Rocking an Online Restaurant Review Video from Our Ignite Stamford Talk

On January 31, Ignite Stamford made its triumphant debut at the Stamford Innovation Center.  The premise of all Ignite talks is keep it fun, keep it enlightening, and keep it entertaining…all fit into 20 slides that auto advance every fifteen seconds, making up a five minute speech.  Now, that might seem like it’s not a big deal, but when you’re up there in front of people and those slides advance before you’re ready, you need to think fast!

It just so happened that we had applied to talk at the inaugural event and were accepted.  Our speech, “How to Rock an Online Restaurant Review” took us quite a while to put together, but by the time we were done with it and done practicing, we were very happy with the results.  Oh, and as you watch the video, know that the video didn’t pick up all the laughing too well.  Trust us…people were laughing at our jokes! :)

Like Us? Vote For Us! Vote Best Local Blog + Twitterer in Weekly Best of Fairfield County 2013

It’s that time of year again…yup, the time to vote for your favorites in shopping, entertainment, food, restaurants, media, and more in the Weekly Best of Fairfield County Reader’s Poll 2013 contest.

If you’ve spent the last year lovin’ the delicious goodness we’ve bestowed upon you, then here’s your chance to show us your love. Here’s how: register here then head on over to the Media & Education category. See the place to vote for Best Local Blog and Best Twitterer? Yeah, you can just go right ahead, click on those, scroll on down to OmNomCT and select us to help us win!

And don’t forget, your local favorite restaurants need your help too, so make sure to vote in Best American, Best Chef, Best New Restaurant, Best Hot Dogs, Best Burgers, and tons more.  Make sure to have at least 10 votes then when you’re ready, click Finalize My Ballot.  

The voting is now live and goes until 11:59 EST on March 24, 2013. One vote per person, so if you can clone yourself that would really help. Unless they would consider a clone the same person…hmmm…

So, be sure to get on that and vote for your faves (that means us too, yay):

Thanks (as always) for your support!! You guys rock!

Here are all the rules for the contest…

Info

It’s winter. And each winter we ask our readers to tell us about the best bars, restaurants, salons, mechanics, clothing stores, and a ton of other awesome stuff in Fairfield County. We’ve been doing the Weekly‘s annual Best of Fairfield County Readers’ Poll for decades now and there are still annual surprises. Last year, readers cast more votes than ever before. We’re hoping to break that record again this year. We’ve added a number of new categories. (Best Donuts, Best Scotch Selection, Best Pickles and more!) And we’re counting on you to point us to the best. Thanks for taking the time to vote, and thanks, as always, for reading.

How it works

How To Vote:

1) Fill in the information in the voter registration box to the left, then click “Vote” in order to begin.

2) After you have registered, you will be taken to the voting page. Select a section (Bars & Clubs, Restaurants, etc.) and vote in whatever categories you choose. Popular choices are provided in a drop-down menu. You may write in a new choice by selecting the “Write in a new choice” option in the drop-down. Please check to see if your choice already exists in the drop-down menu before entering a write-in vote.

3) Do not vote for a business in a category for which it does not apply. These votes will not be counted.

4) You have the option of leaving a comment along with any or all of your votes. Comments are optional. We’ll use some of your comments when we put together our Best of Fairfield County Winners’ issue later this year!

5) When you have entered your votes in any section, hit the “Submit and Continue” button to move to the next section. Once you have hit this button, you can no longer go back, so make sure you are done voting in that section. You must hit “Submit and Continue” in order for your votes to be counted. You can skip sections if you wish.

6) When you are all done voting, hit the “Finalize Ballot” button. This will submit your ballot to us. Make sure you are satisfied with your choices before finalizing the ballot.

7) You must vote in 10 categories before you can submit your ballot.
Voting Rules:

1) One ballot per person.

2) Online ballots must be submitted by 11:59pm EST on March 24th, 2013. After this time voting will be closed.

3) While campaigning for Best Of honors is fair game, inducing your fans or patrons to vote through anything that might be constructed as a payoff could result in your disqualification. Asking for votes: fine. Giving someone ANYTHING in exchange for their vote: not fine, as it taints the vote.

4) If it looks like any company is stuffing the ballots we toss all your entries.

5) We only count ballots from this website and paper ballots from the Fairfield County Weekly. If you prefer to submit a paper ballot, one can be found inside this week’s Fairfield County Weeklynewspaper. You may not submit a paper ballot and an online ballot.

Those are the rules. Trust us, we’re tough!

Video Recipe: OmNomCT’s Citrusy Shrimp Ceviche for Whole Foods Market Madness

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When Whole Foods Market presented us with the challenge of building a recipe around a secret ingredient from their upcoming Madness sales, we were totally game.  We waited (impatiently) a month to find out what our ingredient would be.  Would it be something easy to cook with, something we liked, something we hated, or something weird like burdock or smoked eel?  Well, we found out a couple of weeks ago that our secret ingredient was shrimp, which would be featured in the first week of their sales.  At first we were a bit unsure what to do because the shrimp we were asked to use was pre-cooked, cleaned, and then frozen.  But, a flash of inspiration crashed down and we knew that we had to make a bright, citrusy, and refreshing ceviche.

 

Kristien’s handiwork in our kitchen…

We thought about all the ceviche that we had eaten:  from Port Chester, to Stamford, to Norwalk, to Costa Rica, even to Barcelona, Spain.  From those dishes, we took what we loved the most and turned it into a killer recipe.  We knew it had to have a good kick from the citrus, a nice contrast in texture, and have some heat.  We headed out to Whole Foods Greenwich (we might have driven out a bit before the driving ban was lifted after Nemo, just maybe… shhh) with our video camera and our shopping list.  After we got all the ingredients, we shot the “cooking” portion of the video then edited it all together and turned it into what you see here!   Yes, you don’t cook ceviche, that’s why we used the quotes. :P  Enough teasing, here’s the recipe:

What Ya Need

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Stamford Museum & Nature Center Octoberfest on the Meadow kicks off Harvest Festival Weekend 2012

Click through to get your tickets

Octoberfest.  Oktoberfest.  Spell it however you’d like, it still revolves around a few key things:

• Beer
• German food
• Music
• Flashbacks to the scene from National Lampoon’s European Vacation

Well, guess what?  There will be plenty of Octoberfestivities going on at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center on Friday night, 10/19 from 6:30 – 9:30 pm.  So, bring your buds, take your date, leave the kids at home (21+), and put on those lederhosen.  When you are there, all decked out with those really cool feathery hats, you’ll be able to take down some amazing Octoberfest food.  Yup, SM&NC has the best of the wurst and even more.  Bottomline:  you’ll be fed and fed oh so well, German style.  But, you can’t munch on some BBQ or a brat (the sausage, not a bad child) and have nothing to drink.  That would be a serious travesty!  The good folks at the Nature Center have you covered with excellent seasonal Oktoberfest brews, don’t worry.  Now, when you’ve got some food in the left hand and a stein in the right hand, move that beer back and forth while you jam away and sing along to The Bavarian Boys.

OmNomCT + Coalhouse Pizza Present Dogfish Head Ancient Ales Seafood Dinner

Update:  In addition, you’ll get an Ancient Ale goblet, a Dogfish Head Ancient Ale stone coaster, and an Ancient Ale poster.

The making and consuming of beer goes back to ancient civilizations.  Many argue that it all started back around 10,000 BC when early man began to cultivate the land and figured out how to ferment soon after.  Much later, Egyptians used beer to fuel the construction of the pyramids.  And, now, we have Bud Light and PBR. Hmm, a digression perhaps? Well, thankfully we’re in the midst of a massive craft beer revival.  A revival of the art form with a focus on the process, the quality ingredients, and the best possible outcome.

One such brewing company that’s creating a new revival of their own is Dogfish Head.  They found real-life ancient recipes, used the formulas and ingredients, then created a line of Ancient Ales.  How cool is that?! These rare brews will be on tap for the Dogfish Head Ancient Ales Seafood Dinner that yours truly is co-hosting with Coalhouse Pizza on 9/17 at 7.   Kevin O’Hara from Dogfish Head paired these one-of-a-kind beers with a menu we created and crafted for your omnoming pleasure.  As if that wasn’t awesome enough, each course will feature a Dogfish Head beer that is actually used in each dish.  We’ll be on hand, as will Coalhouse Pizza owner and beerophile Gerard Robertson, and Keith from Dogfish Head.  Also at Coalhouse Pizza will be Tired on Sunday, who will be rocking the place.  AND, there will also be 10 other Dogfish Head beers on tap for ya!

Vote for Top Blogs with The Websters from The Hartford Courant

The Hartford Courant had (om)nominations last week for some of the state’s best food, town, sports, UConn, and best overall blogs.  OmNomCT has been (om)nominated in two Websters categories.

Best Overall Blog

Best Food Blog

Voting lasts from March 26 at 9 a.m. to March 30 at 11:59 p.m.  You can vote 10 times per day for a total of 50 times, so we’re counting on your 50 votes in all three categories. ;)  We know that we’re up against some tough competition and our friends, too, but vote what your heart tells you…and doesn’t your heart (and belly) scream out, omnomnom?  Just sign up for a free Hartford Courant account and vote away.

Vote Here!

Here are the contest rules

OmNomCT and Coalhouse Pizza Rock the Victory Brews & Bacon Dinner

Tap it, Gerard!

As many of you know,  Coalhouse Pizza was generous enough to offer us a chance to be master chefs and plan our very first beer dinner on March 19, 2012! Well, we’re happy to say the Victory Brews & Bacon Dinner dinner was a BLAST and went off without a hitch!  Here’s a quick recap of the awesomeness:

The table was set with care,

in hopes that Victory Brew would be there…

In an amazing feat of glorious food magnitude, Coalhouse Pizza burst into life.  Gerard Robertson stood behind the Coalhouse Pizza counter, huddling up with his chefs, servers, and staff.  In the kitchen, in the dining room, and behind the counter  plates and silverware were chiming and clinking.  People started streaming in and servers quickly took orders for fun Victory Brewing Mash-Ups such as Dark Devil, Silver Back, Dark Waters, and Monkey on the Moon.  We loved the Monkey on the Moon, but Sean McCain from Victory Brewing warned us to be careful because while it goes down easy due to the smooth sweetness, that bad boy is strong.

Lucky us got to sit between the awesome Alicia and Renato Ghio of rMedia/The Natural Princess fame and Ryan and Kyle of Food + Beer.  And, we met the Ultimate Beerocrat, James Gribbon who seriously lays down the law with his Friday Froths on CTbites.com and met Gregg Glaser, Editor-in-Chief of the awesome Yankee Brew News.  We also know Caitlin Thayer from Barefoot Media, Josh Lew, @luckycloudyrsky, Renzo Kian-Kubota from Harry’s in Fairfield, Christopher Carlson co-author of Puddlejumpers, and Aaron Tubbs were there, but we’re bummed we didn’t get the chance to chat with them as much.

 As for the dinner itself, we’ll let the photos and captions below do all the talking (because it’s a little weird to review our own food – lol)! We couldn’t have been any happier with the results. The team at Coalhouse Pizza did our menu more justice that we could’ve imagined. Everything was cooked perfectly, full of delicious flavor. In fact, people seem to be begging for the pizza we had that night to be permanently on the menu! (We agree, ha!) And the service was quick and friendly too!

So of course we’d like to thank Gerard from Coalhouse Pizza.  He put a lot of trust in us and when we said we wanted a bacon dinner, he let us run with it.  Gerard, you’re the man, a great friend, and one of the best restaurant owners that we know.  Major props to Chef Eddie who worked on the menu for two days before the event and brought it all together.  Also, we’d like to thank Sean McCain from Victory Brewing Company.  It was great of you to stop by and share your wisdom on the beer, but also to just clang cups and enjoy some brew together.  Lastly, we’d like to thank everybody who purchased tickets and dined at Coalhouse.  Thanks for all the props, all the cheers, and a fun night.

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THE FOOD

Braumeister Pils paired with Steamy Summer Love Clams & Bacon

Broth and clams to die for!

Headwaters Pale Ale paired with Bacon Blues Salad & Headwaters Pale Ale dressing

Bacon, bleu cheese, and beer dressing? Nuff said.

Golden Monkey Tripel paired with Sweet and Spicy Hawaiian Pizza that was made with Golden Monkey pizza dough

Best thing? People asking to put it on the menu. Second best? Watching people scream in pain from the habanero.

Hopdevil paired with Smoky the Beer Bacon Burger Slider and & Beer Battered Onion Rings

Smoked gouda and bacon atop this slider with golden and crispy beer battered onion rings FTW

Storm King Butterbeer paired with salted caramel bacon brownies

Fudgy, gooey, smoky, and oh so caramely!

Love it or hate it, the butterbeer inspired from Harry Potter!

Other reviews of the night:

CTbites

Food Plus Beer

Latent Content

Coalhouse Pizza
Address:  85 High Ridge Road
Stamford, CT 06905
Phone:  (203) 977-7700
Site:  www.coalhousepizza.com

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/COALHOUSE-PIZZA/271838725493

$20 minimum for Stamford delivery

$40 minimum for delivery to Greenwich, Cos Cob, Darien, New Canaan, and Pound Ridge

Stamford, Connecticut to Get Its Own Foursquare Badge! #thecitythatchecksin

Some of the 51 badges Dan's holding down! Note Sexiest Man Alive badge ;)

Update:  click here to find out how to unlock the Stamford Savvy badge.  

People, especially CTbites, debate where the best place to get food in Fairfield County is.  We argued, hands down, Stamford.  Plain and simple:  Stamford.  Well, need proof?

Foursquare has picked us (we’re Stamfordites) for one of five brand new city based badges.  Yup, rolling out pretty soon, after your checkin to Casa Villa, Zaza, Napa & Co, Coalhouse Pizza, Colony Grill, Columbus Park, Madonia, or Vinny’s Backyard, you’ll get a pretty sweet badge.  There’s more places that we love, but we can’t list them all here.  But…this might help.

We don’t have details yet on how you’ll earn the badge, but it will probably be a simple location based checkin.  CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO UNLOCK!  So, keep visiting our fine city, eating our food, drinking at our bars, roaming our streets, clearing off store shelves, and making Stamford the awesome place that it is.  We’ll update this when we figure it out.

The other cities chosen are Baltimore, Maryland; Richmond, Virginia; Des Moines, Iowa; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  Go CT!  Adding these five badges will add to the additional city badges that are already out there for you to earn.

Check out the official announcement here and tell us what you think of that picture of the pizza.  It’s from a certain Zaza Gastrobar taken by a certain couple who was doing a post for CBS Connecticut for their Battle of the Brick Oven Pizzas post.  Holla!

Also check out David Klein, the awesome guy who started this by creating a list on Foursquare.  I’ve known him through checkins only, but now we’re now friends on Foursquare…aww, buds. :)

My badges.

Kristien’s badges.

What are some of your favorite badges that you’ve earned?  What will you be doing in Stamford when you check in and earn this badge?  Why is Foursquare so damn addictive?  Let us know!

Some of Kristien's 51 Foursquare badges. Note she's married to Sexiest Man Alive badge winner.

Got a Craving? Hit The Beach… Burger, That Is. Our Post for CBS CT

What’s the name of this burger that you have to try? ;)

Update:  We are both very sad to announce that Beach Burger in Norwalk has closed.  We know Anthony didn’t make the decision lightly, but hopefully we’ll see Beach Burger again.  You can still have some of those great burgers and shakes at Mr. Frosty’s in Norwalk and Stamford, though.  You’ll just need to wait until the weather gets nicer.

Awesomeness, Omnomivores!  Our September post for CBS Connecticut is out and it’s burger flippin’ amazing.  We take you through The Beach Burger menu, some great burgers and shakes to order, and why it’s the burger spot that you’ve got to hit…ASAP.  Here’s the leadin, with the rest of the article here and at the bottom of the post, too.  If you like what you read, click Like, Plus us, and/or Tweet the hell out of this bad boy.

Got a craving for some good ‘ole American beach grub? Well, then, The Beach Burger in Norwalk is your place! Opened in April 2011 by owner Anthony Luciani, also the owner of Mr. Frosty’s and Rolling Cone’s Ice Cream, The Beach Burger brings a much needed casual dining experience to Norwalk’s waterside. And, with a menu handcrafted by Food Network’s Chopped champion, Chef Marc Anthony Bynum, you can be assured that The Beach Burger is no ordinary burger joint. Featuring a wide variety of unique burgers including turkey and veggie burgers, a selection of fish dishes such as lobster rolls, fried oyster rolls and fish and chips, a handful of one-of-a-kind milkshakes, and a few sweet surprises like fried Kool-Aid, this menu has something that’s sure to please any growling belly.

On our first visit we were tempted to order several items from this mouth-watering menu, but being the “eyes bigger than the stomach” types, we settled on burgers, fries and milkshakes. Here’s a recap of our indulgences:…

Here’s the rest on CBS Connecticut!

The Beach Burger

Noms:  4.5

Cost:  $$

Address:  10 1^st Street
Norwalk, CT

Phone:  (203) 956-5767

Hours: Daily 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Hallelujah! A feast worth waiting for? Bar Rosso – Stamford, CT

Many people count down the days to, say, a vacation, or the holidays, or  a wedding, a due date, whatever. We… we countdown to restaurant openings. Yeah. So it’s no surprise that every time Bar Rosso in Stamford announced a new opening date, we were on the phone desperately trying to make reservations, only to be bummed out by another false alarm. But, hey, we know how it goes with renovations, contractors, licenses, training, and all that other craziness required to open a new place so no hard feelings. Especially no hard feelings after finally experiencing the divinity last night.

Now we only went to Bennett’s once (the restaurant that use to be in this spot), so we don’t remember exactly what it looked like, but when we walked in we were amazed at how incredibly different it looked. It is so much more open and contemporary. A much younger, hipper vibe with with a nice large bar, funky modern glass light fixtures, a beautiful stone wall, an impressive stainless steel and brick pizza oven, and subtle, clean colors.

We were 15 mins early for our reservation but the host was able to take us right to our table – a nice little two person booth and table set up. Score! Not even a minute into being seated a waiter asked us our preference on water, then no more than three minutes after that another waiter, Fedrico, was at our table asking us if we had any questions on the drink menu. The waiter seemed knowledgeable about the wine menu… impressive.  After ordering the Castello Monaci Piluna 2007 Primitivo, Federico showed up with our bottle in just another two minutes along with some fresh bread and olive oil. Yay! There’s nothing I hate more than having to wait for wine, and then having nothing to gnaw on to go with it. The wine was a nice, full bodied red, similar to a Zinfandel with the taste of dark red fruit. A solid choice to go with a variety of dishes, because after looking at the menu we knew we were going to be trying a whole lotta dishes!

So what about the menu you ask? Wait for it. Waaaaait for it. Overall, the menu was really nice! A large variety of traditional and unique Italian fare including pizzas, pasta that could be ordered in half or full portions (love that), salads, larger entrees, meat and cheese platters, and a ton of small dishes that could be mixed and matched. Oh wow, where to begin?!  After much deliberation (as alwaaaays), we went wild. First, a meat and cheese platter of some of our go-to faves: prosciutto, sopressata, coppa, peccorino (organic) and homemade mozzarella. Then onto small plates: polenta fries (based on the Foursquare recommendation), greens and cherries, and beets agrodolce (because we never say no to beets). Next up, clams and pancetta from the apps menu, cooked in a saffron and white wine, and herb broth. Aaaand last but not least (because there was also dessert) a half portion of the Bucatini pasta with braised pork, tomatoes, olives, and fava beans. Phew, ok, breath.

So remember how I was raving about how fast the service was. Um yeah, that ended after we got our wine… which is an indication that the waiter was probably good, but the kitchen was backed up. Yeah, all in, were we there for three hours. But, we’re not going to judge them on this because it was their first weekend so we have to cut them a break. Ok, back to the food…

The meat and cheese platter came out with a cheat sheet explaining everything we ordered. Cool! They did a great job sourcing the meats and cheeses because everything was fresh, tasty and flavorful. Their homemade mozzarella was semi-soft and quite tasty, though I prefer soft, juicy mozzarella. Everything also came with a delicious strawberry jam. Mmmm.

Next up, the small dishes. The beets agrodolce (meaning sour and sweet) came in a cute little mason jar. And while they were not at all sour OR sweet (weird) they were tasty. A bit too salty (you’ll notice this is a theme) but still quite good. The greens and cherries too had a nice flavor with a pretty hefty helping of garlic (I’m not complaining) and a spicy kick, which we later found out was Calabrian (Calabria represent!) chili oil. While this dish tasted nice, we couldn’t eat too much because they were drenched in too much oil. Now onto the pièce de résistance, the polenta fries. Oooey gooey bricks of buttery, fluffy polenta fried in a nice light batter with salt (again, a bit too much, but it didn’t bother us as much here). OMG, these were frickin’ good. We highly recommend them.

Already a little full, we moved onto the clams and pancetta. Hey, no rest for the wicked! A nice helping of both crispy pancetta and fresh tasting clams in what seemed to be a slightly thickened broth of white wine and a bunch of great flavors really coming through, especially the saffron and garlic. Again a bit on the salty side, but overall a nice dish.

Barely hanging in there, and already a little tipsy, we made it to the last course, the Bucatini pasta. This dish was fantastic with al dente pasta topped with a heavy helping of incredibly tender slow roasted pork that was cooked in coriander for a very unique taste. My only critique here is I would’ve liked more tomatoes, but it was very good regardless.

Ok, I know what you’re thinking. There’s noooo way we had room for dessert, right? Well, you’re right, we had absolutely no room. Buuuuut, we went for it any way. Whatever, go big or go home people! The dessert menu looked too good to resist with hot chocolate cake, honey panna cotta, like ten different gelatos that all looked fantastic, and one of our favorites, pizza frite. Oh fried dough, so simple, yet so very very delicious. This one especially as it came drenched in Nutella and chocolate ganache with a side of caramelized bananas topped with nuts. Um yeeeeah. A perfect dish, with perfectly fried dough that was oh-so ooey gooey (ok, I used that twice in one post – minus 5 points). Washed down with some Illy coffee, it was the perfect ending to our feast.

Yep, a feast that was definitely worth the wait. And once they get all the kinks worked out to speed up the service and if they lay off the salt a bit, they’ll be great! But those two issues aside, the meal was delicious and we think Bar Rosso has a long, successful life ahead!

Noms: 3.25

Cost:  $$$

Bar Rosso

Address: 24 Spring Street

Stamford, CT 06901

Phone: (203) 388-9640

Reservations recommended (also on Opentable.com)

Site: http://www.barrossoct.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001687354172

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/barrossoct