Filtering by Tag: Delicious Dives,Farm to Table

Connecticut’s Brewery Legitimus & Barden Farm Partner Again for 2nd CSABC (Community Supported Agriculture, Beer & Cheese) Share

Features CSA Local Artisan Local Farm CT Beer Cheese Farm to Table

CTbites Team

Brewery Legitimus, the 7 barrel craft brewery co-founded by husband and wife team Chris and Christina Sayer, is partnering once again with Barden Farm (New Hartford, CT), to bring a Community Supported Agriculture, Beer & Cheese (CSABC) Share to the community.  Back for a second year in a row, the 10-week “Farm, Beer and Cheese Share” begins July 11th and will run until September 12th. 

The first in the area, the CSABC share brings together locally grown produce from Barden Farm, locally crafted beer by Brewery Legitimus, and locally made cheese from several different farms in CT.

A CSABC share membership is $485 for the 10 Weeks and includes Craft Beer from Brewery Legitimus, Cheese and of course a Farm Share from Barden Farm. It works just like a CSA. Here’s what’s included:

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Ren Dumpling & Noodle House: Soup Dumplings & More in Wilton

Restaurant Norwalk Chinese Noodles Kid Friendly Delicious Dives Take Out Lunch Homepage

Nancy Kleeger

If you already have a bevy of Chinese menus with sauce stains in your house that no longer excite you, Ren Dumpling & Noodle House in Norwalk may just become your new “go to.”  Tucked in the corner of a vast shopping plaza in Wilton, Ren Dumpling & Noodle House seems to be far from overlooked.  This cozy and clean joint was bustling with hungry customers dining in and picking up takeaway.  

Full disclosure: I lived in Hong Kong for five years, therefore, with five years experience consuming copious amounts of dumplings under my belt, my curiosity was piqued although my expectations may have been skewed.  Ren isn’t all about the dumplings, however. In fact, the rest of the menu showcases an impressive amount of options you would see on most Chinese menus, with the addition of the odd Thai or Vietnamese dish or two, which seems to be standard these days.  

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Blackie’s Hot Dog Stand: Killer Dogs At This 90 Yr Old Roadside Dive

Restaurant Cheshire Hot Dogs Delicious Dives Kid Friendly Road Trip Burgers Comfort Food Homepage

Andrew Dominick

Lately, I’ve heard a lot about Blackie’s Hot Dog Stand, a roadside dive that’s been open for 90 years and counting. Blackie’s came up in casual conversation twice; the founder of this site, Stephanie Webster, heard about it from a friend, then a friend of mine mentioned it. Shortly thereafter, Visit Connecticut posted a list of “8 Classic Summer Drive-Ins” with Blackie’s being one of the featured haunts. Well, now I had to check it out. That’s no coincidence, that’s a sign! 

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Bailey’s Backyard Offers NEW Market Table Tasting Menu (Wednesdays Only!)

Restaurant Ridgefield Farm to Table American Lunch Homepage

Jessica Ryan

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this charming eatery in the heart of Ridgefield, Bailey’s Backyard first opened its doors nearly 20 years ago as a neighborhood coffee shop before transforming itself into a charming American restaurant with a simple concept; offer exceptional seasonal cuisine in a cozy, relaxed atmosphere. It would soon become a neighborhood hot spot, offering locals a new dining experience.  Several years ago Bailey’s evolved once again and the restaurant is now a farm-to-table establishment with a mission to create a menu based on the freshest local sources. Today meat and produce are still gathered from nearby farms, both in New York and Connecticut, and Seafood is garnered from Connecticut, Massachusetts and the Chesapeake Bay. 

I was recently invited to sample Bailey’s new Market Table Tasting Menu offered every Wednesday night. A new menu is introduced each week, giving diners the opportunity to try something new each time. The menu is Prix Fixe, $40 for four courses or $65 for the four courses and a wine pairing. 

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MATCH Taco Opens Today in Black Rock, Bridgeport from Chef Matt Storch

Restaurant Openings Mexican Tacos Delicious Dives Take Out To-Go Bridgeport Homepage

Stephanie Webster

Chef Matt Storch is at it again, this time with a concept that waxes nostalgic to his humble beginnings in the kitchen of the much loved Tex-Mex joint, "Tacos Or What?" in Westport. Tacos Or What was the local spot where Storch learned to love the business of food, and now, Match Taco is his latest venture going into the Black Rock neighborhood of Bridgeport.

