Plumluvfoods EP 33 CT Magazine top Restaurants of 2025 with Andrew Dominick full

On this episode we chat restaurant awards and how they happen from nominations to awards with Andrew Dominick from CT Bites and Westchester Magazine

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Coming and stalling, a world of sound. Chef Pull on
the mic, making hotspown, Jeff Jeff Wan shotguns my Son, Chef.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Dead and the Bad Found, making New beets.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Found, the song Girls of Peace they must at any night,
The conversation song, the Life and bull Meat Dishes, Street
footstal Tides, These she Spring Made, Monitude Nights.

Speaker 4 (00:36):
Shut it sound, a podcast ing a.

Speaker 5 (00:39):
Ses can't ready of me?

Speaker 4 (00:44):
Sup you off? Forge a conversation.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
So the fast say Sun on the knee, Chefe and.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
The least.

Speaker 5 (00:58):
And the rest. That's right.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
Is Happy Saturday to you.

Speaker 5 (01:02):
Hope you are enjoying getting into March here which is
fantastic here on WYICC Plumb love Foods to boy, Chef Plump,
hanging out with you as we do for the next
two hours, talking about food, talking about what we like
to eat here in the wonderful Fairfoot County and beyond.
Because you know what, Jeffy, we are broadcast is everywhere
and you can hear the show anyway you want. WYCC
dot com. You can check it out right there.

Speaker 6 (01:24):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:24):
That's what we do, the Voice of Connecticut. We get
it out though the world. No, but we think about
food here in the state, Jeffy.

Speaker 4 (01:30):
That's right, and then anywhere you can find podcasts the
following in the afternoon. That's right.

Speaker 5 (01:34):
Actually, I've changed it now. It's not the following afternoon.
Our show airs for three to five right here on
the East Coast. The podcast is available at six pm. Oh,
look at that, six pm comes out. How about that?
So I've changed up a little bit. You got a
whole system set up now for how it works. It
goes great. It just took me a little about of streamlining.
We've got a streamline now, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
Listen. That's that's what we do. We streamline things. The chefs,
we look at stuff and we figure out how to
make it happen.

Speaker 5 (01:59):
That's the whole idea here, man, that's the whole idea.
And I'll tell you what if you missed last week's show,
a lot of fun. We talked all about foie Gras
with our friends over Hudson Valley Farms with chef Lenny
Messina and Jordan go Nor. If you haven't checked it out,
I just relistened to it. That's why it's in my brain.
Great show man, it really demystified, you know, It's exactly
what I wanted this show to do to talk about
something like a floa gras that maybe not everybody people
see it, but they don't know what it is. Well,

(02:19):
guess what if you listen to that episode, it's available
everywhere ever you can podcast all that sort of stuff. Literally,
you will know exactly what to do with it when
you see it after that show, which is you know,
it's kind of the goal of this program.

Speaker 4 (02:29):
Jeffy Oh, I love it. It inspired me. I have
a tour shown right now in a in an assault
made out of cherry blossoms.

Speaker 5 (02:36):
Well, so you can't just say something like that and
not tell people to tour showing is we.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
Talked about it last week. Tune in last week. You
can't go back in time into it.

Speaker 5 (02:44):
You gotta tell us now because people are it's a
it's a salt cured fagra, salt cured flagra. There you go,
and you're gonna you're gonna slice.

Speaker 4 (02:53):
It up right, yep. So I rolled it in a
little uh uh cherry blossom powder and then took cherry
blossoms and salt and a little sugar and made a
salt sugar mix and put it in a six.

Speaker 5 (03:05):
Sounds incredible I love it. I can't wait. Hopefully I
can try it. That would be amazing. I would love
to get to try a little housekeeping before we get
to today's show. March twentieth, coming up here, very very
very soon, chef collabed Dinner series. I'm hanging out with
our good friend, Chef Proisad, very very excited to go
cook with him. I'm not sure what the ticket situation
is there. I think they're going pretty quick. I've always

(03:26):
get asked about doing food here in Connecticut, and it
was a great opportunity to do it. So Prosad and
I are going to team up. And he is I mean,
you guys don't understand how good he is. He is
such an amazing chef. He's such a talented human being.

Speaker 4 (03:37):
And yeah, I'm not a great guy.

Speaker 5 (03:39):
Yeah, And I'm just I'm truly honored to have a
chance to go cook with him man and and and
you know, explore kind of some my roots and his
roots and put together and see what happens.

Speaker 4 (03:48):
So it should be pretty fun. It's gotta be great, Yeah,
be great. I couldn't think of a better guy to
team up with and cook with here in Connecticut. No
doubt about it.

Speaker 5 (03:54):
You can check it out at Chef Prosad on Instagram.
I'll post up on Instagram as well. It's happened down
in New Canaan Thursday, March twentieth, a whole bunch of
it's I think tickets like one hundred and I don't
know what they are, one hundred and twenty hundred fifty
do Remember it's not it's a great deal because you
get the dinner and it's a whole bunch of pass appetizers,
a bunch of courses, and then anything you want to
drink from the bar, anything is all included. Whatever you want,

(04:16):
it's all there. So it's literally I mean, listen, the
big man here, Jeffy, that's that's singing his song.

Speaker 4 (04:21):
That's what he wants. Oh, I mean listen, all I
can drink and all that food together is gonna keep
me from you know.

Speaker 5 (04:29):
Good times, good stories and listen, prison nine might arm wrestle.
I'm just saying, if we do that and we're gonna
put it, there's gonna be money.

Speaker 4 (04:35):
On the table.

Speaker 5 (04:36):
I'm just you should probably know who to bet on.
So I'm giving the heads up right now. That's all
I'm saying, JEFFI.

Speaker 4 (04:40):
Yeah, check chef underscore plumbs stories recently. You see the
suns out, guns out in some of the videos, you
would know, you would know we got to watch out
for see. You don't want to arm wrestle with this beast.

Speaker 5 (04:51):
We're working hard, Jeffy, We're working hard. But this episode
of the program, I'm very excited about this one. Connecticut
Magazine's annual Top Places in Connecticut has come out. We
are very excited to chat and talk about that. I've
been on that committee a lot to uh, you know,
you know, put some of those nominations out there and
get some places recognized. I was not a part of
this year, just the way things worked, but we figured,

(05:14):
you know, if we're gonna do something like that and
talk about this and have you know, the Connecticut magazine,
you know, best of the best come out, we should
get our best of the best to come out. You
know what I'm saying, right, and that has a double
double toronto double meaning there best of the best fantastic
martial arts movie and our best of the best is
our good friend from Westchestern Magazine and CT Bites saises

(05:36):
and gentlemen. Uh, the absolute best of the best, one
of the greatest humans you're ever going to be on
the planet, with the nicest guys on the planet, and
one of the smartest food humans on the planet that's
hanging out with us here in the state right now
to help us decipher this list and talk about how
this list happens. Ladies, please welcome, good brother Andrew Dominich
of the program.

Speaker 6 (05:54):
Is hard to going.

Speaker 5 (05:57):
Much better now that you're here, my friend. We're excited
to have the has to talk to you about this stuff, man,
and be honest with you. These lists I feel like
come out, but this is one that people really look
forward to.

Speaker 6 (06:07):
Yeah, man, you know it's a good list. I can't
even tell you how many that I've been a part
of so far, as far as like the voting process
is concerned, right, but you know, you and I were
kind of talking off their a little bit about the
process and what goes into it and how it might
differ from some of the other award shows or you know,

(06:28):
accolades that people can get in Connecticut. I don't even
remember how I even got approach. If I'm being perfectly honest,
I just I've been doing my job for a very
long time, and I'm hesitant to even call it a job.
Sometimes i feel like I'm just having fun for a
living and getting to know people. But I got an
email years and years ago from the editor in chief

(06:51):
of Connecticut Magazine who is now the ex editor in
chief Albion. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about.

Speaker 4 (06:57):
Course, and.

Speaker 6 (06:59):
It's basically like, you get this email, there's a link,
you follow it, and it's and it's always gets it
gets sent to like the best of the best, and
I'm like, I'm not even just quoting what you said earlier.
It's just, you know, I feel like it's people that
mostly like travel around the state.

Speaker 4 (07:19):
Yeah, do this for a living, much like I do.

Speaker 6 (07:22):
They're either journalists or some of them are influencers. And
hesitant to use that term with some of them because
I think some of them are a little bit better
than that.

Speaker 4 (07:30):
Okay, I like journalists better.

Speaker 6 (07:33):
I like journalists better too, So like you'll have people
like myself, James Gribbin, You'll have Mike Urban who's based
in like New Haven and he's written a bunch of books,
and you just have people that are sort of in
the know, and you've done a few of the write
ups like for some of these, and I remember seeing that,
and for sure that Stephanie Webster, who's who is my

(07:55):
boss lady and the founder of CT Bites, like she
usually has a lot to do with that as well,
at least making picks and sometimes writing. But I tend
to take my time with that list to be honest
with you, Like it gets said to me, I think
about it. I think about the places that I've been.
I think about the chefs that I've spoken to, the

(08:16):
food that I've eaten, and the places that I keep going.

