Filtering by Tag: Hartford County,Turkish

Food & Wine Picks "Story & Soil" in Hartford as One of The Best Coffee Shops in America: 2019

Restaurant Coffee Hartford Hartford County Homepage

CTbites Team

Food & Wine writer, David Landsel, has spent 2 years traveling the United States, studying the American coffee culture. His list of nearly 100 of the most essential cafes, coffee shops, and espresso bars in the United States, includes one very special spot in the Nutmeg state, Story and Soil, located in Hartford CT. Congrats on making the cut, and check out the full article in Food & Wine.


Chef Billy Grant's Restaurant Bricco in West Hartford Still Tops The Lists

Restaurant Italian West Hartford Hartford County Lunch Brunch Homepage

Frank Cohen

Some restaurants transcend time and location, destined to linger in collective memory for decades after their passing. From the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and ’OOs, Basel’s, Robert Henry’s, Roomba and Ibiza, respectively, are still fondly remembered by longtime New Haven residents. Of all the eateries currently operating in the foodie Mecca that is West Hartford, the one destined to linger longest in memory is probably Restaurant Bricco, which chef-owner Billy Grant opened in 1996 at the tender age of 29.

Italian Restaurant Bricco is not Grant’s sole contribution to the Greater Hartford culinary landscape, however. Situated just around the corner in WeHa, Grants Restaurant & Bar, which opened in 2000, has tempted diners with a modern bistro ambiance, elevated American comfort food and spectacular dessert making, while Bricco Trattoria, which opened in Glastonbury in 2010 and has been a boon to the communities east of the Connecticut River, follows a blueprint similar to that of Restaurant Bricco. 


Donut Crazy Opens in West Hartford Today!

Restaurant West Hartford Hartford County Openings Doughnuts Breakfast Lunch

CTbites Team

Donut Crazy is happy to announce the opening of its newest location in West Hartford today. The store, located at 993 Farmington Avenue, offers all of Donut Crazy’s food and beverage items.

For those uninitiated into Donut Crazy’s world of over-the-top sugary doughnut confections, this location feels like a giant step forward both in selection and ambiance. All of their baked goods are made in-house in a Donut Crazy Kitchen by an overnight team of bakers. In West Hartford, Donut Crazy will offer its typical selection of “Dailies” and “Crazies.”


PORRÓN Opens Today in Hartford: Spanish-influenced Cuisine From Chef Tyler Anderson

Restaurant Hartford Hartford County Spanish Celebrity Chef Openings

CTbites Team

Today, the much anticipated Restaurant Porrón opened its doors to Connecticut's Capital City. Hartfordites and travelers alike will be able to dine in the Goodwin Hotel’s new signature Spanish-style restaurant. Helmed by nationally renowned Chef Tyler Anderson, and his all-star team - many of whom are behind the success that is Millwright's Restaurant and The Cook & The Bear - promise to bring local flair to the globally-inspired menu.

Restaurant Porrón is a tapas-style restaurant complete with wine room and ham bar, as well as an accompanying craft cocktail bar (Bar Piña) - set to officially open by week’s end. The restaurant will feature 60 wines by the glass, local draft beer and an exciting gin & tonic selection. The tapas-driven menu will allow guests to sample a wider array of items, order a bunch of items to share, or order a la carte Spanish steakhouse-style. The food and service are intended to be elegantly simple and will use the highest quality products that Anderson and his kitchen and bar team can procure.


New York's Artichoke Basille’s Pizza Opening in New Haven & Hartford

Restaurant New Haven Hartford Hartford County pizza Openings Take Out To-Go Homepage

CTbites Team

Artichoke Basille’s Pizza, the nation’s largest and fastest growing New York pizza concept, has signed a multi-unit franchise deal to bring its larger than life slices and whole pies to the greater Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut areas. Franchisee Matthew Rusconi is looking to open the first location by year’s end and is actively scouting real estate opportunities in Hartford County, New Haven, Middletown, and Cromwell.

Artichoke Basille’s Pizza, founded in 2008 by cousins and best friends Francis Garcia and Sal Basille, specializes in serving authentic New York slices in a fast casual setting, but without the conveyor belt oven. The concept’s massive slices and whole pies, which have been named the ‘Best Pizza’ by The NY Post and one of the ‘Top 5 Slices in the Boroughs’ by CBS New York, range from the traditionally-topped to the more eccentric.


