Taste of the Nation New Haven 2013 Vows No Kid Hungry

No Kid Hungry.  That’s the rallying call of Share Our Strength, an organization put together to wipe out childhood hunger.  And, with about 105,000 (13%) of children under 18 in Connecticut being food insecure, you can see how important this organization is.  One of their major fundraisers across the country is called Taste of the Nation that feature local food, chefs, and drinks.  And, we just so happen to be lucky enough to have a Taste of the Nation taking place at The Omni Hotel at Yale in New Haven on 5/22 from 6-9 for regular ticket holders ($85) or 5-9 for VIP ticket holders ($150).  The money will not only benefit Share Our Strength, but it will also benefit Christian Community Action, Connecticut Food Bank, End Hunger Connecticut, and the local chapter of No Kid Hungry Connecticut.  So, not only will you be helping to end childhood hunger, but you’ll also have some great music, treats, and drinks.  Here are the details:

• Honorary Chef Chair Chef Jacques Pepin will be on hand.
• The Elizabeth Dellinger/Tony Dioguardi Duo will be entertaining all our guests in the Grand Ballroom.
• VIP Tickets holders can listen to an Evening Of Song with Tanya Leonard with Derek Monahan on guitar.
• Restaurants will be delighting…
  • 116 Crown
  • Barcelona
  • Bella Bella Gourmet
  • Box 63 American Bar & Grill
  • Bridgewater Chocolate
  • Briq Restaurant
  • Brownson Country Club
  • Caseus Fromagerie Bistro
  • Cask Republic
  • Chocopologie
  • Claire’s Cornercopia
  • Cooking Matters
  • Fig Cooking School
  • Gelato Giuliana
  • Geronimo Tequila Bar & Southwest Grill
  • Heirloom @ The Study
  • Ibiza
  • Ibizia Tapas Wine Bar
  • John Davenport’s
  • La Cuisine Cafe, Market & Catering
  • MIKRO Beer Bar
  • Oaxaca Kitchen
  • Parallel Post at the Trumbull Marriott
  • Savvy Tea
  • Shake Shack New Haven
  • SONO Baking Company
  • Thali & Thali Too
  • The Farmer’s Cow
  • Wheelers Market-Café & Restaurant
  • Willoughby’s
  • Winvian (VIP only)

Whose Cake Reigns Supreme at the Darien Library? We’ll Help Decide!

Have your cake and eat it too?  Yeah, we can handle that!  Especially because the Darien Library is having one of the most epic book events that has ever been created.  This is all part of their program, One Book, One Community–bringing Darien together through reading the same book.  The novel this time around is City of Thieves by David Benioff.  Erin Shea, Head of Adult Programming, explains, “Colonel Grechko tells Lev and Kolya that he will give them their freedom if they bring him a dozen eggs for his daughter’s wedding cake.”

A natural extension of this was to create their own kind of challenge…a cake baking competition.  Participants will bring in a homemade cake that will be offered up for judging by OmNomCT and a representative from CTBites.  We’ll be judging the cakes based on taste, appearance, texture, creativity, and the name.  Don’t fret, though.  There’s plenty of cake for everybody to try, too.  Did we mention that the winner will be able to snag $100?

HUGE Food Truck Festival, BBQ + Chowder Cook Offs, Demos, and Live Music at Westbrook Tanger Outlets

Dayummm

 

New York has its food truck festivals, Boston, has its food truck festivals, and now Connecticut has a major festival, too. Let’s count ‘em: 15-25 food trucks from Connecticut and surrounding states will show up at the Westbrook Tanger Outlets on 4/27-4/28.  Plus, Westbrook Assistant Manager David DelVecchio says he’ll be updating the list (we’ll update for you, too) every few days as Food Trucks 2 Go brings new trucks in.   There is absolutely no fee for attending, so you can use that saved dough to pig out. Here is the list as of 4/7:

• Away Café
• Away Café BBQ Truck
• Captain Marden’s Seafood (Saturday only)
• Caseus Cheese Truck (Sunday only)
• Chicken & Rice Guys (Saturday only)
• The Chubby Chickpea
• Cowabunga
• The Cupcake Brake
• Food Extrovert
• FryBorg
• The Happy Taco
• High Tide Gourmet (Sunday only)
• Hog Wild
• Lobstercraft
• Munchies Food Truck (Saturday Only)
• Spud Stud
• The Sugar Bakery Cup Cake
• Whey Station (Sunday Only)

 

The food trucks will be there for om noming from 11 am to 6 pm and there will be lots of live music to provide a soundtrack for your gorging pleasure. We’re talking The Red Hill Rockers, The Sin Sisters, The Shiney Lapel Trio, and others.  There will also be live cooking demos from Clarke, Kitchen Aid, Soda Stream, Williams Sonoma, Chef Kashia, and lots more.

