Some time several decades ago Milanno Ukehaxhaj left Kosovo at an opportune time on his way to America and making me a sandwich. That is skipping over a lot, but we'll get to the details in later paragraphs, and anyway it was a very good sandwich. This sandwich was not made when I visited the deli earlier this month with his wife and business partner Diana feeding me information as well as chicken parmigiana, it was made during my lunch break at a summer job I held in 2000, which is when I fell in love with Gaetano's.
On Thursday, June 14th, Chef Geoff Lazlo of Geoff Lazlo Food, in Greenwich, CT will be cooking at the prestigious James Beard House in NYC. The evening's menu will feature Connecticut farms, and is aptly titled "Connecticut Farm Feast." Check out the menu below. and reserve your seat here.
Connecticut Magazine’s Best Chef of 2018 Geoff Lazlo earned his fine dining chops with stints at Gramercy Tavern, Chez Panisse, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and the Mill Street Restaurant Group before venturing out to create his own company. Sample the cream of Connecticut’s farm-to-table crop with a sumptuous, organic spring harvest, fresh picked from his lovingly tended plots at Greenwich Community Gardens.
What do you get when you mix cooking traditions of both the Italian and French? The best of both worlds at ROÌA Restaurant in New Haven. It’s a culinary combo that doesn’t require you to renew your passport.
Located in the former Taft Hotel that dates back to 1912, ROÌA Restaurant and Cafe has historical charm. Step inside and you’ll see what we mean with its two-floor open design with ornate ceilings and impressive columns. The building is truly an architect’s dream. But you don’t have to be a designer to appreciate all that ROÌA has to offer. You just have to be hungry.
Robert Atkinson is impatient with Mother Nature. The 12 vegetable beds beneath the patio of the Barcelona Wine Bar & Restaurant in Fairfield are awaiting the seeds for their sixth year of providing homegrown ingredients to the Fairfield restaurant’s kitchen, but the New England weather has not been cooperating.
This will be the sixth year of Barcelona’s vegetable garden, which offers patrons the opportunity to select ingredients for preparation by the restaurant’s kitchen staff. “I always like to tell people it’s better than farm-to-table,” continued Atkinson. “It is garden-to-table, and there is no transportation because the farmers aren’t even driving it over.”
I submit that raw milk might just be the most real of all foods.
Start with the fact that milk is the only food created specifically to feed something. (Honey doesn’t count, as the pollen honey is made from has its own agenda.) Synonymous with nourishment, raw milk is the first food most human beings—all mammals—ingest. And raw milk, for it to be free of any off flavors and to be safe to drink, requires painstaking care to produce. Every little step in the process matters.
The subtle and intricate flavors in raw milk, the very opposite of the one-note flavor of pasteurized milk or, worse, the waxy cardboard taste vacuum of skim, come from the undenatured biocomplexity in unpasteurized milk. When I read chemists-for-hire claiming, on behalf of big commercial dairy, that there isn't that much nutritional difference between pasteurized and raw, I choose to trust my palate. Well, my palate and the biochemists who say that the difference is real and considerable.
Chef Tim LaBant and The Schoolhouse At Cannondale have released the schedule for the 2018 season’s Farm to Fork dinners.Tickets go on sale May 1st...and they go fast! Check out the schedule below.
Four locally sourced courses served family style under the stars (weather permitting). Beginning at 6 pm, Cocktail hour (drinks included), Farm Tour and Dinner (BYOB) by Wilton's own, Chef Tim LaBant of The Schoolhouse at Cannondale. Location: Millstone Farm, Wilton, CT.
Dinner is BYOB starting at around 7 pm and is four courses, family style.
When Breno Donatti took over the almost century-old Winfield Street Italian Deli back in 2015, one of his goals was to infuse some new school life into the menu while upholding some of the delis traditional recipes and values. What Donatti has excelled at since opening is using his background in fine dining as both an owner and a general manager to improve the business. He uses fresh, local ingredients from nearby farms whenever possible. He and his cooks have tinkered with recipes of deli classics, so you know after your first bite, that you’re not eating a bland, ordinary sandwich.
