Adorably delicious brunch with Alex from Sunday Diners! Volta, Stamford

If you haven’t been following the exciting eating adventures of Alex from Sunday Diners, you’re seriously missing out. Oh, did we mention that he’s just 10 years old?  Yep! He and his dad, James, hit up Connecticut diners and breakfast spots and write about the food, the people,  the experience, and, oh, the bathrooms…but more on that later. Always a fun read, we love seeing where “the boys” (James is a kid at heart) have gone. And, lucky ducky us got to sit in on one of their dining extravanganzas at Volta in Stamford with mom / wife Ann who runs the increasingly popular Fairfieldista. Here’s our adventure…and here’s his on Sunday Diners.

BOW BEFORE ALEX, HOLDER OF BACON!

We got settled in to our table and enjoyed some nice Sunday morning conversation about the weather, places we’ve traveled, and restaurants we want to try. But soon we moved on from  the small talk and got down to the real business of the day: getting our grub on with some delicious crepes! For Alex, ordering was easy:  the Nutella crepe.   He had already been drinking up a healthy and freshly made juice concoction of carrots, apple, and ginger.  How cool is Alex drinking all his fruits and veggies…a 10 year old food blogger who is more adventurous with food than most adults.   He took out his notepad in preparation for the food arriving, then took a quick look around as if he was looking for something.   For Alex, his Dad explained, it’s not all about the food… it’s also about the bathroom! You’ll learn why soon.

Prost! Landmark Biergarten at Station Eats to open in Stamford

Rendering of the Landmark Biergarten at Station Eats Stamford

Zicke, Zacke, Zicke, Zacke, Hoi, Hoi, Hoi!

Yeah, you’ll be singing lots of songs in German pretty soon.  Odes to the Oktoberfest gods, if you will.  And, you’ll be singing your heart out from the beautiful, newly renovated patio at Station Eats in Stamford.  The patio has been reimagined and redesigned and will forever henceforth be known as the Landmark Biergarten at Station Eats.  We got in touch with one of the owners, Nick Type, and he told us more about the Biergarten, opening half way through May:

Kristien’s classic burger at Station Eats, all loaded and ready to go

“It will offer a line of rotating draft craft beers, wines, sparkling wines and our house made (fresh / no mixes) station margarita (14oz – $6.00). Beer prices will be very reasonable. We will have buxom gals and hunky lads serving out there and the occasional live music act. The biergarten menu will be an extension of our current menu and include items such as bier braised brats, house made bacon sauerkraut on pretzel rolls. Complimentary warm station kettle chips made to order will greet every patron.”

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

Oo La La on the Ambiance, Meh Breakfast. Cafe Oo La La- Stamford, CT

Last week when I was on a *minor* shopping spree for home decor, I happened past Cafe Oo La La in the Ridgeway Shopping Center on Summer Street. A cute little cafe with glass doors that open up to the sidewalk. Cafe tables and chairs spread about. A beautiful, long case with salads, sandwiches, baked goods, and yummy looking gelato on display. Modern, but quaint decor. A nice menu written on chalkboards for that authentic touch. The perfect setting for a lazy weekend breakfast or a nice little lunch date with friends, coworkers or your significant other.

After seeing how adorable the place was and reading some positive reviews online, we were really excited to go there Saturday morning for breakfast and to catch up on weeks of blog posts with their free WiFi! (bad bloggers, bad.) We found a table next to the holy grail, an outlet! For a cafe with free WiFi, they certainly are cheap on the outlets with only one. But, it’s not about that after all, right?

I walked up to the counter to browse the menu and placed my order. I asked the young woman behind the counter what came with the omelettes, to which she replied bread. I asked if you can order a side of potatoes, which I had to repeat 3 times because she didn’t understand English well. Finally a young man came by and answered my question. Yes, it does come with potatoes. I then asked her what comes with the eggs any style. Nothing she says. I said nothing? Nope. Can I get it with potatoes? No. Ok, what can I get it with? Nothing. Ummm ok. Her male colleague comes back and informs me I can get them with anything I would like. So, I suppose they don’t train their employees very well and that is a huge pet peeve of mine. Luckily, however, when they brought our plates out the order was correct so they earned some points back.

The meal looked very good. I ordered the Greek omelette with multi-grain toast, Danny had his favorite, the farmer’s omelette also with multi-grain toast and we shared some bacon. The highlight of the meal was the bacon. It was nice and crispy, cooked just how we like it. The highlights pretty much end there. The multi-grain toast was tough and definitely not fresh baked. Plus, they gave us ice cold butter that was solid, I know that’s such a silly thing but it’s another little pet peeve. When you give butter for bread, it needs to be softened. The potatoes were cooked well, but boring and bland. It was like they took frozen hash browns, threw them on a skillet, pressed them down with a turner and slapped them on a plate. The coffee was very weak and watery, blah! I couldn’t even finish it. And lastly, but not leastly (leastly? yeah, whatever), we have the omelettes. The ingredients did seem fresh, which is great, but the eggs weren’t fluffy and it was just very bland. The eggs almost tasted microwaved, though I’m sure they weren’t.

Overall, the meal wasn’t awful or disgusting by any means, but in the words of beloved hipsters, it was pretty “meh.” We are definitely willing to give it another shot for lunch because we have heard good things and because the ambiance is quite nice, but we wouldn’t got back for breakfast for sure.

Noms: 2.75 (but we’ll reevaluate when we go back for lunch)

Cost: $$

Cafe Oo La La 

Adress: 2325 Summer Street
Stamford, CT 06905-4525
Phone: (203) 353-3300

http://www.cafeoolala.com/ 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cafe-OoLaLa/197883960239869 

Twitter: http://twitter.com/cafeoolala 

Holy Creperia! New spot coming to Stamford–Volta Gelateria Creperia, Downtown Stamford

UPDATE:  Now open!  See our review on their awesome gelato.

When we stopped by Bar Rosso for their opening weekend, we couldn’t help but notice a nice ‘lil goodie coming next door.  Guess what?  Stamford’s getting Volta Gelateria Creperia!  So, of course when we got all excited we immediately went home and searched for more information like the good little bloggers we are. Unfortunately, their website seems to be about as “under construction” as their storefront, so it was a deadend.

So, we basically gave up on finding out any more information, until the other day when we just so happen to be eating at Capriccio Cafe (see our review)after a private tour of Zaza and noticed that Volta gelato was on the dessert menu.  So of course (again being good little food bloggers), we called over the owner to ask him about it. As suspected, they both have the same owners. Apparently, much like Capriccio, there will be outdoor seating, with room for about 50 people.  On the menu? Yep, you guessed it gelato and crepes, but it doesn’t stop there. They’ll also serve wine and beer along with lighter cafe fare like salads and sandwiches with a French twist.  This will be a nice little place to hang out and a good change up from the normal kind of pub and Italian dense restaurants in Downtown Stamford.

We were told that they’d be open in about two weeks, but after looking at the outside and the construction going on, we’d have to say more like a two months, but I guess we’ll see.  We’re excited to try out the gelato and get our crepe on.  They’ll be open for lunch, dinner, and-wait for it-brunch.  Boo yah.  We all need more brunch spots.

Stay tuned for updates our beloved Omnomivores!

Volta Gelateria Creperia

Address:  30 Spring Street

Stamford, CT 06901

Phone:  203-883-8841

Website: http://volta.us/