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CT Shopping Guide for Recreational Cannabis-Legal in CT TODAY!

Features Cannabis CBD Chocolate CBD Marijuana Guide Medical Marijuana Health & Wellness Highlight

Carly Terzigni

CBD-infused products have risen in popularity in recent years thanks to de-stigmatization, and a new law passed in the state of Connecticut could see yet another spike in public interest. In 2021, Connecticut made it legal for those with prescriptions to purchase cannabis in-state. But as of today, January 10th of this year, the recreational sale of adult-use cannabis will become legal, with nine medical marijuana operators already approved for business. But in addition to those businesses, there are a wide variety of shops around the state that already sell CBD-infused products, such as oils, creams, and edibles. Perhaps you are just as curious as the rest of us to learn more about the benefits of CBD (for starters, it won’t get you high), or maybe you are a seasoned pro and want to find new local businesses to support while shopping for all of your favorite CBD products. 

Today, we are going to focus on that final category (since, after all, we’re all foodies here). CBD can be used in a wide variety of ways, including as an infused ingredient in gummies, coffee, seltzers, cookies, honey, candies, and more. Check out some of the shops around the state where you can pick up some of these CBD products, as well as a few national brands to be on the lookout for the next time you head to the store.


60+ Restaurants & Caterers for Christmas Eve & Christmas in CT: 2022 Edition

Features Restaurant Christmas Eve Christmas Guide Holiday Guide Caterers Homepage

April Guilbault

Sparkles and decorations, music and merriment, parties and gift-giving and of course, holiday dining. New traditions to begin or a revisiting of favorites from year’s past. We all have those special dishes or holiday sweets that make us pause as nostalgia fills our hearts. For those reasons and more, it is one of the most wonderful times of the year. We would like for you to be able to create new memories with those you love, so we have compiled a list of Connecticut eateries that are going above and beyond for the holiday season. They are categorized by county-Fairfield, Hartford, Litchfield, Middlesex, New Haven, New London, Windham-so you don’t have to waste time researching, you can just swan dive into celebrating the season. From our plates to yours, Happy Holidays. May it be delicious!


100+ CT Restaurants, Caterers & Farms for Thanksgiving 2022

Features Restaurant Holiday Thanksgiving Guide Catering Homepage

April Guilbault

If you can cut through the increasing daily frenzy, it really is a glorious time of the year, isn’t it? And we should all make the effort to not get swept up in the busyness, because what is at our doorstep is a season of gathering with family and friends, enjoying meals and celebratory occasions together. We’ve come a long way, baby, and it’s time to celebrate everything that we hold dear, rejoice in it, savor it. And us-being-us (CTbites), we are offering suggestions now to help put your happy over the top. Sharing a meal is, indeed, a special thing with the people you love most and we want you to love this part something fierce. Forks up and Happiest Thanksgiving wishes!


40+ Places For Great Holiday Pies in Connecticut (2022 Edition)

Ingredients Features Holiday Thanksgiving Catering Pies Asian Desserts Guide Pie Guide Homepage

Carly Terzigni

It might be hard to believe with such an unseasonably warm start to November, but Thanksgiving is right around the corner! And that can only mean one thing: it’s pie time. Once again this year, there are dozens of restaurants, markets, farms, and other businesses across the state offering a variety of pies to preorder and have ready to add to your holiday table. Whether you are keeping things simple with a traditional pumpkin or apple pie to compliment your turkey dinner, or you want to mix things up with unique flavors and ingredients, there are desserts on this list for just about every palate. Happy Thanksgiving!


2022 CT Catering Guide: 18 Caterers For Your Next Event

Features Catering Caterers Catering Guide Holiday Entertaining Meal Delivery Guide Homepage Highlight

April Guilbault

You’re probably still recovering from the seasonal avalanche of candy corn, but the “other” holidays are now peeking around the corner-and it’s always better to be ready for them when they jump out at you. Whether for cozy and familial Thanksgiving gatherings, spirited and sparkly holiday parties, a Let’s-Get-2023-Right New Year’s celebration or any of your special events and holidays next year, these caterers will help you feast and fete with panache. Best part about this listing is that many of these caterers work throughout the entire state of Connecticut and even the tri-state area. Go forth and celebrate! Here are 18 Connecticut Caterers who will make your next event a stress-free delicious success!


Guide To 2022 Fall Cooking Classes in Connecticut

Features Cooking Cooking Classes Education Guide

April Guilbault

You’ve gotten the kids settled in school so, hey, maybe there is some schooling to be had for you too. Maybe you are looking to spice up your girls’ night out or do something beyond-the-water cooler with office mates. Maybe you are wanting to try a new hobby with a partner or honestly, maybe you just need some You Time. Something for yourself that expands your mind, your curiosity and possibly your palate. Take a class. The possibilities are endless and you’ll learn some skills that follow you through your life. What is not to love about that?