Speaker 5 (08:19):
Back to, Right, I think that's keep That's the key thing,
the places you keep going back to. And so I've
been a part of this list several times as well,
you know, through doing restaurant road trip and the things
we do at the Lift Up restaurants and shows like
this to feature amazing chefs and amazing food here in
our state. Like you know, I feel like we what
I like about this list compared to some of the
other awards, and you kind of touched on it here

(08:39):
was you have people who are a part of this,
who are a part of it for the right reasons.
They're part of it because they should be a part
of it. They're a part of it because they travel,
they see different chefs, they taste different food, not just
in their hometown or not just in their county even,
but all across the state and try different things and
taste different things. And I think that makes a big, big,
big difference in the uh, you know what the final

(09:00):
product that comes out in the magazine is. And listen,
I'm not gonna lie. It's an honor to be a
part of this magazine, you know, to have it in there.
It's one of the biggest magazine that still gets you know,
bought in grocery stores even in the state.

Speaker 4 (09:09):
You know.

Speaker 6 (09:10):
Plus it's also getting like the online press that you know,
Hurst owns a lot of those other publications, Connecticut Posts,
Hartford Current, I believe the our Stanford Advocate, all of those,
and so that's getting reprinted or at least put across
a bunch of different you know, newspapers online all of that.

(09:31):
So this list makes its way around to a lot
of people, and I know a lot of people that
will take that list and they will say, oh, I'm
going to be sure to go to that place. I'll
go to that place absolutely when you know, these places
get the actual write ups. That's always telling somebody something

(09:52):
about the food, the place, the chef, why they're doing
what they're doing, even if it's a short blurb. I
think that's enough to get like, you know, people that
love food hooked.

Speaker 4 (10:03):
Yeah, no question about it.

Speaker 5 (10:04):
I think that's kind of the biggest thing that I
think people see when this list comes out. There's definitely
a little bit of a bump that happens with you know,
certain business to certain restaurants in particular, when this happens,
there's a certain bump up that happens and their sales
and the you know, the clients that go into the
customers that go in there. You definitely see, you know,
a certain places can be busier. For instance, you know,
I know one of my favorite places here that I

(10:24):
go to when they were in the magazine you know,
last year or two years ago, whatever it was, they
got super busy afterwards, you know, named the place Good
Old Days.

Speaker 6 (10:33):
Oh okay, I thought that's what you're going to say.

Speaker 5 (10:35):
Yeah, sure, that's my stopping grounds. I say, it's right
up my house. So I love it and I go
there and they do a great job, and I love
Clark Newgole. He's a great human being in Sydney over there,
and just there's such a great group of people who
are there and like they do a good job with
their food man, so it's hard not to love it.

Speaker 6 (10:48):
I can honestly say, like when that place opened, I
have voted for them every single year.

Speaker 5 (10:53):
Because yeah, give me both.

Speaker 6 (10:54):
I think that place is unique in the fact that
they created something in Newtown that's a vibe all their own. Absolutely,
it's tacky decor, it's like weird stuff, VHS tapes, hip
hop like old school hip hop on the speakers, and.

Speaker 5 (11:13):
I mean creative cocktails amazing. The pizzas are fantastic.

Speaker 6 (11:15):
The barb programs I think is one of the best
in the state. And I don't think the bar program
actually gets enough credit.

Speaker 5 (11:22):
I agree with that.

Speaker 6 (11:23):
And their pizza is obviously good. Like I everyone that's
been there, like, I don't even really I can't even
I couldn't really even name a favorite pie for you,
Like I tend to always go for like the French
onion and I add bacon to it, right, but I
always have to have one of the thin and crispy
pies too, because it's such a good contrast.

Speaker 5 (11:44):
Yeah, they just do a good job and you can
get and you can even get the thicker pies done
thin and crispy like that. They'll just do whatever. Their
specials are always fantastic. It's a great place. I'm not
trying to come on here and make this entire show
about Good Old Days pizza, but it really is, like
when you find a place.

Speaker 4 (11:57):
Like that that you love.

Speaker 5 (11:59):
I mean, I go there one a week at minimum.
You know, my wife and I go and hang outside
at my house. We go there, we have drinks. They
will make my wife whatever she even sund on the menu.
They'll make her like her drink that she likes, you know,
and like you know, they'll make me whatever I want
and they'll you know, I'll make them open a fresh
bottle of wine for me so I'm not drinking and
stuff that was opened up two days ago, so you know,
but they'll do it and it's fine. You know, it's fine,

(12:19):
And I don't know, it's a great spot. If even
mad a good Oldays piece, you should definitely go. That's
all I'll say.

Speaker 6 (12:23):
That's one of those places though, like you and I
were just talking about before, like about you keep going
back like I live maybe forty five minutes from Newtown.
I live in Norwalk, but if I'm in Newtown, I
have to stop at Good Old Day's Pizza. Like I've
waited in their parking lot because I was too early
to go in. I've even been like dming them on Instagram, like, hey,

(12:47):
can I sneak in like five minutes early so I
don't have to be a creeper in the parking lot?
Like I I like that place that much that I
will sit in the parking lot for a half hour
hour if I'm nearby, I don't care.

Speaker 5 (12:58):
And they'll probably let you in.

Speaker 6 (13:00):
Yeah, I have trouble last time, but now that they
know me a little bit better and we'll see what happens.

Speaker 5 (13:04):
I'll tell him, I see if I know him all
really well, Jeffy, you've been there a couple of times
with me, buddy, What I mean, what a great I love.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
The Good Old Days No, absolutely, the cocktails, the vibe,
the place has like a whole vibe to it, you know,
and then like the pizzas are always super fun and
creative and like delicious, you know, Brussels sprouts on a
pizza or who knows who knows who they're going to
come up with, and it's like, you know, hilarious. I yeah,
I think that place is dope. In fact, I usually
make you take me there. It's true there in Gary's.

(13:31):
I have to go to Gary's. My two spots in
the new town.

Speaker 5 (13:35):
Well we say Gary's we're talking about obviously behind New
vau Monde is a place called up. Oh yeah, it's
a speakeasy. Why is my brain not working right now, Jeffy,
aren't uh Antonette?

Speaker 6 (13:47):
That's the one.

Speaker 4 (13:48):
Yeah, okay, yeah, but great call it. I call it
Garys because that's it's my dog, Gary's.

Speaker 5 (13:53):
Yeah, he's a bartender. He's a great job over there.
But listen enough about you know. But what it's funny
because we're talking about this and this was a completely
like we weren't playing on talking about good old days here,
but this is what These are the conversations that that
should happen when you're doing a list that's so important
like this here in our state. You should talk about
these places like the way that we're talking about them.
That's how much they mean to you when you're on
the committee to nominate or to vote, don't you think Andrew.

Speaker 6 (14:15):
No, I agree, Like I I like the dialogue that
a place like that creates, honestly, and that's why they
deserve to be on the list every single year.

Speaker 5 (14:24):
Yeah, I mean, it's just it's just important to be there.
And you know, it's also one of those places though
too that you know, it's not in Hartford, it's not
down in Norwalk, and it's not in Stamford. It maybe
doesn't get the you know, the the attention that's a
lot of other places might get, you know.

Speaker 6 (14:38):
No, I agree, like Newtown is kind of coming up
right now, which is great, and it's great like to
have places like Good Old Days and like Tacoda and yeah,
even upstairs from Good Old Days like over up at
Mary Golds, Like that's a great spot too.

Speaker 5 (14:52):
So Nuvamond, if you haven't been, is worth a trip
to a little bit higher end, but one of the
best wine lists in Fairfold County. It's definitely worth a
trip for sure.

Speaker 6 (15:01):
No, I definitely want to check it out.

Speaker 5 (15:03):
Yeah, it's worth a shot. But so when it comes
to these lists, like you heard Andrew talk about it
a second ago, like they find some of the you know,
food influencer type people, people who are journalists in the state,
people who who make their living going around and talking
about food, eating food, trying these different places. But the
cool part about it is also is that you'll find
a few chefs also who get invited to be a

(15:26):
part of this, which I think is really important because
it's not just about, you know, the journalistic part of it,
which is awesome, but it's about having some of the
chef's point of view as well, which I think is
really really important. And bartenders and even hospitalities professionals, people
who are bar owners and things like that, who make
their way around, who know these people personally, who understand
how important something like this is, but just come from
a different viewpoint. Andrew, I think it's what makes us
such a diverse group of people.

Speaker 6 (15:49):
I completely agree. I completely agree with that. Honestly, some
chefs go out, some chefs don't. I like that the
ones that do go out are included in helping make
these decisions, as well as bartenders, because I think bartenders
probably go out and explore sometimes even more than some
chefs do.

Speaker 5 (16:09):
Yeah yeah, well they find out what wayill bartenders figure
out that they could actually take their bar tabs other
places and make the tax deduction because it's work. They're
learning they can make it a tax deduction. They just
don't do it. You know, I top ten percent. We
talked about this all the time. I just every time
I go out, it's a tax deduction.

Speaker 4 (16:28):
That's what I do.

Speaker 5 (16:29):
That's the way my brain works. But yeah, I think
that's what makes us list so cool. And you just
have such a diverse group of people who play such
a role in making these nominations. So these lists go out,
you write your nominations on there, and you get it
back out to people and then you know a lot
of times in magazine will hit you up and say, hey,
you know, can you tell us why in one hundred

(16:49):
fifty words, why do you like this place? And I'm
sure it's happened to a couple times Andrew. They want
you to explain why you like it, right.

Speaker 6 (16:54):
Yeah. I tend to do a lot of these write
ups too. Not only am my nominating, but if my
nominations get chosen or I'm one of those people that
voted for it, maybe I'm the one that has the
most knowledge of a place. So then I will be
presented with do you want to write this place up?

