Filtering by Tag: Delivery,Asian

Pho Fans Opens In Darien with Authentic Vietnamese Cuisine

Restaurant Vietnamese Darien Take Out Lunch Kid Friendly Asian Noodle Soup Pho Sandwich Homepage

Jessica Ryan

Pho Fans, Darien’s newest eatery is a family-run Vietnamese restaurant which opened just a couple of months ago and has already created quite the reputation for itself. The name suits this restaurant well – as those who enter will all quickly become fans! The Connecticut location is the second of the same name; the first is located in Huntington, NY. Vietnamese food is known to be one of the healthiest cuisines with minimal use of oils and dairy. As a result, flavors are light, fresh and balanced. Pho Fan relies on generations-old family recipes that translate well to the modern, health-inspired American palate. Their focus is on health and nutrition while delivering delicious food. You won’t find anything artificial or any additives whatsoever in their food.


Nit Noi Opens in Cos Cob with Unique Broth Bar Concept & Divine Dumplings

Features Restaurant Openings Asian Bone Broth Dumplings Greenwich Healthy Eats

CTbites Team

Nit Noi has just opened in Greenwich’s Cos Cob? The Greenwich Free Press has the full scoop.

This month a new retail food establishment, Nit Noi, opened at 3 Strickland Road in Cos Cob with a unique proposition: a broth-based menu with a Thai twist, plus a variety of hand-folded dumplings.

North and Jillian Shutsharawan, a husband and wife team who opened their first Nit Noi location in Norwalk in 2017, explained that Nit Noi means ‘a little bit,’ in Thai.

North and Jillian Shutsharawan at the Nit Noi location in Cos Cob. March 4, 2022 Photo: Leslie Yager

While many people think of broth as a building block for recipes, broth has become a new food category in itself, and Shutsharawans said their slow simmered broths are unlike anything store bought. They are both nourishing and filling.

The idea for a broth type business emerged during a trip North and Jillian took to Colorado.

“All the restaurants were chowder or chili,” North said. “Lots of meat and potatoes.”

“By that point brodo had become a big thing in the city,” Jillian said, adding that Chef Marco Canora had successfully established the concept at his East Village restaurant, Hearth, where he opened up a takeout window just for hot cups of broth.

“Our broth is different,” Jillian added. “Ours is Thai style, so we use different herbs and different types of bones. The production is completely different.”

“My mom has a great noodle soup recipe,” said North, who was born in Bangkok. His family moved to New York when he was six.They later moved to Norwalk, where he met Jillian in high school.

Read the complete article here.


Flavorism: 5 Ghost Kitchens in Stamford Feature Local Chefs Thru Unique Delivery Platform

Features Restaurant Delivery Delivery Service Ghost Kitchen Stamford Pizza Salads Burgers

Jessica Ryan

Long before the term ghost kitchen became part of our vernacular, Jonathan Brennan was busy building his in the heart of Stamford. Today his virtual food hall features six farm to table kitchens under one roof, is bustling and has plans for expansion in the very near future. Each kitchen features a unique menu with a different flavor profile to accommodate a wide range of different tastes and lifestyles with a focus on heath and sustainability. While Flavorism could be touted as a Ghost Kitchen, it’s really so much more. It’s a focus on sustainability, the elimination of excess waste, serving the local communities and hiring local talents.


Little Dumpling House Ghost Kitchen Opens in Westport from Folks at Grammies Donuts

Restaurant Asian Chinese Japanese Sushi Westport Openings Ghost Kitchen Homepage

Stephanie Webster

The team that brought you the uber popular Grammies Donuts + Biscuits is back with another crave-worthy ghost kitchen concept, Little Dumpling House. For those unfamiliar with the notion of a “ghost kitchen,” it simply means there is no dining space. Guests can order online and either get their meals delivered or picked up. In this case, it’s Asian to-go.

Little Dumpling House is the brainchild of owners, Charlie Gilhuly and Molly Healey, but their Asian inspired playlist is all Healey’s handiwork. The menu at Little Dumpling is small but very well executed, and also quite nicely priced. Healey wanted to create healthy clean flavorful Asian cuisine with something for everyone (including the kids), and they have delivered on that promise.


Kawit! Filipino & U.S. Barbecue Traditions Combine in New Haven Ghost Kitchen

Restaurant New Haven Filipino Asian Pop-Up Take Out To-Go Openings Homepage

Erik Ofgang

Kevin McGuire wanted something more.

The Connecticut chef began his culinary career as a cook while in the Navy. Afterwards he spent years working in kitchens at Connecticut restaurants including the Hard Rock Cafe at Foxwoods and New Haven spots such as Caseus, Olmo and High George. But he always knew he wanted to venture out on his own in some capacity.

“The industry is tough,” says his husband, Seth Wallace. “Not a lot of folks see a great future for themselves cooking on the line. And so we had talked for a long time about, ‘What are you going to do? And do you want to open something? And if so, what?”

Eventually, McGuire realized the answer could be found in his Filipino heritage and its culinary traditions, which he had never delved into professionally.

“It was one of those moments where I was like, ‘Oh, it's been with me this whole time,’” McGuire says. “I started to dig into my own culture and actually get more acquainted with just a lot of the things that I wasn't aware of when I was growing up as a child.” He adds, “It's been a really cool way to build relationships with other branches of my family.”

It has also led to amazing food.


Sea Salt Baking Company: Outrageously Delicious Cookies...Delivered!

Features Bakery Cottage Bakers Cookies Delivery Dessert

Steven Laitmon

I’m not sure when I first heard about Sea Salt Baking Company but as Connecticut’s cottage baking industry has been exploding recently and my interest in fresh, local, treats has shown no signs of waning, I was eager to learn more. Plus, If the word on the street matched the actual product from this baker (with cookie baking in her DNA), I knew I’d be in for a treat.

Sea Salt Baking Company is the “baby” of Jaeca Sweeney, a Fairfield mom of two who found herself with a little extra time on her hands during the pandemic and knew cookies were calling.


Chef Carlos Perez Debuts New Menu & A Sneak Peek at His Mexican Spot...Coming Soon!

Restaurant Litchfield Mexican American Tacos Openings Lunch Brunch Asian Dessert Homepage

Jessica Ryan

When asked if I wanted to head back to Litchfield to check out Chef Carlos Perez’s new spring menu at The Corner Restaurant and get a sneak peek into his newest Mexican venture (around “the corner”) I replied with a resounding Hell Yeah!

I first met Chef Carlos last July in the courtyard outside of his then new restaurant. It was in the height of the pandemic and I was thrilled to have an excuse to get out of dodge, but I had no idea just what was in store for me. (You can read more about that here.)

Last week, on a cool, rainy May day I hopped into my car for the beautiful hour-long drive along the newly verdant landscape. The drive there was the rainbow leading me to the proverbial pot of gold - The Corner Restaurant.


Howling Hot Chicken Brings Nashville Hot Chicken To Bridgeport

Restaurant Openings Bridgeport Hot Chicken Chicken Sandwich Comfort Food Take Out Delivery

James Gribbon

They call it a "slider," but it is not a slider. They call it "Hot Chicken," and it is definitely, exactly, most assuredly, guaranteed and board certified to be both of those things. Good lord. I have never been to Nashville, because I have never been a member of a southern lady's bachelorette party, but I have both been to Bridgeport, and Enjoyed-to-Tolerated many a chicken sandwich. If this is what they're like in central Tennessee, I may take the trip.

Howling Hot Chicken is just past the Bridgeport/Trumbull line down from the mall, and will shortly share a wall with a Milkcraft creamery, whose owners identified a bit of vacuum in the Connecticut landscape which needed filling with Extremely Hot Chicken (or mild, or simply fried with no spice, your call) and created a new franchise. Recognizing a similar void in my lunchtime, I recently swung by.


Brooklyn Dumpling Shop "Automat" Announces 5 Connecticut Openings...New Haven 1st

Restaurant Openings Dumplings Automat Asian Fast Casual

CTbites Team

Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, the nation’s fastest growing dumpling automat concept, has signed its first franchising deal to bring five locations to Connecticut. The brand is poised to disrupt the quick-service restaurant industry with their innovative automat technology and contactless format. Even before the first location opens its doors in New York, potential franchisees are eager to sign on to the concept.


Taproot 2.0: Chef Jeff Taibe Launches Southeast Asian Menu...And It's Delicious

Restaurant Bethel Openings Asian Southeast Asian Chef Talk New Menu Homepage

Kristin L. Wolfe

“It was like having a sparkler in your mouth,” says beloved Connecticut Chef Jeff Taibe on his early food experiences in Singapore.

Many of us regular CT diners are familiar with his passion and talent for cooking, and his following is testament enough to know that his food….well, sings. There’s even been pomp and accolades from the big whigs, and “Best Ofs,” and yet, he’s been holding out on us. Joking aside, he has flung his flair for Southeast Asian cuisine our way for some time through Kawa Ni, in Westport and, more recently at the original Taproot, and, even more recently, from the On the Fly food truck. BUT, after twenty years-ish, he’s ready to pull out all the stops and bring us his love affair with Singapore on a plate, every single day. Well, the days they are open.

Having spent time in Singapore first as a teen baseball player, then again as a serious cook, you can imagine how that “sparkler” left a lasting impression. Chef Taibe says, he just had to have that depth of flavor on the new menu. “I remember the Miang Kum (which is actually Thai); or The Mee Goreng that he’d have three times a week for lunch. He’d have dosa and chai tea most mornings in Little India or the chicken murtabak, “at 2 in the morning, while a bit tipsy; it woke me right up with how perfect of a bite of food it was.”


