coverage beyond those borders, seeking to cover more of the state and sharing those experiences that are worth seeking out. Instead of coming up with a top ten list ourselves, we asked the CTbites extended family to share some of their most memorable meals and dining experiences this past year. 


My Signature Dish: Chef Scott Ostrander from Mama's Boy in SoNo

Restaurant Chef Talk My Signature Dish Southern

Lou Gorfain

"My Signature Dish" is a new CTbites column featuring a rotating cast of chefs, and the dishes that define their cooking style, or simply make them happy to fire up the oven. 

We looked forward to learning about what Scott Ostrander had chosen as his signature dish at Mama’s Boy in SoNo, a Connecticut restaurant featuring Southern cooking and cuisine. But he was reluctant to tell us much about it.  “We’re dealing with some major issues,” he confided.  “Trying to dodge disaster.”

Issues. Disasters.  Great.  The stuff of a good story.   We urged him on.  But Chef Ostrander demurred. “I just can’t get into it right now,”  he apologized. 

The next time we met, the chef was all smiles.  Problems solved.   Scott shared the back story, one that reveals how a gifted chef deals with and solves both business and culinary challenges.

His new signature dish at Mama’s Boy is Crisp Pork Shank, an osso bucca-like braised pork shank with a dramatic Southern twist. Traditionally, slowly simmered meat is tender, juicy, and deeply flavored.   But its soft texture is monochromatic.   For his shank, Scott wanted contrapuntal textures.  Soft.   And Crunchy.