Ah, red sauce…most Italian families have their own recipe, and they generally keep that recipe close to their hearts, fiercely guarded. It’s part of the ancestral family lineage, and while there are shared characteristics based on region, each recipe is unique.
We first met the folks from Wise Guys Sauce close to 7 years ago during their stint at The Sono Marketplace. They debuted the Wise Guys Sauce product line for use in their retail pizza shop, called, not surprisingly, Wise Guys Pizza. Sadly the Sono Marketplace/food court was slightly ahead if its time, and they closed the complex, but Co-Owner, Chris Polidoro, decided to keep the sauce alive. Guests were such fans of the tomato sauce, they made the decision to keep on making it. They grabbed some mason jars, slapped a label on, and started selling…and boy did they. Manufactured out of New Haven, Wise Guys Sauce can now be found in local grocery shops both large (Shop Rite) and small (see list below) as well as specialty food stores throughout the state of CT. They even made it onto the TODAY Show with Kathy Lee.
P.S. CTbites readers get $10 OFF with Code: ctbites through January 30th.
Julie Messina had a problem to solve. What could she do to proactively combat the cold and flu season when it inevitably hit her own home? As a Kindergarten teacher and a new mom, she knew she would be a vector for viruses for her family and wanted to get ahead of the inevitable sniffles, or worse, influenza. When she discussed her concerns with her pediatrician, she learned about elderberry syrup, which some studies have shown can shorten the severity and duration of flu in adults. Drawn to its properties as a natural food, she wanted to give it a try but she hit her first roadblock when trying store brands. She didn’t like the taste or price of the elderberry syrups readily available, so she decided to try making her own. Although Julie wouldn’t officially sell her first bottle of elderberry syrup for several months, J’s Homemade was born on that fateful day at the pediatrician’s office. Like many entrepreneurs solving a problem, what followed wasn’t a straight path, but a lot of trial and error, perseverance and support from her wife Alicia and her (now) two children.
Each bottle of J’s Homemade elderberry syrup reflects its natural products and represents her own ongoing research and development.
This review is going to go in reverse because the first thing my family ordered for take-out in the early weeks of quarantine was…ice cream. We fancy ourselves pretty healthy eaters in this house, so our intense want of ice cream one evening will get chalked up to the need for some unabashed comfort food in the face of world events. Mr. Frosty’s Ice Cream in Norwalk is an institution. It (ice)screams summer and salty air evenings, sweatshirts, sandy hair, and flip-flops. However, their newly minted pickup kits will keep you entertained while we wait for any semblance of summer to return. We ordered the “Survival Kit.”
Our next take-out order involved another hungering for summer. A summer in our house is not complete without a lobster roll and we knew where to get a good one: David’s Soundview Catering in Stamford.
Having connected farmers to consumers for 10 years in Fairfield & Westchester Counties, Mike's Organic owner Mike Geller knows a thing or two about CSAs. And if there was ever a time to give a CSA a chance, it's now! First and foremost, our farmers need us. As many farms rely significantly on business from restaurants and other sources, a great way to support our farms right now is through signing up for a CSA.
This crisis has highlighted the importance of small, local farms. If planes stop flying or processing plants close, it is they that will feed us...let us never forget that. Second, it is a way to guarantee that fresh, healthy, local food will be on your table for a period of several months. There is so much uncertainty in the world and this is one way to regain some control over your food. Also, so many of us are home cooking and a CSA allows you to be creative and introduce new things to your family!
If you take care of your produce, it will take care of you. It's so fresh when you get it, and if you just give it a little love it will give a whole lot back.
These farms have CSA shares still available (organized by county), click through for additional details on each. Sales are very brisk this year, please act quickly!
So, we all like to support our local vendors, especially at times like these, but occasionally you need something a little “extra” or specialized, that you may not find at your local shop. Enter food-lover, cook, and long-time advocate Ben Simon, a New Haven native who is bringing high-quality, small-producer pantry staples and non-perishables to front doors across the United States with his new subscription box company, Ben to Table.
Ben to Table is a New Haven-based monthly subscription box inspired by Simon’s years of working on environmental and human rights campaigns across the globe, with a focus on preserving and promoting sustainable agriculture.