Shake Shack Opening In West Hartford April 27

Restaurant West Hartford Hartford Hartford County Burgers Comfort Food Kid Friendly Hot Dogs ice cream

Stephanie Webster

Shack®is thrilled to announce it will open its doors on Friday, April 27that 11AM. The West Hartford Shack will be located at Corbin's Corner, 1445 New Britain Avenue, West Hartford, CT. This marks Shake Shack’s fourth Connecticut Shack, with existing locations in Darien, New Haven and Westport.

In addition to the Shack classics, the West Hartford Shack will be spinning up a selection of custom frozen custard concretes: Shack Attack (chocolate custard, fudge sauce, chocolate truffle cookie dough, Mast Brothers Shake Shack dark chocolate chunks, topped with chocolate sprinkles), Cookie Butter Blender (vanilla custard, cookie butter, chocolate toffee and chocolate sprinkles)and Pie Oh My (vanilla custard and slice of Four & Twenty Blackbirds seasonal pie).


Chango Rosa Eclectic & Creative Pan-Latin in Hartford (+ Killer Tacos)

Restaurant Latin American Mexican Cocktails Hartford County Hartford Lunch Tacos Homepage

Ramin Ganeshram

There are a lot of good reasons to head to Hartford. I’m particularly love with the collection at the Wadworth Atheneum Museum of Art and its former director’s hoax-house mansion—two of the many things to do in Connecticut’s capital city where you can visit the home of quirky American satirist, Mark Twain.

No less unusual but equally inspiring is Chango Rosa a pan-Latin fusion restaurant in downtown Hartford situated within walking distance of State Capital Park across from Union Station.

Featuring an eclectic pan-Latin inspired menu and vibrant, fun décor Chango Rosa is less about authentic Latin foods and more about creatively using Latin ingredients and cooking methods as inspiration.

“We want our cooks to be cooks and our mixologists to be mixologists.  We want them to explore their creativity first,” says David Gilmore, Chango Rosa’s Executive Chef, formerly of Infinity Bistro. “For me that’s about experimenting and finding unique ways to get the best out of the ingredients and flavors.”


Chef Tyler Anderson Opening Spanish Restaurant in the Historic Goodwin Hotel in Hartford

Restaurant Hartford Hartford County

CTbites Team

Chef Tyler Anderson is excited to announce that he has reached an agreement to operate all food and beverage at the historic Goodwin Hotel in Hartford, CT. In a partnership with the hotel’s owners Charles Mallory and Randy Salvatore, Tyler and his team will create a program that works alongside the major redevelopment of the hotel. Charles and Randy have created something very special in the city of Hartford and this team intends to bring something special as well.


Hartford Baking Company Opens in West Hartford

Restaurant Bakery Breakfast Lunch Dessert Hartford County West Hartford Coffee Tea And Coffee

CTbites Team

Hartford Baking Company started small and local, with owner Scott Kluger’s mother baking scratch items for farmers’ markets.  As her scones caught on, so did the buzz, and Scott saw an opportunity.  Leaving a promising career on Wall Street, he returned to West Hartford and opened their first location on New Park Ave in 2010: offering artisanal bread, sandwiches, pastries, and a really excellent coffee program (more on that in a moment).

The new Hartford Baking Company location, on Farmington Avenue in West Hartford Center, has the same menu as New Park (which remains open) with a few exciting additions. Both locations are the perfect destination for fresh cake and seasonal catering orders, but West Hartford has expanded their offerings to include a vegan grain bowl, a gluten free breakfast burrito, and an authentic Cuban Sandwich.  Fresh is better: the scratch baking process which occurs every night in their large baking facility in Bloomfield translates into a carb mecca of stunning fresh breads and baked goods.  


Max Restaurants Opens Neapolitan-Influenced Savoy Pizzeria & Craft Bar in West Hartford

Restaurant Pizza West Hartford Hartford County Lunch

CTbites Team

Savoy Pizzeria & Craft Bar, the sleek, new, pizza-centered West Hartford establishment from Max Restaurant Group, is all about the flames.

“There is nothing that compares to cooking with fire,” says Dante Cistulli, chef and managing partner of the downtown restaurant, which opened in October. Two wood-fired pizza ovens form the heart and soul of Savoy’s kitchen. The Neapolitan-influenced pizza, the restaurant’s flagship food, is cooked for a short period of time in one oven at 850-900 degrees. Cooking at this extremely high temperature creates a crispy and ever-so-slight char on the outside and a soft and firm inside crust that artisan pizza lovers crave. The other oven provides the heat for the restaurant’s non-pizza items, giving each dish a unique, wood-smoked flavor.


King & I Thai Kitchen in Hartford and Manchester: A Family Affair

Restaurant Asian Hartford Hartford County Thai

Hope Simmons

Blink and you can easily miss the little white house as you drive down Park Street in Hartford’s Parkville section. So keep an eye out, because it’s home to a fine family business specializing in Thai and Lao dishes—generous portions, reasonably priced. And if you head east of the river, you’ll find the exact same menu and great food in Manchester.

