BelgXmas Party at Overshores Brewing ft. Specials, Rarities, Giveaways + Food Trucks

Mmmmmmm, beer.

Christmas is coming a little early this year at Overshores Brewery in East Haven. Like, December 12 early. Like, 12-4 early. At that time they’ll be kicking off their BelgXmas Holiday Bash that is absolutely free for anyone to attend.

On that awesome Saturday afternoon, you’ll get a chance at checking out the brewery through some tours and listening to live music from the Brandt Taylor Band. In terms of beer, they’ll have their own brews as well as other Belgian favorites (this is CT’s only Belgian brewery by the way) on special as well as some limited edition brews.

Getdown, Chowdown, Throwdown: 2 Pairs of Tix for Blues, Views + BBQ 2015 up for Grabs!

Somehow, inexplicably, it’s almost Labor Day. And, while that does mean it’s the start of school again, it also means something great for Fairfield Countiers: it’s Blues, Views & BBQ time! Yes, the annual festival that has gotten bigger and better each year is back for some more in Westport. Like previous years, there will be plenty of places to get a bite like local restaurants or food trucks, plenty to drink with Sierra Nevada, Magic Hat, Tito’s, Beam Suntory, Newman’s Own Wines, plenty to purchase from local vendors like Tom’s Roid Rippin Hot Sauce, 8 interactive chef demos (you get to eat the food, too), the official KCBS BBQ “Cookin’ for a Cause” contest, live music, and new this year is the People’s Choice Wing Contest where the winner is decided by you. It all goes down September 5 from 11-10 and September 6 from 11-9 with entry costing $10 or $15 at the gate. If you’d like entry to see the live music portion, All Access tickets are at various price points including a deal for both days. Please note, kids 12 and under are free with a paid adult.

In depth look at that oozy gooey goodness of the sandwich. Divine.

But, wait, there’s more . . . we’ve got two pairs of All Access tix for ya. One pair for Saturday, the other pair for Sunday. All you need to do in order to enter is comment on this post or Facebook and let us know:

1. My favorite thing about Blues, Views & BBQ is _______________.
2. Which day you’d like to get tickets for.

That’s it, that easy, that simple. The contest starts now and goes until next Sunday, 8/30, until 8 pm. 

Here are more details about BV&B:

Restaurants and Food Trucks

Bobby Q’s Bodacious BBQ, Winnie’s Jerk Chicken & Fish, Blue Lemon, Melt Mobile food truck, Kettle Corn, Dave and Jerry’s Hot Dog Trolley, Rolling Cones, and Rita’s Ice.

Vendors

Sierra Nevada, Magic Hat, Tito’s Vodka, Beam Suntory, Newman’s Own Wines, Poland Spring, Stone Street Tye Dye, Velvet Orchid Hoops, R&B Teez, Bobby Q’s, Tom’s Roid Rippin Hot Sauce, Tomspice, Dash N Drizzle, Fruple.

Chef Demos

9/5

12:00 – Match – Chef Matt Storch
1:00 – Walrus + Carpenter – Chef Jon Vaast

2:00 – The Spread – Chef Carlos Baez
3:00 – Fleisher’s Craft Butchery – Emily Mingrone

9/6

12:00 – Bobby Q’s Barbeque and Grill – Tim Doherty
1:00 –  Vespa –  Chef David White
2:00 – HooDoo Brown BBQ – Cody Sperry
3:00 – Da Pietro’s Restaurant – Chef Pietro Scotti

Plenty of Contests!

Rib Eating Contest, Pie Eating Contest, and People’s Choice Wing Contest!

Family Activities

Bull riding (mechanical, not real), bouncy inflatables, face painting, and games.

Live Music! 

9/5

Relative Souls, Billy Iuso and Restless Natives, Honey Island Swamp Band, Dumpstaphunk, Anders Osborne, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Dan Stevens, Randy Brody Drum Circle, Jake Julak and the LowDown, Boogie Boys, Funky Dawgz Band, and Jim Malone and the Piney Hearts.

9/6

School of Rock, Mark Naftalin, Alexis P. Suter, Sugar Blue, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Matt Schofield, and Joe Louis Walker.

Hopping Good: Two Roads Opens Hopyard Area of Brewery; Music Series Starts Sunday

Part of the new Hopyard at Two Roads. The Shed Bar is to the right and the stage is by the wall of hops. Photo from Two Roads Brewing.

Two Roads Brewing Co. in Stratford has been a huge success since their opening. Not only have they been able to build up their own brand and brews, but they’ve helped other breweries like Stillwater and Lawson’s Finest Liquids expand their market reach by brewing in their massive brewhouse. And, they’ve not only grown in terms of popularity and market reach, but the brewery itself has been upgraded massively in so many ways. Their brewing capacity has grown immensely, they opened a very successful outdoor beer garden with their Airstream at the base serving up brews, and even opened up a beer garden at The Ballpark at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport.

Giveaway: Win Tix to the Brews + BBQ Festival at Ives Concert Park in Danbury

Read on to see how you can win a pair of tickets!

Update:  The winner of the pair of tickets is Chris Warren!  Congratulations!

Beer and BBQ are two of our favorite things and if you’re a true American, you think so too.  If you disagree, well, we think you should be deported to some far off land where there is no beer and the closest thing to BBQ is a McRib sandwich.  But, you read our blog, you think like us, and you have great taste so there won’t be any problems at all. 

So, let’s kick off spring and BBQ season in Danbury with a brand new festival put on by Townsquare Media (Kicks 105.5 andi95):  The Brews & BBQ Festival.  It’s being held at the Ives Concert Park in Danbury on May 17 from 3-10 pm.  Tickets are just $15 online or $20 at the event.  Once you have your tix, you’ll get access to the great BBQ and burgers that are up for purchase, there will be plenty of ice cold beer for you to buy and sip/down, other items to purchase, and there will be music from Cabinet and Amy Helm.  

Yeehaw! Ridgefield Gone Country BBQ Festival Spans Two Days

Oh yeah!

Dagnabbit, Ridgefield’s done and gone all country up in this here place!  Yup, yup…check out The Ridgefield Gone Country BBQ Festival on May 3 (11-9 pm) and May 4 (11-5 pm).  Entrance is $10 for adults, $5 for students 12-18, and $0 for children under 12.  Proceeds from Ridgefield Gone Country BBQ Festival go to The Ridgefield Rotary Club, who is putting on this event with the Ridgefield Community Center.  Speaking of the Ridgefield Community Center, when you arrive at 316 Main Street, be ready for some BBQ madness and to be intoxicated with the smell of burning wood and smoking pork.  Here’s what you can look forward to:

Pub Fest, Barnum Sails the Sound, + More Part of 2013 Barnum Festival in Bridgeport

Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages…welcome to the greatest…er…pub fest on Earth!  Well, er…maybe just the ladies and gents, no children wanted here at Pub Fest, part of the 2013 Barnum Festival in Bridgeport.  Started in 1949, the annual Barnum Festival has brought Bridgeport together with various events around the community.  And, part of this year’s festivities just happens to be Pub Fest.  When you buy your passport for just $20, you’ll get access to a “light” buffet (but, it’s a buffet aka pig out), discounted drinks (especially “Ringmaster Red), and free entrance to see Bill Genaurio and Destiny at the Bijou Theatre.  Pub Fest 2013 goes down on 6/7 from 5:30-8 with the live music going on from 7-11 pm.  Get your passport at any of the pubs/restaurants listed below or at Barnum Festival HQ at The Holiday Inn on 1070 Main Street in Bridgeport.

Here are all the places you’ll get entrance to:

Hey, Live Green Connecticut! Eco-friendly Festival Recycled Again in Norwalk.

After just coming back from Seattle and Portland, we were amazed at all the amazing advances they have made in terms of keeping things green and keeping things real.  Almost everywhere you went to eat you’d see bins to recycle and bins to compost.  Yes, compost!  Also, breweries give away their used up grains to local farms for the animals.  One last amazing thing that we witnessed was awesome trash compactors set up all around the food carts.  Turns out by compacting the food (btw, the utensils and packages are also compostable), garbage trucks barely need to do any pick ups.  Pretty wild stuff.

We thought how amazing Connecticut would be if we started to change our living and make great choices for the environment.  Well, the Live Green Connecticut! festival is taking place on 9/15 (10-4 pm) and 9/16  (11-4 pm) at Taylor Farm Park in Norwalk and hopes to bring changes like the ones we’ve mentioned..and more.  Admission is free, but parking your car is $5 so just make sure you bring some dinero.  (Well, you’ll want to bring mucho more dinero for all the great food and shops that will be there, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.)  So, start up the Prius and carpool with all your buds and family on down so you can figure out new ways to make Connecticut greener.

Experience the divine trinity: Amazing food, wine & music – The Fez, Stamford

We’ve walked by The Fez several times since they opened this past summer uttering the words, “We have to try that place someday.” But it always seemed that when we had the chance, we’d say, “Hmm, not sure I’m in the mood for Moroccan food.” Now we know, that was a BIG mistake.  With their large and eclectic menu of snacks, small plates, and entrees inspired by a variety of flavors across the Mediterranean, there is something absolutely fabulous for whatever mood you’re in.