2022 Guide to Catering Rosh Hashanah + Yom Kippur

Features Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Jewish Holidays Homepage Catering Guide Catering Guide

April Guilbault

Holiday time is family time and good food is a central part of these celebrations! With Rosh Hashanah (Sept. 25-27) and Yom Kippur (Oct. 4-5) coming into focus, we have a handy listing of markets, caterers, and restaurants for you so that you may fill your table with traditional and new favorite dishes to mark the occasion. Our wish is that your holidays be happy and, of course, delicious. Shanah Tovah!


20+ Connecticut Local Canned Cocktails, Spritzers, + Hard Seltzers (2022 Guide)

Features Canned Cocktails Hard Seltzer Brewery Distillery Guide Homepage Highlight

April Guilbault

At the beach, at a picnic, on a boat, maybe a pool floaty shaped like a flamingo, in your backyard, or hell, even just sprawling on your favorite chaise. What do all these places have in common? They are spots where it would be a great opportunity to crack open a can of something refreshing and well, lightly, fabulously spiked or mixed. Yep, cocktails or spiked seltzers in a convenient can! Ready that index finger and pop into fizzy, fabulous libations made with fresh juices and your favorite alcoholic beverages. Take the party outside this season, pop those tops and keep it easy and fun.


40+ Places in Connecticut for Lobster, Clambakes, + Seafood Shacks (2022 Guide)

Features Seasonal Restaurant Seafood seafood boil Lobster Lobster Roll Clambake Homepage Guide Dining Guide Highlight

April Guilbault

One fish, two fish, red fish…lobster. And seafood in all its forms. Oh yeah, baby! Get the bibs, the frosty beers and get crackin’, shuckin’ and lovin’. Nothing signals the start of summer quite like eating by the water while the sunshine sparkles on the waves. Picture, if you will, your teeth sinking into a lobster roll dripping with drawn butter, or wistfully dragging fresh steamers through (more) butter or popping hot-out-the-fryer clam strips and fritters into your mouth. Whether dining on land or by sea, seafood rules the roost this season. These simple summer pleasures make time stand still for a few blissful moments. Summer is here, and food is easy.

Enjoy our guide to over 40 summertime—or anytime—spots to get buttery lobster, chow down at a clambake, and sit and eat at a seafood shack!


Guide to Kids Cooking Classes & Camps in Connecticut (2022 Edition)

Features Cooking Cooking Classes Kids kids activity Kids Cooking Classes Guide Education Highlight

April Guilbault

Feels like we were all just stuck home together and dreaming of getting OUT and low and behold, now we can! Let’s start with getting those kiddos some cool stuff to do once school lets out. Let’s hear it for cooking camps! To learn (in a fun way) about food, where it comes from, what the heck we can do with it, and yummm, how it tastes-what could be better? Follow it with some parent-kid trips to your local farms or farmers’ markets, and lookie there, you’ve just filled the calendar a bit for the summer months. Here’s to brilliant and tasty new discoveries!


Introducing The Charles Underground: Darien Butcher Shop's After Hours French Alter Ego

Features Restaurant Darien Darien Butcher Shop Underground Dinner French Homepage

Andrew Dominick

It’s past 6 p.m. The Darien Butcher Shop is closed. You cruise by and you see people inside. Some are standing, others are sitting at community tables, and they’re all probably enjoying a glass of vino while they chat, laugh, and catch up.

You can’t walk in for a slab of bacon or a thick, bone-in ribeye, so what’s actually happening?

Four days per week, Peter Crawford transforms his business into The Charles Underground, a French-inspired eatery, and the shop’s after-hours alter ego.

The Charles is where Crawford, a former New England Culinary Institute graduate who has worked with Charlie Palmer, Jean-Georges, Neil Gallagher, and Terrence Brennen, gets to step back into his passion as a classically trained French chef.

Foie gras and dry-aged steak? Sure. Homemade boudin blanc sausage with Robuchon potatoes, and morel mushroom sauce? They have done that, too.

Lending a helping hand in the front of the house is someone you might recognize from his time at Kawa Ni. Anthony Rinaldi acts as a restaurant jack-of-all-trades at The Charles, whether he’s waiting and bussing tables or assisting in the kitchen with cooking and occasionally washing dishes.


