Filtering by Tag: Local Farm,Ramen

Kyushu Ramen: Authentic Noodle Shop in Stamford...Finally!!

Restaurant Asian Japanese Ramen Noodles Stamford Lunch Homepage

Lou Gorfain

Those who have roamed Stamford for years in search of authentic ramen finally have a new spring to their step.  Kyushu Ramen, the sleek re-incarnation of Tengda Asian Bistro on Bedford’s Restaurant Row, lays claim to being Stamford’s first ramen restaurant.

In place of the mish-mash Pan Asian cuisine previously served at this location, the new shop focuses primarily on Japan, sharpening the lens on the island of Kyushu and its most illustrious contribution to ramen cuisine, Tonkatsu.

Distinguished by its cloudy, slowly simmered pork stock, Tonkatsu is the silky star of Kyushu’s menu.  Its savory, seasoned broth, anointed with pork belly, spices, herbs and noodles, is crafted by Japanese-born chef, Ito Shigeru. Trained by strict ramen masters, this veteran New York City ramen chef brings an authentic Japanese cooking style to Bedford Street.

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Mecha & Mézon Launch Eat Justice Food Truck

Restaurant Food Truck Bethel Noodles Asian Breakfast Brunch American Latin American Catering Homepage Local Farm

Stephanie Webster

Mecha Noodle Bar & Mézon owners, Tony Pham and Richard Reyes, are excited to announce the launch of their new food truck, Eat Justice. The truck will open its window to the public on Friday, June 15th, at Holbrook Farm in Bethel. The Eat Justice food truck rolls into the CT food scene with some pre-existing street cred, and we're not just talking about our beloved noodle slurping shop founders. Beneath the new pink origami pig exterior resides the bones of the EGGZ food truck, purchased from Matt Stanziato. Lucky us, the truck will continue to feature EGGZ' killer breakfast sandwiches, but Pham and Reyes will expand the menu to include "Daily Inspirations" ranging from Banh Mi to a classic Cubano. Bonus... you don't need to hunt down the Eat Justice truck. It will reside at Holbrook Farm every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 8am-1pm, like clockwork. This is a great reason to head to Bethel. 

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New Ramen in Norwalk! Good Hope Dumpling & Ramen House Now Open

Restaurant Norwalk Ramen Japanese Vietnamese Noodles Asian Delicious Dives Homepage

Andrew Dominick

It wasn’t that long ago that I went to Valencia Luncheria for dinner. I parked where I usually do, on that side of the street, almost directly across from the laundromat. When I came out of Valencia, I noticed a sign with a blushing anime character on it that read “Good Hope Dumpling & Ramen House.” I vaguely remembered that a couple friends mentioned it.  After I walked by, Good Hope was fully on my radar. 

I just hoped Good Hope would be good. 

There were positive signs besides a few of my pals who said they liked it, and the fact that their online reviews are solid. When I walked by the just over 20-seat restaurant (it’s the old Valencia location) at an obscure Sunday dinnertime, the place was packed, and I’ve noticed they gather a decent lunch crowd, even on weekdays. I had to check it out. What’s more is it’s just the kind of neighborhood haunt I like to highlight. 

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CT Guide To Raw Milk: Why Raw and Where To Buy in CT?

Features Ingredients Ingredients Farm to Table CT Farms Local Farm

Luke Shanahan

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. 

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It's A Woman's World: Annie Farrell, Sustainable Farmer, Millstone Farm

Features CT Farms Local Farm Interview

CTbites Team

Fairfield County is full of trailblazing women, particularly in the culinary world. Which is why, with 2018 being proclaimed the Year of the Woman, we felt compelled to honor the pioneers among us.  

Our new series, “It’s A Woman’s World’ is devoted to Fairfield County female influencers who’ve forged their own paths, often in food-related fields long dominated by men.

Whether farming the land, bringing healthy food to the masses, feeding an entrepreneurial spirit or injecting feminism with food, these groundbreaking ladies have set a new definition of women’s work, creating new paths and setting examples for those who follow. 