There are many choices closer to home when it comes to Thai, but when the craving hits, I make tracks for King & I. It’s changed management over time, but the food remains just as delicious as it ever was. In fact, it’s amazingly consistent. How is that even possible?

The secret to their success starts in a tiny kitchen with their cook. Behind the scenes, the same woman has been busy stirring up deliciousness for the past 10 years. When the previous owner sold the restaurant four and a half years ago, Hongkham Munesaleum was already part of the kitchen. But now, with her husband, Lam, washing dishes, and his daughter Lilly, serving the front of the house (literally!), it’s all in the family.


Eren’s Grill: Regional Turkish Cuisine in Fairfield CT

Delicious Dives Fairfield Middle Eastern Turkish Lunch Kid Friendly

Elizabeth Keyser

The first thing I noticed when I walked into Eren’s Grill was the neatness and precision of the refrigerator case.  Platters of perfectly aligned kebabs await the grill. Bowls of bright-red-hued eggplant-tomato salad and  pale, fluffy humus.  Glistening rows of dark-green stuffed grape leaves.  Then Eren, a young man wearing chef’s white’s embellished with the Turkish flag, stepped out from the open kitchen and proudly started telling me about his fresh and homemade food.

Fairfield’s new and only Turkish restaurant is a small joint in a strip mall. With just a few tables, it does a lot of take-out and catering. Whether eat-in or take-out, it’s a welcome addition to the Tunxis Hill section of Fairfield, a neighborhood that could use more good food. And the food here is good: fresh and full of flavor.  Ottoman cuisine has a long and noble history, and Eren – who was head chef of the Athens’ Tike, an international group of Turkish restaurants in places like London, Cyprus and Kiev -- for 8 years -- is proud to put his signature on it. “I want to play a little,” he says.


Open House @ Thomas Hooker with NoRA Cupcake Truck

Road Trip Restaurant Bloomfield Hartford County Beer

Amy Kundrat

The Thomas Hooker Brewery (home to that refreshing summer seasonal, Watermelon Ale) has invited NoRA Cupcake Truck to their twice-monthly Friday Open House, July 6, 2012. The Brewery hosts these events on the 1st and 3rd Friday each month  from 5 to 8pm. $10 for pint glass, tasting, and tour (Portion of proceeds go to The Village For Families and Children).

Thomas Hooker Brewey is located at Tobey Road in Bloomfield, CT. For more information, visit hookerbeer.com.


Bereket Turkish Restaurant "2" Opens in Bridgeport

Restaurant Bridgeport Delicious Dives Middle Eastern Turkish

Stephanie Webster

CLICK ON ABOVE IMAGE TO LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY

Last spring we told you about Bereket, an tiny authentic Turkish eatery tucked behind a gas station in Bridgeport.  This fortuitous find primarily offered takeout, but if you were lucky enough to get one of the 3 small tables, you were served food worthy of an Ottoman emperor. While we loved hiding out behind the Citgo station, we were pleased to hear that owner Selahattin Cinar had moved his very reasonably priced menu and talented cooks to a much larger space in Blackrock (the old Helados Vazquez). With an upgraded interior worthy of the excellent fare, Selahattin can now focus on the customer experience...and a more gracious host you've never seen. Warm up your car for a quick departure to Bridgeport. 


Bereket Turkish Restaurant: Istanbul in Bridgeport

Restaurant Bridgeport Delicious Dives Turkish Vegetarian

Stephanie Webster

It's been 24 hours since I left Bereket, a tiny hole in the wall Turkish restaurant located behind a Citgo station on Bridgeport's Main Street. As I write this I wonder, is it too soon to go back? 

Bereket has been dubbed by people in the know as Fairfield County's best kept secret, and I finally understand what all the fuss is about. Mind you, this place is not fussy. Hidden beside of the gas station's mini mart, Bereket's small dining space has only 3 tables and boxes of Turkish beverages and pantry staples lining the walls. But what this single room Turkish delight lacks in ambiance, it makes up for in the quality, freshness, and flavor of the food. 

Owner Selahattin Cinar has been in business for 6 years, and chats with customers while holding court in the kitchen preparing a steady stream of take-out orders. He greeted us warmly as we walked in, and we were relieved to find that he spoke enough English to answer questions and help us navigate their extensive menu. When we asked what was good, we were led to a display case filled with cold mezes (appetizers) and kebabs awaiting the heat, and simply told, it's all good. And it was.