29 Markle Ct Introduces Chef In Residency Series—First with Chef Roshara Sanders

Roshara Sanders poses with Damon Sawyer after night two of her residency at 29 Markle Ct. Sanders, complimentary of Sawyer says, “We flow together. We know how to push and pull each other. We got into something with a dish where I didn’t want something, and he told everyone, ‘chef doesn’t want it.’ That’s rare, especially as a man, and it’s his restaurant. He respects my artistry and allows me to make mistakes and doesn’t make me feel bad. It makes us better. It’s steel sharpening steel.”

After he gave the closed-to-the-public dining room a warm welcome on a summer Saturday in August, Damon Sawyer told diners that they were about to experience something rare.

“To my knowledge, this has never been done in Bridgeport before.”

What he was referring to wasn’t only a multi-course tasting. It wasn’t just a fine dining tasting either. Sure, it was both, but rather a chef-in-residency tasting featuring Roshara Sanders.

Sanders’ “Warm Welcome” was a few squares of homemade cornbread with edible flowers, chili-honey, and herb butter

Courses were in large part, named after songs, like “My One & Only,” an open faced samosa with curried potatoes, cucumber yogurt, snap peas, and pickled onions. This dish was inspired by Sanders’ love for travel, stating that she just came back from Africa, and used some Indian and North African spice influence in this dish. She said of the homemade samosa dough, “Crack into it. Don’t be nice to it. Let that curry be the softness to the crunchy samosa.”

If you follow chefs born and raised in Connecticut, Sanders, who’s from Bridgeport, is making waves. Not only is she a U.S. Army veteran, this graduate of the Culinary Institute of America is also a former Chopped champion, and she made history in 2020 when she returned to her alma mater as the CIA’s first Black female chef instructor.

But how she ended up cooking three tastings and one brunch service at Sawyer’s 29 Markle Ct was pretty natural.

Each course came with a pairing of wine or a craft cocktail from 29 Markle’s stellar bar program

“Unforgettable” - confit heirloom tomatoes, fresh herbs, extra virgin olive oil, burrata

“I saw this new restaurant opening up here that’s Black owned, refined, a little bit elevated, and interesting, that’s not Bridgeport’s typical Caribbean or ethnic food,” Sanders says. “People kept telling me about Chef Damon and that we needed to meet. I’m like, ‘Who is this person?’ I came in and tried his food. And I know this used to be a Turkish spot since I’m from here. I walked in and thought, there’s no way this is the same spot I had known! I was just really impressed by what he did here.”

Once Sanders came in for a meal, Sawyer said they were almost instantly connected through mutual love of their craft and mutual respect for one another. “We never stopped talking,” he says. “I think we talked every day.”

“You Go to My Head” - halibut, mushroom miso broth, black garlic potato purée, charred bok choy

Sawyer and Sanders’ collab dish, homemade ravioli filled with smoked mushrooms and ricotta, topped with smoked panko breadcrumbs, in a sage - thyme beurre blanc, was named after 29 Markle’s motto, “Always with Love.”

Because 29 Markle is in Bridgeport and Sanders is from Bridgeport, then you throw in a culinary connection, and boom! That makes for a collaboration dinner with a theme that Sanders explained as one that’s personal to them.

“It’s things we like, things that celebrate us,” she says. “We were talking about the dessert, and watermelon is African American. Slaves used to buy their freedom selling watermelon. It’s ingrained in us. We saw an icy lady outside selling crushed ice. Damon was like, ‘We gotta do granita.’ It just came together. Things that are nostalgic. Cornbread is how you welcome someone at a Black household. Things that my mom does, a lima bean purée, so I did a butterbean purée with the beef dish. He loves pasta, I love pasta, so that was our dish together. Tomatoes, those are in season, and this place is about local, seasonal, and sustainable. We have the same food language.”

Bow & Arrow cocktail using Uncle Nearest Whiskey

Aside from dishes that were from their culture, others that were super summery, and a few that highlighted beautiful proteins, Sanders and Sawyer did make sure they did something for 29 Markle’s first ever Sunday brunch service that wasn’t fine dining whatsoever. They wanted to do something fun and whimsical, minus the pretense, by offering Cinnamon Toast Crunch French toast, fried chicken biscuits and gravy, a BEC, smoked then fried chicken wings, chorizo fried rice bibimbap, cornmeal crusted fish and jalapeño cheddar grits, and they took a 29 Markle staple, short rib, and put it overtop home fries, poutine style.

Whether brunch will stick…maybe.

“Everyone has been asking (about brunch),” Sawyer says.

Sanders takes over, “People LOVE brunch. Stamford is brunchy. Norwalk is brunchy. Bridgeport isn’t.”

That’s something you might want to stay tuned for. For now, it’s still a maybe.

About Sawyer, Sanders says, “Even if we never did this, I would still support him. We play off of each other well. I said to him yesterday, that this is like an episode of The Bear. He uses very chef language. He’s really a chef. A lot of people say they do certain things, but he is. He knows what he’s doing and talking about.”

And as far as what the future holds for this chef in residence pop-up, Sawyer tells us there is one. Whether that includes Sanders is certainly a possibility, too.

“Our challenge is that we’re both doing so much,” Sanders says. “I’m crazy busy and it’s about to get crazier and busier. I’m waiting for ink to dry on some contracts, so you gotta catch me. And you gotta catch him, too. The more writeups he gets, the crazier it’ll get for him. We’ll see where the relationship goes as friends and as possible business partners. It’s still very fresh. But if we do anything together, I know it’ll be successful.”

“Celebrating Us” - baharat spiced prime tenderloin, butterbean purée, charred napa cabbage, fried leeks

“Young At Heart” - watermelon 4 ways, mint

For Sawyer, he teased that he already has another chef in mind for the next installment, that may go down in October. Of course, he’s keeping it a mystery…for now.

He’s also open to all chefs as long as they gel as human beings and if they have the same food language.

“If you’re fucking talented and you’re dope, I’m open,” he says. “I would even consider a longer residency. It gets me off the line and out of prep! I want to continue to do this. I want to make this city, this restaurant, at the forefront of the art. I want to become more thoughtful with food, how we approach it, and how it relates to the public.”

29 Markle Ct; Bridgeport
203.296.4761; 29marklect.com