Look. I’m a lover not a fighter. So, when it comes to Pizza-in-Connecticut politics, I usually stand on this side of the pie. HOWEVER, I will always have an opinion. Here’s what I’ve concluded thus far: like coffee shops that seem to be on every corner, there’s always room for another slice. And, as Matt Stanczak, the mastermind and magic wand wielder behind Good Old Days Pizza agrees, as long as each shop is doing a little something different...then why not!?
So, let’s get our fric-on, shall we?
Talk about doing a little something different, the frico on Good Old Days’ “Detroit-Inspired” classic squares are such tasty, drool-worthy, dream-inducing corners of heaven. I’m not kidding. I think I’d go over and over again just to pick frico off everyone’s pie. Ok, maybe not amidst a pandemic, but you get what I mean. Salty, crispy and chewy brown bites of cheese that are like the edges of nonna’s lasagna. If that’s not all, the thick red sauce is bright, and the dough looks like it should be dense and heavy, but it’s not.
Walking along Newtown’s Main Street has always felt like stepping back in time. From dark painted Colonials with bright colored doors to a classic, yellow Federal house or the more decorative Queen Anne, you know every home has a story and the spirits of the town’s past are within reach. And, like the best pieces of historical fiction,Marigold’s on Main gives us a sense of two worlds. There’s something so exhilarating about being inside a place that has been revived from the past. Time stands still in the middle of yesterday and today. The space feels at once old and new; and, although there are thoughtful nods to another time on the menu, it is as inventive and fresh as you’d hope a new place would be. Not to mention, with Chef Clark Neugold at the helm, you know as worlds collide, he’ll still invent something that stands on its own.
Run by Chef Neugold and his wife Kate, of Foundry Kitchen & Tavern, and barely a mile down the road in Sandy Hook (see CTbites Feb 2019 for info), they know a thing or two or three about breathing new life into an old space. And, despite the setbacks Covid has undoubtedly thrust upon the industry, Marygold’s is off to a successful start. Alongside Chef Neugold, Derek Kustanbauter as Chef de Cuisine, and Steve Roth as Sous Chef, the team has brought forth a menu Connecticut diners will surely want to try.
What a full circle moment. I first met our editor Stephanie Webster, affectionately known as Boss Lady, almost two years ago at El Segundo in SONO before I started eating myself silly for ctbites. So, I’d say it’s fitting that I get to bring you the news that the segundo El Segundo is opening in New Haven THIS TUESDAY, August 25th. It makes PERFECT sense that a place that consistently delivers super friggin delish-us Global Street Food, land in a town like New Haven, which is a gorgeous microcosm of what our bruised little world has to offer.
NewSylum Brewing Co. owners Mark Lennon, David Kingsley and Mark Tambascio had been planning their brewery for several years as a taproom-centered operation. One that took full advantage of their unique location in Newtown within a historic building at what was formerly Fairfield Hills Hospital, a psychiatric facility on a 100-plus-acre campus with more than a dozen buildings.
NewSylum Brewing Co. in Newtown opened during the coronavirus pandemic in a historic building in the former Fairfield Hills Hospital, a psychiatric facility.
Then the coronavirus hit.
The brewery was slated to open the first week in May, but Connecticut was still shut down and the taproom the owners had envisioned as the centerpiece of their business couldn’t be opened. “We had to shift gears from our original plan,” Lennon says.
They hadn’t planned on canning their beer but quickly contracted with a mobile canning company, and began offering curbside pickup.
Bulk shopping isn’t exactly a new concept but bulk shopping that’s zero waste is something we get excited about. BD Provisions, with locations in Newtown, and now at the Brick Walk in Fairfield CT, 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.
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.
Back in 2015 I was invited to a new Chinese restaurant concept in Westchester by veteran restaurateur Jody Pennette. Skeptical as to how this type of cuisine could be different and better, I went. What I experienced was indeed that and more. Chinese food, I soon learned, could be delicious, even healthful, sticking to simple flavors and using organic ingredients while placing these dishes in the middle of a dynamic and upscale setting.
Fast forward and I am invited to Greenwich to check out Pennette’s latest Chinese food adventure. Once again he pushes the envelope with another, though similar, take on this ethnic fare, bringing us LuLu Chinese with its lighter brighter versions.
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.
Back in 2015, a few Yale students, including chef and culinary director Lucas Sin, got together and opened Junzi Kitchen in New Haven. The small counter-serve spot dishes out traditional Northern Chinese cuisine, specializing in bings (flour-pressed wraps) and noodles.
Since its creation, Junzi Kitchen has expanded to New York City, with one currently at Colombia University and a second to open on Bleecker Street this spring.
The New Haven location is bright and welcoming. It has an organic feel with its white brick walls, light wood accents, and lush greenery dangling from the ceiling. On one wall, there is a small display of featured artwork, including ceramics made by the China-based artist Junty.
The Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival as it’s been called since the 20th century, remains the most important social and economic holiday in China. Originally tied to the lunar-solar Chinese calendar, the holiday was a time to honor household and heavenly deities as well as ancestors. It was also a time to bring family together for feasting. Several CT restaurants will be hosting special celebrations. Ring in The Year of the Dog at these local spots. Chinese New Year officially begins on February 16th, and ends on March 2nd.
Like its sister restaurantsSHU in West Hartford and Fairfield, Chef Xinyu Huang HAN is a study in authentic Chinese cuisine, this time focusing on Huo Guo—hot pot—a popular eating experience throughout China.
