“Americans eat way too much meat," Ryan Fibiger says, and then grins, "I guess that sounds funny coming from a butcher."
No kidding. But then Fibiger is a butcher truly on the “cutting edge” -- one of the very few whole animal cutters in America, sourcing his organic meat from local sustainable farms and utilizing every part of the animal, from nose to tail.
Once a Wall Street investment banker, he’s turned from issuing stock to butchering them. For the past two years Fibiger trained with the “moo-rus”” at Fleisher's Meats, a whole animal butcher shop in Kingston, NY. With his knives honed as keen as his business skills, Ryan decided to open Saugatuck Craft Butchery and join in Westport’s red hot culinary renaissance.
Barbecue and Crab. That may not be a combo found in nature, but the two do live together, albeit on separate sides of the menu, at the new B.an.C House of Norwalk, a restaurant packed with flavors and patrons, (The name is an acronym for BBQ an' Crab.)
B.J. Lawless and Buckley Ryan -- founders of the popular Norwalk pub BJ/Ryans -- believed Southern Connecticut needed a great crab and seafood house. However Northern seafooders have trouble surviving the winter, so BBQ not only winterproofs the menu, it conveniently taps into America's hottest food trend. The ribs also serve as a sentimental salute to the late Norwalk Rib House, Cogburns, which once occupied the same space and where B.J.and Buckley first met and began hatching their restaurant concepts.
Steve Jenkins is exultant. "I landed it for five bucks a bottle!"
After 6 harrowing years of International hustle and heartbreak, the self proclaimed Rock Star of Olive Oil has finally brought his plunder home. Liquid sun fills the Fairway bottle he victoriously holds aloft: a robust Baena from Andalucía. It's identical to the oil produced for six generations by Spain's celebrated Nuez de Prado family.
"I won't buy it from them." Jenkins pauses for effect. “The importer is a robber."
He offers a sip. The ride starts smoothly enough on the tip of my tongue. By the time the oil reaches the back of my throat, I'm on a roller coaster through a fruit orchard. Jenkins grins, "Love that finish."
Steve doesn't just love, he ravishes olive oil. Indeed, he's more of a curator than a retailer, offering over 100 different varieties of olive oil on his shelves, priced from 10 dollars a liter to over 40. For the past decade, Fairway's legendary grocer/explorer/buyer has been foraging the groves of the Mediterranean basin all around, trudging its hills and climibing its 400 year old trees, consumed by his quest for the planet's finest olives and oils.
Redding Roadhouse is hardly a trendy gastro pub. It’s literally Ye Olde School.
For over three hundred years, there has been a Watering Hole serving up grub and grog to weary travelers at the junctures of Redding and Georgetown Roads in Northwest Fairfield County. Mark Twain was a regular. As were MidCentury Mad Men (Is that Dan Draper romancing a client by the fireplace?).
Indeed, the Roadhouse still offers respite to travelers, though most aren’t just passing by. Since co-owners Michael and Donna Roberts and Lou Macol gave the place a 21st Century culinary makeover, it’s become destination dining for thousands, from CEO’s to carpenters (Is that Mick Jagger chatting with a fireman at the bar?). In fact 70 percent of RRH patrons hail from Fairfield’s Gold Coast, not to mention Boston and New York.
Gossamer thin slices of novy, redolent of smoke, salt, and the sea, layered on a bagel with a schmear -- I salivate as I write the words -- used to be a food group you couldn't easily find in Fairfield Country. We might as well have been in Kansas.
Then, as if by wizardry, a piece of the Upper West Side was transplanted to Stamford's South Side last year. That's when Fairway Market opened its new 80,000 square foot foodie emporium on Canal Street. And the most outstanding feature of this wonderland greets you just past the spectacular array of cheeses: a deli case featuring 10 varieties of smoked salmon and lox from oceans around the world.