Trips to the grocery store are becoming increasingly difficult. In addition to the risks associated with heading out into the crowd, shelves are picked over and ingredients are low. In order to make premium foods more accessible, some Connecticut restaurants and food wholesalers are making their meats, produce, and other staples available to the public as groceries. We have compiled this guide to let you know which restaurants have grocery programs and which wholesalers are now offering their goods to the public.
This year, Passover begins on April 8 and continues through Thursday April 16. Although Connecticut restaurants are still closed for their dine-in operations, restaurants and caterers across the state are still offering tasty to-go and delivery options for Passover meals.
It was a warm February morning and my son and I joined a group of families as we gathered at Ambler Farm in Wilton, CT to kick off the maple sugaring season. We were greeted by Program Director Kevin Meehan and received an introductory lesson on how to tap a maple tree. Most of us stood in awe as the sap started to drip out of the tree upon tapping it. Many cheered with excitement for what was about to begin was a fantastic winter farming adventure and a great lesson in farm-to-table. We then received our buckets from Assistant Program Manager Jennifer Grass and proceeded to carefully select our “Giving Trees” on the farm. We hung our buckets on the trees and captured photos to commemorate the day. (Our tree was number 42 and pretty far from the sugar shack! It was an adventure after all!) Then we waited. We waited a week. During that week, many of us wondered just how much sap we would find in our buckets when we returned to the farm.
Can I just tell you how great it is to go to bed at the end of a fall night with the smell of a bonfire in my hair? Both end-of-season Hadley & Occum Farm Dinners hosted by DORO were truly sort of magical. Not in the knight in shining armor kind of magical, but in the can we hold onto to this beautiful moment of community and let these flavors and aromas linger just a little while longer kind of magical. It was community, it was the beautiful Sub Edge Farm, it was tremendous food, and it was a recognition of what Bourdain always talked about: the power of sharing a meal around a table, no matter who is dining with you.
Nominated as one of five for 2019 Caterer of the Year by the Connecticut Restaurant Association, we know DORO Catering and Restaurant Group is a master at their craft. With the connection of four restaurants, Zohara Kitchen, Avert, Treva, and Artisanal Burger Company, the catering group has a culinary treasure troveof flavors and experience from which to pull for any event they cater.
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and many of Connecticut’s best restaurants have Thanksgiving specials & catering worth gobbling up! From prix fixe menus to extensive buffets to family style to take-out, there are options for everyone. So don’t cry fowl– make your reservations today! Space is limited and seats fill up quickly, and get your catering orders in if you’d prefer to do Thanksgiving at home, without the work!
At Sherkaan’s first pop-up last Thursday night, the Flipindian Feast, I had to swim through the the hungry crowd and make my way to, literally, the last seat available at the long copper bar. From the pervading tiger logo (Sherkaan means Tiger King in Hindi) and hindi phrases on the walls, to the cascade of bicycles hanging from the ceiling, diners are definitely transported to the packed spaces of a Southeast Asian hot spot. In addition to all the things to look at, pungent spices filled the room; they were so entrenched in the air that my hair smelled of them the next morning.
If you were fortunate enough to try Geoff Lazlo’s food at Mill Street Bar & Table—or at The Whelk and LeFarm prior to that—you know to expect fresh, seasonal food from the restaurant chef turned private chef and caterer. With his latest endeavor, Geoff Lazlo Food, he’s popping up at venues all over Fairfield County and beyond. These days you’ll catch Lazlo flashing his skills at places that practice and preach sustainability like Mike’s Organic Delivery, The Hickories, Millstone Farm, and he even returned to cook at one of Gramercy Tavern’s 25th anniversary alumni nights where he was a sous chef for four years.
