After some intense planning and preparation, we are ready to make the big announcement—we are hosting world-famous restaurateur Joe Bastianich for an exclusive Wine Dinner on November 12 at 6pm. Elizabeth has been working her fingers to the bone trying to make this happen [great job Elizabeth].
Joe Bastianich will be at ZINC Restaurant in New Haven, CT
So Joe Bastianich sounds familiar, right? That’s because Joe, along with his mother, Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and business partner, Mario Batali, is a key player in the food and wine revolution that transformed the red checkered tablecloths and fiasco Chianti of a prior era.
What do we have planned? We are closing the restaurant for a 4 course meal to compliment wines from the Bastianich Wine Portfolio. Both Joe Bastianich and I will be available throughout the night to answer questions and discuss the food and wine.
I am really looking forward to this—I think the event will be a great night! And it’s right in the middle of New Haven’s Restaurant Week.
Elizabeth or I will post more information as we have it, but tickets will be limited, so don’t wait too long!
Yup…it’s that time again for a big menu change! We have quite a bit going on at CHOW New Haven and ZINC with the menus! We’ve added a handful of new lunch items at ZINC and have introduced fall flavors to the dinner and dessert menus. We’ve also updated the CHOW New Haven menu to reflect the fall.
But the biggest news of all for menus are the brand new ZINC Bar Menu and CHOW Happy Hour: SIP n’ CHOW! Starting today, we are launching a bar-\only light fare menu at ZINC—see the taste bud pleasers here. Last week, we launched an entire new happy hour at CHOW—$5 wine by the glass, $3 beers and complimentary “chow” to nibble on [read each nights "chow" specials here].
The Market Menu will still be available until the middle of November–and then the Chef’s Table Tasting events will begin again soon.
Also, keep your ears open for a BIG announcement [I can't tell you yet, but it has to do with a celebrity restaurateur, lots of wine and excellent food at ZINC]. We’ll be making the announcement very soon!
Okay…if you are a tomato fan, I hope you made it to the Tomato To-mah-to Slow Food Connecticut’s Heirloom Tasting Feast on August 24. Every possible tomato you could imagine was available to try. If you missed it, here’s a video to make you cry!
I really hate to see the summer leave but I do love vegetables and products that become available this time of the year. The summer markets are in full harvest. As usual we’ve changed menu and we are smack in the middle of summer freshness. I know I am repeating myself…but this is my favorite time of the year with fresh produce! Between the corn, tomatoes, chilies and stone fruits, I can’t decide which to put where first. We have three new summer appetizers and five new entrees. There is a little something for everyone.
In the appetizers definitely try our new jumbo lump crabmeat gazpacho/ tomatillo-cucumber and avocado base gazpacho with fresh lime, heirloom tomato and crab on top.
Next we have a new salad, back by popular demand, our Urban Oaks Farm heirloom tomato salad with assorted tomatoes/our own plum vinegar reduction/great hill blue cheese/smoked sea salt.
Don’t forget k.c.’s local corn spoon bread and his own pasilla pepper bbq with cucumber noodle salad. YUM!
As for entrees, where do I start? Fish anyone. Lets start with our pacific black cod/ pan seared and served with summer truffle soft polenta and fresh corn/lemon asparagus/ truffle butter sauce.
The salmon dish is one of my favorites…fresh salmon with peach and pomegranate vinegar salsa/sweet potato mash and wilted spinach.
Our poultry change is duck, house smoked and served on top of late summer ragout of beans, and finished off with fresh figs glazed with sherry vinegar.
For meat, we have a new hanger steak, grilled and served with Vermont goat cheese butter on top and a poblano pepper tamale, heirloom tomato sauce and spinach.
As for the pork loin, it is grilled and accompanied with yellow polenta fritters, roasted beets with mustard cream and onion jam on the pork.
And don’t forget our Market Menu—we are in full swing of the summer produce. The Fall will be exciting too, so make sure you check out our fall calendar, we have a demonstration at Delia in October, Whole Foods in late September. And this week is Pilot Pen Food and Wine event. Hope you have your tickets! See you at ZINC and CHOW! Bon appetite!
One of the things I love about ZINC and CHOW New Haven are the people who work with us.
It helps when you really like the people you work with [since we spend so much time together]–and if they bring in PIE!!. I thought I’d share one example with you…
Some people say food is art. It can be–I’m not disagreeing, but why not embrace both? I definitely find that being creative in the kitchen has helped me be creative on canvas.
I’m not sure if many people know this, but I not just a Chef—I’m an artist too. I love to paint and I love to create. So after much hemming and hawing, I agreed to show some of my favorite pieces at CHOW New Haven. They are all oil on canvas and pieces that mean a lot to me.
I’ll post a video soon of me pointing out some of the pieces. So go by, take a look and let me know what you think!
In preparation for CHOW West Hartford, I am proud to announce a few updates in our ZINC kitchen. Jeff Sansone [who has been with us since we opened our doors in New Haven] has been promoted from our Sous Chef to Chef de Cuisine. And Keith Ruttan [who has been with us for almost 2 years] has been promoted to Sous Chef. [if you're not sure the difference, check wikipedia like i do!]
Anyone who has ever played sports or worked in a team environment knows how important having solid, dependable people to rely on every day. We’re even luckier because they are darn great chefs too! So I may be acting like a proud parent because I’ve watched them grow their culinary skills over the years, but I’m pretty proud to say we have two of the best chefs around.
Jeff had done a great posting awhile ago on eating humanely. If you didn’t see it then, check it out. It’s a topic we all feel strongly about at ZINC and CHOW.
So by now you must have heard that we are opening a third restaurant–CHOW West Hartford. We have a great location in Blue Back Square, right across the road from Whole Foods.
I am really enjoying all of the planning for the new restaurant. It’s neat having a clean canvas to work off of…new menu, new interior designs, new kitchen [with lots of new toys!], new logo, new website and more!
Making decisions isn’t always easy. But so far I’m really happy with everything. Have you seen the logo? We just set up a temporary website. So if you want, click here to sign up for news about the opening.
So I just got a Flip video camera so that I can start sharing some of the decision making process with you and show you the progress with construction. I’m a little worried though…video cameras and I don’t usually go together. Has anyone else crossed over to the technology side and learned how to create videos?
Let me know if you have, I can use all the help I can get when it comes to being technically savvy.
Just a quick post to remind everyone that the Market Menu [MM] officially resumes tomorrow, in tandem with CitySeed’s grand opening of the Downtown Farmer’s Market in front of City Hall.
This week’s MM highlights garlic scapes, radishes, rhubarb and strawberries. Check out the menu here.