How'd they do it? Read on. This week, we feature Annie Farrell, a pioneer in sustainable farming, and farmer at Millstone Farm in Wilton CT. Stay tuned to see who’s next. And feel free to send suggestions for your candidates to steph@ctbites.com. 

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Anaya Sushi & Ramen: Slurp Worthy Noodles (And More) Served At All Hours

Restaurant New Haven Ramen Noodles Asian Japanese Homepage

CTbites Team

Anaya Sushi & Ramen has been serving its hungry New Haven crowds (and Yale students) since it opened back in 2015. CTBites.com reported on the venue when it was just three-months-old, highlighting its all-you-can-eat sushi and touching on its soon-to-come late-night ramen house.

Now, two years later, this venue has become a staple in the restaurant community. With its substantial all-day sushi menu (and after-hours ramen delights), casual vibe, and friendly service, owner Soraya Kaoroptham (who is also the mastermind behind Noodle House) and her team seem to have gotten it right.

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Local Ingredients: The Araucana Egg, A Wild Blue Wonder

Features Ingredients Ingredients Local Farm Specialty Market

Luke Shanahan

Writer Luke Shanahan contemplates the virtues of a truly excellent fresh egg with Lloyd Allen of Double L Market. 

Consider the egg. 

Any serious cook knows its singular importance in the kitchen. Many cooks—serious and novice alike—remember the egg as the first thing they ever learned to cook. 

In the book The Next Course, rock-&-roller chef Marco Pierre White, who at 33 became the youngest cook ever to be awarded three Michelin stars, reveals his country side when he suggests that scrambled (gulls) eggs with celery salt served with mayonnaise—an emulsion of egg yolk, acid and oil—may be a worthy last meal on earth.  (Here's a handy list of local CT farms that produce fresh eggs.) 

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Eat Noodle Brings Ramen and Pho to Bridgeport’s Bijou Square

Restaurant Bridgeport ra Ramen Noodles Openings

CTbites Team

Noodle soup news from CTPost. 

As downtown Bridgeport continues to welcome restaurants, the latest addition to the Bijou Square is serving up hot ramen and noodle soups in minutes.

Easton resident Skye Kwok opened Eat Noodle in downtown Bridgeport on Jan. 8 at 269 Fairfield Ave. The eatery opened in the space that once housed Can Tiin, which closed last summer.

A former Bridgeport resident, Kwok said the area has changed since his days growing up in the Park City. As residential development and the office market has grown over the years, he said a community vibe has developed that he felt his restaurant could thrive in.

“Bridgeport is growing right now,” he said. “When I came to this area I was surprised (at how) it changed a lot, and I saw a lot of potential.”

Kwok began working in the restaurant industry 22 years ago, after attending Sacred Heart University, and has since opened restaurants in other parts of Fairfield County. He also owns Sweet Basil in Fairfield and Pink Sumo Sushi & Sake Cafe in Westport.

According to the business owner, he wanted to bring his own spin on the growing noodle soup market to the city, with options like pho, ramen and specialty items like curry soup.

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Fujiya Ramen in Middletown: Tokyo-style ramen with New York vibe

Restaurant Japanese Asian Ramen Middletown Openings Comfort Food

Middletown Press

Looking for great ramen? Middletown Press has the scoop on the new Fujiya Ramen...straight from Tokyo. 

Fujiya Ramen opened in August at 425 Main St. and already, the restaurant has become somewhat of a hangout for Wesleyan University students, according to Andy Liu, owner.

Whenever there’s an event at the school, students come out to the restaurant to socialize, eat and take advantage of the wifi, he said. The vibe of the eatery, especially when the students are congregating, reminds him of similar establishments in New York City.

“I go to New York a lot because in New York (ramen is) very popular,” Liu said. “Young people like it because ramen is really fast and pretty healthy food.”