Storch plans to get back to his roots (yes, his grandma actually owned a restaurant in Mexico City) and get his hands into some serious tacos, burritos, nachos, quesadillas...all the Tex-Mex food you could want. Additionally Match Taco will be filling those weekend morning comfort food cravings with a full menu of breakfast sandwiches. Intrigued? Read on...

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8 Classic CT Drive-Ins To Visit Before Summer's End via CT Visit

Restaurant Outdoor Dining Delicious Dives Diner Comfort Food Hot Dogs Burgers Lunch

CTbites Team

One of the best parts about being on the road in the summer in Connecticut is stopping at a drive-in for a quick but tasty meal. The state has many such spots, but here are 8 of the most tried and true.

Sea Swirl, Mystic: It's easy to spot Sea Swirl as the former Carvel location, but the focus now is on fried seafood, especially clams, scallops, and oysters. 

The Sycamore, Bethel: Known for its steak burgers and homemade root beer, as well as its carhops and 1950's ambiance. Be sure to check out their web site for cruise nights and and other special events.  

Harry's Place, Colchester: Looking for a real juicy burger? Harry's shapes its patties into a ball, puts them on a grill, and then gradually flattens them with a spatula. The results have brought customers back every summer for decades. 

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The Colombian Hot Dog Truck: Ultimate Comfort Food

Restaurant Food Truck Burgers Columbian Comfort Food Hot Dogs Bridgeport Delicious Dives Homepage

Andrew Dominick

I can admit when I have a problem. Connecticut has several great food trucks, and I social media stalk a bunch of them. The addiction is obviously the food, then there’s this game of being able to track down the truck or trucks in question. Will I be free? Where will the truck be? What time? And for how long will they be there? 

One that I played cat and mouse with recently was The Colombian Hot Dog, a mobile trailer that specializes in Colombian fast food. They were put on my radar by a local photographer friend who spent some time shooting The Colombian Hot Dog crew in action one summer night. He suggested I check them out, but it took a while since the truck is only parked in Norwalk one night per week. 

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Top 10 "Grab-able" Burgers In Fairfield & New Haven Counties

Restaurant Burgers Best of CT Comfort Food Lunch Delicious Dives Homepage

Lou Gorfain

For the past few years, CTBites’ annual Top Ten Burgers has crowned the best premium hamburgers in Southwest Connecticut.   Featuring the usual suspects, the rankings didn't vary much each summer.  (In fact, our 2018 roundup would have welcomed only one new candidate, the robust Tavern Burger just introduced at GreyBarns.) By focusing on those elite burgers, had our list become elitist?  

This year we decided to widen the lens to include both Fairfield and New Haven Counties and shift the focus to the casual, every-day burgers that we usually crave: a really succulent beef patty adorned with our favorite fixings at a reasonable price. Convenience ups the appeal.

Ironically, two candidates from last year’s gilded list qualified by value and ambience as casual, neighborhood hamburgers.  Four of the entries are indigenous to the state, including one that is steamed not fired.  Surprisingly, half of the patties are not even served in conventional, soft buns.

We paid close attention to bread/beef ratios. A limp bun immediately disqualified any contender. 

Most prices hover around 10 dollars, one as cheap as 5.25, but none more costly than 15.

Herewith, the best of our local, “grab-able” burgers.

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34+ Places for Lobster Rolls in CT: 2018 Edition

Restaurant Best of CT Seafood Lobster Summer Delicious Dives Homepage

Emma Jane-Doody Stetson

Summer is here and nothing embodies summer in New England like the lobster roll!  Whether you prefer yours hot or cold, with or without butter, classic or with a twist, Connecticut restaurants and seafood shacks are featuring them on their menus.  Here is a list of 34+ places where you can get some lobstahhhh!!

  1. Lobstercraft, Fairfield: LobsterCraft opened its retail doors a few months ago in Fairfield. Parked next to the shop is their truck, and a tented, casual seating area, reminiscent of those great roadside eateries along the coast of Maine.

  2. Lenny and Joe’s Fish Tale, Westbrook: Lenny and Joe's serves buttered lobster in a grilled split top hotdog bun and with one side of your choosing, like onion rings.

  3. Knot Norms, Norwalk: n addition to the classic lobster roll, Knot Norms in Norwalk has rolls of all varieties! Join them for a Fried Chicken Roll, Roasted Oysters and a Crab Salad Roll, and more.

  4. Liv’s Shack, Old Saybrook: Liv’s Shack, located directly on the waterfront at the mouth of the Connecticut River, celebrates Summer in New England with hot buttered lobster rolls, fish tacos, hand-ground hamburgers and more.