Fortina Launches "Underground" Culinary Experiences

Features Restaurant Underground Dinner Rye Brook Pop-Up Dinner Catering

Stephanie Webster

I initially held off on sharing my tasting notes for Fortina's epically unique "underground" dinner last week, as it felt like a tease to share an eating adventure that could not be experienced by our readers. Well, all that has changed. The private dinners that began as a way for the Fortina culinary team to stretch their legs, experiment with flavors and dishes, and ultimately serve to inform new menu items, can now be booked by YOU. Here is a little inside scoop on last week's carefully orchestrated 8 person dinner/performance, complete with 10 courses, alcoholic icees, an opera singer, a comedian, escargot served on a VCR, and heck of a lot of fun. 


NyHaven in New Haven: A New Nordic Pop-Up

Restaurant Chef Talk New Nordic Underground Dinner New Haven

Amy Kundrat and Stephanie Webster

NyHaven, a one-time pop-up new Nordic dinner in New Haven on March 3, blew away a couple dozen diners lucky enough to purchase seats to the 15-course dining experience showcasing some of the most daring and inventive food in Connecticut. Conceived by Chef Simon Marcell Davidsen with fellow Community Table chef Tommy Juliano, they teamed up with John Ginnetti of 116 Crown, who not only generously offered the kitchen and dining space for NyHaven, but also paired each snack and course with an appropriate "cocktail."

An indelible evening marked by a provocative menu, curious cocktails, and a house filled with appreciate gourmands, we attempted to capture the meal in not just words, but an interview with Chef Simon Marcel Davidsen, photos of each course, and 116 Crown's video of the NyHaven experience:


Ny Haven: A Nordic Inspired Pop-up with Chefs Marcell Davidsen & Tommy Juliano at 116 Crown

Restaurant Chef Talk Underground Dinner

Amy Kundrat

Photos: Signe Birck

TICKETS HAVE GONE ON SALE! Tickets

A 13 course Nordic-inspired menu is the inspiration for Ny Haven, a one-time pop-up dining collaboration between chefs Marcell Davidsen and Tommy Juliano, that will take place at 116 Crown on March 3, 2014. Ny Haven is a play on words. In Danish, Ny means New, and Haven means garden. In Copenhagen, Nyhavn is a main gathering point for people to meet at cafés to eat and drink. 

The chefs, best known for their culinary risk-taking and locavore approach at Community Table in Washington, CT, will descend upon the kitchen of 116 Crown in New Haven for a single night for 25 lucky gourmands. 

"We are very excited to showcase our style of new New England cuisine, and Nordic influenced cooking, to New Haven," said Davidsen. "With my Danish background and Tommy's New England approach on desserts."


WestportREADS Dining Series featuring “My Life In France,” by Julia Child

Education Underground Dinner

ellen bowen

Shortly after docking in Le Harve, Julia Child had the lunch that changed her life.  It was sole meuniere, and Julia said "It was the most exciting meal of my life. " Julia and Paul Child lived in Paris and Marseilles from 1948 to 1954, and it was during that time Julia developed the love of French food and the skills that made her famous.  Paul fell in love with Julia because she was always herself, and America fell in love with her for the same reason.  My Life in France tells the story of Julia Child's life:  how she came to be an expert on French cuisine, revolutionize the writing of cookbooks and become the world's first celebrity chef.

Each January, The Westport Library selects a book and an author to be celebrated by the entire community through their popular WestportREADS program. 

This year’s selection, the iconic autobiography , My Life in France, by Julia Child, tells the inspiring, and at times humorous story of a young woman’s discovery of  France, fine food, and a passion for cooking. 

In conjunction with this event, CTbites is holding a curated dinner series, “Dine Around Town With Julia,” offering the opportunity to dine and sample many of her most famous dishes; Boeuf Bourguignon, Coq Au Vin, Poisson Meuniere, and Cassoulet in a private setting with local chefs and in local restaurants in celebration of what would have been Julia Childs 100th year.   The dinners, priced at $100 pp, include 3 courses, 2 glasses of wine, tax and tip and are limited availability.  A portion of the proceeds benefits programming for the Westport Library. 


Westport Farmers' Market Fundraisers Feature Mystery Location & Chef Lineup

Restaurant Farmers Market Underground Dinner

CTbites Team

This year, the Westport Farmers’ Market will turn its annual Fork It Over fundraiser into four dinners on four different nights, featuring some of the area’s most celebrated chefs.

The chef list reads like a Who’s Who of the Fairfield County culinary scene: Matt Storch (Chelsea and Match), Bill Taibe (LeFarm and The Whelk), Michel Nischan (Dressing Room, featuring Johnny Vaast), Tim Lablant (Schoolhouse Restaurant) and Jeff Taibe (Oak & Almond) to name just a few, are planning meals and menus unlike anything you’ve come to expect from them, and featuring ingredients from Norm Bloom, Sport Hill Farm, Fort Hill Farm, Oxhollow Farm, Craft Butchery, and others.

