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!