For the uninitiated—as I was before visiting HAN—hot pot is a method of table-side cooking best described as Chinese-style “fondue” in which meats, vegetables, seafood and even eggs are poached in well-flavored broths before eating. Unlike fondue, which simply coats bread or fruit in cheese or chocolate respectively, diners actually cook their food in the hot pot.
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
When I mentioned that I was visiting SHU restaurant in Fairfield, someone inevitably said, “I didn’t know Sacred Heart University opened a restaurant!”
A common misunderstanding but, in fact, SHU is local slang for Chengdu, the capital city in China’s Szechuan province. Think of it like calling Philadelphia “Philly” or San Francisco “Frisco”
SHU, on the Post Road in downtown Fairfield is the second outpost of the popular restaurant created by Chef Xinyu Huang, three years ago. Huang spent much of his career as a culinary arts professor in Chengdu before emigrating to the United States and working in restaurants in Chinatown and Connecticut.
“My goal was to create a restaurant that was dramatically different from American Chinese food,” said Huang, through a translator. “The cuisine of Szechuan is considered one of the great culinary styles of China, and I wanted to share authentic dishes with both American and Chinese American diners.”
More exciting CT openings! Beloved Chinese restaurant Lao Sze Chuan, whom you may know from their immensely popular Milford location, has finally opened their doors to their second CT location, Gingko. Lao Sze Chuan's new Fairfield restaurant is located at 923 Post Road and is hands down, the best place to go when craving authentic Szechuan cuisine in CT.
Lao is part of a small chain started by Chef Tony Hu, who made a splash in Chicago with four Chinese restaurants devoted to the concept of “gourmet authentic Szechuan.” The Tony Gourmet Group, now has restaurants all over the world. The menu is extensive and includes everything from Hot Oil Dumplings to Diced Rabbit with Peanuts, and Hot and Sour Eel with Cellophane Noodles.
Fairfield HamletHub reported yesterday that Jinn's Fresh Noodle House at 923 Post Road, Fairfield, CT had closed, but there is always a silver lining in the restaurant biz. This one is particularly shiny, as the most beloved Chinese restaurant in the area is coming soon in its place. Lao Sze Chuan, which already has a popular location in Milford is hands down, the place to go when craving authentic Sichuan cuisine with high quality ingredients. Lao Sze Chuan is owned by the Tony Gourmet Group, with restaurants all over the world...and now in Fairfield.
It would be easy to drive by Yao’s Diner in Orange without a second glance. Housed at the end of a small shopping plaza, the restaurant which features authentic Chinese cuisine is unassuming on the outside and equally unpresumptuous within but from the time you step into the foyer you get a sense that this eatery is something different.
The first restaurant by Guangmin Yao and his wife Xuan Chen, Yao’s occupies the space that was Lisiano’s Italian restaurant for thirty years. Silent partners Charles Eaton and his wife are proprietors of the popular Q’s in Norwalk. The pair are world travelers with a passion for authentic East Asian cuisines.
Ch’i Public House opened in late November in the space formerly occupied by Ocean Drive and Red Lulu on Washington Street in SoNo. The forces behind the new Asian-inspired restaurant are Rob Moss, Marco Siguenza and Dave Studwell, owners of neighboring Washington Prime. Overseeing the kitchen is Executive Chef Mark Taruna, whose long career spans attending the French Culinary Institute and working as the Sous Chef for Nobu Matsushisa at Nobu. He subsequently joined The Food Network and ran the Iron Chef kitchen where he worked with Morimoto, Mario Batali and Bobby Flay. He brings a new level of creativity to many classic recipes with bold flavors and textures, from the simplest dumpling to the most complex sauces.
Change is at hand at Fairfield's Miro Kitchen after the end of their collaboration with HAPA, but the new menu for this autumn and winter retains Miro's signature flavors. CTbites was recently invited to take a tour of the food style restaurateur Eugene Kabilnitsky and executive chef Howard McCall have dubbed "Pacific Rim," with ingredients influenced by Hawaii, China, Japan, and the Philippines.
The eating area is a bright space, with white walls and darker seating on the right, and a full length bar running down the left. The bar has a respectable selection of craft beer on tap, in addition to wines selected specifically to match the flavors of the food. Cocktails likewise blend with the food, using ingredients like nigori in the Saketini, and Thai chili in the Thaigarita and the Tom Yum, which tasted like boozy lemon grass tea shot through with spiky kaffir lime.
High atop a hill, near Newtown’s historic flagpole, lies the intersection of Church Hill Road and Main Street. And there, you’ll find an entirely different type of intersection—one where British and Italian cuisines meet. The concept was inspired by the original Dere Street, an ancient Roman road in Northern England, built in the first century A.D. To honor this historic place where British and Roman cultures intersect, the two cuisines are now celebrated at Dere Street in Newtown.
Past the 1800s building facade, it’s contemporary, whimsical and positively humming with other diners and imbibers. Home to 28 different gins, an abundant “British wine list” of single malts, beer and a selection of cocktails so unique, you’d be wise to arrive thirsty. Bring your appetite, as well as an open mind. If you’re a gin lover, this is the closest spot to heaven on earth you’ll find anywhere near here. And if you’re a vodka drinker? Well, they do have one brand, just in case they can’t convert you. Keeping with the British theme, it’s Broken Shed from New Zealand, a former colony. But they’d sure love to try to turn you on to gin.
The Inn at Newtown, a long time landmark on Newtown's historic Main Street, will be closing its doors on Sunday, January 10, reports the News Times.
Announced on their Twitter account by proprietor Rob Ryder, the Inn at Newtown has been in operation for 17 years at 19 Main Street in the center of Newtown, CT.