Speaker 4 (17:15):
Right?

Speaker 6 (17:16):
And I'm usually willing because I didn't nominate them for
no reason. I nominated them because I'm into it. I
like the food, I like the vibe, I like everything
about it.

Speaker 4 (17:26):
So yeah, please, like I will gladly write that up
for you well, and you as.

Speaker 5 (17:29):
A food journalist too. But I think it's so cool
about this man, is that you know, we don't get
paid to do this. You know, there's no you don't
get there's no payment involved in being a part of
this list or anything like that. But like when they
ask someone like you to do it and you're like, yeah,
I'll write them up. I mean, you do it because
you love the place, but you do it also to
support them, which I think is really really important. I
think the restaurant owner should know that.

Speaker 6 (17:50):
I agree with that. Like a lot of times, if
I'm writing a place up, it is because I sort
of selfishly want them to stick aroud, like obviously, like yeah,
like whenever I do my job, I need like that
creative outlet, like I need a reason, I need a
cool story to hook something. But if you go to

(18:12):
a place and it's really really good, you want that
to stick around for you in some way too. So
anything that I can do to kind of help it
stick around for me and for people like me that
would appreciate that. Sure, Like that's cool too, especially with
these lists, Like honestly, that's the way.

Speaker 5 (18:32):
I mean, you hit the nail on the head there.
I think the coolest part about this too is that
you find some places that happen to make the list
one year maybe that weren't on it the year before,
the year before that, but they make it, you know,
this year or the next year, and they see a
bump for them, like it really does make a difference,
which I thought was kind of interesting. It shows that
people do still pay attention to this stuff, and you
we talked about the actual magazine part of it, but
the digital aspect of it too, like it goes out

(18:54):
on social media, we all promote it, like it really
does make a difference for these restaurants.

Speaker 6 (18:59):
No, totally. I mean, you know, online is always going
to be sort of the the way of the present
and probably the future. Print still is a thing. I
still do some print journalism, which is always crazy to
me that it's still even around, but I'm glad that
it is. But anything in print will always end up

(19:20):
online and that's the stuff that people are sending to
their friends and they're saying, hey, we should check this
place out, like that's on the Best New List or
it's best barbecue, best Italian and best Asian and whatever.
People like certain things, and food is like, I think,
one of the cooler hobbies, if you want to call
it a hobby. We have to eat to survive. But

(19:40):
everybody wants to be, for lack of a better word,
a foodie. So this is what everybody does with their
friends and family now. They go out to eat, they drink,
they hang out, they go to food festivals, whatever. So
that's the way.

Speaker 5 (19:52):
Can we get like the best like Connecticut Food Media
Personality Award? Can I get one of those? Like we
just get that? That would be amazing?

Speaker 6 (20:00):
Should be a words for stuff like that? I mean,
I know you and I have talked about like the
crazies and stuff. And someone one day said something in
the nomination panel, ru I'm about, like, should there be
like an award for like best like media like food
media personality or like food journalists or something like that,

(20:21):
And I was just like, how would we even do that?
Like we can't nominate like each other. We all know
each other. It's kind of I don't know, it just
seems a little conflict of interest to me.

Speaker 5 (20:32):
Yeah, and you know, and honestly, I'm kidding when I
say that, And and it's more about like I don't know, like, well,
what we do you and I both you know. I
My goal is I take what little success that I've had,
and I want to use it to lift up these
other places and showcase places and show people. And you know, listen,
I've spent thirty years working in the hospitality and business,
twenty of that working in restaurants, Like it's it's a

(20:53):
hard business. And having a chance to showcase somebody and
and and put them out there and show what they
can do. I think it's really really I think it's
it's the omens work of what we do.

Speaker 6 (21:04):
No, I agree, that's dead on. Honestly. I usually like
what you and I were talking about before with the
whole like do you go back to a place. That's
always my gauge of like, you know, do I want
to write about something not just once, but multiple times?
And if I find myself going there like again and

(21:26):
again in my spare time and not for work, That's
always the way of where I'm like, that's that's a
place that's worth writing about time and time again because
there their standards have remained consistent. It's never a bad experience.
Hospitality is really good because I think that's that gets

(21:49):
discounted a lot when people are talking about awards and accolades.

Speaker 4 (21:54):
Hospitality it's the key part.

Speaker 5 (21:56):
It's the key part of what we do as chefs.
It's a key part of what I mean, I think
you do it too as a journalist when it comes
to food. It's food hospitality. You're trying to invite people
and make them feel like they're their service. Yeah, I
couldn't agree. More serve were talking about the more service
is one of the most, let's say, the most important
part when it comes to working and running in a restaurant.
We're joined by Andrew Dominic hanging out with us. We're
getting ready to go through some of these categories here

(22:19):
on Connecticut's Top Connecticut Magazine's Top food Spots and Destinations
here in our state that just came out. We're going
to go through some of that. Plus we're talking about
some of these competitions I'm gonna bring up. We talked
about the craziest second ago. We're talking a little bit
about that with Andrew and you know, kind of dive
into it a little bit and talk about how these
nominations happen and how do people get these awards and
all that good stuff. Jeffeys, I'm sure is gonna be
polarizing on the social media when we're all said and done.

(22:41):
The bottom line is this, we're gonna talking about these
great lists and and put some people out there and
dig into a little bit. You're checking out plumb of
the foods right here on wis see the Voice of Connecticut.
Stay right there.

Speaker 4 (22:52):
We'll be right back. That's right, Jeffy.

Speaker 5 (23:04):
You know what I like to do. I like to
go shopping for knives.

Speaker 4 (23:07):
I love knives.

Speaker 5 (23:08):
I'm a chef, of course I love knives. If you
cook food at home, you've got to love knives too, right,
love knives, sharp things. It's gotta be important because you
want to make sure things are nice and cut. And
let me tell you what this PSA is brought to
you by our friends over at Ergo Chef Knives Friends.
A sharper knife. It's safer than a more dull knife,
I promise you. And let me explain to you why
a dull knife you have to use more force, and
more force means less control, Jeffy, and less control means

(23:30):
less fingers.

Speaker 4 (23:32):
Yeah, that's absolutely true. Listen, knives one of the most
important tools in the kitchen. Can't really get much done
without a knife.

Speaker 5 (23:38):
You absolutely are preaching to the choir. And one of
the best place to get knives are friends over at
ergo Chef. They got a showroom in Dan Barry at
for Eagle Road. You can go see them there. And
if you go see them, let me tell you what
you can do. You can walk in the front door
and Jeffy, when you walk in the front door ergo Chef,
if you want to get a discount, what do you do?

Speaker 4 (23:54):
You yell, hey, is Mike's snive here? And when he
walks out, you go, hey, electric factory.

Speaker 5 (23:59):
That's right, the electric factory, Mike Styve, call me electric factory.
Ask form by name. Now, if you're not there and
you can't get the knife and you can't go into
the store, you can always go to the website at
ergo chef dot com. Use promo code plumb twenty and
keep yoursel a great discount on an amazing knife that
will always stay sharp and keep your fingers attached to
your hand. Jeffy Ergo chef Knives. Check them out at

(24:20):
ergo chef dot com. Use promo code plumb twenty for
a great discount. Yeah wait, you.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
Do say you want to play the silt chef plumb
Let the trum down break it it drove. Jeffie's up
on trew drumps down.

Speaker 4 (24:45):
Hits the glow.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
Yet Array say dumping the rays bro break it down,
going no day.

Speaker 4 (24:56):
Real hot fighty chest game.

Speaker 3 (25:08):
Well I'm in the corner with the fucking hands judge
the dishes that don't quite last.

Speaker 7 (25:13):
I mean's got his take?

Speaker 5 (25:14):
What the laugh so loud?

Speaker 2 (25:16):
Says the food he shroud cavy on trees and none of.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
The cooks games everybody the journeyssting their teams, some strong
in the kitchen, but nothing.

Speaker 4 (25:25):
You're cool Sea Magazine's last stories on to the Bublow
Foods live right here, WI.

Speaker 5 (25:34):
You see the boys of Connecticut excited to be hanging
out with you right here on a Saturday. I hope
you're having a great day. We're talking all about Connecticut
Magazine's top restaurants of the State. We're joined by Andrew
Dominant from Westchestern Magazine and ct by. It's one of
the best excuse me, sense Andrew Dominic, as you heard
in our new song from our house band The Flames,
Big Hits and Misses and Plum's Taste buzz.

Speaker 4 (25:54):
Is his name is.

Speaker 5 (25:55):
That's a that's a very long name for the song.

Speaker 4 (25:57):
Jeffrey, listen, man, Sometimes you gotta lame a song like
Brian Adams. I guess, so, Andrew, Come on, how many?

Speaker 5 (26:03):
How many?

Speaker 4 (26:03):
How many?

Speaker 5 (26:03):
How many bands or shows have a band?

Speaker 4 (26:07):
A house band?

Speaker 6 (26:09):
Just you guys. I'm not sure who actually is in
this band. I'd like to know.

Speaker 5 (26:15):
Does it matter? Does it matter?

Speaker 6 (26:17):
I mean it could. I feel like it's probably just
you guys messing around.

Speaker 4 (26:22):
But uh, what are you talking about?

Speaker 5 (26:24):
That doesn't make any sense. You think I'm running a gimmick.
I would never run a gimmick.

