Happy New Year, Ridgefield!

Winter in Ridgefield can be particularly beautiful. Main Street trees are strung with lights, and greens with lights in them twirl around the lanterns. On a snowy evening, I think there is nothing quite as magical-looking as this downtown. There are several very good restaurants right along Main Street and the side streets. Some of them are: Bissell House, 378 Main Street, Bailey's Backyard, 23 Bailey Avenue, Fifty Coins, 426 Main Street, Tom-Tom's of Ridgefield, 417 Main Street, The Cellar Door Bistro, 439 Main Street, Sagi restaurant on 23 Catoonah Street, The Ancient Mariner at 451 Main Street, Wild Ginger at 461 Main Street, Maru Restaurant at 470 Main Street, Terra Sole at 3 Big Shop Lane, Luc's restaurant at 3 Big Shop Lane, and Eats on Main at 449 Main Street.

So, some day or night soon, take a stroll down our lovely main street, and stop in one of the many fine restaurants Ridgefield has to offer for a delicious meal.

Happy 2013!

Some hamburger!

I think this is the first time I've ever seen a letter to the editor about a hamburger. The letter refers to Tom Tom's, at 417 Main Street (I've reviewed their bakery in this blog). The letter was in this week's Ridgefield Press (Thursday, December 6). Read it, then run right over to Tom Tom's and get yourself a delicious hamburger.

Also, this issue of the Ridgefield Press has a terrific article by Jake Kara about Bartolo restaurant,in the Business section on page 26. I've reviewed Bartolo in the previous post on this blog.

Fine dining in Ridgefield

We had a magical evening with friends last night. We had dinner at Bartolo, the new restaurant in Ridgefield's Marketplace at Copp's Hill, occupying the space that was Plate and then Cello. We're happy to report that this fine restaurant is a wonderful addition to that gourmet area of Ridgefield.

It is a lovely, very popular restaurant, serving great food, by terrifically attentive servers.

This was actually our second time dining there, and it was wonderful both times. The pastas are all homemade, and the meat and fish entrees are truly delicious.

Last night, we started with a beet salad, pictured here, a Caesar salad, salmon (also pictured here with carrots) and perhaps the moistest, most succulent roast chicken I've ever tasted (also shown here).

The dessert list sounded wonderful, but at that point we were already pretty stuffed. We had wolfed down the garlic bread brought before the  meal started (it came with a fabulous tomato dipping sauce).

So we'll just have to go back another time and enjoy a few of the yummy-sounding desserts.

We also want to try lunch some day--they are open six days (closed Sundays) for lunch and dinner.

Bartolo is a member of the Ridgefield Chamber of Commerce. The restaurant is at 103 Danbury Road, and their phone number is 203-894-8141. A reservation there will ensure that you have a wonderful meal, in a lovely setting.

Ridgefield cake bakeries, Part 1--TomTom's

About 6 years ago, there were few places in Ridgefield from which to purchase baked desserts. But I'm happy to report that we now have some wonderful stores/restaurants that sell cakes, cookies, and pies.

If you want to order a cake for a special occasion, or pick one up in a hurry, or are in the mood for a cookie or cannoli or cupcake with a cup of coffee, right behind his restaurant at 417 Main Street, down a flight of stairs, is Tom Tom's restaurant of food-to-go and bakery, owned by Tom Salemo.

The pictures on the left will give you an idea of what goodies Tom has in store for you. We've frequently seen Ridgefielders coming downstairs in the afternoon to pick up something delicious. And we've bought their wonderful cakes for our children's (and grandchildren's) birthdays.

So if you need a cake or pie for a celebration, stop by. If you just feel like a cookie and some coffee, there are tables and chairs where you can sit and enjoy a snack.

I'll be doing another post soon about Tom Tom's bagels (fabulous!) breads, and his upstairs restaurant and his sandwich cafe. All part of the same restaurant!

TomTom's is a Ridgefield Chamber of Commerce member.

His phone number, if you want to call ahead, is 203-244-5289. And check out their new website at http://www.tomtoms.net.

Yummy sandwiches!

We are always on the lookout for new and delicious places for lunch. We're in luck, in Ridgefield. There are several great places to grab a sandwich. One of them is certainly What's Cooking, located at 590 Danbury Road. It's right near the corner of Danbury Road and Rte. 7. What's Cooking has lots of different sandwich salads, pictured here.

Their chicken salad, curried chicken salad, and tuna salad are outstanding. And they have the best cole slaw I've ever tasted. It is used in their fabulous barbecue chicken sandwich (also pictured here, on a wonderful multigrain ciabatta).
Another of my favorites is the fresh carved turkey and caramelized onions sandwich (the first entry on their paper sandwich list).

They also have interesting hot entrees, which we have not tried yet.

In the summer, they have tables and chairs on the sidewalk, so we can sit outdoors and enjoy the weather.



