To “86” or to “eighty-six” something is a term commonly used in the hospitality industry. It’s defined, maybe best so, in the Urban Dictionary, where it’s summarized as “getting rid of something, removing it, or refusing service.” If a dish is popular for the evening, and thus, sold out, you might hear a chef say something like, “86 pasta special.” But to “reject, discard, or cancel” or to 86, has a different meaning to Beto Ortiz in the present day. Ortiz, the founder of Humans of the Kitchen (think Humans of New York for the service industry), a chef in his own right, and someone who’s open about his own struggles with mental health, substance abuse, and an overall rebellious nature, started the 86 Challenge, a wellness program for chefs and restaurant professionals.
Fridays and Saturdays are for sipping…TEA! Pinky extension for each taste of herbal, green, or black tea is mandatory, of course. On the heels of Elm’s overhaul of their interior and food menu, afternoon tea is back! If it feels like we’ve taken this tea journey once before, we certainly have. Back in 2021, I covered Elm’s spread of scones, bites both savory and sweet, a piping hot teapot, and for an extra charge, and if you desire, a glass (or bottle, if that’s how you get down) of bubbly.
After well over a decade serving traditional carnitas and Mexican street food on Bridgeport’s State Street, owner and lifelong taquero, Gil Salvador Perez Hurtado, is shutting down shop at his beloved Super Taqueria Las Salsas. October 19, 2025 will be the final service day for the legendary taqueria which, if you read our story in 2024, began first as a low-key pop up out of Hurtado’s apartment, then became one of the state’s more popular food trucks, before he moved it to a brick-and-mortar location.
Walk through the doors of Jeff Taibe’s izakaya, Bar Bushido, and chances are, you’ll be greeted by Kylie Keeley, especially if you’re sitting down at her bar.
Correction. One of her bars.
The pub part of Bar Bushido—where you’ll find yakitori, ramen, karaage chicken, DIY hand rolls, and other Japanese bar bites—is where Keeley says the “drinks match the energy.” The izakaya is a vibe; it’s loud (but with good energy), casual, and a great hangout for any occasion, and it’s where she’s rocking out a drink list of highballs, creative sake bombs, and cocktails ingredients (especially Japanese ingredients) that should spark your curiosity and tickle your tastebuds.
At the very back of the space is Bar Bushido’s alter ego, a quieter, more intimate hand roll bar, where Keeley’s cocktails are more focused on highlighting a certain flavor profile.
Just a mere mile and change from the Delamar Southport and Artisan, founder Charles Mallory’s Greenwich Hospitality Group has opened a new luxury hotel with a restaurant, Dandelion, that’s been booked solid for weeks right out of the gate. “We took ownership of it 2-3 years ago,” says Delamar’s corporate director of restaurants, Hicham Amaaou. “I’ve been working with Frederic Keifer (Delamar’s corporate chef/partner) since Artisan Southport in 2012, then West Hartford, and we created La Plage together from scratch. But this is two separate entities and the food is very opposite.”
In 2024, when I interviewed Sal Bagliavio, the co-owner of Bailey’s Backyard, about his second spot, Taco Dia in Newtown, he very cryptically mentioned that he and chef/co-owner Forrest Pasternack were actively looking to open something else, somewhere else to follow up their taqueria.
Cosetta Pizzeria and Paninoteca on the Post Road in Fairfield is that something else—and what it is, simply put, is a more gourmet version of the neighborhood slice shop, plus sandwiches (including breakfast), house-made pastry, and coffee.
The space at 90 Post Road E in Westport has played host to three different restaurant concepts over the past eight years; Jesup Hall (farm-to-table American), then Don Memo (Mexican), and now, Massi Co., a Napolitano style restaurant. At the helm is a familiar face, co-owner of those previous two restaurants, and The Whelk, Massimo Tullio. The switch to Italian came about earlier in the year when Tullio, and his then partner, Bill Taibe, announced they would be going their separate ways with Taibe taking over both Kawa Ni locations in Westport and in Denver, while Tullio would continue operating The Whelk and Don Memo.
Something that Lazlo reflected back on wasn’t his storied culinary career at places like Gramercy Tavern, The Whelk, or Mill Street Bar & Table, it was smoking meats and listening to music. “It was about what brings me back to what my groove was,” he says. “Twenty years ago, I had this little smoker. I’d invite my friends over, crank up the Grateful Dead, have a couple beers, and have a good time.”
I can’t put my finger on exactly when it was or where I first saw it, but early in 2025, I spotted a pizza at Magic 5 Pie Co. that left me both curious and confused. Known for their charred, crispy/chewy, light artisan pizza, I noticed a different shape. This one wasn’t round like their everyday pies. It was square. Later in the year while chatting with one of Magic 5’s owners, Shawn Longyear, who co-owns the pizzeria, along with The Spread, and El Segundo with Christopher Rasile, Andrey Cortes, and Chris Hickey, I couldn’t help but ask about it.
Right before New Canaan’s SE Uncorked celebrated its 10-year anniversary, chef – owner Nick Martschenko opened a shiny new sequel of his popular gastropub concept at the end of June in the Georgetown section of Redding. “I knew the area because initially, we looked in Redding for South End, but that idea folded,” Martschenko says. “All these years later, we’re here with Uncorked. Ryan Kundrat helped get me into this place (on Main Street). We wanted it to be this pubby sort of vibe, but you can see it’s a little different in the dining room. It’s still much like the original Uncorked.”