We are excited to announce that Community Table Restaurant and Bar will be reopening this spring. We don’t have an exact date yet but, we are hoping to open our doors before Memorial Day and work out any ‘kinks’ before the busy season kicks in.
We have spent the past months contemplating what direction Ct should go in next. We turned to Adam Riess, a Washington native and restaurant consultant, to help us define our goals and offer us options. Though many interesting ideas were discussed, hearing from so many of you who simply wanted Ct to come back the way it was, eventually swayed us to move in that direction.
We sent two CTbites contributors to the new Rye Ridge Deli in Westport. Here's the scoop...
When Oscar’s Deli announced it was closing in July 2016, Westporters were saddened to lose what felt like the last vestige of the “small town” local businesses on Main Street. For 42 years, Oscar’s was known as the community meeting place for locals, families and aspiring politicians, all presided over by its owner, the late Lee Papageorge , who many a day watched the comings and goings from his iconic barber chair.
Many of us waited to hear what would replace the popular spot, and there was a collective sigh of relief when it was announced that Rye Ridge Deli, based in Rye, NY with locations in Rye and Stamford would take over the spot.
“It’s a 21st Century iteration of a 19th Century Inn,” Robert promised. So, before the six of us scattered to warmer climes for the winter, we chose the newly opened Tavern at GrayBarns for our farewell dinner.
After a pre-prandial toast, our party was served an un-presupposing bread and butter plate. Standard fare? Hardly. Executive Chef Ben Freemole had us at first bite.
That homespun bread perfectly captures the ethos of Andy Glazer’s sweeping reconstruction and fortification of the legendary Silvermine Tavern and Inn, its footprint reduced by almost a third. In this new “Haven of Refuge,” both décor and dining dazzle, no detail taken for granted, not even a humble bread and butter starter.
Simsbury, a bucolic community nestled in the Farmington Valley about 25 minutes north of bustling Hartford, has rarely been considered a culinary hotspot. But unexpectedly, this former mill town is now home to what many critics deem the best new restaurant in Connecticut: Present Company, a small, rustic eatery located in what was once a horse stable astride the Farmington River.
Here the unexpected comes as no surprise. Consider the auspices of its co-owner, Jeffrey Lizotte, the acclaimed former chef at Hartford’s lux On20. His resume includes stints at Eric Ripert’s Le Bernadin and David Bouley’s Danube in New York, and two of France’s highly regarded restaurants, La Rupina in Bordeaux and the Michelin-starred La Bastide St. Antoine in Grasse. After all those glittering dining rooms, what is an award winning chef doing at a relaxed 49 seat venue in what some might call “The Sticks”?
Taproot is one of Fairfield County’s newest chef-driven restaurants. Jeff Taibe (Kawa Ni) and Steph Sweeney (Whelk, Jesup Hall) have teamed up to open the doors to a dining experience that combines a hyper local menu in a charming and down-to-earth setting. If you’re close, it's almost guaranteed to become a contender for a regular hangout spot. If not (but hey, Westport to Bethel is only 30 minutes), it is worth the drive. Thanks to a creative and seasonal menu, it's one of our new favorite spots. And here are just a few reasons why.
Opening this week, Taproot will bring a true taste of Connecticut to the plate punctuated with Southern and global influences in a down-to-earth setting. Nearby farms, producers, and foragers will be the source of ingredients for a hyper-local and evolving menu—an unpretentious chef-driven dining experience soon to be situated in the quaint northern Fairfield County town of Bethel.
Why this focus on local? It’s not a trend to chase for Jeff Taibe and Steph Sweeney, Taproot’s partners who live in Bethel and are raising their family there.
Mark your calendars. On Monday, March 20th, the first day of spring, tickets will go on sale for the 2017 season of Outstanding In The Field.
