Darien finally gets a serious contender in upscale dining, bringing New York City excellence to the area without the city prices. Rooted in history and steeped in tradition, Restaurant L’Ostal celebrates the cuisines of Southern France and its neighboring communities from Catalonia, the Languedoc, Provence and the Alps of the Piemonte region of Italy with precision and accuracy.
Before I share my own culinary experience, you must meet Chef Jared Sippel and General Manager and Sommelier Joe Cracco.
Chefs realized a long time ago that “farm to table” was more than a phrase, it was a healthier way to eat, tasted better and improved the diversity of local economies by helping make farming economically viable. In addition, this growing trend has another major benefit, increasing access to a wide range of different food options across our community.
We, in Connecticut, are incredibly lucky with access to a large and growing number of farms and farmers’ markets, but sometimes a visit to that local farm stand during its business hours is difficult. For people who are not members of a CSA (community supported agriculture) program and would still like to incorporate ultra-fresh products into their everyday lives, CT based Berkshires Direct now gives customers greater access to the resources of farm-fresh products delivered to your home. They are based in Connecticut and currently making deliveries in Connecticut and NYC (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens).
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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!
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.
Bruxelles Brasserierecently opened its doors on Main Street in the space formerly occupied by Barcelona Wine Bar. The setting is hip - a SoHo vibe in SoNo – the flavors are somewhat more traditional. Chef Roland Olah describes his cuisine as simple, though I beg to differ. While there is a familiarity with every dish, nearly everything we tried also had an element of surprise. At Bruxelles Brasseries, you might find that the expected meets the unexpected.
“It feels like we’re in the Village,” said my gal-pal who joined me for my much anticipated jaunt to Bar August in New Haven. We can’t always explain it, but most of us can conjure an image that falls in line with what “the Village” is? It’s small and cozy, brick and historic, refined but not over the top, with a dash of European flair. And, with the lively scene that New Haven has already, Bar August is just a primo location from the start. Built in people-watching from its side-street, almost corner digs, and a menu that will knock your socks off, Bar August has IT.
With the glorious warmth that summer brings to Connecticut comes a plethora of delicious fruits, vegetables, and other produce that are sure to highlight any and every meal of the season. If you’re looking to get a taste of the incredible produce CT offers when the temperature is at its hottest, you’ll surely want to make a trip to some local farm stands. As late July is upon us, however, the number of summer days left are ticking away at a startling speed. But fear not; your life just got a little bit easier. Some of the best summer farm stands in the state are listed below, ranging from the eastern most points of Connecticut to down in Fairfield County. All you have to do is find one that catches your eye and take the drive.
When was the last time you thought about where each element of your dinner came from? The plates, the table, the meat, the cups; each item seems to come from an arbitrary supermarket, creating a culture where the process of making and eating food is incredibly solidarity. That, in a nutshell, is why Dan Sabia left the restaurant industry. And now, he’s using his work with wood, fire, and food to change that norm in a world where very few are trying. Chef Dan Sabia is changing the way we think about private catering with his innovative new business, Wood Fire Food.
Max Chef to Farm, an award-winning group of events that celebrate the amazing food grown in our backyard, is heading into their 12th year. Guests are transported directly to the farm to experience seasonal and local food. Their dinners are multi-course feasts showcasing the delicious bounty of Connecticut-grown produce and other locally-sourced ingredients prepared on site by Chef Steve Michalewicz of Max Catering & Events, Chef Hunter Morton, Culinary Director of the Max Restaurant Group, and the entire Max Chef to Farm team.
Max Chef to Farm dinners are adventurous events that celebrate and support CT-grown products. Their host farm for most events this season is the 160-acre Rosedale Farms, located in Simsbury, CT. They have many things in common with the Max Restaurant Group including a commitment to using sustainable farming and business practices. Speaking of support...
Brewery Legitimus, the 7 barrel craft brewery co-founded by husband and wife team Chris and Christina Sayer, is partnering once again withBarden 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:
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.
Union League Café is frequently mentioned as one of Connecticut’s best restaurants. They’ve won multiple awards in various publications—in fact, it’s one of the more acclaimed places in the state—and they’ve been a New York Times darling three different times. Additionally, Union League’s chef/owner, Jean Pierre Vuillermet is recognized as a Maîtres Cuisiniers de France, translated, a Master Chef of France. Awards aside, Union League Café is set to celebrate what’s arguably its greatest achievement, their 25th anniversary.
To celebrate this quarter century milestone, ULC is rolling out a handful of throwback dishes inspired by their first 25 years. All October long, diners will have the option to partake in a three-course, prix fixe tasting for $55 per person, or $79 if you’re down for carefully selected French wine pairings alongside your meal.
Connecticut claims its share of Celebrity Chefs. These culinary artists routinely win Food Network Competitions, earn James Beard commendations, and enjoy (or endure) their roles as restaurant Rock Stars.
Though less lionized, Chef Frederic Kieffer is every bit their equal. He created the exquisite l’Escale in Greenwich, followed by Artisan in Southport, then again in West Hartford. All are considered gems … and like Kieffer himself, understated.
Looking for French fare, with an exceptional wine list? Connecticut Magazine reviews Nouveau Monde Wine Bar in Sandy Hook, CT.
At some point during your visit to Nouveau Monde Wine Bar, you will start to crave wine.
Maybe this craving will begin when you walk in and see the steampunk elegance of the main dining area, a space that feels equal parts bar, classic cafe, restaurant and offbeat library. Perhaps it will strike as you read the wine list itself, a thick document that goes on and on like a William Faulkner sentence punctuated by descriptions such as “spicy yet fruity, red wine drinkers’ rosé.” Maybe it will begin when your server asks, “What type of wine do you usually drink?” and you realize “IPAs” is not an acceptable response.
Or, at least, that’s what happened to me.
This newfound appreciation of wine capped (or in this case, corked) a visit to the restaurant that, to put it in language a wine lover would understand, was a rich, full-bodied evening highlighted by notes of cellared ambiance, clean, bright food flavors that were anything but dry and a sweet, rich finish courtesy of a knockout dessert.
Two years ago veteran restaurateurs Anshu Vidyarthi and Antoine Blech opened Le Penguin’s second location in Westport’s Sconset Square. This delightful French Bistro known for its superb, traditional fare has been a popular dining destination ever since. Always striving for perfection, the restaurant has made a few changes, some subtle, others less so.
The porch was recently renovated enabling diners to enjoy this nautically inspired outdoor space for much of the year. During the warmer weather the oversized window panels are removed for that en plein air feel; during inclement weather they are. When necessary, portable heaters add an additional layer of warmth and comfort. Panels have been added to the ceiling, and carpeting to the floor in order to help tone down the noise level. These subtle additions have proved quite successful.
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.
