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.
With summer coming to a close, it may be hard to look forward to, well, just about anything. While seasons will come and go, we stand strong in guaranteeing fun ways for members of our Connecticut community to ease in and out of every season. Soon, random pumpkins and squash will be showing up everywhere – on porch steps, in “fun” seasonal lattes, and on restaurant menus. Though we may not have complete control over the fads and trends that are destined to rule our fall and winter and the holidays that come with said seasons, we do have the ability as sentient beings to choose how to spend these imminent days. Below you’ll find many local businesses and restaurants that are offering cooking and baking classes for adults and children, all of which will further your culinary education. They’ll allow you to hone the skills you dare whip out on Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, or Christmas…the techniques you swear you have, whether it's to impress your in-laws or hold over your kids heads all year as a form of weaponized guilt (another skill parents have). Whatever the case may be, allow this list to fuel those fires within and get to accomplishing what is truly important: eating good food with good people.