The catch?

WFM will tell you when, but not where (at least, not until the day before). And they’re not telling who, either.


Underground Dinner: Plum Luv Foods Pops Up at Butcher’s Best

Restaurant Chef Talk Newtown Underground Dinner

Jeanette Chen

This past Sunday, a group of us were six of the lucky 40 folks to nab tickets to a "hip" six course menu put on by Plum Luv Foods at Butcher's Best in Newtown, CT, showcasing sustainable local produce, seafood and grassfed meats. This was a sold-out event, even after adding ten more tickets than had been sold at previous dinners.
For the past few months, Chef Plum and Sous Chef Kern have been hosting Underground Dinner ("pop-up dinners") in Connecticut, where they take over a space for the evening, and prepare dinner in a casual, local setting.
No one in our group had ever been to a pop-up dinner, but we knew we were in for a fun night when we were greeted with a glass of bubbly champagne with local blueberries as soon as we walked in the door.
Take a peek at the menu ~ this particular evening, Chef Plum showcased grass-fed meats from Shiregate Family Farm (carried by Butcher's Best), local grown produce (from Farming 101 and Holbrook Farm), and fresh fish and oysters caught right off the Connecticut shoreline.

Dinner Underground in Newtown CT with Chef Plum

Restaurant Events Newtown Underground Dinner

Nicole Straight

I wasn’t sure what to expect as we entered the butcher, but were warmly greeted with a glass of champagne by Chef (Chris) Plum himself and were shown to our table.  Butcher’s Best deli and butcher in Newtown, CT has been transformed twice in 2013 to offer 30 lucky diners one of Plum’s "Dinner Undergound" culinary evenings. I was lucky enough to enjoy night #2.  

Chef Plum is a graduate from The Culinary Institute of America with over 18 years of experience. He has worked all over the east coast in five-star hotels and resorts, as well as small neighborhood restaurants. Plum-Luv-Foods was born in 2006 and since then has brought whole farm foods to families, small parties, Broadway actors, executives, Food Network and network TV

Plum’s happy demeanor shines through his food.  His inventive style and clever riffs show both his appreciation for food and simple enjoyment of offering his guests thoughtfully created dishes.  As each course is served, Plum tells us about where the food is from, his inspiration and why he chose to marry the components. 


Souterrain #5: Bill Taibe Hosts Underground Dinner

Restaurant Underground Dinner Bill Taibe Events

Stephanie Webster

Bill Taibe and his team of chefs hosted Souterrain Sunday night, #5 in his series of underground pop-up dinners featuring local ingredients, unexpected locations, and good company. Ironically, Souterrain #5 was originally scheduled during last October's spectacular Nor'easter, and while Halloween did go on, Souterrain had to be cancelled.  This year, dinner prevailed, and guests were delighted to find themselves at The Westport Arts Center on the last day of the appropriately themed FOODIES art exhibit. (The location is only divulged 12 hours before the event). 

Bill Taibe considers Souterrain his "third restaurant, one without walls, where people come together at communal tables and share a unique culinary experience." The menu for Souterrain does not always follow a strict narrative, but Sunday's meal was truly an ode to duck. Green olives with roasted garlic cloves were cooked in duck fat. There was Duck Ham, Duck Liver & Huckleberries, and a spectacular Duck Confit. Corn bread drizzled with maple syrup paired beautifully with the foie and huckleberries, and a Brandade (Salt Cod Puree) made it into the first course, providing a taste of the sea. John Baricelli, of Sono Baking Company, even created a special olive bread for the evening. VIEW PHOTO GALLERY


leFarm's Souterrain #4 @ Sport Hill Farm

Restaurant Farm to Table Local Farm Underground Dinner Farm Dinner

Stephanie Webster

CLICK ON ABOVE IMAGE TO LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY

Dauntingly overcast skies would not deter the guest list of 50 or so people who only 24 hours before the recent Souterrain event were summoned to Sport Hill Farm in Easton CT for a Sunday brunch. Bill Taibe's latest culinary adventure would be unique in both the mid day time slot (leFarm does not serve brunch, and according to Chef Taibe...never will), as well as the presence of a film crew shooting a TV pilot during the meal. But the stars of the show were the menu, the shared experience, and the magnificent backdrop of Patti Popp's sustainable Sport Hill Farm.   Check out the photo gallery here. 

And here's what we ate: