The Stand Vegan Cafe in Fairfield Attracts Hard-Core Vegans — And Many More (via Dan Woog's 06880)
Restaurant vega Juice Cleanse Juice Bar healthy Vegetarian Gluten-Free Fairfield
When Catch A Healthy Habit opened its doors 10 years ago, this raw, vegan, gluten-free cafe was one of the first of its kind in CT, and certainly the first in Fairfield County. Owners Lisa Storch (yes, she is related to Matt Storch) and Glen Colello did a wonderful job creating an extensive healthy and delicious menu of items you can’t believe taste so darn good given everything that’s NOT included in the ingredients list. Storch, is a CIA trained chef and has always made everything from scratch, including their almond milk, cashew cheese, and coconut whipped cream (which is divine). They have also managed to source the single best gluten-free bread I’ve found in the fine state of CT. And now they’re 10 years old! To celebrate they will giving all their loyal guests 10% off everything in the store (including their juice cleanses) on Nov 30th, Small Business Day.
The LBD. The Little Black Dress. It’s the item in a gal’s closet that never disappoints. It fits, it’s classy, not too overstated, but makes the fresh statement, “I’ve arrived.”
Well, guess who has arrived in Greenwich? The LBT. Little Beet Table. It too is classy, not too overstated, and undeniably fresh.
Following its successful predecessors in New York and Chicago, and under the esteemed direction of chef and culinary director Matt Aita (Rouge Tomate, Daniel, Jean Georges), Little Beet Table is amping up what it means to offer fresh, wholesome delicious food. From brunch to lunch and dinner, to cocktails and snacks, LBT puts a real twist on traditional sweet and savory bites and does it all gluten-free. As one of the first exclusively gluten-free restaurants around, Little Beet Table is on top of their game when it comes to unearthing tasty, healthy alternatives for the gluten-based dishes most of us crave, but some of us can’t or shouldn't have.
80% of New Year’s resolutions don’t make it to February. Yeeks. Sorry. Not to start our 2019 Healthy Eating Guide off on a negative foot or anything. Are you determined, though, that this will be the year that you finally cut the junk, cut the excuses, and buckle down so you don’t have to move that ol’ belt buckle? We thought so and therefore, we’d like to give you a leg up on throwing that 80% statistic to the ground and showing it who is boss. When you surround yourself with the healthy stuff, it makes it easy to enjoy the healthy stuff, so that said, we’ve got a nice long list of inventive, delicious, inspiring spots that are serving up food that will help you cruise into February with your head held high.
Nearly one year after announcing its plans, vegan and vegetarian, Organika Kitchen, officially opened Monday in downtown New Canaan at 96 Main St.
Owners, Gino and Cathy Riccio are excited the new location for their organic plant-based eatery, the first having met with great success in Southport. While many alleged healthy eateries have been popping up all over the place, Organika Kitchen takes the idea of healthy eating to a new level.
Organika is more than a restaurant Gino explained, “It’s an experience that is as much about the food as it is the customers and the employees.” Organika opened its doors in August to praise from vegetarians, vegans and meat-eaters alike. Cathy expanded on her husband’s thoughts. “We felt that we needed to be eating healthier.
You know how it goes. When you have a food allergy or sensitivity, or if you eat vegan or paleo, and you want to go out to eat anywhere, it can at times be quite the task to find a place to accommodate for what you need and want. Enter Pour Me in Danbury. I heard about them from a friend who also has food sensitivities and she called it a ‘healthy comfort food type place.’ So as someone who can’t have gluten or dairy, I was naturally intrigued. It was so nice not to have to call ahead to see if they had options other than a salad!
Andrea Gartner, the owner of Pour Me, opened the fine fast food cafe in downtown Danbury on a mission to revitalize downtown, and to provide food that gives people the fuel they need to “go out and do good in the world.”
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.
We are only a few short weeks into this brand-spanking new year, and TVs are blaring with eating program ads, magazine covers are screaming about how to “Lose 10 lbs. in a week!” and gyms are overflowing with people running for their lives on treadmills (Run, Forrest, Run!). Naturally, the CTBites answer to the holiday indulgences? EAT! Ok, ok…eat…HEALTHILY! Our fair state is brimming with amazing grocers, restaurants, and speciality stores that can help you get back on track after a season of going full-tilt boogie with the eating and drinking. The best part is that everything is so delicious and interesting. Branch out this year and try some new flavors and foods…goji berries, Matcha, Cauliflower pizza crust (wha!), Jackfruit! Dive in and explore. Here are some venues that will help you do just that. One more note: We fully realize that due to the sheer amount of noteworthy establishments, we are not able to list them all here. Please refer to our past Healthy Eats roundups for more listings and also, please chime in with places that you know and love. The more the merrier!
What should I make for dinner? This daily lament is the million billion dollar question fueling a booming meal kit industry. Weekly deliveries of fresh ingredients with easy-to-follow recipes offer the promise of an easy weeknight dinner. However, a growing segment of this audience such as young professionals and busy families is seeking something even simpler, less time consuming, and healthier.
Mix Creative Kitchen is the latest to grace the ever-growing and increasingly popular health-focused, quick serve restaurants in the area. Located near the bottom of Greenwich Avenue on Elm Street, a brightly lit café style eatery now occupies the longtime vacant space. The restaurant was created on the premise of bringing together “fast food” and “real food,” a theme that seems to be trending in Fairfield County. As I walked in and surveyed the premises, noting the salad and bowl areas as well as the items in the refrigerated sections I was reminded of other local favorites; The Granola Bar, Organika, B.GOOD and Freshii and was curious to see how this would stack up against the competition.
Elk, beef, duck, bison, lamb and turkey are just some of the proteins used in burgers at Bareburger. The microchain makes sure their burgers are more than just meat-based, and keep vegetarians and vegans in mind with offerings that already include the Farmstead, made from sweet potatoes and wild rice, and the Guadalupe, a black bean and roasted corn burger. Recently, Bareburger has slowly started to roll out another all-natural vegan burger that supposedly tastes close to, or like beef.
Created by Impossible Foods and CEO/founder/scientist Pat Brown, and appropriately named The Impossible Burger, this meatless option is solely made from plants. It’s made up of wheat and potato proteins for a familiar beef burger-like texture, vitamins, amino acids, sugars, and uses konjac (from Japanese yams) and xanthan (made by fermentation) as binders for the patty. It also uses a molecule called heme, which carries oxygen in our blood. Heme is in every living thing, plants included, and makes our blood red. Since red meat contains large amounts of heme, The Impossible Burger uses heme made from fermentation, and gives it a meatier taste than most vegan or veggie burgers on the market. It uses two fats, coconut oil and soybeans to give it that much needed sizzle effect when it hits the grill.
The New York Times celebrates 40 years of food and feminism at one of CT's all time great eateries, Bloodroot.
Four decades is a long time for any restaurant or bookstore to endure, and Bloodroot, which is both, is filled with history: vintage photographs, old movie posters and handwritten notes from fans, including the writers Audre Lorde and Adrienne Rich.
But the feminist enterprise — housed in a converted machine shop by the water, with gnarled pear trees and epazote growing wild out back — is no museum.
As Bloodroot celebrates its 40th anniversary this month, new fiction and zines pepper the shelves, and the vegetarian menu is alive and shifting, driven by its owners’ love for food and their joyful experimentation in the kitchen.
Poised to celebrate its 10th year with Chef Tim LeBant at the helm, The Schoolhouse at Cannondale has long been on my radar. When a friend recently asked me to dinner I jumped at the chance. Nestled among the charming shops at the Cannondale train station, the one room schoolhouse is as delightful from the exterior as it is inside. A small entryway outfitted with a tiny bar area is separated from the dining area by a small curtained doorway, while many framed accolades set the mood for an excellent meal.
We usually post our “Healthy Eats” roundup at the beginning of January, when everyone is recovering from their holiday-induced food stupors. Indulgence ruled the roost for one-too-many weeks, so January brings a time of detox “get it all away from me” vigilance. After thinking about all of this healthy food, though, we realized that healthy eating isn’t just for those first weeks in January; it’s for all twelve months. I mean, man cannot survive on pork belly and butter alone (can he?).
Gino and Cathy Riccio have been an integral part of the Fairfield County restaurant scene for the past three decades, but their newest venture – an organic plant-based eatery – is uncharted territory for the couple. While many alleged healthy eateries have been popping up all over the place, Organika Kitchen takes the idea of healthy eating to a new level. I recently sat down the Riccios to learn about the inspiration behind their latest endeavor.
Organika is more than a restaurant Gino explained, “It’s an experience that is as much about the food as it is the customers and the employees.” Organika opened its doors in August to praise from vegetarians, vegans and meat-eaters alike. Cathy expanded on her husband’s thoughts. “We felt that we needed to be eating healthier. We grew up eating healthy, but somewhere along the way processed foods started to enter our diets. Now we have all this modified food and heavy-duty pesticides so even when we try to eat healthy we aren’t always.”
As a card-carrying carnivore, I entered Two Boots with some misgivings. This quirky, new pizzeria in Stamford’s Harbor Point was celebrating World Vegan Month, prompting manager Roberta Petit to invite CTbites over for a tasting of The Super Vegan, a totally plant-based "pizzaextravaganza.” Nothing on the pie comes from a creature.
‘Za without juicy sausage? Or gooey cheese? C’mon, this is Connecticut.
"We’re talking salad on a crust," I mumbled to myself as I sat down with Roberta. My immediate resolution: to earn a positive review, the pizza would have to be "great" in its own right, not a pie that was good – as it were -- for a vegan pizza.
No handicaps. No excuses. Nothing less than a party in my mouth.
My name is Jeff and I am a carnivore.
When I saw the announcement that Elm Restaurant in New Canaan was hosting four of the best chefs in Connecticut were gathering in the kitchen to serve a completely vegan menu I was curious. Elm’s chef Luke Venner arranged for chefs Mazen Mustafa, formerly of The Elm restaurant in Brooklyn, Marcell Davidson, from Community Table in Washington, CT, and Tyler Anderson, from Millwright’s in Simsbury. Would these four chefs create a meal this self-professed carnivore would enjoy? The answer is YES.
Up the steps off the city streets of New Haven, you may feel transported to another time and place. A space that somehow manages to feel elegant, yet contemporary and welcoming at the same time. This could only be ROÌA, where its elaborate high ceilings and attention to a bygone era’s architectural detail make a striking first impression. But they only set the stage for you to be further impressed with the sights and flavors about to arrive at the table.
CTbites first visited ROÌA for its grand opening back in 2013—grand being a most fitting descriptor. We were thrilled to return and experience a dinner featuring summer’s bounty of the local heirloom tomato, in one interesting configuration after another. And just one in the “veg-centric dinner series” Chef Avi Szapiro has offered since last year, when they first showcased asparagus, followed by summer squash, then tomato.
Summer is here and that means road trips! Day trips! Exploring this great state of ours with its interesting nooks and crannies! You know, there is always one Big Kahuna of a question when out-and-about (besides, of course, “Where is there a good public restroom?”) and that would be: ”Where can we eat??!”. Aaaaannnd the answer goes on to get a bit more complicated when there’s a vegetarian or vegan in your traveling band of explorers. But thankfully, we have you and your veggie-eaters covered. Great spots all over the state to dine in a delightfully meat-free fashion. Many of these eateries even cater to gluten-free diners, too. Check the websites ahead of your travel time and you are good to go! Be off, young men and women! p.s.-You might be interested in taking a detour through Hamden on July 23rd for their Compassion Fest. It’s a gathering to promote the ideas of kindness, equity, and compassion AND there will be lots of vegan food there.
Here are 16 delicious vegetarian & vegan Restaurants in CT.