Community Plates Looking for Food Runners; One Night Only Fundraiser at The Spread

Community Plates, a non-profit run by volunteers, is looking for more food runners to help them accomplish their food rescue mission. And, with more places than ever that are sharing their food for pickup, it’s more vital than ever to join the able corp of food runners. There are over 300 food runners in Fairfield County alone, but they are hoping to add at least 50 by the end of this month. With your help you can boost these numbers even more: 8 million meals saved, equal to 12 million pounds! New members who are doing their runs can post a pic using #bgooddoesgood and b.good will give you a free meal in return. 

Entrée Nous Restaurant Guide Launch Party to Benefit Community Plates

Photo Caption: From left, Mica DeSantis, Aline Weiller, Artisan’s Executive Chef Frederic Kieffer and Elizabeth Menke gear up for the launch party for Entrée Nous, LLC and its first restaurant guide (Fairfield County edition). Photo Credit: Andrew Dominick

Entrée Nous (trans. Amongst Us) is a brand new book that was written by Elizabeth Menke and Aline Weiller. This book will soon become your handy-dandy guide to 12 of the best Fairfield County hot spots and we can’t wait to get our own copy. Restaurants that are focused on for this dining guide include The Spread, Barcelona, Café Chocopologie, Elm, Artisan, Kawa Ni, The Little Pub, Martel, J House Restaurant, Cotto, The Goose, and Bernard’s/Sarah’s Wine Bar.

Noms, Craft Cocktails + Dessert Cafe @ Food for All 2015 to Benefit Community Plates

Save the date, fellow foodophiles: May 7 from 6-9 pm at The Loading Dock in Stamford.

That’s when Food for All goes down and this year is destined to be even more amazing than the previous years with not only an amazing assortment of new restaurants, and great cocktails being mixed up, but there will also be a Dessert Cafe to sweeten the deal. Tickets are $75 per person or cost $60 if you buy six or more tickets.

Cask Republic Hosting Ignite Stamford w/ 8 Speakers ft. Tom Hauser, Linda Kavanagh, and More

Update: register for your free tickets here. Only 48 left as of 9:49 on 1/28.

Think about this word: ignite. It describes a word that shows something that goes from one form to another, something that is transformed by fire and soon engulfed in flames. Now, while Ignite Stamford won’t be lighting anyone or anything on fire at Cask Republic starting at 7:30 on 2/4, there’s still lots of other things going on like the fire of inspiration, the flames of passion.

Damn son, that’s some crazy symbolism, right? We got more, but we gonna get down to things now. For the first time ever, Ignite is taking place at Cask Republic, one of the busiest and most popular restaurants in Downtown Stamford and a favorite of OmNomCT and Ignite. On that night, 8 people will talk about topics for 5 minutes with 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds. It’s tougher than it seems, believe us.

Craft 260 to Host Beer Fest w/ 11 CT Breweries to Benefit Community Plates – Fairfield, CT

Two Roads, Back East, Overshores, Black Hog, Stony Creek, Old Burnside, Thomas Hooker, Charter Oak, New England Brewing, Relic, Aspetuck Brew Lab (brewery in the works).

These local CT breweries have come together for Craft 260‘s first ever Beer Fest. The beer begins flowing at 1 pm on Sunday, November 2 up until 4 pm right in the Craft 260 parking lot. Oh, and speaking of beer, it’ll be unlimited drinking from start to finish with just a simple donation. Tover and the crew at Craft 260 are asking for at least a $15 donation that goes directly to Community Plates, the Norwalk based volunteer-driven organization who rescues food for those in need. Your donation gets you a bracelet and that bracelet gets you as many refills as you gosh darn please until 4. 

Chowdafest VII 2014: Recap, Winners, Results + Our Faves at Calf Pasture Beach

Click through to see a full album of competitors, soups, and other good stuff!

This past Sunday just might have been the perfect fall day. The air was crisp (but not too cold), the sun was shining bright, and the leaves had just started to flame into color. Oh, and it just so happened to be the day when Chowdafest scuttled down by the water at Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk. The same Chowdafest that started off at a church, then at a school, quickly grew to Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, then grew so big this past February that they needed to expand to an even bigger venue…and that takes us Chowdafest VII!

New Restaurants, Craft Cocktails, VIP Party @ 4th Annual Food for All Fundraiser for Community Plates

It’s no coincidence that Community Plates‘ annual fundraiser is called Food for All because that’s exactly their goal:  food for all people.  While we have written about them many times on our blog, we’ve done a few runs, we guest bartended at Bistro 7 in Wilton to help raise some vital funds, and also helped to organize a fundraiser at Coalhouse Pizza with Gerard, the need to help out and eradicate hunger in Fairfield County and beyond still remains.  That’s why they’ve organized the 2014 Food for All event, happening this year on 10/2 at the Darien Community Association.

Helping make things awesome this year at the VIP Reception featuring light bites and a cocktail party from 6-7 ($100 and includes the Main Event) is the always fabulous Marcia Selden Catering & Event Planning.  Then, starting at 6:30 and going until 8:30, check out the Main Event ($50) that includes some of Fairfield County’s best and newest restaurants.  Also, new this year, are killer cocktails from restaurants who embrace cocktails and house some amazing mixologists.

