Filtering by Tag: Middle Eastern,Lunch

Hidden Gem Alert! Istanbul-Style Turkish Bourekas at Crunch in Woodbridge

Features Woodbridge Dessert Middle Eastern Bakery Opening

Kendall Arkay

There’s Mozart, Stevie Wonder, Picasso — legendary prodigies who started young and made their mark early. And while Liam Shemi may not be composing symphonies, what he’s doing in the kitchen deserves some attention. At just 22, the chef and owner of Crunch in Woodbridge, Connecticut, is already turning heads with homemade artisanal boreks that are as ambitious as they are delicious.

Boreks are his specialty. Turkish bourekas, or Turkish borek- these traditional Mediterranean pastries are made with homemade filo dough that ferments in-house for two days. Then it’s stretched by hand until it’s paper-thin and filled with all kinds of flavor. At Crunch, they’re available in savory, sweet, and everything in between. Spinach, jalapeno, cheese, Dubai chocolate… but we’ll get to that in a bit. 


Mr. Cookbop Brings Hearty Korean Soups & Comfort Food to New Haven

Restaurant Opening New Haven Korean Lunch Homepage Asian Food Soups

Leeanne Griffin

It may not be soup season at the moment, with summer temperatures soaring into the 90s, but this new New Haven Korean restaurant is ready for the winter with its comforting, savory soup specialties.

Owner Kenny Kim, who ran Ramen Kuro Shiro at 128 Crown Street, recently revamped the restaurant’s menu and concept to reflect his Korean heritage. In a July Instagram post introducing Mr. Cookbop, Kim and his team said they took time to “refresh, reflect and reimagine what we wanted to bring to the table.”

Kim said he’s been in the restaurant industry for more than a decade, with experience in his native Korea as well as in New York and Connecticut. 
“I saw a real opportunity in New Haven, with its vibrant food scene and diverse community,” he said in a statement. “(It) felt like the perfect place to introduce the Mr. Cookbop concept – something both comforting and culturally rich.”