Liu, who has been in the restaurant business for more than 20 years and also owns Sakura Garden in Windsor and Royal Buffet in Manchester, was impressed the first time he visited a ramen restaurant. “I said this is a really good idea — really modern,” he said.

He talked to a friend in Tokyo who has Fujiya Ramen restaurants in Tokyo, New Jersey and Albany, New York, and suggested they join forces. Liu found a head chef who was originally from Japan and his friend sent a crew from Japan, including additional chefs and servers, he said.

“That’s why our ramen (dishes) are different because we have people from over there,” Liu said. “It’s almost the identical ramen as in Tokyo.”

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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

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Millwright’s: Chef Tyler Anderson Creates Inspired New England Cuisine in Simsbury

Restaurant Simsbury American Local Artisan Local Farm Special Occasion Celebrity Chef Outdoor Dining Homepage Catering

Lou Gorfain

Four years. That’s the time Tyler Anderson devoted to perfecting his signature dish, Tapioca Custard. A lush confection of clams, bacon, onion, potato and fennel, the delicacy perfectly defines the wizardry of this celebrated chef … a magical spin on homespun.

The small portion is intentionally introductory, a riff on a classic New England starter. As if by sorcery, the custard conjures “all the flavors of clam chowder.”  

Anderson conceived the dish as a tribute to the meal – and the moment -- that super-charged his culinary life. “I went to the French Laundry in 1997 when Tomas Keller was in the kitchen,” he recalls. “Up to then I had been cooking mainly to meet women and go drinking with my buddies.”

He began the feast with Keller’s classic, Oysters and Pearls, a sabayon of pearl tapioca with beau soleil oysters and white sturgeon caviar. 

“I took the first bite,” he remembers. “And at that exact second understood that cooking could be more than just cooking.” He pauses and grins. “It made me smile. I was happy. I now had a passion to make people happy.”

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Jazz Dinner At Waldingfield Farm in Litchfield w/ CT NOFA

Features Events Local Farm Farm Dinner

Stephanie Webster

On Saturday, September 16th, Enjoy an organic farm to table feast alongside the sounds of acclaimed jazz musicians from The Mike Casey Trio at Waldingfield Farm in Washington CT.

Visit a beautiful organic farm hidden in the Litchfield Hills for a fine seasonal dinner all sourced locally. Guests will enjoy an Autumn sunset and a fine dinner in celebration organic farming in Connecticut! 

4 PM  Refreshments & Farm Tour
5 PM Cocktails & 1st Course
6 PM The Mike Casey Trio Followed by Dinner & Dessert

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Bishop’s Orchards: Pick Your Own Peaches, Pears & Raspberries In Guilford

Ingredients Local Farm kids activity Kid Friendly

Deanna Foster

Yes, we can squeeze the peaches before we buy them in the supermarket and cherry-pick the basket we like at the farmer’s market, but there is nothing more satisfying than standing under a a tree limb full of ripe peaches. There is a tangible joy in choosing one, reaching up to feel the soft fuzz against the firm fruit and inhaling it’s perfume as you gently twist it from its stem. This was our experience yesterday and not one person in our party of 8 put their first picked peach in a bag.  Bishop’s Orchards in Guilford can offer you this experience 4 times over, as their orchards are currently yielding peaches, pears and raspberries.  Bishop’s is a straight shot up Rt. 95N(exit 57; take a right) and the 45 drive is well worth it.

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Harbor Harvest in Norwalk: Locally Sourced Retail Food Market w/ Innovative Technology

Restaurant Specialty Market Ingredients Catering Local Farm Norwalk Lunch

Peter Dunay

For Bob Kunkel, the Co-owner of Harbor Harvest in Norwalk, CT, he is a true mariner whose blood is part saltwater and whose first love is the sea. With forty years in the restaurant business and a background in ship builders, Harbor Harvest is a market with a vision like no other. Mr. Kunkel does not settle for anything but fabulous which means all his products are locally sourced and of the highest quality. He makes a point that sustainability and being environmentally conscious is paramount to a healthy community and the world which has to lead to some epic initiatives.