Here’s the info:

Craft Cocktails from Local Restaurants

Bailey’s Backyard

Cask Republic/Post 154

Match

Mama’s Boy Southern Table & Refuge

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Restaurants (as of 8/11/14):

Azuca Bistro Latino – Stamford

Back 40 Kitchen – Greenwich

Bravo – Stamford

Brick + Wood – Fairfield

Craft 260 – Fairfield

Gastro Bar – Stamford

Hana Tokyo – Fairfield

Johnny Utah’s – Norwalk

Little Barn – Westport

Little Pub – Greenwich

Local Kitchen + Beer Bar – Norwalk, Fairfield

Shearwater Organic Coffee Roasters – Trumbull

Sign of the Whale – Stamford

The Granola Bar – Westport

Walrus & Carpenter – Bridgeport

Washington Prime – Norwalk

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We hope you can make this great event that not only helps to make a huge difference in people’s lives, but is also a great time.  When we went last year, we tried so many new restaurants, had a chance to meet up with fellow writters, and had some nice moments with the chefs and owners who were there supporting Community Plates.  The goal this year is to raise at least $75,000…and, with the way people were so generous last year, we don’t think this will be a problem at all.  If you’d like to learn more about Community Plates, please check out our original post, see the “About” section below, and visit them at the Westport Farmers’ Market on 8/28 from 10-2 pm.  Also, feel free to send us any questions via e-mail.

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Event Details:

Thursday, October 2, 2014

VIP Reception + Main Event: 6-7 PM, $100

Main Event: 6:30-8:30 PM, $50

Darien Community Association

274 Middlesex Rd, Darien, CT 06820

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About Community Plates

Community Plates is committed to ending food insecurity in America.  Recognizing the problem as a matter of logistics, not a lack of food, the organization established a volunteer-driven, technology fueled method for transferring surplus food to those in need.  The simple process includes food donors (e.g., grocery stores, restaurants, caterers, bakeries and other food-service establishments), food runners (individuals who pick-up and deliver donated food) and receiving agencies (e.g., soup kitchens, pantries, etc.).  Scheduling is made easy with the web and smartphone enabled Community Plates’ GoRescue technology powered by WhenToManage, which received the 2013 Computerworld Honors Program 21^st Century Achievement Award for human services.  Since Community Plates was founded in 2011, more than 700 volunteers have rescued food that equates to 4.9 million meals to date.  Launched and headquartered in Fairfield County, CT, Community Plates also operates in New Haven, CT, Albuquerque, NM and Columbus, OH with plans to expand to four more markets in 2014.  For more information or to get involved visit:  http://communityplates.org.

Community Plates looking for bin runners @ the new Mrs. Green’s Natural Market in New Canaan

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Whether you’re vegetarian, vegan, or just want to make healthier food choices, Mrs. Green’s Natural Market is a brand new option for you in New Canaan.  Not wasting any time after their recent opening, they have joined up with the Community Plates food rescue network.  So, starting on May 19, seasoned food rescuers and newcomers will be able to set up bin runs using the GoRescue App.

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For those who are new to the mission of Community Plates (learn more from a recent blog post), it’s a network of restaurants and stores that donate food that would normally go to waste.  Food runner volunteers then sign up for a bin run, pick them up, then deliver them to a local shelter or pantry.  In the case of Mrs. Greens, runners would take the bins to either Norwalk, Darien, or Stamford, depending on the sign up.  

To become a new runner, just sign up here and join us and countless others who are taking steps to wipe out hunger in Fairfield County…and beyond.  Just check out what they’ve already accomplished in just the past three years:

They’ve rescued 4.3 million meals!

3.44 of those 4.3 million are from the Fairfield County division alone!

And, just in April of this year, food rescuers helped to provide almost 300,000 meals for people who needed food right here in Fairfield County.

Now, with Mrs. Greens in the mix, we can make those numbers even higher and lower the number of people in need of food throughout the place we call home.

The One Where We Guest Bartend at Bistro 7 to Benefit Community Plates

Literally behind the stick at Bistro 7 while guest bartending

To say that we were both nervous about guest bartending at Bistro 7 would be a gross understatement.  What if someone ordered a cocktail we had never heard of, what if we put too much vodka, gin, or rum into the shaker?  The possibilities were endless, but our fears added up a bit when we got behind the bar.  Amanda, the bartender at Bistro 7, took us through where the bottles of white were, where the reds by bottle and glass where, where the vodkas were, where the rums were, where the premium liquor was, which glasses to use for soda, water, cocktails, wine, and beer, where the water tap was, how to pour the perfect pint, how to pour a glass of wine, how to fill out order tickets, where to put dirty dishes, where to find the napkins and utensils, where to find the spoons/soup spoons/forks/knives, and how to pick up the food at the kitchen window.  Woooooh.

Que Bueno: Baro Hosts Fundraiser for Community Plates – Fairfield, CT

To celebrate their Grand Opening, Baró in Fairfield is hosting a fundraising event for Community Plates.  In a nutshell, Community Plates is a network of volunteers who rescue food from restaurants and stores, then deliver it to shelters and other places that desperately need the food.  This event is happening on February 19 from 5-9 pm and costs  just $40.  What does that get you?  A signature drink, a complimentary drink, and a plethora of their tapas and tacos.