Owls are, for the most part, a nocturnal species. For the owls that are, they’re probably not used to it being dark on a summer afternoon at 5 p.m. In this case, the “owl” is an owl in namesake, Georgetown Owl Market & Saloon, which experienced a power outage courtesy of a freakishly fast moving, powerful rainstorm on a hot, muggy July day. While brief, strong winds and some fallen branches resulted in a flickering of lights, “Oohhs and aahhs” in the dining room and at the bar, and ultimately, a more dimly lit restaurant than usual. For owners Kate Perry and Gerry Valenti, who opened Georgetown Owl in March of 2025, they rolled with nature’s punch smoothly, moving customers (and deadlifting tables and chairs) into the half of their space that still had electricity, and assuring confused walk-ins that they were still very much welcome.
From Flushing, New York, Michelin Guide recommended soup dumplings have made their way to the cluster of restaurants outside of the Stamford Town Center. Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, a growing Shanghainese micro chain, held its soft opening and introduction to Connecticut at the beginning of June as part of its expansion that includes locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Georgia, Chicago, and soon, again, in our general area when they open in White Plains.
Four years ago, when I first covered Bobby Manere’s Dogtown in Milford—where Cali-inspired fast casual and a little bits of his dad’s lower Fairfield County famous Swanky Franks meet—he talked about wanting to open a Dogtown sequel. That time is now, and Bethel, you’re the lucky recipient. Manere broke the Bethel news on my friend, Jeff Spencer’s Sweet’N Up Podcast, when he was a guest alongside Kyle Marcoux, aka, The Vulgar Chef.
It was technically about 17 years in the making, but Masaharu Morimoto officially has a restaurant in Connecticut. The renowned Japanese chef and restaurateur, known globally as the star of Iron Chef and Iron Chef America, officially opens Momosan at Foxwoods June 26
Momosan at Foxwoods, in the resort casino’s Great Cedar Food Court dining area, blends casual ramen and izakaya-style dining with what representatives call his “most expansive sushi program to date.” The menu features sashimi and nigiri, specialty sushi rolls, rice dishes like poke and bap, assorted ramen varieties and small plates.
Morimoto made an appearance at his latest location during a press preview Tuesday, playfully bantering with guests while he prepared signature dishes like hot oil-seared salmon carpaccio, sticky ribs tossed in hoisin chili sauce and a surf and turf sushi roll with A5 Wagyu beef, seared tableside with a torch.
Nadia Blair has fond memories of being a passenger in her parent’s car driving from Katonah through the charming town of Ridgefield to go visit her grandparents in New Haven. She’d constantly bother her mom with “Why can’t we live there?” questions to be told that the reason is because it’s “too far away from the highway.” Spring ahead decades later and Nadia, along with her chef husband Aaron, don’t only live in Ridgefield, but they’ve opened a restaurant where southern eats meet roadside New England charm, named after Aaron’s mother, Florence.
The former Easton Village Store on Sport Hill Road has a new tenant and it’s a chef you know. Award winning chef, Prasad Chirnomula, and his business partner, Ron Berry, have transformed the space into Gourmet United, a takeout and delivery-based concept that, with Chirnomula involved, definitely features his lauded Indian cuisine alongside Mexican food under one roof.
Connecticut may not be home to an official Michelin Guide, but this new Chinese restaurant in New Haven has Bib Gourmand-approved hand-pulled noodles, soup dumplings and much more.
Kung Fu Kitchen recently celebrated its soft opening on Orange Street in the city’s Ninth Square neighborhood, marking the first Connecticut location of chef/owner Peter Song’s concept. Song opened the first Kung Fu in Manhattan to great fanfare a dozen years ago, adding additional city restaurants and outposts in Orlando and Boston.
Chefs that have a bustling restaurant never take a full month off. For Luke Venner, “vacation” wasn’t pina coladas in the Caribbean, nor was it one of his fishing or hunting excursions. Instead, he was mostly in New Canaan, at Elm, remixing popular dishes, creating new ones, and reimagining and renovating the entire dining room. Don’t freak out. Your beloved Double-Double was unharmed in the process. But the dining room? Transformed. And it’s something that Venner—who’s in his 10th season as Elm’s executive chef and co-owner—has been meaning to tackle for quite a while. Talk to him about it and you can tell he’s feeling refreshed about all of it.
Since 2014, Genee Habansky’s Herbaceous Catering Co. has made the rounds all over. Catering, sure, but you’ve most likely come across her, if not at a private party, then it’s been at an event somewhere in Fairfield County (and beyond). If not there, then maybe you’ve picked up her food at the Westport Farmers Market where Herbaceous is a steady vendor. Habansky’s philosophy when it comes to her catering business is all about caring for the environment, plus, seasonality, locality, and super fresh as it pertains to ingredients she uses, something she became passionate about, first, at culinary school, then at Paul Newman’s The Dressing Room and her other stints at places like Pagano’s Seafood, Heirloom, Walrus + Carpenter, and Centro.
Have a conversation with Seleste Tan for just a few minutes and the word that comes to mind is “humble.” Tan’s bakery, Lady Wong Patisserie, with two locations in New York City, speaks about it like she never expected it to be the megahit that it is. “I did it for a hobby during the pandemic and I never thought it would be big,” she says shyly. Her confections, inspired by flavors from her home country of Singapore, and travels throughout Southeast Asia, are her muse. And that hobby? It turned into national coverage in all the big food publications and then some.
