Sure, tomorrow is the first day of March. We will turn an important corner on our long, dark, snowless winter.
But tomorrow is special for another reason: It’s the first day of the Great Westport Burger Contest.
The restaurants are Amis, Black Duck, Border Grille, Dunville’s, Harvest, Jesup Hall, Jr’s, Little Barn, Match Burger, McDonald’s, Parker Mansion, Rothbard Ale + Larder, Rye Ridge Deli, Shake Shack, Spotted Horse, Tarry Lodge, Tavern on Main and Viva Zapata.
All month long, 18 burger-making restaurants will compete in 7 categories:
Westport’s “cool” factor just went up X10. We found out that The Meatball Shop, of NYC and DC fame, is opening in Westport! Cue the celebratory music. Founded by childhood best friends, Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow, The Meatball Shop opened their first location on The Lower Side in 2010. Since then they have expanded to six locations in NYC and opened their first location outside of this city this past fall in Washington DC. According to their job posting on Craigslist, they are bringing their Balls to Westport, CT this Spring! A reliable source tells us The Meatball Shop will be opening in the old PORT location next to Bartaco.
Their signature balls, go way beyond beef, and are highly customizable. If you haven’t sat down at one of their spots in NYC, the “Balls” menu allows guests to “Choose Your Ball” and then “Pick Your Sauce,” either naked or as a bowl. We’re not talking about beef vs chicken here. Options include: Gluten Free Chicken, Classic, Spicy Heritage Pork, Veggie, Salmon…and even a Maine Lobster. Featured toppings include: Tomato, Parmesan Cream, Spicy Meat, Pesto, Yogurt Dill (to pair with the salmon) and even a Lemon Butter for the lobster. This is ball heaven.
There’s a new pizza joint opening in Westport. “Ignazio’s Pizza will be moving into the former Bertucci’s on the Post Road in Westport. This will be the 2nd location for this thin-crust pizza establishment. The original location is in DUMBO right underneath the Brooklyn Bridge, adjacent to the famous Grimaldi’s and Juliana’s.
The Westport spot may be slightly less scenic than that of DUMBO, but will continue the Ignazio’s tradition of thin crust pies, or “signature round pies.'“ They will also be serving up a slightly thicker crust square pizza, the “Siciliana.” In addition to the pizza menu (which is extensive), they have a full Italian menu featuring dishes including: Estelle`s Meatballs, Baked Anchovies, a Chicory Salad, pasta favorites like Manicotti as well as Calzone.
Westport loves their Italian joints, so bring it on Ignazio’s.
On December 11th, premium jerky & snack brand Field Trip opened its first store at 153 Post Road East in Westport CT. The 500-square-foot space will be the company’s first ever brick and mortar establishment. You can find Field Trip jerky in 50,000 retails outlets nationwide, but this is, and will be their ONLY dedicated store.
The first 1,000 customers over the weekend of December 15th/16th will receive a free meat stick if they mention having read about us on Westport Moms, Dan Woog, CTBites, or via WestportNow!
Chef Brian Lewis’ latest restaurant offering Japanese inspired cuisine in the historic Vigilant Hose Company Firehouse at 6 Wilton Road in Westport, Connecticut, is launching weekday lunch service and to-go options on Wednesday, November 7.
Lunch will be available Wednesday – Friday from 11:30am-2:30pm and will feature a daily lunch-specific menu for this new service. Options will include Hand Rolls, Bento Boxes, Nigiri Sushi meals featuring 5x pieces of Nigiri Sushi, Sashimi meals featuring Chirashi Sushi, Sashimi Moriawase or Spicy Tuna Sashimi OKO poke, as well as favorites from the dinner menu.
UPDATE!! Black Duck receives funding and will stay in business…hopefully for the next 40 years. Article here.
Westport nightlife staple The Black Duck Cafe plans to lock its doors for the last time on Sunday, November 4th. The classic watering hole has been an institution for over 40 years, cantilevered out over theSaugatuck River, and hosting generations of loyal diners and drinkers. The location was such a fixture of the Westport social scene, it's hard for us at CTBites to think we're close to seeing the end of it.
Reached for comment, Pete Aitkin, owner of the Black Duck, did not give any specifics, but said "it's something that's been a long time coming, but we finally had to do it. There are a lot of people very said about it, starting with me, but we're going to invite everyone to come back in one last time this Saturday and Sunday."
The Duck will be open Tuesday, October 30th, and Wednesday for Halloween, then take two days off before re-opening for the last times on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 3-4.
Some time several decades ago Milanno Ukehaxhaj left Kosovo at an opportune time on his way to America and making me a sandwich. That is skipping over a lot, but we'll get to the details in later paragraphs, and anyway it was a very good sandwich. This sandwich was not made when I visited the deli earlier this month with his wife and business partner Diana feeding me information as well as chicken parmigiana, it was made during my lunch break at a summer job I held in 2000, which is when I fell in love with Gaetano's.
Happy hours are one of life’s greatest pleasures. Bad day? Have a reduced-price wine, beer, or cocktail to take the edge off. Even worse day? Have more than one. Hungry? Happy hours usually offer a handful of delectable bites to be had on the cheap as an accompaniment to your glass of booze. I’m obviously a fan of the whole idea of happy hours—and I’m betting you are too—so I’m always on the lookout for new ones in the area. That’s when I came across Tarry Lodge Westport’s brand new Aperetivo Hour.
Introduced in May, Aperitivo Hour goes down Monday – Friday from 4 – 6 p.m. It features wine and cocktails for $10 each, and five snackable small plates for $5 per.
Two years ago veteran restaurateurs Anshu Vidyarthi and Antoine Blech opened Le Penguin’s second location in Westport’s Sconset Square. This delightful French Bistro known for its superb, traditional fare has been a popular dining destination ever since. Always striving for perfection, the restaurant has made a few changes, some subtle, others less so.
The porch was recently renovated enabling diners to enjoy this nautically inspired outdoor space for much of the year. During the warmer weather the oversized window panels are removed for that en plein air feel; during inclement weather they are. When necessary, portable heaters add an additional layer of warmth and comfort. Panels have been added to the ceiling, and carpeting to the floor in order to help tone down the noise level. These subtle additions have proved quite successful.
As a proud sponsor for The Westport Farmers' Market, CTbites is pleased to announce, the 2018 summer season.
While it’s fair to say this long, cool spring has taken a toll on many of us, Westport Farmers’ Market shoppers and vendors have especially felt its bite. We’re happy to report the wait is over; the vision of supporting the best market in the area is in sight. In just a over a week, on Thursday, May 17th, the Westport Farmers’ Market will return for its 12th year 50 Imperial Avenue.
There will be new faces among other vendors, too, including Grateful Food Company offering plant-based fare, and Norm Bloom & Sons with local oysters. In addition to new faces – even those whose identity is still a secret – familiar favorites will return, including last winter’s newest guest vendor, Cross Culture Kombucha, who will be pouring booch on site, and farm favorites Sport Hill; Fort Hill; Riverbank, Two Guys from Woodbridge; Sankow Beaver Brook; Ox Hollow; Beltane; Woodland; Rose’s Berry; Aradia; and Muddy Feet Flower Farm.
If you’ve got your finger on the pulse of the Fairfield County food scene, there’s a good chance you’re jonesing to eat at OKO, set to open on April 19 in Downtown Westport. OKO is brought to you by Chef Brian Lewis—fresh off a James Beard semifinalist nomination—a name Westporters are familiar with from his over two-year-old flagship restaurant, and critically acclaimed, The Cottage. At OKO, Lewis is changing things up, as he plans to showcase his passion for Japanese ingredients and cooking techniques.
Exciting news from Chef Brian Lewis and his entire team. Chef Lewis' new Japanese concept OKO will be opening soon
From Lewis: “I have been really inspired by Japanese cooking techniques, culture and ingredients for a very long time, studying and layering Japanese influences into my cooking for many years, but it was the introduction of the Okonomiyaki at The Cottage that was my real ‘a-ha’” moment in defining the direction for my next restaurant.
Introducing the Okonomiyaki, a savory, Japanese pancake filled with seasonally-inspired ingredients, was a whimsical addition to our menu - Japanese street food with some rarefied touches. Our guests absolutely loved this dish and it quickly became a Cottage favorite, which will likely stay on the menu as a Cottage Classic.
When Breno Donatti took over the almost century-old Winfield Street Italian Deli back in 2015, one of his goals was to infuse some new school life into the menu while upholding some of the delis traditional recipes and values. What Donatti has excelled at since opening is using his background in fine dining as both an owner and a general manager to improve the business. He uses fresh, local ingredients from nearby farms whenever possible. He and his cooks have tinkered with recipes of deli classics, so you know after your first bite, that you’re not eating a bland, ordinary sandwich.
Gracing the Westport restaurant scene NewBrook Kitchen embraces health and well-being with fine cuisine. The brainchild of Chefs Cindy and Danielle Hartog, a dynamic mother and daughter team, the casual café-style eatery was brought to life after the two were diagnosed with separate autoimmune diseases and turned to nutrition to control their symptoms. They found dining out to be a struggle; it was challenging to find restaurants, cafés, and markets able to accommodate their new lifestyle.
I was invited to attend one of their popular Tasting Dinners, and always a fan of healthy dining I was eager to see what NewBrook Kitchen was all about. There’s nothing pretentious or over the top here. This modest, casual eatery is also BYOB, allowing guests to enjoy their favorite wines with a great meal at reasonable prices.
New bar & restaurant opening in Westport as reported by WestportNow.
A new bar and restaurant, 190 Main, opens Dec. 15 at 190 Main St., according to Melissa Gorman, co-owner with Sam Alang. Gorman said the eatery offers small plates and tapas featuring seafood specialties. Gorman is a Weston resident who grew up in Savannah, Georgia where she previously managed several restaurants. The 190 Main Street space was previously occupied by the Vine Wine Room that closed in July and the the Luxe Wine Bar, which closed in April 2016. The restaurant offers lunch Thursday through Sunday and dinner every day, according to Gorman.
In Italian, stuzzichino means a snack, or appetizer, or nibble. Assaggio, similarly, means a small amount of food or drink.
From Italian to Spanish, both translate roughly to tapas, an Iberian food culture that pairs small servings of food with drink in a laid-back setting.
It’s the kind of cuisine and vibe that Massimo Tabbacco and Miguel Angelo D’Onofrio, co-owners of the recently opened Bar Lupa, want to achieve at their redesigned space on the Post Road in Westport.
“It’s little portions, so you can taste a variety of things,” Tabbacco said. “It’s basically the same thing as Spanish tapas. But here in America, they know the word tapas more than stuzzichino.”
To avoid confusion, the items are listed on the menu as “Italian tapas,” but the dishes are inspired by Tabbacco’s and D’Onofrio’s respective upbringings — in Rome and Sao Paolo, Brazil, which has a large Italian population — and shared experience working in Italian restaurants throughout Fairfield County, as well as New York City.
If you’ve walked into either one of the Bow Tie Cinemas in Norwalk lately, you and I likely had the same reaction. I froze for multiple seconds. I’m certain my “wow” face was visible, mouth hitting the ground cartoon-style and all. I marveled at the renovations at the SoNo Ultimate Regent 8, the movie theater I grew up going to since it opened, and now it’s unrecognizable in the best way possible.
Gone are the packed-in, partially broken seats, that have been replaced by padded, comfier electric recliners so you can put your feet up, kick back, and zone-out during a film. As a frequent moviegoer, that’s awesome, but this is a food site. I’m here to dish about the revamped concession stand that you’ll not only see in the South Norwalk Bow Tie, but also at the Ultimate Royal 6 on Westport Avenue, and soon at the Trumbull Marquis 6 with construction slated for early November.
The upgraded concession area includes a full bar, with menus put in place by local restauranteur Greer Fredericks (Mama’s Boy, Peaches), who consulted on the project with assistance from Thomas Siano, who runs the bar program at her current restaurant.
We sent two CTbites contributors to the new Rye Ridge Deli in Westport. Here's the scoop...
When Oscar’s Deli announced it was closing in July 2016, Westporters were saddened to lose what felt like the last vestige of the “small town” local businesses on Main Street. For 42 years, Oscar’s was known as the community meeting place for locals, families and aspiring politicians, all presided over by its owner, the late Lee Papageorge , who many a day watched the comings and goings from his iconic barber chair.
Many of us waited to hear what would replace the popular spot, and there was a collective sigh of relief when it was announced that Rye Ridge Deli, based in Rye, NY with locations in Rye and Stamford would take over the spot.
Donut Crazy, a local, family-owned eatery specializing in unique donut flavors (lovingly called Dailies & Crazies), announced a tasty new menu item called the “Cruffin.” The croissant-muffin crossover is the company’s way of celebrating the first sugar-filled year of its New Haven location near Yale University. The “Cruffin” will be available at all Donut Crazy locations for $4.25, starting on Friday November 3, weekends only and while supplies last.
The “Cruffin” has quickly become the food world’s newest bakery obsession, much like the “Cronut” before it. The buttery, flaky pastry is shaped like a muffin and filled with different flavors. Donut Crazy plans to offer coconut, dulce de leche, chocolate mousse, and pumpkin. More exciting flavors to come!
We have waited patiently, and the time has come. We reported back in April that the family run Layla's Falafel, cooking up some of the best take out Middle Eastern food in CT, was scheduled to open in Westport. The time is NOW. This Monday, October 30th, Layla's will open its doors at 1537 Post Road East.
