January 2021
In This Issue:
The best restaurants in Connecticut, as selected by our readers and our panel of experts.
Restaurants have been in survival mode since March. The entire industry is in flux, and that may be the only thing that isn’t changing.
The 15 Connecticut restaurants that represent the very best of the best dining in the state.
The best restaurants in Connecticut, as selected by our readers and our panel of experts.
(Source photos: Portrait by H John Voorhees III; other images courtesy of the author and via Shutterstock.com)
This & That
2021 is Connecticut Magazine’s 50th anniversary year, so throughout we will be taking a look back through our archives from each month and remembering some of the moments that have helped shaped our state.
A few years ago, I witnessed a mass killing from my porch overlooking the Five Mile River in Rowayton. I didn’t report it. But when I heard that it happened again this year, I decided to reveal, in detail, what I saw and learned on that fateful day in November:
Patricia Kelly sits at a picnic table and gazes over an expanse of barns and pastures of grazing horses, a “campus” she has built over the past 36 years for the riding group Ebony Horsewomen Inc.
Catching up on recent news, people and trends around Connecticut.
In 1895 Louis Lassen opened the steak sandwich food cart that would later become Louis’ Lunch restaurant. At the time, trolley tracks cut through the city streets and their wires webbed the air. Weaving between them were steam-powered cars and horse-drawn carriages. At the turn of the centur…
Where & When
Our top picks for events happening around the state this month.
The iron mill worker sat on the stone wall and watched as the autumn leaves tumbled off the oak trees and fell into the waters of the Saugatuck River. The bright blue sky reflected off the water and cast a hypnotizing spell on him as he dreamed of returning to his favorite fishing spot after…
Photographer Todd McLellan has been collecting old, outdated mechanical objects for many years. He was fascinated by the items and always knew he wanted to do something creative with them. One day he decided to take apart one of the objects, an old black phone, and photograph the disassemble…
On a mild Tuesday evening in November, comedian and Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson stands sheepishly holding a microphone at the bottom of a hill behind a suburban hotel. As he takes in his surroundings — a backdrop of barren trees, the back of an adjacent two-story home, the chirpin…
Home & Living
Light up your home all year with creations from these Connecticut candlemakers
There’s no denying that life has changed quite a bit over the past 10 months, and as much as we would like to, we can’t predict how things will look moving forward. After all, if there’s one thing that 2020 has taught us it’s that we need to take things one day at a time. Beyond that, well, …
In Patrick Doherty’s work as a certified financial planner with the Danbury wealth management firm Reby Advisors, more than a few clients have mulled whether to call it a career earlier than they might have otherwise as a result of the pandemic, whether by choice or loss of a job. While the …
Marney White didn’t like exercising, but she knew weight-bearing exercise was good for her. So, she set a goal to only allow herself to watch TV if she also ran or walked on the treadmill. “I didn’t start to look forward to my daily exercise until I coupled it with trash TV,” says White, a l…
Eat & Drink
Our wine expert takes a close look at three great wines available for sale here in Connecticut.
The second you taste the fried chicken, you’ll understand the hype surrounding chef April Bloomfield.
Tate Norden started the Iron & Grain Mobile Bar and Grill back in 2015. The food truck, the first in Connecticut with a liquor license, was a rebirth of sorts for Norden after his previous life in the marketing world. One of his agency’s clients was Nestle Purina, and Norden helped them …
It is hard to describe exactly what Tom M means to the Connecticut beer scene.
In March, Claude Mann was working as a cook at Bistro on Main in Manchester.
In the inspired hands of chef Billy Grant, chicken becomes a robust, flavor-filled feast. “There’s nothing better than a well-executed roasted chicken with perfect crispy skin, juicy meat, and tangy salsa verde served over creamy polenta,” says Grant, owner of Bricco Trattoria in Glastonbury…
The Last Word
Chrissy Tracey, 26, is the first vegan chef to become a cast member in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen, an online channel of the food magazine’s popular instructional recipe videos. Her parents emigrated from Jamaica 35 years ago, and Tracey grew up in Cheshire with her six siblings. Today, Tra…