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Black Rock Farmers Market Kicks Off 4th Season, Saturdays in Bridgeport

Features Farmers Market Bridgeport farm fresh Local Farm Local Artisan

Stephanie Webster

The Black Rock Farmers' Market is back, Saturdays, June 10 -October 7th  9am to 1pm at 481 Brewster Street in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport CT. The season will kick off during Black Rock Day Weekend, an event that serves as a community initiative to promote projects that enhance the quality of life for residents and business in the area. 

BRFM is a producer-only market featuring locally farmed vegetables, fruit, cheese, eggs (with a real life rooster), bread, meats, jams pickles and so much more. Their local artisan selection varies from vintage finds to natural beauty care products. Market visitors have the opportunity to start their day with a 10:30AM yoga class in the field and enjoy their weekly produce shopping accompanied by live local musicians. 

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Westport Farmers’ Market Enters Its 12th Year: Vendor List for 2017

Features Ingredients Farmers Market Westport Local Farm Local Artisan

Stephanie Webster

Mark your calendars for opening day of the Westport Farmers’ Market, Thursday, May 18th, from 10 to 2 at 50 Imperial Avenue. (View the complete market vendor list below.)

Chefs from area restaurants will return this year to provide a source of inspiration to area shoppers. Each week they will create easy, healthful, delicious meals using fresh, local products found at the market. These seasonal recipes and others from top chefs throughout the area will be distributed each week at the market and available on the WFM website.

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2017 Spring/Summer Fairfield County Farmers Markets via FGFG

Ingredients Features Farmers Market CT Farms Local Artisan Farm Fresh Local Farm

CTbites Team

Farmers’ markets in Fairfield County, CT will begin opening in May and early June and we will update the listings below (from 2016) with 2017 information as it becomes available. Here are the markets updated so far via our friends at Fairfield Green Food Guide.

  • New Canaan opened April 22
  • Shelton opens May 6
  • Norwalk Rainbow Plaza opens May 17
  • Westport opens May 18
  • Greenwich @ Arch & Horseneck Streets opens on May 20
  • Fairfield’s downtown market that launched last year opens June 11
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The 10 Best Farmers Markets in Connecticut

Features Ingredients Farmers Market far farm fresh CT Farms Local Farm Local Artisan

CTbites Team

We felt this list of farmers' markets was pretty spot on. Check out Best of Connecticut's list of the 10 Best Farmers' Markets in CT. 

Connecticut has organized its best local offerings into “trails” that visitors can easily follow to enjoy the best of the best. One such trail is the Farmers Markets of Connecticut trail, which highlights local markets across the state. At each market, you’ll find freshly picked local produce, delicious baked goods, coffee roasted in Connecticut, and other products to allow you to prepare the freshest most delicious locally-sourced meal for you and your family.

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5 Things You Should Know About Bees & Honey via Red Bee's Marina Marchese

Education Local Farm Specialty Market

Marina Marchese

With cooler weather around the corner and Rosh Hashanah just past, it’s time to reach for your honey pot. If your summer was full of honey-themed cocktails and BBQ’s, it’s quite possibly still on the kitchen counter but if you enjoy honey “only in my tea when I’m not feeling well” it might be in the darkest corner of your cupboard most likely crystallized. No, it is not spoiled and you don’t have to throw it out. Right now, honey is having a moment as the next artisanal food superstar. Partly because bees are disappearing – you’ve heard about colony collapse sparking a beekeeping craze and partly because honey is believed by many to relieve symptoms of colds and seasonally allergies.

Honey is the only food made by an insect that humans consume and although it was found in the tombs of the Pharaohs, honey can last forever if stored properly – in a cool, dry place, yet it will loose its delicate flavors and health benefits over time. Most people think that honey is honey is honey but it’s not. I’m going to help demystify the flavorful world of honey so that you can be an informed honey connoisseur and navigate your way around the delicious and diverse world of natures oldest and only raw sweetener. 

 

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