Speaker 6 (26:28):
Oh not at all.

Speaker 5 (26:32):
That's just not gonna happen. That's the first of all.
I would never run a gimmick. I'd tell the complete
I have a microphone. I have to tell the truth.
So every time that's all we do is truth talk.
It's truth talk. Come I Andrew, you know you're gonna.
You're gonna, Mike, now you know what's up.

Speaker 6 (26:44):
We have to get a song for John Stena's guilt,
and I think we're gonna.

Speaker 5 (26:50):
If I talk more wrestling, Jeffrey might kill me. So
I can can't do it.

Speaker 4 (26:54):
I can't do it. That's right. We're talking all about.

Speaker 5 (26:58):
The this Kinnectic magazine list that comes out every year.
We're very excited to be I've been a part of
it several times. Andrew Dominic of course, hanging out with
our guest talking about it. One of the best people
in our stafe to talk about some of those things
on this list. But before we start breaking down some
of these categories and getting into it, I want to
talk about some of the other awards in our state.
And I'm going to do my best here to try
to be diplomatic because I feel I have very very

(27:20):
strong opinions about it, and and I'd love to hear
what you think about it, Andrew, and like, honestly, you know,
I think that.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
Just set the table.

Speaker 5 (27:29):
There is an award that happens once a year that
is out of control or or uh, it's it's it's
it's wacky as can be. Or you know, it's it's
done by an association of people who may or may
not actually work in restaurants that are part of this.

Speaker 4 (27:50):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (27:51):
I am I being too like like like descriptive here.

Speaker 6 (27:54):
I think some people will know what that means. I
think a lot of people also won't. Maybe we won't
name the actual show or the association.

Speaker 4 (28:06):
That's crazy.

Speaker 5 (28:06):
Why would we never name that?

Speaker 4 (28:08):
That's just crazy, totally crazy.

Speaker 5 (28:12):
But I feel like some of these awards that happen,
the people who are part of the nominating committee when
it comes to this stuff have no idea what they're
talking about, which is a vast difference from the people
who do this Connecticut magazine, you know, best of the best, you.

Speaker 6 (28:27):
Know, I completely agree with that. I'm not going to
name any names because I don't think some of those
people on the panel are bad people at all, or
some of them probably quality people I don't actually know,
but right you know, some of them I do know
for a fact don't leave their bubbles where they live.

(28:48):
So are they going to be making decisions on who
gets nominated and voting on who wins them? Like, listen,
you can't get around to every quadrant of Connecticut, that's unpossible.
I get around really well, but there's still places where

(29:08):
I'm like, I've got to make it out there sometimes.
I've got to make it out there sometimes. But I
would say at least seventy five to eighty percent of
like the people that get talked about in that room,
I have either been or have some knowledge of them
or something like that. Right, And then when it comes
to voting, I do think people play some favorites, which

(29:33):
that's going to happen, people make friends in the industry, whatever. Sure,
But also if I don't have knowledge about something, I
just don't vote on it.

Speaker 4 (29:43):
Yeah, that's exactly what I feel.

Speaker 5 (29:45):
Just don't vote on it. If you don't know, don't
vote like it's not it just just you know, it
just makes sing Yeah, right, Jeff's it's not like rocket science.

Speaker 4 (29:52):
Right, No, I mean yeah. So the one thing I'm
trying to understand is there like a certain criteria that
that you have to follow when you're voting.

Speaker 5 (30:04):
I mean, Andrew, you want to answer that, you mean
to answer it, not really, I think the short answer
is no, it's.

Speaker 4 (30:13):
No football teams. I can be like, well, I really
I'm wearing blue today exactly exactly, yes, yeah, exactly what
it is, you know what.

Speaker 6 (30:24):
You know what though, guys, I think it I think
there should be And that's sort of one of the
issues that I have had over the past bunch of
years in participating in this is you know, things get
talked about in that room where for instance, let's take
a category like best Bartend.

Speaker 4 (30:43):
Okay, there are names that get.

Speaker 6 (30:45):
Thrown around and cool that would have been great for
that person five years ago, but sometimes now they're general
managers or something like that, So okay, like even if
they have a little bit of something to do with
the bar, like what's the criteria for voting on that then?
Like are they still a bartender? Are they not? Are

(31:06):
they just a bar manager? Like if they're not behind
the bar, can we still vote for them? Like I
tried to get some clarity on that for like a
really long time. Or like, you know, if we're going
to talk chefs, is that chef cooking in his kitchen?

Speaker 5 (31:21):
That's a really great point. Does it actually cook food?

Speaker 4 (31:24):
How about this?

Speaker 6 (31:25):
That's a good one.

Speaker 5 (31:26):
Is his kitchen clean like it should be because we're chefs.

Speaker 6 (31:29):
Yeah, I agree with that. Like I think I think
places need to have standards, and I think standards should
get voted on them absolutely.

Speaker 5 (31:37):
And here's the thing I want to point out, Like
I do want to point this out and then we
can I'll stop get off my high horse. Chef's looking
at me like, Okay, get off your soapbox, but like, honestly,
it's it's it's Andrew. You and I have been friends
for a long time, definitely at least ten years now.
You you came and did and I was doing Amazon
Edible on the road. You were a part of that
years ago. Like you and I have been friends, we've

(31:59):
been The point I'm making is that you and I
have been doing what we do right now to support
restaurants and hospitality people and people in the food business
for a very long time. We've been doing this, like
this is what we do right and you know you
do it through your writing. I do it through doing
segments and all this sort of stuff. It's different, but
it's the same, right. Somebody who just showed up out

(32:21):
of nowhere and gained ten thousand Instagram followers is not
a person who should Who pays, who pays to be
verified on Instagram is not a person who should be
voting on what's important in our state. When it comes
to food, they have no business doing it. But the
people who are in charge of these things don't think

(32:43):
to check that, don't think to look at that.

Speaker 4 (32:45):
They just say, oh, this is a person who should
be a part of this. It frustrates me.

Speaker 5 (32:49):
And I almost slipped and said some names just then,
but I caught myself because I don't want to make
anybody listen. I know people can like plump, stop being
you know, stop being a little woos or whatever. Just
say it who you want to say. I don't want
to say because I like these people as humans. I
think they're good people as humans and some of the
people to show and I like them as people. But

(33:09):
when it comes to doing this that we're talking about
right now, they should not be a part of it.

Speaker 6 (33:14):
I agree with that because like those people didn't ask
to be a part of the panel. They were asked
by someone else, and they didn't have the cognizance to say,
you know what, maybe I shouldn't do this. Yeah, yeah,
like you have to be self aware and a lot
of things too. Absolutely, And I agree with you about

(33:36):
like that whole thing, like you know, just because someone
has ten thousand Instagram followers and they post about food
and they make silly little reels like I don't think
that that qualifies you for anything, because if you've ever
had an honest conversation with some of these people about foods,
about the thing that they're voting on right right, they
couldn't tell you how to boil a pot of water.

(33:57):
So that like if those like if I'm if I'm
a restaurant, and those are the people that are making
decisions like whether I'm nominated or win, I feel pretty
bad about that.

Speaker 5 (34:09):
Dude, we were talking about Best Chef in one of
these Jeff, you'll a prefet the story. And Andrew, you
were on this call, I believe years ago. I can't remember.
It was crazy or if it was uh OK magazine,
it must It must have been some awards ceremony, you know,
Not that we're talking about any particular wards ceremony right now,
just in general. It was one of those type of
awards ceremonies where I came on and I hadn't said

(34:29):
much the entire call, and I just said, you guys
are voting on Best Chef, but most people.

Speaker 4 (34:33):
Don't even know what mirrpai is.

Speaker 5 (34:37):
And yeah, it got a little a lot of like silence,
but then you heard a couple people who laughed who
got it, which might have been you Andrew like, You're like.

Speaker 6 (34:44):
It's usually me, Like I mean, I you know, I
also think unlike some of the people that are making
votes or on panels or whatever. The last couple of years,
I've sided like, hey, I'm gonna moonlight in the industry
a little bit and off my knowledge and learn a
little bit more because.

Speaker 4 (35:05):
And I can do.

Speaker 5 (35:06):
Love about you, man, I love that. Like, talk about
that for a second, because that is what I'm talking about. You.
You have been writing about this industry forever. You're like,
you know what, let me go work in it for
a little bit.

Speaker 6 (35:15):
Yeah, you know, it's sort of low key. And people
have always asked me like if I wanted to do
different things, And like I said, I've made I've made
some friends and sometimes my friends have needed some help.
And sure, so I've done everything from cater to making pasta,
to doing prep to bartending to doing donut prep at Rise,

(35:37):
which I'm sure we're going to talk about because they
got like a best overall excellence.

Speaker 5 (35:40):
Yeah, yeah, we gotta get into that too.

Speaker 6 (35:42):
And you know, I just I get kind of just
asked to do a lot of different things. Like sometimes
I work on my friend Tony's pizza truck and like
one night I had to cook like fifty wood fired
pizzas for him.

Speaker 5 (35:54):
You know, it's like, well, you know what it's like,
Oh you feel that that that that feeling is a thing.
That's a real thing.

Speaker 6 (36:00):
I think you have to feel like. I think it's
important and I think every like to each their own right.
But I'm always one that like I want to do
better every single day, Like I don't like writing or
just being a better human or whatever. Like I'm curious
by nature and I like knowledge, and I don't know.

(36:21):
I just think that's something that you should aspire to be.
Otherwise maybe you're failing.

Speaker 5 (36:26):
I love it, man, Jeff, what do you think of that? Like,
like you hear the guy who is a food journalist
who says, you know what, let me take an extra
step and let me go see what it's like to
actually throw a fifty wood fire pizzas out on a
busy night.

Speaker 4 (36:36):
I think it's amazing. I mean, like, one of the
most famous food journalists out there, Michael Ruhman. That's that's
like how he became famous. You know, he went to
Colory School, but yeah, he went out he like immersed
himself in it and then wrote about it. I mean,
you know, your favorite Anthony Bourdain.

Speaker 5 (36:53):
Uh he uh wait, why did you say like that? Well,
because you you know, you kind of he's not my favorite.
Just so you guys all know you've soap.

Speaker 4 (37:02):
Boxed about said said topic. But he uh, he also
was a chef. Chef probably not the best of people. Well,
I don't know that personably. I don't know. I don't
know that personally. I'm just saying he's a lot of
people's heroes.

Speaker 5 (37:17):
Jeffy is referencing when I was in culinary school. Uh,
he came to speak at a graduation and there was
a bar across the street called Hooligans that we all
would go to. They had ten cent wings. It was awesome.
And you know, I happened to see uh chef over there,
and and he was hanging out with some people they
probably should have been hanging out with.

Speaker 4 (37:36):
And you know that.

Speaker 5 (37:37):
That's all I'll say. You don't get crazy about it.
I just don't know how old they were that's all
I'm saying.

Speaker 6 (37:41):
Oh, I can't wait to hear this off camera, yeah
or whatever.

Speaker 5 (37:47):
It's a good one. And it was heartbreaking. I was like, Oh,
you gotta be kidding me. Really, you're that much of
a dirt bag.

Speaker 4 (37:51):
All right, sorry, but anyway, I was. I was putting
Andrew over as one of the greats with those other
two great uh food journalists, because you know, he diverses
himself in it.

Speaker 5 (38:02):
He's doing this thing, yeah, which I think is important. Well, listen,
you got to understand it, right, That's kind of the
key thing. If you don't understand it, you know, then
then you can only write about it from one perspective.
But if you understand it from a different you understand
what that happens. Like we talked, we were talking about
pizzas off camera during the break a little bit, and
you said people were saying, oh, I went to Pepe's
and didn't have a great experience. You're like, well, one
night did you go? That is a cook question, you know,

(38:25):
which which is like people don't ask that, you know,
and listen, does it matter? Shouldn't matter? No, probably not,
But it's real. It's a real question, you know, it's
it's a the standard should always be the standard, but
on a busy night sometimes that standard gets sticks knocked
down a little.

Speaker 6 (38:38):
Bit, especially now in the industry. I mean things, it's
hard to find good help.

Speaker 5 (38:43):
Oh that's we do a whole show on that.

Speaker 4 (38:45):
There's a question.

Speaker 5 (38:46):
Yeah, no doubt about that. But yeah, I just feel like,
I think what I like about this list that Connecticut
Magazine does, everyone who votes on it, who's a part
of it. For the most part, I believe should be
a part of it. And that's kind of the point
I'm trying to make.

Speaker 6 (38:59):
I agree. I think it's a I think it's a
legit group of people that, like I said, they're out there.
They're they're in these restaurants, they're talking to chefs, are
eating the food. They're going out to eat on their
own too, and that I think that's important, Like to
not just go because it's your job. Yeah, you know
what I mean, Like, I go out to eat. That's

(39:20):
one of my favorite hobbies.

Speaker 5 (39:23):
It's a great hobby because it's I mean, some of
the best people, you know what I'm saying, some of
the best people that are out there. We got about
four minutes where we run to break again here shortly.
But I just want to throw out there. Uh, you know,
I thought maybe we'll jump on one of these categories.
I listened to you, and I can wax poetic about
the other awards for probably another hour. Who wanted to,
But we're not going to. I think we made our point,
didn't we.

Speaker 6 (39:41):
I think so?

Speaker 4 (39:41):
Yeah, yeah, I think we.

Speaker 5 (39:42):
Made our point. Just don't be crazy about everything. Don't
be crazy all the time. You know, sometimes being crazy
is not always what's cracked up to be. Does that
make sense, Jeffy, makes total sense, especially wh you say
you think?

Speaker 6 (39:55):
So?

Speaker 4 (39:55):
All right?

Speaker 5 (39:56):
Just crazy crazy people, you know, easy in general. I
don't know if it's that great. That's all I'm saying. Listen,
I'm so fired up. I hit my microphone. All right, listen,
before we go to break, I want to talk about
one of these categories and we'll dive into some of those.

Speaker 4 (40:10):
We get back and we'll go off our soapboxes.

Speaker 5 (40:12):
But best wine selection was an interesting one for me
personally because, uh, as a person who has completed a
Level one somni A. You know, one of my favorite
restaurants is Nu vau Monde here in Newtown. It's because
it's close by. But again I didn't. I wasn't a
part of it this year so much because I hadn't
had a lot of chances to go out and try
some to due places, so I opted out of it
this year. But uh, some of these places, I mean, Andrew,

(40:33):
have you tried it?

Speaker 4 (40:34):
Have you tried?

Speaker 5 (40:34):
Uh Tavern at Gray Barns.

Speaker 4 (40:36):
Have you been there? Yeah?

Speaker 6 (40:38):
So Tavern at Gray Barns. I mean it's it's sort
of on the backgrounds of Norwalk and it's in the
silver Mine section, so it's not on like a main
strip or anything. And you know, really good New American
food usually good steps. I know somebody just left, so
it's but it's still solid. I recently just went. I
don't know who's cooking there now, so okay, your guests

(40:59):
as good as mine. But it's a good specification spot.
It's very expensive, good cocktail program, brunch does well.

Speaker 5 (41:07):
Apparently a great wine selection too. It looks like from
the awards, I usually.

Speaker 6 (41:11):
Have cocktails when I go, because like they make a
lot of like barrel aged stuff. Sometimes they're clarifying stuff.
It's like very like a good Old Days esque in
some ways too, like they're not as extreme and as creative.
But they do a really really fine job sometimes to
see Brian Lewis, they're drinking too.

Speaker 5 (41:29):
Oh yeah, okay, what about I mean you go a
little bit further, you know, check out. It's like we're
talking about like Wallingford. You know, we've got Guavia Vineyards.
You ever been there?

Speaker 4 (41:40):
I have never been there.

Speaker 5 (41:41):
See this is why I love these lists because I
haven't either, but now I want to go and check
it out. And like, here's the thing. I hear vineyards,
so I think they're making their own wine and stuff,
and like you know, sometimes it doesn't get a lot
of credit for some of the wine that we make,
and some of it's Duke is not that great. But
maybe this place is great. Never been there, you know,
maybe it's worth a shot.

Speaker 6 (41:58):
One of I'm not sure which other places are. I
don't usually do a whole lot of the wine selection
stuff because I'm not like a psalm like you are.

Speaker 4 (42:06):
But you know, it's a.

Speaker 5 (42:09):
Well guy, you know, here's and I just love the
idea of having a great wine list and we will
try some fun stuff like dari Anne on the list
as well. Uh Sena s ce n a wine. Oh yeah, yeah,
never been there.

Speaker 6 (42:22):
It's been around for a little while there. I think
their food's a little dated, but their wine list is
pretty good.

Speaker 4 (42:30):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (42:31):
See I appreciate you honestly there, and it's probably worth
a shot. I mean, I look at these places like
this for something that my wife and I would go to,
And that's why I love these lists, because I'll find
something like this that my wife and I'll go to
and never been to before, and we'll go and have
a date night there and try something different, and that's
what's pretty fun about it, you know. Or I'll call
you and say, hey, man, where should I go?

Speaker 6 (42:48):
Didn't you do that recently? I'm pretty sure you sent
me a text and we were like, yo, come out,
hang out and I was like, I'm like in my
pajamas on my couch.

Speaker 5 (42:56):
And I was like, stop talking sexy to me. Anyway.

Speaker 4 (42:59):
Yeah, it's so.

Speaker 5 (43:00):
I mean, that's one of the funnest things about this
list about these things that come out though, like the
best wine selection. Pretty much any category you can think of,
they've got it, especially when it comes to food. Here
on this list from Connecticut Magazine that we all find
very very relevant and very appealing, to us to go
find a great new sponsor, go checkout. We're joined by
Andrew Dominic from Westchestern Magazine and CT Bites. He is

(43:21):
the sense of cuisine that we love very much.

Speaker 4 (43:24):
He's always so cool to us. We appreciate him.

Speaker 5 (43:26):
You're checking out plum My Food's right here on WYC
see the Voice of Connecticut. Stay right there. Will be
back as we go through a couple of these categories.
Check it out.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
Farm and Forge Market on thirty six Hampton Road in Southampton,
New York.

Speaker 5 (43:52):
Farmer Forge is a fantastic market if you're an avid
home cook or professional chef like myself. Johnny Bernard over there,
aka Street Leafs Johnny, He's got some great stuff. I'm
talking great olive oils. I'm talking great vinegars. He's got
some amazing caviard. Johnny's really got everything over there. Jeffy,
that's right.

Speaker 4 (44:08):
Farm and Forge Market on thirty six Hampton Road in Southampton,
New York. Yeah, I mean you were talking. He's got great.

Speaker 5 (44:13):
Fish that you can get. He's got some produce stuff.
He's got mushrooms that are locally grown, which is incredible,
and he's got some amazing beef selections too, even some
a five wag you.

Speaker 4 (44:22):
I saw the stuff.

Speaker 5 (44:22):
It looks like it's just completely white.

Speaker 4 (44:24):
It's amazing. I can't wait to try it. That's right
at Farm and Forge Market on thirty six Hampton Road
in Southampton, New York.

Speaker 5 (44:30):
You're just saying the same thing.

Speaker 4 (44:31):
You say a thing different. Well, there's also Farmanforge Market
dot com. Okay, there we go, great website.

Speaker 5 (44:36):
Check out Farmer forge market dot com. You gotta check
them out. Amazing things over there. Jeff, listen, I'm telling
you I cannot wait to go back and see what
else Johnny has.

Speaker 4 (44:43):
That's right at Farm and Forge Market on thirty six
Hampton Road, Southampton, New York.

Speaker 5 (44:47):
You just said, do you know what else Johnny has.
Johnny's got amazing lion meat. I can't wait to get
some lion meat from Johnny.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
Yeah, it doesn't have that, but he does have a
website at Farmanforge Market dot com.

Speaker 5 (44:57):
Oh my god, this is getting crazy now. He's got
a great Ostrich selections. We can barbecue out.

Speaker 4 (45:00):
Sitch Legacy have those no Ostrich legs. But he does
have seven x wagu at thirty six Hampton Road in Southampton,
New York. I mean, it's just it's like a broken
record with you.

Speaker 5 (45:08):
I cannot I don't understand it. Anything else you got
for me Farm and Forage Market, I got it, thirty
six Hampton Road in Southampton, we got it. Jeffrey, one

(45:29):
of the foods right here on w S and see
the Voice of Connecticut. Excited to be hanging out with
here on a Saturday, talking all about food and some
of the great places that we have across the state
to eat, and trying to throw a little insight your
way on how these lists and awards are.

Speaker 4 (45:42):
Given out across our state.

Speaker 5 (45:44):
We're joined today by one of our favorites, one of
the best in the business, the legend, Andrew Dominic from
cd bys to Westerntern Magazines is hanging out with Andrew.
We appreciate your time, brother, You're you're you're killing it.

Speaker 6 (45:55):
First. I love being here.

Speaker 4 (45:56):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (45:57):
And of course, as always sitting next to me, the
legend in his own right, Chef Jeffy is here with me. Jeffy,
I know that this conversation is Uh. Sometimes I can
be a little polarizing, and I apologize. You know, Jeffy
tries to keep me in check, and I apologize.

Speaker 4 (46:12):
Oh, you don't have to apologize to me, sir. You
are sometimes polarizing, but that is why we love you.
Woll We try to make it. We try to be real,
that's all. We try to be real, Andrew.

Speaker 5 (46:22):
There's things we don't like. I don't mind saying it.

Speaker 4 (46:24):
You know, gotta be real the only way, right, That's it.
And listen.

Speaker 5 (46:29):
If you guys want some more information on Andrew, of
course you could check him out on CD bites and
in Westchestern magazine. Very simple and Jeffy, you can also
follow on social media. Where can they find him at
Andrew Dominic. That's very very very simple, very very sop.
Does any mighty call you Andy? Is that weird?

Speaker 6 (46:42):
No?

Speaker 5 (46:42):
You know what, Drew?

Speaker 4 (46:44):
I get more.

Speaker 6 (46:46):
They call my father Andy. So that was kind of
something that just like that that's his and I just
I just never really liked Andy. It felt like a
little boy like kind of like a little boy's name,
you know what I mean?

Speaker 5 (47:00):
Yeah, Well, you produced yourself as Andrew to me, so
I was like, all right, we're going to be Andrew.
There was I was just thinking. I was like, you know,
I'm like, we call him Drew, do we? I mean?
Is there Likere is cooler than Andy, but Andrew is
also like Andrew is also pretty cool, like saying that
Andrew's very cool, so is Drew. What's your middle name?
The middle name?

Speaker 4 (47:21):
Oh, that's not helpful.

Speaker 6 (47:22):
I thought it was after my grandfather asked. I never
I'd never use it.

Speaker 5 (47:27):
Like if it was like Chevelle or something like that
had been awesome, I would go by that. I mean, what,
Andrews Chevelle Dominic. That's a great name. That's a great
I mean it could be, but you know, it's a car,
the big engine. That rev's loud. I love it. That's Jeffy.
What's mad I thought it was a good name.

Speaker 4 (47:43):
But yeah, yeah, Chevelle is a fantastic name. It's a
great middle name. I wish I could still have kids.

Speaker 5 (47:52):
I don't even know if I should mark that down
for for bleeping out or not. Probably not, but it's
just felt uncomfortable for everybody, Andrews. So we're talking all
about these lists that come out and awards that come
out across the state, because of course, our friends over
Connecticut Magazine just put out their best of the best
type of situation. And you and I both have been
a part of it in the past, I wasn't a
part of it this year. Were you a part of

(48:13):
it this year?

Speaker 6 (48:15):
I absolutely was.

Speaker 4 (48:16):
Yeah, good, good good.

Speaker 5 (48:17):
That's the way it should be. In our past breaks
we talked a little bit about how these awards happened.
We've talked a little bit about some of the awards
that we don't find quite as credible across our state
without actually naming them, because that would be crazy if
we actually named them. But if you want to go
back and here's some of this stuff, Jeffy, you can
go back and check out. The podcast is available at
six pm every Saturday. You can get on every platform

(48:39):
you want, Jeffrey, every platform, that's right.

Speaker 4 (48:41):
Ask Siri to play it, foods, she'll do It'll play
the whole studid say the two letter, She'll do it.
Now you'd be careful.

Speaker 5 (48:48):
So and same thing with Alexa, you know, if you
have the Amazon Alexa show, the same thing. And of
course Spotify, iTunes, iHeart all the things you can find
it there. So it's definitely worth checking out. Sorry, Andrew,
a little housekeeping there, I'm sorry sorry, I mean you
could be a C A C D.

Speaker 4 (49:04):
What a great name. If your nickname was Chavelle.

Speaker 6 (49:07):
To uh CDC or something over here.

Speaker 5 (49:10):
Now, maybe can we can we call your parents and
ask them if they could call they could change a
Milliam to Chille.

Speaker 6 (49:15):
I could change it myself. I'm old enough, right like.

Speaker 5 (49:18):
I mean, I feel like you could, but you should
probably ask their permission because they you know, I mean,
it's anybody named John in your family.

Speaker 4 (49:24):
I'm just saying my grandfather, but he's he's been gone
for a little bit.

Speaker 5 (49:29):
He would probably say, don't call him John, call him Chavelle.

Speaker 4 (49:31):
It's a much better name.

Speaker 5 (49:32):
Moving forward, So we're looking at some of the Sorry,
I don't know how we got here, uh, some of
these categories that come out across, which was pretty pretty
fun to talk about new restaurants, and you know, new
restaurants always fun to talk about. Yeah, I mean, it's
just a great category in my brain.

Speaker 4 (49:49):
So I'm Andrew.

Speaker 5 (49:49):
I look at some of these things that are on here,
cheese and bread and norwalk. I've been there, a great spot.

Speaker 4 (49:55):
What else do we have here? We have uh?

Speaker 5 (49:58):
Uh jenky Japanese cuisine? Is that we're saying that properly?

Speaker 6 (50:02):
I have not been to that one. I did write
up quite a few of these best to know the end,
like honestly, like there's a few that are some favorites.
So one is Josie and Tony's in normwalk here. And
I'm not just saying that because I'm a hometown guy,
but I think Josie and Tony's is unique in a
way where there's a membership.

Speaker 4 (50:23):
Aspect to that talk at a little bit.

Speaker 6 (50:26):
I don't know the cost of joining. I know it's costly,
really yes, and you do get like a discount. There
are like certain member events that are exclusive to members only.
You get a private bathroom with like fancy like colognes
and stuff in there, and a former Pick Star artist
will draw a caricature of you and hang it in

(50:47):
the restaurant and it's yours, like it's a it's probably
worth something to have like this guy who's like a
famous artist like draw you, which is super cool, and
you get first pres but you get first practice. But
you know, I always say, like you can't let that
sway you from trying to go, because there's plenty of

(51:07):
space for walkins or reservations for the normal public, or
you can go crash the bar or whatever, but you'd
be hard pressed to find a better cocktail list, better
wine bottles because like Josh the owner, like he's also
Somalia and he's been around for a while. He knows
how to play the game. He gets these crazy allocations

(51:28):
from like you know, distributors, so he gets all that
good bourbon, like all those all the paths, all the blants,
like he's got that for his client tele And it's
actually the old Pasta Nostra. If if you're familiar with
the Norwalk scene, Pasta Nostra was a legendary restaurant, polarizing
restaurant because of its former owner. But Josh bought Pasta

(51:51):
Nostra and he retained their staff. So everything they make
there is like homemade homemade pasta. They cut no corners.
He even made that the Italian rainbook book. He's there
like it's it. I think it's a I think it's
a great spot. It looks elegant, it's very New York City,
and he has like it's it's Italian, It's it's you know,
it's very much like it's like you know, white tablecloth

(52:15):
Italian and that's what it's supposed to be. But it
doesn't take itself too seriously, which I think is the
cool thing about it, is like they have all this
fancy stuff, but they have like fireball on draft. Come on,
it's I think it's really fun to like, you know,
have something like that in like a fine dining setting.
And Josh himself also has you know, kind of guidelines

(52:40):
for that place, like you can bring your kids in there,
but he's got a no stroller's policy, and if your
kid's acting up or crying, he's going to ask you
to leave.