Delivery Made Easy with Rewards: Seamless and Delivery.com

One of the most frustrating things about ordering delivery  over the phone (#ConnecticutProblems) is repeating yourself 30 times, or being put on hold, or being transferred to 10 different people.  Yeah, it’s seriously annoying and it’s a big waste of time, especially when there are other important things to do like watch TV, surf the net, watch the kids, or just be lazy.

Plate of bbq, snacks, and fixins at at BarQ B.B.Q. in Stamford, Connecticut

But, two websites are making delivery (or pick up) just a bit easier and giving you some great things in return.  All around, we use Seamless more often because they have a better variety of restaurants for delivery by us, but Delivery.com is still a good option.  Let’s look at Seamless first.

Seamless has a very easy to use interface where you can save restaurants into your favorites and even just order a previous meal with just a few clicks.  You’ll often see restaurants that have deals like 10% or 20% of orders!  Be aware that some restaurants charge a small fee for delivery, but it’s not a fee from Seamless.  Also, Seamless will send out emails time to time with special discount codes that you can enter before your finalize your purchase.  Our favorite part:  add the tip right in and when your food arrives, the delivery person will hand it to you, thank you, then leave.  That’s more time for your to spend gorging yourself.  Right now they are in the Greenwich, Stamford, and Westport areas, but are expanding.

Save Some Serious Dough with Restaurant.com

Our obsession with Restaurant.com (not Restaurants.com) started years ago when we’d shell out $5 and get a $50 pass to restaurants.  The amount of money we saved was awesome and we continue to check this site when we want to save some major dinero.  We use it for local restaurants and especially when we’re on vacation and want to find a quick, inexpensive meal.

Chef’s Special Roll, Crispy Melt Goat Cheese Roll, and Crunchy Wasabi Tuna Roll at Bambou in Greenwich

It works pretty easily:  enter the city and state where you want a certificate then select the restaurant.  The most common option that you’ll see is pay $10 for a $25 certificate, but sometimes there will be bigger incentives like $20 for $50, $30 for $75, or even $40 for $100.  Before you purchase your certificate, just make sure that there aren’t any terms of the agreement that won’t work for you such as, “Only includes lunch,” or “No dinner on Saturday.”  Also, pay close attention to the fine print because some have an order minimum or some include a tip into the amount of the bill automatically.

Zeppoleme Brings Coffee, Panini, and Zeppole to Port Chester, NY

Zeppole are perhaps one of the greatest gifts given to humanity, just one wrung below fire and internet memes. Dough balls, deep fried, then sprinkled with sugar. They bring back memories of Dan sitting around his grandma’s table, devouring zeppola (the singular form of course) after zeppola, making sure to rub in more powdered sugar all over.   Or, it’s hard to forget the countless Italian feasts that we’ve been to with the scent of zeppole and sausage in the air.  Yeah, it’s awesome to be Italian…or to be married to one, or to be dating one, or to know one, or to pretend to be one.

All this talk of zeppole is killing us…you hungry yet? Don’t worry! Getting zeppole will be a whole helluva lot easier starting in a few weeks at Zeppoleme (same owners of Nessa next door) in Port Chester, just over the border of Greenwich. First off, you will be able to get some sweet fried dough in two forms:

1. Classic:  the original, sprinkled with your choice of powdered sugar, granulated sugar, and/or cinnamon
2. Modern:  they take the original, then fold in ricotta, making it light and fluffy

Then you’ll want to dip these in one of their four sauces:

4th Annual Hops & Grapes Toasts & Tastes Event to Raise Funds for LLS

Last year we checked out Hops & Grapes Toasts & Tastes and had such a great time.  There was great food galore from restaurants across Fairfield County with plenty of beer and wine to try.  This year on 4/12 from 7:30-10:30 we can expect the fourth annual Hops & Grapes Toasts & Tastes to be even better as it moves into its new location:  the Stamford Innovation Center in the heart of downtown.  There will be plenty of room to mingle at this classic landmark building…and plenty of room to get your tastebuds tingling, too.  In addition to the restaurants, caterers, cheesemongers, and bakeries, there will also be drinks and representation from breweries.  When you’re in between drinks and courses, be sure to check out the great silent auctions that will be available (follow them on FB for early previews of what will be up for auction).  Finally, if you stick around towards the end, you can take part in the live auction with amazing trips, gifts, and packages.  We are also very proud and excited to be one of the media sponsors for this amazing event that raises vital money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society that fights leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma.

