Stamford, Darien Restaurant Weeks begin Sunday

Wednesday, February 20, 2013 by:Maggie Gordon
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Nick Bilello, executive chef at Darien Social, prepares a meal in the kitchen.

Stamford and Darien restaurant-goers better prepare themselves for the most magical time of the year: Restaurant Week.

Stamford’s semi-annual Restaurant Week is back again, and beginning Sunday, diners will have access to prix fixe menus at 27 Stamford restaurants, offering up options for lunch and dinner. The two-week event will run from Sunday, Feb. 24 to Sunday, March 10.

As in past years, there are three pricing levels: Level One offers a $10.13 lunch and $15.13 dinner at restaurants like Volta Gelateria; Level Two offers $12.13 lunches and $20.13 dinners at restaurants like Kona Grill; and Level Three offers $20.13 lunches and $30.13 dinners at restaurants like Patrizia’s of Stamford. You can check out the whole lineup here.

The options are pretty similar to previous Restaurant Week cycles, with one notable exception: While napa & co., known as one of the finer restaurants in the city, traditionally only offered RW options for lunch, the Broad Street restaurant is now opening its doors for dinner during the two-week event.

And if none of the Stamford options tickle your fancy, it’s just a short trip to Darien, which is hosting a week-long Restaurant Week from Sunday, Feb. 24 through Friday, March 1.  Prix fixe menus will be available at several restaurants, including Darien Social, The Goose and Andy’s Coal Fired Pizza.

For the full list of Darien RW options, check out the town’s Chamber of Commerce website.

Categories: General

Shake Shack rated among America’s most important restaurants

Wednesday, February 13, 2013 by:Mike DeSalvo
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At some restaurants, when the line is too long, you go somewhere else. Not at Shake Shack.

And because of that, the burger chain known for its juicy hamburgers, crinkle-cut fries and out-the-door lines has been declared one of the 20 “most important” restaurants in America.

Shake Shack ranks 16th on foodie magazine Bon Appetit’s list. As the mag puts it, these 20 aren’t necessarily the best restaurants, but the ones that “define how we eat out.”

Eight New York City restaurants made the list, with David Chang’s Momofuku taking the top spot.

Shake Shack is a relatively new chain, especially in Connecticut. The restaurant opened its first location in 2004 in New York City before arriving in Connecticut, in Westport, in 2011. A second Connecticut location opened in New Haven last year.

Categories: General

Stamford slices shine on national pizza list

Thursday, February 7, 2013 by:Maggie Gordon
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When New York Magazine waded through hundreds of pizzas to name the best in the nation, they saved a spot for Stamford on the coveted Top 101 list.

The magazine recently released a list of the top pizzas in the country for several different kinds of pizza. From deep-dish, New York style, new wave, thin crust and everything in between, the magazine named the top pies in 11 different categories, adding Stamford-based Colony Grille to the top of the thin crust category in a move that, frankly, doesn’t surprise us.

Here’s what they had to say about our city’s most famous pie:

Hot Oil Pizza

Colony Grill

Stamford, Connecticut

“You can’t help but respect a place that only has one thing on the menu. That’s the case at the Colony Grill, where cracker-thin pizza is the only choice. You can pick your toppings, but the only real decision to make is whether you want that pizza with or without the place’s signature chile-infused hot oil. You want it with.”

And Stamford was in good company; in addition to pies from Brooklyn, St. Louis, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, and other cities famous for their near-perfect pizzas, Frank Pepe’s and Sally’s Apizza in New Haven were also named to the top thin crust pizzas.

Categories: food, news, pizza, restaurants

Connecticut Magazine’s best restaurants

Wednesday, January 23, 2013 by:Mike DeSalvo
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Connecticut Magazine reached out to its dining experts last year to determine the best restaurants in Connecticut.

Now that the results have been tabulated, the magazine is slapping its “best” label on the top five restaurants in 26 categories.

Predictably, a number of Greenwich restaurants garner high praise, and more than two dozen Fairfield County restaurants are represented. We’ve highlighted many of those below:

Categories: General

Lorca: The best coffee in Stamford?

Thursday, January 3, 2013 by:Chris Preovolos
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I have been a Stamford resident for nearly ten years and for the entirety of this time I have pined for a really good coffee and espresso shop.

I have been a Stamford resident for nearly ten years and for the entirety of this time I have pined for a really good coffee and espresso shop.

Now, with the opening of Lorca at 125 Bedford Street, my wait is over.

There are others, Chocopologie recently opened on Main Street in Downtown Stamford, but if the espresso drinks at the other locations are any indication, they are not up to par. (Their hot chocolate and pretty much everything else  is praise-worthy, no doubt)

Lorca offers up a classic Spanish combo: coffee and churros con chococlate. While this decadent breakfast snack is commonplace is Spain, it hasn’t gained a foothold in America. There are but a few churros places in New York City, and definitely nothing else like it around here. (I ate pounds of them on my honeymoon on the Costa del Sol, which is probably why I came back so fat)

Besides the churros, Lorca offers pastries both from Wave Hill Breads in Norwalk and their own kitchen.

Full disclosure: I met the owner of Lorca, Leyla Dam a few years ago when she worked at Espresso NEAT in Darien and consider her a personal friend. However, I would not recommend her new venture as enthusiastically if I didn’t feel that she is now serving absolutely top-notch products.

In fact, try an espresso or a cortado or a cappuccino at Lorca, I personally guarantee that it will be the best coffee you have ever had in the City of Stamford.

Leyla recently sat down with a Stamford Advocate reporter before the store’s opening:

Inspired by sugar-dusted memories of eating churros during her childhood in Spain, Stamford resident Leyla Dam will soon bring the chocolate-dipped treats to the city, with a sturdy cup of coffee on the side. Lorca, Dam’s coffee shop venture, is set to open on Bedford Street in mid-December.

Dam has been “really obsessed” with churros since she was a child, she said, and wants Lorca to represent a blend of Spanish and American cultures. While the pastries are native to Spain and Latin America, the coffee, shipped from Handsome Coffee Roasters in Los Angeles, is pure American. Lorca will offer a menu of other pastries and lunch food provided by the nearby Station Eats.

“When I decided to bring churros to Fairfield County, I went back to Spain to learn how to make them,” Dam said. “There’s a huge culture around churros in Spain. It’s very much like late-night diner food here.”

As a downtown-ish resident, I am particularly pleased that Lorca opens at 7 a.m. when pretty much nothing but Dunkin Donuts is operating. Hopefully this will fill a niche that has long been needed for downtown residents and for those who work in the area, needless to say, I will be a regular.

P.S.: I’m not even kidding, the espresso is really good.

Categories: General

Dinosaur BBQ is here

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 by:Chris Preovolos
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Dinosaur BBQ is here.

The cult favorite from Syracuse adds a Stamford restaurant to its locations in upstate New York and Harlem — and it’s about time, anticipation has been high ever since word got out that the barbecue joint was coming to town.

I remained somewhat skeptical after being not super-overwhelmed by a meal I had at the original location earlier this year, however, it was probably just all the hype from a former co-worker (and ‘Cuse grad) that somewhat misinformed my expectations — I was expecting something transcendant and instead what I got was really decent ‘cue…

Here is the deal: Dinosaur BBQ opens officially Wednesday at 845 Canal Street and it really is very good.

Ribs: Just the way I like them, super tender but having just enough bite so they don’t fall off the bone and they are not overly sauced or sweet.

Wings: Crispy, salty, peppery skin, tender inside and a really good barbecue flavor. They aren’t hot, they are fried, they are just good.

Sausage: The house-made sausage appetizer was excellent and I’m definitely going back to try a whole plateful of the real thing.

Sides: I liked the slaw and the pickles enough but I wasn’t paying much attention to non-meat things. I saw a dude walking around with some mac and cheese but couldn’t fight the crowd over to the table where it was being dished out.

Beer: My wife and I both had an ale from Stafmord’s own Half Full Brewery which we enjoyed but I didn’t get a super-close look at the selection.

Brisket: Ok, I’m saving the best for last. The brisket was real, real good. Awesome bark, nice smoke ring, beautiful fat — actually, my only complaint was that the guy slicing the brisket was cutting off the beautifully rendered fat cap and throwing it away so I had to ask for some slices with it intact.

The only thing I didn’t like here was that I was asked by an employee to move my bicycle, which I was locking up to a railing in front of the restaurant. Would I want it in front of my restaurant? The answer is yes.

Check out CTBites’ nice November behind-the-scenes preview.

Categories: General

Some like it hot

Tuesday, November 27, 2012 by:Brett Mickelson
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20121126-234813.jpg

John Dough’s Pizza Bar in Norwalk was shut down for a few weeks by frankenstorm Sandy, but they are back in business with a “Man Versus Food” style pizza challenge. Here’s the deal:

  • One small pizza
  • Mozzarella
  • Cherry peppers
  • Jalapeño peppers
  • Habanero hot oil
  • Ghost chile hot oil
  • Special hot tomato sauce
  • One beer or soda
  • 15 minutes

If you polish off one of these bad boys, you get a free shirt and plenty of gastrointestinal discomfort.

I sampled a pie and I won’t pass judgment on the heat because everyone has a different tolerance, but I will say I was super impressed by how much flavor this pizza has.

The challenge is running for the next few weeks.

Categories: food, pizza

First taste: Norwalk’s New Haven slice

Sunday, September 16, 2012 by:Brett Mickelson
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JOHN DOUGH’S PIZZA BAR: 77 NORTH MAIN STREET, NORWALK

Last month, Chris and I took a brief tour of the upcoming New Haven pizza joint in Norwalk. Chris is currently “stuck” honeymooning in Spain, but a few of us got a chance to try some of the pies. They are as legit as their siblings at Behind the Net in Darien. Our group was split between favoring the meat lover’s and buffalo chicken pies.

Look for them to open early this week.

Categories: food, pizza
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