Speaker 5 (52:48):
Wow, Jeff, we got to go to this place.

Speaker 4 (52:51):
I can't wait. I'm looking at the menu right now.
I mean, it looks really really great.

Speaker 5 (52:56):
What's standing out to you on the menu you're looking at.

Speaker 4 (52:59):
On the star they have caviar Canoli's sound amazing, caviar, parmesan, ricotta,
sour cream shaved. Uh, it's caviar. Doesn't make any sense.
I don't know that means. I think it's a misprint.
But there's a bunch of really beautiful I mean, the
pastas look all amazing, Clamson, Guini, poppadilli, Cataloni.

Speaker 5 (53:21):
And so it's a place to where you pay a
membership fee and you have become a member of the place,
which is kind of cool.

Speaker 4 (53:25):
Yeah, which I looked into that too. You have to
email them and like send him an email like asking
him about it, and then they probably send you like
the offer. They probably have like a questionnaire for you those.

Speaker 6 (53:36):
Haven't I haven't explored that, but like there's also another
aspect to Josie and Tony's which was cool and during
the day, I think into the afternoon even it's a deli,
so it actually is like a gourmet deli counter when
you walk in, so you can get like a really
good gourmet sandwich. And like I said, they make they

(53:57):
make everything and.

Speaker 5 (54:00):
The like.

Speaker 6 (54:01):
They also have like Wave Hill makes their semolina for them,
just for them, so it's it's it's really cool and
like they're probably some of the better sandwiches that I've had,
like maybe better than some established deli's already, you know.
It's Yeah, I think that's a cool little like thing
that they've got going on there that sounds like.

Speaker 5 (54:22):
A great place to go check out. I haven't been
there yet. I'm gonna go check it out for sure.
This place sounds incredible. What's one of the other ones
you wrote up there? Can you can you tell us one.

Speaker 6 (54:30):
There's a few. I mean, I also wrote up a
spot in Stanford, Ginger Soul. It's a Korean spot also
like not you know, you know, stript, authentic Korean. Like
they've got like the Bibi bathed and they've got like
the Korean fried chicken really spicy, the Kim cheese and

(54:50):
all that. But they've also like got a few other
things on that menu and they sell well apparently they're
they do pizza and they have like a couple of
cheeseburgers on the menu because the owner like once told
me that she was She said that American people want
Korean food and Korean people want like americanized type things,

(55:12):
so they want burgers and pizza.

Speaker 5 (55:15):
It makes sense. I mean it makes sense. That makes sense.
I mean that's the way it goes. I get it.

Speaker 4 (55:19):
You know.

Speaker 5 (55:20):
One of the categories I find always a little bit
a little bit in my brain. I'm kind of that's
a really tough one is barbecue. And I feel like
here in our state, you know, barbecue is is is
a thing, and I think it was a thing before
it was popular.

Speaker 4 (55:33):
Does that makes sense?

Speaker 6 (55:34):
Andrew, Yeah, I agree. I think is there a more
like pure American food than barbecue. Like no, you know,
it's especially like our brand of barbecue here when like
you know, the smoke like pork and ribs and stuff
like that.

Speaker 5 (55:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I look at the list they that
they have here, you know, just just with some of
the you know, of course, the places that you're gonna
have on there. You know, you look at Hohoda Brown
course is going to be on because they do a
great job. And those guys they have to be on there. Yeah,
I mean, they're still killing you have. I have friends
in the barbecue world who traveled to go to Hudu
Brown to try it here in Connecticut, which is pretty awesome.

Speaker 6 (56:10):
No people do that. I mean, I think barbecue is
one of those few like categories of food where like
people will travel for and they will travel a long way.
Who do gets a lot of cred in barbecue circles
and rightfully so, like I thought they were great from
the jump, and like, honestly, I think they've even gotten better,
if that's even possible. And they traveled, they travel, they compete,

(56:36):
you know, they're they've always got like cool specials going on.
They're always tinkering with something new. I've known those guys
for a really long time, like that was one of
the first people that ever covered that place for sure.

Speaker 5 (56:47):
And uh, I think I think you were actually because
I think we did restaurant road trip there after reading
something you wrote up.

Speaker 6 (56:52):
Oh yeah, there you go. Yeah, like I I I
just kind of found those guys through that can be
full a friend and uh, you know, I've been. I
wish I could go more, but I'm kind of glad
they're a little bit of a distance away, just because
I think I would go there a little bit too often.

Speaker 4 (57:06):
I mean, drinks gat too, they do.

Speaker 6 (57:09):
Drinks are great too, Like I'm always a sucker for
an old fashioned in there, and they do a lot
of it. Oh yeah, like all that stuff is great there,
and like's amazing. They do a lot of really cool
like themed nights to do it, like the Prime Rib
And they do this like insane cheeseburger like some like
some weekends. I think they usually do it on Saturdays

(57:31):
or Sundays. Don't quote me on that, but it's one
of the weekend days and it's a smoke cheeseburger with
like you know, oh dude, it's so solid, like and
it's it's a limited edition item, and I just remember
being blown away, like it was the best burger that
I ate all of I think it was twenty twenty.
I think it was twenty twenty three when I had

(57:52):
it was easily the best burger I had that See.

Speaker 5 (57:54):
I love how you have your burger's ranked in what
year you had them. That makes me excited. You know,
places I think don't get enough credit though, Hindsight Barbecue
and Waterbury is fantastic.

Speaker 6 (58:05):
Great job right there with you on that one. I
I that's one of the places I wish was closer,
even like as the result of like my heart or whatever.
Like it's like, I don't think Jeff and the team
over there. I think they get some cred, but they
don't get as much pread as like some of the
bigger boys. And they got a nice write up alongside

(58:27):
the Hudo Brown in like Texas Monthly, and it was
a fantastic article. I've only been the Hindsight one time.
I am due to go back.

Speaker 5 (58:38):
I covered Wisoul go together because we got to fix that.
They're just it's towards the trip. They're great and and
Jeff and and I mean they do and of course
you know and I'm saying a name, but you know,
hit his wife pitt bitch as they call her. And
I'm thrown out there as a name, not saying as
a as a curse word. But uh yeah, they just
kill it, kill it. And their stuff is so good

(58:59):
and they're location and what they do, and like it is,
how comfortable it is, it's so delicious and such a
great job. I have such a high regard for them,
and we feature them on Restaurant road Trip because it's
just you know, it's one of those places that you
don't expect to go to Waterbury and have amazing barbecue.
No it's there.

Speaker 4 (59:14):
Yeah, No, it's there.

Speaker 6 (59:16):
And like I like what they do because they kind
of like don't have a barbecue category, where like some
places are North or Carolina barbecue, where some places are Texas,
Kansas City. Well, hindsight kind of just does whatever they
want to do.

Speaker 4 (59:32):
So like Connecticut barbecue, it's Connecticut barbecue.

Speaker 6 (59:35):
I don't. I think it's just no rules barbecue. Like
I that's kind of what I like to call it
because like you'll see some you know, American stuff and
then you'll see like they'll throw some Korean stuff in
there or they'll do like something Mexican, or they'll take
something like from Taco Bell and they'll make a barbecue
version of a Chiloopa or something like.

Speaker 4 (59:55):
It's amazing.

Speaker 6 (59:57):
They do cool stuff, and I think that should be
celebrated because everything I had there when I went was amazing.

Speaker 5 (01:00:04):
It's all delicious, and it's all so affordable, and just
it's a great spot. They have a great beer selection,
and just it's so comfortable over there. And finally it's
on the barbecue I'll throw out there. I'm not sure
if you've ever been into the queue in Danburry Great Barbecue.

Speaker 6 (01:00:15):
I have not, and honestly, like it kind of trickles
into like the the best new category. But I did
write up a barbecue spot in that and Mason Street Barbecue.
It's like a pop up in Greenwage where you know
a really really rich guy. I'm just gonna say that,
like he's a developer and he he loves barbecue, and

(01:00:40):
he put together the small team of people and one
of the guys he's been a pitmaster for a little while.
His name is Ryan. Shout out to Ryan. He still
makes some of the best briskets that I've had in Connecticut,
and he's so under the radar and he's a good dude.
And I haven't heard much about Mason lately, so I
don't I hope they're still kind of doing it, or

(01:01:02):
or they might have taken a break for the winter.
But I'm going to have to report back on that
for you guys.

Speaker 5 (01:01:06):
Yeah, I no doubt about it. And you can check
out this list to Vidacnik at magazine dot com and
just type in their top restaurants at twenty twenty five.
I'm sure it'll be on their homepage. You can click
it and check out and see some of these things.
Before we get Andrew out of here, man, we got
to talk about the overall excellence category. There's a lot
of great choices there, a lot of great restaurants and
great people, which I think is really really cool here.
And you know, one of them, of course, is Rise Donuts,

(01:01:28):
which you have a little history with, right brother.