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Chef Geoff Lazlo Cooks a "CT Farm Feast" Dinner at The James Beard House June 14

Features Farm to Table Farm Dinner Celebrity Chef

Stephanie Webster

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.

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New Haven’s ROÌA Restaurant: A Tale Of Two Countries

Restaurant New Haven French Italian Brunch Lunch Farm to Table Homepage

CTbites Team

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. 

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Barcelona Wine Bar & Restaurant Offers Guests Garden-to-Table Dining

Features Fairfield farm fresh Farm to Table Ingredients

CTbites Team

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.”

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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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Tix On Sale May 1st for Chef Tim LaBant's 2018's Farm to Fork Dinners at Millstone Farm

Features Farm to Table Farm Dinner CT Farms

Stephanie Webster

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.  

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No Leftovers Jamaican Cuisine Now Open at Former Swanky Franks Location

Restaurant Norwalk Jamaican Delicious Dives To-Go Take Out Kid Friendly Comfort Food Homepage

Andrew Dominick

Throw me into the mix of longtime Norwalkers who were shocked and saddened when the iconic Swanky Franks abruptly closed less than a year ago. What’s done is done. I’ve come to grips with the notion that I’ll be forever sour that I can’t order a ripper with chili and a pile of fresh cut fries heavily drizzled with ketchup. I grew up eating there so I’m entitled to hold onto that nostalgia. That doesn’t mean I won’t support what’s there now. 

About six months after Swanky’s called it quits, a banner appeared on the front of the building. It advertised a new roadside joint called No Leftovers featuring Jamaican food. When No Leftovers opened at the start of 2018, I noticed the parking lot was usually full, or close to it, multiple times throughout the day. That’s a good sign. And seeing how I really like jerk chicken, I knew had to check it out. 

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Danny's Drive-In, Stratford: Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, And History

Restaurant Burgers Hot Dogs Delicious Dives Comfort Food ice cream Diner Take Out To-Go Stratford Openings Homepage

James Gribbon

Food, like any other aspect of human culture, has its landmarks. Local touchstones, the food you grew up with can be felt from great distances away, even by people who didn't grow up nearby. Ask just about anyone across the world what constitutes American food and chances are "hamburger" will be in their top two answers. The burger's invention at Louis Lunch in New Haven is well known and, regionally, so is Danny's Drive-In in Stratford. This is why a "For Sale" sign on the building has met with such concern - it's only been seen twice before in 83 years. 

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Community Table Restaurant & Bar To Re Open Spring 2018

Restaurant Openings Washington Farm to Table

CTbites Team

This just in from Community Table Restaurant & Bar in Washington CT...

Friends,

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. 

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Lebanese Market & Cuisine in Bethel: A One-of-a-Kind Find

Restaurant Bethel Middle Eastern Lunch Comfort Food Delicious Dives

Connecticut Magazine

Connecticut Magazine shares a unique Middle Eastern find in Bethel, Lebanese Market & Cuisine. 

Restaurants have so overused the word “fresh” when describing their ingredients that it has been stripped of most of its meaning. But when chef Hassan Bou Hodiv of Lebanese Cuisine in Bethel says he only uses “fresh” ingredients, he means it. Like, really means it.

The shelf life on the restaurant’s tabbouleh: 30 minutes.

“After a half-hour, it’s not good for a customer,” he says.

This is hard to believe, but take a bite of this tabbouleh filled with bright green parsley and mint, accented by finely chopped onions and tomato coated in olive oil and lemon juice, taste the way the flavor of each ingredient pops, crisp and clean, and your doubts will evaporate.

The tabbouleh is the best I’ve had and the other Middle Eastern cuisine offered at the restaurant — including addictive falafel sandwiches and shawarma — is as good as, and arguably better than, any you can get in New York City. Though it has little online presence, an unassuming location on Stony Hill Road in Bethel, and a name that lacks flair, Lebanese Cuisine is an elite restaurant.

It was opened five years ago by Sam Baddour. A few years ago, Baddour brought Hodiv onboard as chef and partner and says he told him, “It’s your restaurant. Do whatever you want.”

Hodiv transformed the spot, drawing on the culinary traditions taught to him as a child in Lebanon. “My grandmother, always she cooked. I helped her,” he says. He moved to the U.S. in 2004, and prior to his work at Lebanese Cuisine he ran Falafel House in West Haven.

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