School has started. You know what that means, don’t you? The holidays are coming (sorry!). Plan now, get a jump on things. This will be your year to be…ready for it?…organized! We all love the parties and events that the holidays bring but they can also have us sighing and dreading them because, well, they are a lot of work, no matter how wonderful they are. With that in mind, maybe this is the year you opt for a caterer to help you enjoy the season and these delightful gatherings all the more. A gift to yourself, so to speak. This bunch of professionals will set up, decorate, coordinate and serve a wonderful variety of delicious morsels for you and your guests. You can rest easy as your beautiful event unfolds before your very eyes. Sometimes, we get by with a little help from our friends, and in this case, our friends who cater…
The hot sauce market is stacked with thousands of brands trying to win over your taste buds and into your pantry, but few have roots right here in Fairfield County. Cue Hot Lady Hot Sauce, created by Adam Colberg, a Connecticut resident who grew up in Westport.
For Colberg, hot sauce wasn’t always in his overall plan.
“Before I graduated from Staples High School, I always embarked on different projects, I always did things differently,” he said. “I wasn’t ready for college, but I wanted to do something adventurous, so I joined the Marines.” His time in the corps, where he was a jet mechanic, granted him the opportunity to travel the world, including a tour in Spain.
Walking into Hartford Flavor Company is like walking into a place where all’s right with the world: it’s owned and operated by a smart woman, everything is natural, and it is as beautiful as a field of flowers should be.
Or, it’s like a laboratory-meets day spa-meets fully-stocked bar. Take your pick.
Anyway, I think you are getting my point. It is downright lovely and essential and all you think while touring around and talking to owner Lelaneia Dubay is, where have you been all my life?
Bulk shopping isn’t exactly a new concept – we’ve been filling the trunks of our cars and SUVs with oversized products from those mammoth box stores for years. But bulk shopping that’s zero waste is something we don’t often see. BD Provisions, in Newtown, takes this familiar concept and gives it a breath of fresh air with a new, environmentally friendly spin.
Less is more, especially here. Less waste means more product which means greater savings and more fun, but you really need to head over to experience it yourself.
At BD Provisions you’ll find 270 carefully curated products sold by the pound in massive sustainable containers. Products range from dehydrated and powdered superfoods. You won’t want to pass by the creative, flavored rice, quinoa and soup blends that will enhance any weeknight dinner. Of course there are plenty of healthy snack options from the most beautifully colored wasabi coated soybeans, beautiful and delicious dried, crunchy beets, spicy chick peas, a wide selection of nuts both raw and flavored. Gorgeous beans and pastas. Beautiful aromatic spices, a generous selection of the most beautiful tea blends.
Connecticut Magazine features a great local vendor who skillfully combines maple syrup and local distilleries.
When people try Maple Craft Foods’ bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup for the first time and taste the all-natural sweetness of the Vermont syrup layered with subtle smoke and caramel flavors imparted by aging in bourbon barrels, their reactions are often visceral, Dave Ackert says.
Watching new fans “ooh” and “ah” their way through this tasting is the best part of the job for Ackert, who owns the Newtown-based company along with his wife Eve, father Paul, and friend Bill Begany, of Begany Design.
Bourbon barrel maple is the company’s flagship product, and though it does not contain alcohol, it is the offspring of the burgeoning craft beer and distilling industries in Connecticut.
Years of drinking bland and commonplace cups of coffee began to take a toll on Connecticut natives and founders of RISE Brewing Co., Hudson Gaines-Ross, Grant Gyesky, Jarrett McGovern, and Justin Weinstein. In 2014, they decided to take matters in their own hands by hitting the drawing board in their New York City apartments. Bean after bean, one roast and cold-brewing method after another, they finally created a cold brew coffee, making them the founders of RISE Brewing Company. Traversing the concrete jungle with their product, they asked experienced mixologists if it was the real deal. One day, in a Brooklyn café, the espresso machine broke; RISE cold brew came to the rescue, and was a hit amongst the customers. The product became available for purchase in July of 2017.
On December 11th, premium jerky & snack brand Field Trip opened its first store at 153 Post Road East in Westport CT. The 500-square-foot space will be the company’s first ever brick and mortar establishment. You can find Field Trip jerky in 50,000 retails outlets nationwide, but this is, and will be their ONLY dedicated store.
The first 1,000 customers over the weekend of December 15th/16th will receive a free meat stick if they mention having read about us on Westport Moms, Dan Woog, CTBites, or via WestportNow!