Grammie's Donuts & Biscuits: Get your Breakfast Sandwiches, Donuts & Cronuts DELIVERED!

Restaurant Openings Ghost Kitchen Breakfast donuts Cronut Egg Sandwich Delivery Home Delivery Brunch Homepage

Stephanie Webster

I often fantasize about waking up to a 6 pack of donuts and a warm bacon egg and cheese sandwich nestled on a freshly made biscuit. Seriously…all the time. I’ve got issues. Well, now there is a ghost kitchen in Westport, CT where such dreams can become a reality…and they did last weekend. Introducing Grammie’s. For those not familiar with the concept of a ghost kitchen, it just means there is no actual restaurant—not in the traditional sense. You can't come and cozy up to a table, but you can order Grammie's donuts, cronuts, flakey biscuits, croissants and breakfast sandwiches (made on ANY of the above freshly baked carbs) for curbside pickup and delivery through their website. Yup. Lay in bed and hit send…Voila!


House Of Pho in Stratford Serves Up Much More Than Delicious Pho

Restaurant Asian Vietnamese Pho Soups Noodles Noodle Soup Stratford Openings Lunch Comfort Food

James Gribbon

At a hillside shopping center overlooking nothing more fashionable than the far ridge line of the Housatonic River and Sikorsky’s helicopter factory steams a great bowl of pho. It’s a standard bo vien with beef meatballs, ordered lightly rich with small convex globules of transparent oil magnifying both light and flavor in the broth. I’ve recently dosed a bite with a slice of positively infernal green pepper. A less varied quarantine diet has apparently softened my usually spice-calloused tongue. My eyes are watering, and my nose is running. I’m in heaven.


El Segundo Debuts New Brunch Menu in South Norwalk and New Haven

Features Restaurant brunch Norwalk New Haven Global Cuisine Mexican Latin American Asian Breakfast Homepage

Andrew Dominick

The owners of The Spread and El Segundo have had an extremely busy 2020.

Chris Hickey, Andrey Cortes, Christopher Rasile, Shawn Longyear, and Carlos Baez decided to close their Spread sequel in Greenwich at the end of July, an announcement that came on the heels that they relocated their South Norwalk flagship to the former Harlan Publick space in the Ironworks development, adjacent to their global street food concept, El Segundo.

Oh, and that’s not all. Their follow up to a closure and a relocation, was to open a Downtown New Haven double of El Segundo at the tail end of August.

That’s a lot of action.

But with all that comes even more change in the form of El Segundo’s brunch menu.

Brunch was always a thing at El Segundo Norwalk but it’s the New Haven opening that sparked the change according to Hickey.

“The new menu is totally in line with the New Haven opening,” he says. “Brunch was instantly popular in New Haven, so we wanted to bring it to SoNo, too.”


Ideal Fish: Delivering Sustainably Raised Fish Through Unique Recirculating Aquaculture

Features Ingredients Seafood Fish Fish Market Online Store Healthy Eats Delivery Local Farm

Stephanie Webster

Launched in the spring of 2013, Ideal Fish, located in Waterbury CT, is a state-of-the-art recirculating aquaculture systems company dedicated to bringing fresh fish to local markets. As the only commercial-scale facility of its kind in the Northeast, their responsibly and sustainably raised fish gets from their waters to your kitchen within 24 hours of harvest.

While Ideal Fish has been raising branzino in its sustainable CT facility, and serving the area’s finest restaurants and grocers for several years. Now, for the first time, the company is adding salmon to its offering and providing a direct-to-consumer option for home cooks across the Northeast through ​www.idealfish.com​. Both salmon and branzino are high in protein, omega-3 fatty acids and other important nutrients.


Haven Hot Chicken Opens October 17 Bringing Nashville Hot Chicken to Downtown New Haven

Restaurant New Haven Fried Chicken Openings Lunch Take Out Delivery Chicken Sandwich Kid Friendly Homepage

Stephanie Webster

“Oh my god, this fried chicken sandwich is so freakin’ delicious I may openly weep,” came out of my mouth as I savored my first bite of Haven Hot Chicken’s Nashville style hot chicken sandwich. “Haven Hot Chicken” opened last week at 21 Whitney Avenue in downtown New Haven after months of sold out pop ups throughout the New Haven area. The lines are long, but the wait is worth it, as people queued up to sample the cult classic Nashville Hot Chicken (and vegetarian Not Chicken) in a variety of heat levels (5 to be exact).