So no point in writing this huge blog post to work my way up to our final verdict. Let’s just get it out there now. The Fez is officially our favorite restaurant in Stamford to date with 4.5 noms. Yep, it’s that awesome. Here are the many reasons why:

Upon entering we were immediately struck by the amazing smell of  Mediterranean spices. One quick look to the left revealed the specials of the day on a little chalkboard. Walnut and currant glazed lamb chops with mushroom gnocchi caught my eye. Wow, I’d never seen such a unique combination.  A glance over the left revealed a small bar, intimate little tables, colorful Moroccan decor, and a small stage area for their vast array of nightly entertainment. We knew right away we were in for a great experience.

I know I’ve said this before, but we had an incredibly hard time choosing what to order, to the point where we were asking each other if we were hungry enough to eat six different dishes! We expressed our indecision to our first waitress, to which she offered up the owner and resident wine expert, Eric, to help us choose the perfect dishes and the perfect accompanying wine.  Meeting Eric was a very nice experience–pleasant, passionate, and smart. He informed us that the wine list isn’t up-to-date because they can’t keep up with his thirst for discovering and purchasing new wines, especially from Lebanon and South Africa. Love it! We let him take the reins on recommending a bottle based on our taste. He popped open a California blend that I didn’t love. His response? “No problem, I want you to love the wine, and if you don’t we’ll keep trying options until you do.” The next bottle was ‘the one.’ A medium-bodied blend from Lebanon, the 2007 Reserve du Couvent by Chateau Ksara had forward fruit flavors and a slight spiciness. The perfect pairing to what we were about to enjoy.

Danny and I started off by sharing two phenomenal dishes from the “snacks” section of the menu. The caramelized cauliflower with brown butter sauce, golden raisins, and pine nuts was a delicate and flavorful fusion of French and Moroccan flavors.  I typically don’t like cauliflower, but this was perfecto! Then, we thoroughly enjoyed the Pizzet Aroub, where Italy meets the Middle East– a unique combination of soft and perfectly sweet braised onions, sumac, olive oil, and pine nuts. On to the main dishes. I HAD to order the special I mentioned earlier–walnut and currant glazed lamb chops with mushroom gnocchi. Words cannot explain how intensely delicious this dish was. Perfectly cooked lamb (just under medium), slightly sweet and oh-so savory currant sauce, glazed walnuts, and hand-made gnocchi from the Bronx with an earthy mushroom sauce was one of the most fantastic flavor combinations my taste buds have enjoyed in a long time.  Danny ordered the grilled seven spice sirloin with tomato jam and fingerling potatoes. The sirloin was also fantastically seasoned and perfectly cooked at medium-rare, and the flavorful, but not overpowering, tomato jam was the perfect complement.  We then ended with Moroccan coffee, spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom and the Briwats for dessert, which is basically an Israeli baklava but not as teeth-hurtingly sweet. It was quite delicious!

After sharing our enjoyment with our very friendly and knowledgable second waiter, Thami (who happens to actually be from Morocco), he informed us that before they even opened they had a French chef from a 4-star hotel in Dubai and a Moroccan chef working together to craft and test this perfect menu… and perfect it was.

And, to finish off this divine trinity was the entertainment. We we were lucky enough to be there on a Friday night, which is belly dancing night (as is Thursday). Around 9:00 the beautiful Moroccan music suddenly became louder, then a roar from the diners as the beautiful and smiling Adina danced her way around the tables. I was impressed by her skill level.  And she didn’t just dance up there on the stage for the world to adore her. She also came out to the tables and had a great time dancing with a few willing diners. In fact, when she saw me dancing in my seat a little (I can’t help myself), she came over and wisked me up on stage to dance with her. Of course, after eating all that food, I thought I was going to die, but it was a blast.

By the time we left we discovered that we’d been there for 2.5 hours! The time just flew by, and despite the line of people hoping to get in, they never once rushed us to leave.

Reservations are not just recommended, they are pretty much required on the weekend if you don’t want a long wait.  And be sure to check them out on the weekdays too since there’s entertainment every night, including jazz bands, turntables, and singer/songwriter night (last week they had one of Paul Simon’s guitarists playing).

So no more “not in the mood for Moroccan” excuses, The Fez is a MUST-DO for everyone!

Noms:  4.5

Cost:  $$$

 

 

The Fez

Address:  227 Summer Street

Stamford, CT 06901
Phone:  (203) 975-0479

Site:  http://thefez1.com