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Food in New England Editor's Favorites Connecticut

Connecticut Is Home to Food Festivals, Wine Trails, Other Dining Delights

People who are traveling have to face a certain question several times a day: Where can we get some good food? How do we find a restaurant? From seacoast to mountains, New England is blessed with wonderful, fresh, regional cooking and skilled chefs to bring it to life. Food tourism includes more than simply sitting down and dining. Connecticut has wonderful food festivals and winery tours, seasonal delights like pick-your-own orchards, and craftsmen creating artisan-quality foods in small, family operations. Below are some ideas; keep checking back for frequent updates.

American Cuisine, Executed With Fine Taste

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The Woodward House , on the Green in Bethlehem, invites guests to a dinning experience in American cuisine. The dinner menu features such inspired dishes as roasted butternut squash tortellaci, Colorado rack of lamb, profiteroles with a chocolate espresso ice cream served with a espresso carmel and kahlua sauce. There is have an extensive wine list with vintages from California, France, Australia, Italy, and Spain. A handsome saltbox built in 1740, today’s Woodward House encompasses four unique dining rooms, each adorned with artwork by renowned contemporary artists. Subtle lighting sets inviting ambiance for any occasion. The paintings on the restaurant’s walls are echoed in the chef's artistic presentation of his food on a variety of white china. Phone: 203-266-6902

American Icon Born Here

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One day in the year 1900 a man dashed into a small New Haven luncheonette and asked for a quick meal that he could eat on the run. Louis Lassen, the establishment's owner, hurriedly inserted a broiled beef patty between two slices of bread and sent the customer on his way, so the story goes, with America's first hamburger. The tiny eatery was Louis' Lunch. Today, Louis's grandson, Ken, carries on the family tradition: hamburgers that have changed little from their historic prototype are still the specialty of the house. Each one is made from beef ground fresh each day, broiled vertically in the original cast iron grill and served between two slices of toast. Cheese, tomato and onion are the only acceptable garnish -- no true connoisseur would consider corrupting the classic taste with mustard or ketchup, according to Louis’s tradition. Phone: 203-562-5507.

Arcadia Offers Lots of
Off-the-Beaten Path Entertainment

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Arcadia Café in Old Greenwich can hook you up any day of the week with hearty café fare like Irish oatmeal, quiche, Ploughman’s or Shepherd’s lunch, a charcuterie plate, and esoteric coffees trailing names from almost every continent on the planet. That’s the basic stuff. Arcadia also offers a wide variety of entertainment for every taste. Get involved and get interesting. Phone: 203-637-8766.

Barbecued Bliss

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Fans of barbecue will find something close to Nirvana at The Cookhouse on Danbury Road in New Milford. You know you are in a place of inspired use of pork and spices from when you see the featured appetizer, the BBQ Sundae, which is a Mason jar loaded with pulled pork, baked beans, creamy coleslaw, a dollop of BBQ sauce and a pickle spear. (And finished with the slogan “May inspire world Peace.”) The best of the menu brims with pulled pork, fried okra, nachos, skins, chili, ribs, brisket, meatloaf … it is a heavy business just to absorb the descriptions. So belly up to the checkered tablecloth and wade deep into barbecued bliss. Open daily, year round. Phone: 860-355-4111

Best Brunches Anywhere

Brunch on the weekends is a pleasure that is accessible to just about everyone. And it is always fine to go out and be waited on. Here is a sampling of some of the best brunches to be found in Connecticut. The readers of Connecticut Magazine have voted Water’s Edge Resort & Spa in Westbrook The Best Sunday Brunch Statewide. Hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., offering a wide range of options for early and late-later risers. Seasonal fruits, Belgian waffles and French crepes, imported and domestic cheeses, even a raw bar. And the water view is grand (860-399-5901. We love the idea that pancakes are made to order, while you watch, with the fillings that you choose, at the champagne brunch buffet at the Silvermine Tavern in Norwalk. Traditional fill-‘em-up dishes like eggs Benedict, corned beef hash, cheese blintzes, smoked salmon, and honeybuns will keep you fueled well into the evening (203 847-4558). Somebody had to think about the well-being of our hearts and waistlines, and that somebody is the Pond House Café in West Hartford, with its Healthy Brunch. But healthy does not mean dull. Among the brunch offering at Pond House are the breakfast quesadilla, vegetarian burrito, Greek salad and French toast consisting of Anise raisin bread filled with apple ricotta cheese mixture and topped with a brown sugar ginger sauce. Wow (860-231-8823).

Colonial Home Makes Way for This Cozy Tavern

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Once a 1850 Colonial home located off the beaten track, the G.W. Tavern on 20 Bee Brook Road in Washington Depot is now a tavern offering summer and autumn dining on a flagstone patio overlooking the Shepaug River. (For cooler nights, the Tavern has a floor-to-ceiling fieldstone fireplace, surrounded by hand painted murals of the old town and farms.) The menu contains a blend of the traditional and the contemporary, purchased from local purveyors whenever possible. Recent food items have included everything from Kobe beef to locally raised venison, quail, and duck. As the weather warms and seasons change, the menu reflects the wide range of local crops and seafood. Shad roe and soft-shell crabs will be available as well as wonderful swordfish from the Grand Banks. Game and fowl are served throughout the winter. Phone: 860-868-6633.

Cupcakes on Wheels and Food on Foot

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Join food expert Stephen Fries on a Culinary Walking Tour of Downtown New Haven that encompasses some fine and legendary New Haven eateries, like Bar on Crown Street, the Cupcake Truck, Louis' Lunch on Crown Street, Union League Café on Chapel Street, Villarina's Pasta Gifts and More on Chapel Street, Willoughby's Coffee & Tea, and York Street Noodle House on York Street. The tour departs from the Davenport's at the Top of the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale, 155 Temple Street, at 1:30 p.m., rain or shine, on June 13, July 18, August 15, and September 26. Fries writes a food column for the New Haven Register and has produced and hosted many academic and culinary events such as The New Haven Iron Chef Competition Cost: $59. Phone: 203-777-8550 or 800-332-7829.

Much More Fun Than a Supermarket

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“Eat local” has become the mantra for food purists, spawning new categories of peculiarly American diets: the hundred-mile diet, the slow-foods diet, the localvore diet. But if you buy your food from local markets like the Litchfield Hills Farm-Fresh Outdoor Market, not only do you revitalize a community of farmers, butchers, foragers, and cheese makers, avoid foods that contribute to obesity, and save on carbon emissions; but you will find that the peach or tomato in your hand tastes better too. Location: Center School, 125 West Street. Time: Saturdays from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.; June 13 through October 10, 2009. Information: 860-567-8302. Click here for a full listing of farmers’ markets in Connecticut.

Stylish Escape With Endless Possibilities

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South Port Brewing Company’s Restaurant & Brewery have offered culinary excellence and brewing expertise to Connecticut visitors for 11 years. SPB’s owners say the restaurants, in Branford, Stamford, Southport, Milford and Hamden, are more than restaurants; they try to serve guests as a friendly neighbor with guests’ comfort in mind or “a stylish escape with endless possibilities.” SBC’s 27 home-brews are processed with the finest natural ingredients meant to satisfy everyone from the casual taster to the sophisticated connoisseur. Sampling is encouraged. Phone: 203-256-2336.