The 2017 CT locations will be held at Waldingfield Farm on September 12th and The Hickories on September 13th. The guest chefs for Waldingfield will be Jason Sobocinski & Alex Lishchynsky of Caseus in New Haven. The Hickories will feature James Beard nominee Tyler Anderson of Millwright's in Simsbury. Additional details on chefs and farms can be found below.
Poised to celebrate its 10th year with Chef Tim LeBant at the helm, The Schoolhouse at Cannondale has long been on my radar. When a friend recently asked me to dinner I jumped at the chance. Nestled among the charming shops at the Cannondale train station, the one room schoolhouse is as delightful from the exterior as it is inside. A small entryway outfitted with a tiny bar area is separated from the dining area by a small curtained doorway, while many framed accolades set the mood for an excellent meal.
Chef Brian Lewis' The Cottage is spreading its wings just in time for the new year...or rather its footprint, with a beautiful new expanded bar area. Lewis has taken over the adjacent space, once housing a barber shop, and has spent the last few months building out the perfect drink haven. The new bar area will have full service dining at the 10 seat bar alongside creative cocktails, local draft beer and an expanded wine program. Another addition is bartender, Ralph Leon who has been in the business for over 18 years, and has some very exciting new drinks planned for 2017.
Breno Donatti, the new owner, also owns Norwalk’s Winfield Italian Deli, 69 Winfield St., and, since February, Winfield Street Espresso & Panini Bar, 4 Railroad Place, across from the Westport Metro-North Railroad Station in Saugatuck.
He said the name of the Post Road West business will be renamed Winfield Street Italian Deli once all town-required permits are approved and issued.
This corned beef related news just in from WestportNow.
Westport’s Main Street is getting a Deli back. Rye Ridge Deliwill open next year in space long occupied by Oscar’s Delicatessen, 159 Main St.
Partners Mike Ventorino and Scott Martin today in the future home of Rye Ridge Deli and Restaurant at 159 Main St.. Partners Scott Martin and Mike Ventorino will open the third Rye Ridge Deli sometime early next year, they said today. Other Rye Ridge Delis – described as a New York Kosher-Style Deli and Restaurant—are in Rye Brook, N.Y. and Stamford.
Oscar’s closed in August a week before the death of longtime owner Lee Papageorge after a 42-year presence on Main Street. “I got a lot of calls after it closed, asking me to take a look at it,” said Martin, an eight-year Wilton resident. “We signed the lease around Halloween.”
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw CTbites’ review of my deli and wanted to express my thanks to them and give their readers an inside view of the deli and my desire to purchase it and transform it into my vision.
In 2015, after years of working late nights at high end spots such as Lambs Club, J House, Barcelona Wine Bar and my own Bistro Seven, I decided I wanted a break from the tiring and often showy restaurant scene. I wanted to serve good food and have a real connection with my patrons, staff, vendors and neighbors, without all the drama in a fine dining restaurant. I wanted something simple where I could be really myself with customers and staff. I heard of Winfield Deli and how a great chef, Pietro Scotti, served amazing sandwiches for over 20 years in this tucked-in spot, and had a blast at it. I wanted that too. I was no fan of delis because they were often dirty with an over-crowded menu, but I thought I could make my own version of a deli and elevate the deli concept to something closer to the Salumerias of Italy. Without pretension, I took over the little spot and gave a small face lift, keeping historic signs and equipment intact.
Up the steps off the city streets of New Haven, you may feel transported to another time and place. A space that somehow manages to feel elegant, yet contemporary and welcoming at the same time. This could only be ROÌA, where its elaborate high ceilings and attention to a bygone era’s architectural detail make a striking first impression. But they only set the stage for you to be further impressed with the sights and flavors about to arrive at the table.
CTbites first visited ROÌA for its grand opening back in 2013—grand being a most fitting descriptor. We were thrilled to return and experience a dinner featuring summer’s bounty of the local heirloom tomato, in one interesting configuration after another. And just one in the “veg-centric dinner series” Chef Avi Szapiro has offered since last year, when they first showcased asparagus, followed by summer squash, then tomato.