Their phone number is 203-403-3676, so you can call in your sandwich order and pick it up.

So hop on over and enjoy a delicious sandwich today!

HOT DOG! It's Chez Lenard!

Question: What Connecticut small town Main Street has a gourmet hot dog wagon whose owner and its hot dogs have been featured on the Martha Stewart show?

Answer: Ridgefield! And the gourmet hot dog wagon is formally known as Chez Lenard, owned by Mike Principi. On his own little corner of Main Street, Mike and his staff can be seen deftly serving gourmet hot dogs to a line of hungry Ridgefielders (and out-of-towners who know where to get a tasty dog!). Some of his bestsellers are: Le hot dog Choucroute Alsacienne (with sauerkraut with caraway seeds, and French Dijon mustard) Le hot dog Garniture Suisse (Garniture Suisse is imported cheese fondue in white wine and kirsch), and Le hot dog facon Mexicaine (with prime beef chile con carne sprinkled with chopped Bermuda onion). For a full menu of the hot dogs and their exotic accompaniments, see this link: http://www.chezlenard.com/hot-dog-menu/.

My personal favorite is Le hot dog Garniture Suisse, pictured here. (There is no thing such as too much Garniture Suisse). I go for the potato roll, instead of the regular roll. The hot dog that was featured on Martha Stewart was Le Hot Dog Epicie Garniture Suisse, with spicy horseradish sauce and the delicious cheese fondue with white wine and Kirsch.

Mike has plenty of wagons, and can cater events such as bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings, graduation parties, corporate picnics, beach parties, sporting events, block parties, antique shows, and more! So, either hop on over to Main Street for a tasty dog, or hire him to serve up his uniquely delicious hot dogs at your next event! Yum!

Note: today is Ridgefield's Summerfest. We'll be downtown on Main Street and Bailey Avenue, sampling some good food. You can catch Chez Lenard down there today. See you there!

Chez Lenard is a member of the Ridgefield Chamber of Commerce.

Fabulous Food, Generous Drinks, Reasonable Prices

How's that for a headline? It should draw anyone in, correct? Well, it already does. I'm talking about The Little Pub, at the corner of Rtes. 7 and 102 in Ridgefield. Inside the stucco-and-beam exterior is a warm, friendly restaurant and bar. There is also a large terrace for outdoor dining, insulated in winter and open in the summer.It's a very popular restaurant, any day of the week, and one taste of the food will tell you why.

The meals are universally terrific, and the prices are reasonable enough that you can take the whole family out for dinner there. A LOT of people I know go for the big, juicy burgers with fabulous crisp fries (and equally delicious sweet potato fries). I'm not a burger person, so my favorites so far are either the chicken quesadilla with wonderful cilantro-lime sour cream, the crab cakes with remoulade, thai-curry, and garlic aioli sauces (both of these are small plates, but plenty enough food for me for dinner), or the springtime turkey wrap with avocado, tomatoes, jack cheese, bacon, and apricot-orange marmalade. There is also an interesting Specials menu from which I've had several good entrees.

Last night, I had the crab cakes, my husband and a friend both had the steakhouse bacon and cheeseburgers with caramelized onions and steakhouse mayo (one had coleslaw, the other had sweet potato fries), and our other friend had the french onion burger with the sweet potato fries. They're all pictured here.

One of our party had a ginger beer called Crabbies Ginger Beer, which he pronounced excellent! I had a glass of very good, light pinot grigio, and the other couple had sodas.

I have yet to sample from the tempting dessert menu, but plan on doing that really soon!

One extra nice note: the staff of this restaurant is so gracious and accommodating, they really make dinner there a happy occasion.

Here's a link to their web site, for further information:
http://www.littlepub.com

The Little Pub is a Ridgefield Chamber of Commerce member.

Puttin' on the Dog, or Raspberries: The Mother Lode

Ridgefield has a wonderful dog park, with lots of space to roam, benches under shady trees, a little dogs side and a big dogs side, and faucets for fresh water. My little cairn terrier loves going there. Usually, I go for him—I like to see him happily walking around, sniffing, and making friends with the other dogs. But come mid-July, I'm not going there for the dog. I go there to pick raspberries from the bushes that line the right side of the park, just over the fence. I look forward to this time every year, and, armed with plastic containers I climb through the bristly branches and pick as many raspberries as I can. The bushes are full of the dark red, luscious fruit. I believe no one sprays around there, because of the dogs, so I feel safe about picking them. The one real worry, of course, is getting ticks. So I pull my hair back, use insect spray, and cover myself with clothing as much as possible. Then I jump in the shower as soon as I get home. Not worth it, you say? Look at these raspberries, and the yummy raspberry muffins I made with them! Next time, I'm doing them with a streusel topping. Here's a recipe for moist, sweet muffins with streusel topping:

Streusel topping: 2 tbsp softened butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
Mix ingredients together, and set aside.

Muffin batter:
1 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup apple sauce
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups of raspberries


Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit
For the muffin batter:
Mix the sugar, egg, milk and butter.
Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add in the raspberries.
Pour the batter into greased muffin tins, about 2/3 full. Add the topping mixture to each one. Bake until the muffins are golden (about 15 to 20 minutes).

This recipe is adapted from a recipe I found on line at http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,194,148163-247206,00.html

Salad Days

It looks like it’s going to be at least 90 degrees for the next few days. In this weather, I’m not hankering for rich, heavy, meat-filled meals. Rather, my thoughts turn to salads, and lighter foods. Luckily, we have a couple of fabulous organic markets with tempting arrays of fresh organic fruits and vegetables right in town. They are: Nature's Temptations (a member of the Ridgefield Chamber of Commerce) (32 Prospect Street, Ridgefield—203-438-5443, http://naturestemptations.com/) and Ridgefield Organics & Specialty Market (109 Danbury Road, Ridgefield—203-894-8102, http://ez-landingpage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46:welcome-to-ridgefield-organic-a-specialty-market).

Ridgefield Organics & Specialty Market is in The Marketplace at Copps Hill. They have lovely, juicy tomatoes, and arugula to die for. A salad of arugula, radicchio, and endive, with a light lemon vinaigrette will be a feature on my table every day. And a fruit salad composed of their mangos, canteloupe, grapes, and honeydew melon will be the perfect finish to any meal.

Here’s a terrific salad recipe, using ingredients from Ridgefield Organics, combining vegetables (avocado and onion), and fruit (mango and lime juice). This is with a shout out to my friend, Ann, who served this delicious dish at a summer dinner.





Mango and Avocado Salad:
2 avocados diced
2 mangos, diced
1–2 limes (need 2 tablespoons of juice)
½ red onion thinly sliced
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste

Place in bowl, toss, serve. Do not make too far ahead, as avocado tends to discolor.

Natures Temptations has a deli counter full of delicious, healthful salads. My particular favorites are the quinoa salad, faro salad, beet salad, and roasted tofu salad. They have lots of other yummy healthful prepared foods, and also an impressive array of organic fruits and vegetables.

If they don’t happen to have the quinoa salad, below is a great recipe for making your own version. Quinoa is actually a seed, but it looks like couscous. It is high in protein, and is a great source of fiber, phosphorus, iron, and magnesium. It’s also gluten-free (I’m going to do a post very soon on all the restaurants and food markets in the area that have gluten-free dishes). At Natures Temptations, you can bag your own quinoa, in whatever amount you prefer, from their handy dispensers. Without further ado, here is the quinoa salad recipe (with a big shout out to my sister, from whom I got this recipe):

Quinoa Salad:
Ingredients: 2 cups quinoa, rinsed well
3 ½ cups water
1 cup chopped parsley
1 pound plum tomatoes, seeded, diced small
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 small cloves garlic, minced (1 ½ teaspoons)
1 ½ tablespoons minced fresh mint
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Place the quinoa into a fine-mesh colander, and rinse under cold running water. Drain well.

Place quinoa and water in a saucepan and cover. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, until quinoa is tender and liquid is absorbed. Fluff the quinoa with a fork, and spread the grains out evenly on a plate (I use a cookie sheet) and chill completely before mixing with the remaining ingredients.

Combine the cooked quinoa, parsley, tomatoes, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and mint. Season with salt and pepper.

If you have this in your fridge overnight, and the flavor is not as intense the next day, I find adding a little more lemon juice, salt, and pepper brings it right back.

Do you have a favorite warm weather salad dish, or favorite salad ingredients from one of our local markets? Please feel free to add to this blog!

Ridgefield—I love it here

My husband and I moved to Ridgefield 5 years ago, and have felt as though we are on vacation ever since. As music lovers, we've enjoyed the Ridgefield Symphony, the concerts at Keeler Tavern, summer evenings at the CHIRP concerts in Ballard Park, musical services at Temple Shearith Israel on Friday nights, and many other programs. As an artist, I've gotten inspiration walking through shows at the Ridgefield Guild of Artists and the Aldrich Museum. And nothing can rival the scenery in Ridgefield—our quaint New England Main Street, the parks, the rolling hills, the trails, and the lakes.

Chief among our favorite activities have been tasting the delicious food at the local restaurants and enjoying meals cooked with ingredients from the local food shops. I often find myself thinking "I wish I could tell everyone how wonderful the food is here". So that's what this blog is about. It's a celebration of Ridgefield and its restaurants and food shops. I hope to add some recipes for meals made with local ingredients from time to time.

If you live in Ridgefield—lucky you! If you're visiting, or plan to visit, please make sure to stop at one of our fine restaurants for a truly memorable meal. Enjoy!