Tickets are $75 each or are $125 for a pair.  Also, you may order VIP tickets for $100 each or $175 for a pair which includes a VIP gift bag, a raffle ticket, and a LLS wristband.  You can also donate if you can’t make it or even purchase an ad to be played during the slideshow.  As of now, these are the hops, grapes, and tastes that you can toast to:

13 Restaurants Take Part in Wilton’s First Restaurant Week

Favorite dish of the night, served with a milkshake

This just says, “Wake up” all over it!

Congratulations to Wilton!  From March 11 to March 16 they will hold their first Restaurant Week.  This will be a great time to get out around town and check out some of the great new restaurants (and old faves) and save some serious dinero with prix fixe menus in the process.  The Wilton Chamber of Commerce will be changing their site with menu info and pricing, so make sure to keep up to date with them and check back here for updates, too.

Bianco Rosso

Bistro 7 (3.75 Noms)

Bon Appetit Cafe

Cactus Rose (3.25 Noms)

Coffee Barn

Green Leaf Organic Bakery & Cafe

Take a Bite Outta the 20th Annual Taste of Stamford (2013)

Coal Oven Roasted Chicken Wings at Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza in Darien Connecticut

Huckleberry Lemonade and Allagash White at Bar Q B.B.Q. in Stamford, Connecticut

Scallops at Olio

Mac + cheese at Hudson Grille

Dino Poutine is killer, unique to Dinosaur Stamford

Sunday Gravy at Rizzuto’s

Has it been 20 years already?  Awww, Taste of Stamford is almost old enough to drink…well, legally at least.  But, even if Taste of Stamford isn’t quite of age yet, they’ll still be serving up some great drinks (alcoholic and non) to go with all the awesome food that will be provided.  You’ll want to get to the Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa on 2/28 from 5:30 – 8:30 pm to be part of the action.  If you register now you’ll only pay $50 or if you buy your tix at the door you’ll pay $60.  Your entry gets you tastes and pours of all this:

• Angela Mia (Great pastries in Norwalk)
• Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza (Darien)
• Bar Q (Stamford)
• Cafe Oo La La (Stamford)
• The Capital Grille (Stamford)
• Coffee Distributing Corp.
• Cotto Wine Bar (Stamford)
• Crab Shell (Stamford)
• David’s Soundview Catering (Stamford)
• Dichello Distributors
• DiMare Pastry Shop (Stamford and Greenwich)
• Dinosaur Bar-b-que (Stamford)
• Fairway Market (Stamford)
• Fiesta Atlantic Restaurant (Stamford)
• Gofer Ice Cream (You can always go for Gofer) (Stamford and beyond)
• Italian Center of Stamford
• Marriott Stamford Hotel & Spa
• Mitchell’s Fish Market (Stamford)
• Hudson Grille (Stamford)
• Acqua Panna
• S. Pellegrino
• Myrna’s Kitchen (Stamford)
• ShopRite Super Grade A
• Olio (Stamford)
• Perrier
• Poland Spring
• Rizzuto’s (Stamford and beyond)
• Robek’s (Stamford and beyond)
• Spice Affaire (Stamford)
• The Sushi Village Caterers
• Stamfordwine.com
• Tabouli Grill (Stamford and Southport)

Feast on Ridgefield’s Best Food at Taste of Ridgefield to Benefit Ridgefield Rotary

While we focus mainly on Lower Fairfield County, one of our resolutions this year was to get out there, expand, and show more of the great things going on and restaurants throughout Fairfield County.  Well, let’s start things off right with telling you about Taste of Ridgefield, more awsomerest than last year or any of the 13 previous years.  What exactly is Taste of Ridgefield?  28 different awesome restaurants, bakeries, cheese shops, and caterers from the area giving out yummy bites, treats, and drinks until you explode or lose the will to eat anymore.  Tickets are $40 (benefits Ridgefield Rotary Club) if you buy in advance (or $45 at the door) and kids 12 and under cost only $20.  There will be two tasting sessions:  one from 12:30-2:30 and the other  from 4-6 pm.  What’s even better?  It’s on Sunday, 1/27, so you have no excuse not to show up and take part in this awesome culinary event.  If you buy your tickets online, all you’ll have to do is show up at the Ridgefield Community Center on 316 Main Street…no need to print out your ticket.  

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Here’s the list of all the places that will be providing food: