Where Do Local CT Chefs Eat Out? Chef Jon Vaast of Rothbard's

Welcome to our 4th installment of "Where Do CT Chefs Eat Out?" Do they prefer to go home and relax? Or do they like to go out? If the latter, what are some of their favorite places, locally and beyond? Do they might have any secret hole in the wall places and would they be willing to share these with us? Thus far, we have uncovered the eating habits of Matt Storch, Cody of Hoodoo Brown BBQ,  and Chris Gonzales of Hapa Food Truck.

This week, we speak with Chef Jon Vaast of Rothbard's.  

On the rare day or night you’re off from the restaurant where do you prefer to have dinner?( If home what is your meal or food of choice)?

I find myself not eating out nearly as much as I used to, just recently purchased a home and the kitchen is amazing it has a pretty decent hood in it with a Garland range to go along with it (previous owner got it from a closing restaurant) so I find myself just cooking at home.  Generally stick to comfort foods including pot roast, meatloaf, roasted chickens, lots of mashed potatoes, mushroom gravies, all the vegetables I can eat.

When dining out what is your favorite (you can name more than 1) local restaurant? Why? Favorite dish?

Everytime I go out to eat I seem to find myself getting noodles it never fails, either from Kawani or Mecha noodle bar depending what area I’m in.  At Kawani for appetizers the smoked bone marrow and pork gyoza are out of this world always finish that off with the duck soba or pork shoyu.

At Mecha I’m all about the steamed buns, love them all followed by a bowl of tonkotsu (pork ramen) with added soft egg, mushrooms, charred corn for extra toppings

Do you have a favorite local bar or watering hole?

It’s even more rare that I go out after work because if anything I’ll just hang out with the staff at Rothbard at our bar, though if I’m in the mood to go out I find myself stopping by Walrus & Carpenter on my way home.

How about a secret hole in the wall or as of yet undiscovered (by us) gem?

My good friend Andrew Marsilio (Chef at Walrus) turned me onto Hunan Pan in Shelton when we worked together at Dressing Room, we would all go there and just order tons of food and I’ve been going ever since, the Tokyo dumplings and Badia Tuna Tararki are some of my favorite things there.

What’s your favorite restaurant in the tristate area, excluding Connecticut? 

Whenever I venture out of CT to eat its always a food excursion to NYC and it always seems to start off at Cannibal for a quick bite, the beer selection is huge and the food is great.  The go-to’s are cured meats, pate, tartar and the occasional pigs head