Occasionally, we like to get a few opinions on a restaurant. Here are two shorts from Cathy Siroka and James Gribbon on Shanghai Bistro.
If you’re in South Norwalk and want a simple, easy place to go before a movie or out with the kids – try Shanghai Asian Bistro. They recently opened a second location at 124 Washington St., with their first one in Westport at 1715 Post Rd East. Owner, John Jiang, had been carefully looking for a second location for years, and has seen such a huge change in the traffic and excitement in downtown Norwalk, and finally felt that “now was the right time.”
While the menu has the Chinese classics like shrimp with duck sauce and General Tsao’s chicken, the restaurant also offers an array of other Asian inspired dishes and many ways to customize your order according to your tastes and dietary preferences. Jiang explains his menu as “all-Asian, not just Chinese, a sampling of the flavors of China, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan.”
Delicious…that’s my opinion and I’m sticking with it.
The ShackBurger: Shake Shack brought its world-famous (yes they have a location in Dubai) offerings to Westport today and I enjoyed one of the best hamburgers, hot dogs and shakes in the area. With all the hype of opening day I felt a bit nervous as I waited with dozens of other customers for my ShackBurger, Shack-cago Dog and fries.
Here's the latest on Filling Station Co's July burger and shake and an introduction to the new Filling Station Co Salad.
The July 2011 Filling Station Special Burger and Shake combines a full flavored hamburger with a sweet flavorful tribute to one of my favorite fruits with the BBQ Cheeseburger and a delicious Peaches and Cream Shake.
The BBQ Cheeseburger includes the Filling Station’s farm-raised cheeseburger topped with house made BBQ sauce, griddled onions, thick cut bacon, and pickled jalapeño peppers. There are several bold flavors in this month’s offering. The Filling Station’s thick cut bacon continues as a favorite of mine and the griddled onions added a nice crispy, flavorful addition. I am usually not a big fan of spicy additions and the jalapeño peepers were a concern, but pickled jalapeños are making an appearance on many menus this summer and I have grown to enjoy the pickled variety.
Poised to close at the end of the season, El Bulli has been fielding millions of reservation requests for the relative few coveted tables that remain to experience Chef Ferran Adria's operatic meals in Roses, Spain. This mecca for molecular gastronomy has been in the sights of two regular CTbites readers, a professional chef, Matt Storch of Match Restaurant in Sono, and a professional eater, Chris Grimm, who recently visited El Bulli and have graciously shared their experiences with us.
BODEGA: hispanic/spanish/:Latin mini-mart, kind of like a 7-11, but usually smaller and more like a liquor store atmosphere. The word came from the actual Spanish word for "grocery store"- le bodega.
The following are two takes on opening night @ Bodega Taco Bar in Fairfield, the 1st by Stephanie Webster, the 2nd by a new CTbites contributor, Emily Sackett.
Chef Michael Young, owner of the popular Valencia Luncheria, is expanding his cult following and heading to Fairfield. His highly anticipated new venture, Bodega Taco Bar, opened this week at 1700 Post Road representing a culinary journey from Venezuela to Mexico. The concept? "Tacos and tequila with a slice of Brooklyn" says Young. The new menu features Mexican beach food… tacos, tortas, and well priced platos. Loyal Valencia diners will find that the menu retains the casually vibrant Latin American flavors they have come to crave, but at Bodega Taco Bar, breezy cabana meets bar scene chic resulting in tacos with a playfully upscale twist.
Our contributor Jfood and readers Andrew Dominick and Toni Tiller get to the soul of Chef Bynum's new Beach Burger in East Norwalk. Here's what they had to say…..
Jfood on Beach Burger:
If you are like me, you watch the Food Network and wonder how the chefs on Chopped develop each dish and how do they really taste? To sample the results of Chopped Champion Chef Marc Anthony Byrum’s renditions of hamburgers, residents of Norwalk need only drive to a restaurant on First Street to taste some inventive hamburgers being prepared at The Beach Burger. Housed in a non-descript white building across the street from his business partner Anthony Luciani’s Frosty Cone, the pair are delivering very good burgers at incredibly reasonable prices.
Chef Jason Hall spends each Tuesday driving from farm to farm in and around Northern Fairfield County looking for the bounty that will fill his menu at Stepney Kitchen. Located strategically at the intersection of Rt. 59 and Rt. 25 in Monroe, CT, Stepney Kitchen is in the epicenter of what may be some of Fairfield County's most bucolic and farm-dense townships. The neighboring towns of Easton, Newtown, Oxford and Shelton enjoy a deep agricultural heritage that is being honored today by dedicated farmers and chefs such as Jason Hall at Stepney Kitchen.
On a recent evening, the kitchen was bursting with rhubarb as it enjoys its seasonal peak, arugula, ripe and delicious strawberries and piles of garlic scapes. In fact, after my meal Chef Hall sent me packing with my very own bag of garlic scapes. "Right now we are getting lots of beautiful late spring items like sugar snap peas, really nice lettuces, baby vegetables like turnips, squash blossoms and we are running through the end of a very prolific strawberry season- the strawberry gazpacho w/ fennel and grilled shrimp has been a staple item for the last couple of weeks," said Chef Hall.
Is there anything better than fried seafood by the beach on a warm Summer day? I think not. Neither do jfood of Chowhound.com and Michael Stern of Roadfood.com. These are two serious foodies who are more than happy to drive that extra mile to satisfy their fried seafood craving at Westfair Fish & Chips. I'll let them tell you why....
When Ben & Jerry's closed in Westport this Fall, there were murmurs of discontent amongst the younger crowd. Where does one get homemade ice cream with solid mix-ins in this town? Fortunately help was just around the corner...literally. Sunny Daes opened just months later and now Westporters young and old don't have to drive to Fairfield to get their fix.
This full service ice cream shop has 68 flavors of frosty desserts says owner, Sergio Keskin. Plus, it isn't shipped in on trucks; it's made right behind the counter. If this isn't enough to get you in the door, they also serve gelato, frozen yogurt, soft-serve ice cream, and ice cream cakes.
Sure, I could tell you how good the ice cream is, but I thought it made more sense to let the kids tell it like it is...
As part of our mission, CTbites only reviews restaurants that we feel are crave-worthy, but every now and then the rules get a little fuzzy. Earlier this week, Five Guys Burgers and Fries FINALLY opened in Westport, and it did so with a bevy of anticipation and buzz. In honor of this eagerly awaited launch, we decided to put five of our top meat eaters on the case. Here you have it...The ups and downs of Five guys on Five Guys Burgers and Fries.
Guy #1: One of Five on Five Guys
by Chris Nashawaty, Senior Writer, Entertainment Weekly
First thing’s first: Five Guys is going to need more parking. When I dropped by to quiet my cheeseburger sweet tooth last weekend, not only was the line of drooling meat-eaters out the door, cars were literally backed up, snaking out onto the Post Road causing traffic. I think we can all agree that Fairfield County is a great place to live. But as a burger mecca, it’s always been a bit lacking--especially along the row of interchangeable strip malls on Route 1 in Westport where the new Five Guys sits like a beacon of beef.