Mr. Frosty's: Outrageously Tasty, Instagram Worthy Ice Cream with Old School Charm

Restaurant ice cream Special Dietary Needs Vegan Kid Friendly Take Out Delivery Dessert Homepage

Stephanie Webster

When Anthony and Rosa Luciano took over Mr. Frosty’s, 15 years ago, this classic ice cream spot had already been scooping the good stuff for happy customers for close to 60 years. Situated in the heart of East Norwalk, a few feet from the Norwalk River, Mr. Frosty’s feels like the type of spot you might wander across in a summer beach resort town. What makes Mr. Frosty’s a destination for Fairfield County ice cream enthusiasts? Anthony and Rosa never sit still. They are constantly researching and pushing to find the next great thing. Their creativity, playfulness, and willingness to experiment has made them a go-to for all things ice cream. Whether you’re looking for a take-out family style “Take & Make Fun Kit,” a Tornado, Shake, Apple Waffle Sundae, or whatever their latest and greatest seasonal flavors might be, the operative words are outrageous delicious fun here.

Truth be told, it was their new Vegan ice cream flavors that brought me to Mr Frosty’s on this visit, and yet somehow I managed to end up elbow deep in waffle sundaes, a pumpkin spice float, and several “Cravers.”


Rebel Daughter Cookies: Insanely Delicious Cookies Straight Outta Wilton

Features Restaurant dess Wilton Delivery Baked Goods Bakery Cookies Homepage

Steven Laitmon

What do you do when you discover that the most creative, delicious cookies are located nearby, and they deliver? You order them of course! As a self-proclaimed, treat forager, I am always on the lookout for creative, inventive sweets. Little did I know, the most delicious cookies I have ever had were being made by a local mom just a town away from where I live in Westport.

The first time I heard of Rebel Daughter was on a Facebook post where someone asked for a local cookie recommendation. I learned that this “e-bakery” delivers super premium, incredibly creative cookies, and I knew I needed to taste them ASAP! I went to Rebel Daughter’s website and was immediately excited when I saw the beautiful pictures and learned they were fresh-baked using super premium ingredients, and came in most mouth-watering varieties.


The Food Crate Launches, Delivering High End Specialty Prepared Foods to Your Doorstep

Features Ingredients Delivery Service Home Delivery BBQ Asian Meat Specialty Market Homepage

Stephanie Webster

CT based startup, THE FOOD CRATE has launched in the tri-state area (and just beyond) with overnight delivery of chef-sourced specialty and high end prepared foods to residents of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. Why is this food delivery service different from all others? After eating my way through several of these fully loaded crates, enjoying everything from gluten-free chicken meatballs and marinated shrimp kabobs to Hawaiian Baby Back Ribs, a Lobster Pot for 8 and restaurant quality crab cakes, I can report with great certainty that The Food Crate is a delivery service that relieves the pressure of the dreaded nightly “what’s for dinner” conundrum, and will surely be on repeat order in my home. (Also thru Aug 31st CTbites readers get 15% OFF with Code: CTB15)


Haruki Ramen & Izakaya Brings Authentic Japanese Pub Fare to Norwalk

Restaurant Ramen Noodles Asian Japanese Izakaya Norwalk SONO Openings Lunch Homepage Waypointe

Tiffany Tu

Amongst the bright and airy courtyard of the Waypointe Apartments resides Haruki Ramen & Izakaya.

Owners, Lily Nimonjiya and Ben Chan, first opened Haruki’s doors in February 2020. They wanted to bring a new side of the Japanese culture to Fairfield. Most importantly, they wanted to showcase what you’d normally find in an izakaya in Japan. “I want to highlight that there is more to the Japanese cuisine than sushi and ramen,” says Nimonjiya.

So, what is an izakaya? In Japanese, it directly translates to, “stay sake shop.” It is a casual drinking establishment with small bites. A more colloquial comparison for an izakaya would be a pub or a tapas bar. Alongside their izakaya offerings, there are also options for ramen and rice dishes. And of course, craft cocktails and an extensive list of sake—47 kinds to be exact.


Takeout Chronicles: Eating Gluten Free at Rainbow Thai, OKO, and Pearl at Longshore

Restaurant Take Out Delivery Westport Seafood sushi Gluten-Free Special Dietary Needs Sushi

Maizy Boosin

Restaurants in Connecticut are now open for outdoor and indoor dining. That being said, for those who aren’t yet comfortable leaving their houses and actually visiting a restaurant, most, if not all, establishments are still offering excellent takeout options.

Now, I have Celiac Disease and have to follow a VERY strict gluten-free diet, and I know firsthand that ordering online or over the phone can be daunting and anxiety producing: how do I know that the chefs that are preparing my food are aware of the extent of my dietary restrictions? Mentioning an allergy over the phone or leaving a note in an online order isn’t as comforting as actually talking to someone in person and letting them know. HOWEVER, over this strange period of time, I have felt completely comfortable ordering online or over the phone at multiple restaurants with Celiac Disease! Here are a few of my favorite dishes from the restaurants I felt safe at: