St. George Greek Orthodox Festival Returns to Norwalk Plus Pastisio Recipe

Get ready for this year’s Greek Fest from August 25-28

 

As we finally get a break from the rain and the oppressive heat, we can finally enjoy going outside again. Ready to plan it out? Well, let’s help you out a bit with a great suggestion: The St. George Greek Orthodox Festival in Norwalk! This Greek fest has been going on for about 30 years now and features an amazing variety of Greek food. We’re talking souvlaki, gyros, baklava, and more . . . plus crafts, jewelry, raffles including a 2016 BMX 320i XDrive, and rides with an$25 unlimited ride bracelets options. All proceeds go to supporting the church, too, so eat, ride, and buy to you heart’s content.

CT’s Biggest Food Truck Festival EVER, ever, ever: 1st Annual Connecticut Food Truck Festival

Set aside July 19 and 20…now…seriously…we’ll wait…

Update:  the festival organizer changed the price for tickets to $5.  Bring your ticket back on Sunday and pay only $2 admission! 

Connecticut peeps really like their food trucks.  And, on July 19 and 20 from 11-7 on both days, CT peeps are gonna fall straight up, head-over-heels in LOVE with a helluva lot of food trucks at the The Connecticut Food Truck Festival at the North Haven Fairgrounds.  Although the final details are still being worked out, there are already a few dozen trucks that have been signed up, with 40-50 expected by the time of the festival.  That brings this festival into the record books here in CT as the biggest food truck festival.  The previous record was at Westbrook Tanger Outlets with about 20 food trucks, and the recent RBS Food Truck Festival clocking in at 15.  And, the top record will soon be broken with an estimated 33 trucks at the Hamden Food Truck Festival…still not as big as the CT Food Truck Fest, though.  

SoNo Restaurant Week 2014: Classics and New Digs Like Local, Johnny Utah’s, Quartino, and Mama’s Boy

June 8-13, 2014

SoNo Restaurant Week is back from June 8-13 and this year, there’s some fresh meat (literally and metaphorically speaking) as well as some of your favorite spots to check out.  First, let’s go through the new spots like Quartino Trattoria Vineria which has taken over where Bacchus used to be, Johnny Utah’s which has taken over Black Bear and is putting a lil’ bit a country into SoNo, Sweet Lucy Lynn’s which was John Dough’s and Archie Moore’s, and Local Kitchen & Beer Bar (30 brews on tap) which is a reboot of NOLA and a sister restaurant to the Fairfield location.

2 for 1 Restaurant Openings: AZUCA and Gastro Bar Coming to Stamford

Linda Gargano (owner of building) and Mario Lopez toast outside of the new split-level restaurants: AZUCA and Gastro Bar

Update:  AZUCA and Gasto Bar will have their grand opening on Wednesday, 6/25 at 5:30.  At that time there will be a ribbon cutting and you can come on in and dine away!  

It’s not often that we get to introduce two new restaurants in Fairfield County at the same time.  That’s because both Gastro Bar and AZUCA will be sharing the same building at 74 West Park Place in Stamford.  But, don’t worry, things won’t be cramped at all with 5,000 square feet of space available.

Let’s start with the owners, Mario Lopez and his wife Cristina Ramirez who also own Bianco Rosso Wine Bar & Restaurant in Wilton.  They’re bringing their urban trendy chic vibe to Stamford with the help of Mario’s brothers Alejandro and Carlos who own the ever-popular 55 Degrees Wine Bar & Restaurant in Fairfield.  Seems to us that it’s a match in culinary heaven, huh?

Full 3 Day Recap of the 2013 Greenwich Wine and Food Festival (We’re Still Full)

Because of prior commitments, we were only able to attend the Grand Tasting at last year’s Greenwich Wine & Food Festival.  So, after having a great time at that last year, we vowed to hit up every event this year…and we did!

Thursday’s kick-off party was held at Miller Motors in Greenwich and featured wine, cocktails, finger food, and lot of goodies up for auction to help benefit the Hole in the Wall Gang.  We learned a great deal about the charity that Paul Newman founded to give children with disabilities a chance to attend a great summer camp and met some great people.

And, then there was Friday’s Grand Tasting (see our complete album with descriptions here).  This year’s event was in a bigger tent, so there was lots of room to stroll around and go from table to table.  This event was amazing and featured some of the best chefs from NY and CT including Michael William Batt from Food Design Catering, Rui Correia from Douro, Clifford Crooks from BLT Steak, Eric Gabrynowicz of Restaurant North, Bryan Gilmore of 121 Restaurant, Frederic Kieffer of l’escale, Michelle Klem of CakeSuite, Fritz Knipschildt of Chocopologie, Eric Korn of Good Life Gourmet, Tim LaBant of The Schoolhouse at Cannondale, Debra Ponzek of Aux Delices Foods, and Bill Taibe of LeFarm and The Whelk.  There was a nice variety of wine, plenty of great top shelf liquor, and even lots of sweets and coffee to wind the night down with.  We finally had the chance to meet Chris Barrett and Brianna Pennel from Steam, so that made us very happy.  And, we got to meet and talk with Raphael Palomino, owner and culinary brain behind the amazing Sonora and the newcomer to Greenwich, Bistro Latino.  We also finally had the chance to meet Graham Elliot who became part of the auction by offering up not one but two exclusive experiences at his new restaurant in Greenwich, Primary Drink & Food.

Stamford Summer Restaurant Weeks Goes Local w/ Farm Fare

Hand it to Stamford Tables and the local restaurant community to change up their popular restaurant weeks.  It’s not that they’re not working, it’s that they want to constantly make them better every single time.  Some of the great additions have been turning the experience into weeks (not just a week), Stamford Hospital’s Kids Fans’ 5-2-1-0 program that gives healthy food options for kids at participating restaurants.  We all try to be one of the first 3,000 restaurant week nom-ers because we know that we get a voucher for a small popcorn from the Avon with any movie ticket purchase.  And this year, from August 19 – September 2, a bunch of the restaurants are going local with their menu, highlighting produce from local farms.  We’re talking about Hubbard Heights Farm, Stamford Museum & Nature Center, Domus, and the Green Up Group!  Restaurants participating in the local farm food program are noted below with an  and those participating in the 5-2-1-0 program (kids 12 and under are $6.95 or $9.95 for a healthy lunch) have an *.

So, please check back as we add more 2013 Stamford Summer Restaurant Weeks menus and why not set up reservations now?  Just do it, trust us, this is a busy time of year and tables go fast.

$10.13 Lunch or $15.13 Dinner

*  Bobby Valentine’s Sports Gallery Cafe (Restaurant Week Menu)

*  Fin II Japanese Restaurant

*  Tiernan’s Bar & Restaurant

$12.13 Lunch or $20.13 Dinner

Bar Q Stamford

*  California Pizza Kitchen

*  Capriccio Cafe

*  Cotto Wine Bar (Restaurant Week Menu)

Kotobuki Japanese Restaurant (Restaurant Week Menu)

  Kujaku Japanese Restaurant

Lola’s Mexican Kitchen

*  Lucky’s Classic Burger

*  Quatto Pazzi

*  Remo’s Brick Oven Pizza

*  SBC Downtown Restaurant and Brewery

Tengda Asian Bistro (Restaurant Week Menu)

*  Volta Gelateria Creperia

$20.13 Lunch or $30.13 Dinner

Aria

*  Bar Rosso

Barcelona Wine Bar

Capital Grille (Restaurant Week Menu)

*  Columbus Park Trattoria

Emme of Capri (Restaurant Week Menu)

*  EOS Greek Cuisine (Restaurant Week Menu)

*  Hudson Grille (Restaurant Week Menu)

*  Kona Grill

Mitchell’s Fish Market (Restaurant Week Menu)

Morton’s, The Steakhouse (Dinner Only)

  napa & co. (Restaurant Week Menu)

*  Patrizia’s of Stamford (Dinner Only)

  Rodizio Grill Brazilian Steakhouse

ZAZA Italian Gastrobar

Eating and Schmoozing Our Way Through Best of the Gold Coast, 2013

Killer food (as always) from EOS!

Matt Storch of The Chelsea

Mark it down:  July 25, 2013…the day we hit up our first Best of the Gold Coast party!  It’s Moffly Media’s yearly party that celebrate the best in shopping, services, and (of course) food.  As we made our way upstairs to the Hilton Ballroom you could heard the buzz and chatter of happy and excited people.  And who should greet us as we enter?  Robin Wexler from Stamford Museum and Nature Center!  Dan said hi while Kristien was transfixed by the two celebrity goats:  Kathie Lee and Hoda.  We were thirsty for some drinks and hungry for some food, so we decided we’d hit up the outside of the ballroom after we were full.  :)

When we got into the main area we were amazed at how many restaurants and shops were inside.  There was even a side room where we got some vino from Val’s in Greenwich…that’s our go-to wine/liquor shop in the area.  Then, we let the madness begin!  It’s hard to recount everything we ordered, but Harvest had some awesome food which made us want to go back.  People were going crazy over Colony and so did we.  Ah, how we’ve missed you!  They even put some stingers on the side for you to load up your pizza with.  We talked with Conor at Half Full for a bit, he’s such an awesome guy.  We loved the food from Capital Grille which made us want to go there, dug the ribs at Dinosaur, loved the gazpacho at Ginger Man and finally met their beer dude, Andrew Hoening.  We tried Valbella’s truffle pasta and decided we’d have to go there, too!  Then we felt guilty as we saw Matt Storch from The Chelsea again.  We had promised we’d come visit him since we saw him at Blues, Views, & BBQ, but we’ve been lax in our promise.  The food that he prepared was freaking awesome.  And our last culinary stop of the night was at Marcia Selden Catering.  They did up their booth to look like it was a paint store…so creative, so wicked good.  Plus, the “Bad Ass” Red Velvet Double Candied Bacon was a trip into ecstasy.

And, there are so many other places that we didn’t even mention, too!  We have them up on our Facebook gallery, though, so check out all our pics.  It’s safe to say we had a blast and we’re really grateful to Moffly Media for inviting us.  ‘Til next year!

Opa! EOS Celebrates 5 Years w/ 4 Course Menu and Live Music! – Stamford, CT

EOS in Stamford is, without a doubt, our favorite Greek restaurant around.  We’ve had other Greek food and it’s good, but they all seem to fall short of what EOS does and does so well.  They not only have some great classics, but they also throw modern twists in to keep their cuisine and menu fresh and exciting.  It seems strange to think they’ve only been around for 5 years, but that’s what they are celebrating this coming Sunday and Monday, 7/21 and 7/22.  The party begins at 5 pm and goes until closing.  And, you know how much the people at EOS like to party!  Opa!

To sweeten the pot, they’ve created a great four course menu that will cost you a set price of just $48.  You can, of course, order from the menu, but with selections like this, why would you?

First Course

Batzaria:  red beets, goat cheese, balsamic reduction, and mint pesto

or

Garithes Karpouzofeta:  grilled shrimp, watermelon, feta, and fresh mint vinaigrette

Second Course

Salata Eos:  fresh watermelon, feta, red onion, fresh mint and lemon dressing

or

Salata Lakonia:  mixed greens, fresh figs, goat cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette

Third Course

Garithes:  broiled crab meat, stuffed shrimp with rice pilaf

or

Arni Kebab:  grilled lamb, peppers, onions, tomatoes, with lemon-zest mashed potatoes

Fourth Course

Pagota:  homemade black cherry, fig, and greek coffee ice cream trio

or

Karithopita:  walnut spiced cake with simple honey syrup

So, get on the phone at (203) 569-6250 and call them up for a reservation.  Thanks again to Nikki and Dina for coming to Pork in the Park and doing an awesome demo.  People were really impressed with how you did and had the nicest things to say.

συγχαρητήρια

(Congratulations)

EOS

490 Summer Street

Stamford, CT

Phone: (203) 569-6250

Site: http://eosgreekcuisine.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eos.greek.cuisine

Even More Variety at SoNo Restaurant Week(s) from June 3-16

We’re digging the new graphic, aren’t you?  And, with the new graphic for SoNo Restaurant Week 2013 comes new restaurants and more chances to get your prix fixe deals from Monday (6/3) to Sunday (Father’s Day, 6/16).  Again, one of the best things about restaurant weeks is how they let you try out new spots that you’ve been meaning to try.  For updates on restaurant week menus, make sure you check back with ConnecticutRestaurantWeek.com.  And, if you have any questions about the restaurants, let us know.

Well, here we go…

$9.99 Lunch:  The Brewhouse, Coromandel, Donovan’s, O’Neill’s, Papaya Thai

$14.99 Lunch:  Chocopologie, Estia, The Ginger Man, Mama’s Boy, Strada 18

$19.99 Dinner (offer not valid on 6/8 and 6/15):  The Brewhouse, Donovan’s, O’Neill’s, Papaya Thai

$29.99 Dinner:  Bacchus, Barcelona, Chocopologie, Coromandel, Estia, The Ginger Man, Mama’s Boy, Match, Nola, The Spread, Strada 18

 

The Best Warm Weather Outdoor Dining Restaurants in Fairfield County

Dan’s jotting down some notes, I’m taking the pics

Om nom nom nom hot dog nom nom nom

Updated on 5/26/15

Winter is only one season, but why does it seem so long?  Perhaps this year we can blame it on Punxsutawney Phil who promised an early end to winter, but lied?  Yeah, never trust a rodent, that’s what momma always said.

But, look, we’re beyond it all now!  The weather has turned, we’re at the start of spring, and we can actually feel the sun’s warmth.  By now, you’ve probably already lit up the BBQ and cooked up a storm.  And, you’ve probably been thinking about eating out(side) at a restaurant to enjoy the great weather.  So, we decided to put together a nice list of restaurants in the area that we like that have either al fresco (outdoor) dining or open air dining.  Perhaps you have an amazing restaurant to add that we missed?  Let us know!  Taco Bell doesn’t count, though. ;)

Enjoy the beautiful weather people…you earned it!

Bethel

Ecco rooftop bar/eatery on top of La Zingara