Speaker 6 (01:01:30):
I think that's the anomaly on the list. And I
also think it's super cool that something like Donuts could
be in there, or with like all of those big
boy restaurants, you know what I mean, like they're I
think that says something for the quality of their Brios Donuts,
and I do have some history with them, like I
I'll never forget, like kind of during like the pandemic,

(01:01:51):
like the thick of it. Like I remember seeing on
Instagram like this account come up called Rise Donuts and
I was like, where's that? What's that? And I see
it's in Builton And I saw the name on it
and said, Hugh Mangum And I'm like, Hugh Mangum. I'm like,
that's the guy that's he founded Mighty Quinns and he's
on the Food Network like all the time, like yeah,
And I sent up a DM and I was like, hey, man,

(01:02:11):
I think it's really cool that you're a barbecue guy
and you're here making donuts in Connecticut. I was like,
what are you doing here? Can I come to interview
you sometime? And uh, you know, he was super cool
about it. I went in a few times, I you know,
talked to him, talk to his family, and it's honestly
like separate from his barbecue business, like separate from him
being the founder of Mighty Quinns, which just opened a
location in Norwalk.

Speaker 4 (01:02:32):
I mean, he's a barbecue guy.

Speaker 6 (01:02:34):
He's a barbecue guy, but my god, dude, they're they're
such they're served like warm, like if you get there
in the morning, they're so nice and warm, and like
everything's like you know, homemade icings, homemade glazes and fillings,
like all of that good stuff.

Speaker 5 (01:02:50):
Like, dude got him. We'd love him on the show.

Speaker 6 (01:02:54):
I would love to connect you with him. He's a
fantastic interview. He's got a lot going on, but I'll
make nice guy.

Speaker 4 (01:03:01):
I never met h I never met him. Nice guy.

Speaker 6 (01:03:03):
He's one of the nicest guys like I think I've
ever met in the industry, just the kind he I
think he's a kind hearted guy, and he knows a
lot about food, and he's got a fine dining background,
like he's he's a fine dining chef that found barbecue
and like I've gotten the rightest story a few times.
And I've also gotten to help him do prep it
rise donut like when he needed a little bit of

(01:03:24):
help a few times. Like I went in like a
handful of times, and I, you know, I cut donuts.
I you know, I did all that stuff. It was
it was a good time. It was hard work, but
I had fun doing it. I learned. I learned a
great deal, like what it's like to work there, and
like also just like you know a little bit about donuts.

(01:03:44):
What's up?

Speaker 4 (01:03:44):
Did he pay you?

Speaker 5 (01:03:45):
That's the key thing there?

Speaker 6 (01:03:46):
Oh absolutely, yeah I wasn't doing Yeah, yeah absolutely, But yeah,
I think that's a cool like, like I think that's
the anomaly on the list, and I think it's like
the best anomaly on the list too, because we've got
some pretty good donut shops in this state and in
the sleepy town Wilton, Connecticut here we have this like

(01:04:07):
booming donut business and I think they're good for the community,
like they have a lot of repeat customers.

Speaker 5 (01:04:12):
Yeah, I me, there's a lot of great spots like
that here across to say, Jeffrey, go ahead, sorry, I
know you got what you want to say.

Speaker 4 (01:04:17):
No, I'm just I was just going to point out
how many there's just so many restaurants on this list
for overall excellence in Connecticut that's kind of mind blowing.
There's like there's like I like there's ten or twelve.

Speaker 5 (01:04:30):
One of my favorites, of course, is and I'm happy
to see them on the list. I think they deserve
to be there, as our friends that are Washington Prime
down in Norwalk. I think they do a great job,
those boys, and they the restaurant is comfortable, it's delicious.
They have a great cocktails, they have great wines, but
their steaks are fantastic.

Speaker 6 (01:04:47):
I'm glad to hear you say that, because that was
something that I was going to touch on even before
we came on the air, Like I was like, you know,
it's important to shout out Washington Prime because they've been
doing this for a long time, a long time, and
I I think, like Rob and Dave are some of
the nicest dudes you'll meet, and and you know, and
it's not just steakes, it's it's a really good steakhouse

(01:05:10):
component there. But you know, I also think it's just
a really good New American food And you're right about
the cocktails, You're right about the wine, and that is
a lot of people's like special occasion spot, but you know,
you're also welcome to just crash the bar and hang
out and have a cheeseburger too, And absolutely place does
really well. And I was just there for their New
Year's Eve like Roaring twenties party, and I knew it

(01:05:33):
was gonna it was. Dude, I don't even like going
out for New Year's Eve. I'mnna be perfectly honest, like, yeah,
I dressed up, I did the whole thing. I bought
in and I was like, I'm walking there and some
guys stopped me on the street and they were like, Oh,
are you going over to Prime And I'm like yeah,
and they were like, that is the best New Year's
Eve party anywhere around here, and they weren't hidding, like
it's and it's honestly like for like the food that

(01:05:55):
you get and it's like open bar all night, it's
not that expensive, like I reckon. I mean, I almost
don't want to recommend that that like because people buy
a ticket because I want to be able to go again.
So yeah, yeah, but it's yeah, it will definitely It's
one of those places that will sell out. And I'm
thriddled those guys made the list.

Speaker 4 (01:06:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:06:14):
I think one of the things that makes me happy
about Rob is that he was so when I when
I was there, we did road trip there years ago,
and one of the things I loved about Rob was
that he was he wasn't like I know everything guy,
he was like, Oh, tell me more about this, talk
to me about this, and then you know, a district
came out that I didn't like it. They tell me
why I didn't like it? Tell me what's you know?
How can we make it better? What can we change?
Like anybody who has that mentality and by the way,
in ownership and restaurants you don't find that. But anybody

(01:06:37):
who was that open to listening and talking and wanting
to know how to make it better, they're awesome. In
my book, I've sent I've sent hundreds of people to
them now who are like, Hey, what's a great steakhouts
to go to? I'm trappling with this. I was like, dude,
if you're going through New Norwalk, stop by Washington Prime.
It's easy something for everybody, and the food's delicious and
they do a great job. So yeah, shout to the
I'm glad they made the list. They should make a list,
No doubt about it, of course, Mill writes, I mean

(01:07:00):
Tyler's a good brother. He's been on this program before,
and you know he I like how he builds up
his chefs and and and gives him a chance to
to expand and showcase what they can do. So yeah that, that,
of course shit should be there. No doubt about it
the one that I have a little bit of problem with.
And you know, like we're getting to the end of
the segment here, and I want to hear what you
think about, Andrew, is that the the Rathusa altapla place.

Speaker 4 (01:07:21):
I'll tell you what.

Speaker 5 (01:07:23):
You laugh, So I think you might be with me here.
You know, for those of you who don't know the
town itself are not big fans of them. They came
into town, they put this up, and they kind of
put a lot of people out of business. And when
I was there doing some work years ago, that's the
only story I heard NonStop, NonStop, was that. And then
you know, I haven't been there in a long time,

(01:07:43):
but when I was there, I wasn't impressed by the food.
But it's beautiful, it's gorgeous, Like the whole vibe is incredible. However,
the second you hear the stories about what happened locally,
it really I don't know it kind of it's a
bad taste in your mouth, man, that's my opinion. Andrew.

Speaker 4 (01:07:57):
I don't know.

Speaker 6 (01:07:58):
Well, you know, I I agree with you about the food.
Like I've been once. I've been to their bakery across
the street, like many more times. I think the bakery
is fantastic. I thought the food was just okay, and
I thought the cocktails were for they were underwhelming, honestly,
Like it was one of the worst old fashions I

(01:08:20):
think I've ever had in the state, and I expected
it to be better.

Speaker 5 (01:08:26):
That's the worst one I've ever had.

Speaker 6 (01:08:27):
But I can actually still taste like the ethanol from
that particular dream, and I like, I I just don't
think that they like are they still relevant? That's one
that's a question that I would ask anybody, because I
think a lot of people also have that same question

(01:08:49):
in the same circles. And I run in like, you know,
if you do this job, you hear people say that
all the time. Is that place still good? Is it
still relevant? Like? And I'm not sure that they belong
on that list with like like for instance, like Hachi
Roku's on there like twice spots. I have not been there,
but it's my It's on my like at the top

(01:09:10):
of my list to go. And also like if you
haven't been to esh in Fairfield, do you know that place?

Speaker 5 (01:09:20):
I haven't been there. I'm listening now.

Speaker 6 (01:09:22):
It is modern Mediterranean. They cook a lot of things
over like cold and wood fire like all that stuff.
It's it's a fantastic spot. I've been twice now. It'll
cost you some money, but you're getting high quality ingredients,
you're getting good service. I don't have anything bad to

(01:09:44):
say about that place. I think it looks beautiful, You're
getting good drinks, you're getting good food.

Speaker 4 (01:09:50):
I don't think.

Speaker 6 (01:09:50):
I don't think anyone I know has been disappointed with
going to ash and and And if you were disappointed,
maybe you just didn't get it.

Speaker 5 (01:09:58):
Yeah, okay, definitely worth a date night. I think for
me and my wife check that place. Because you say
it's good, I'm going for sure, no doubt about it.

Speaker 4 (01:10:07):
The menu looks fantastic. The menu looks really really.

Speaker 5 (01:10:10):
Great, jeffany standouts on the menu your ny just looked up.

Speaker 4 (01:10:13):
Oh they have a you know five point Messi platter
with all the you know, spicy feta to zeki humus all.
They have a bunch of different types of flatbreads. They
have like a flatbread with this like lamb red onion, tahini,
pine and sumac. Sounds really great, uh, all there and

(01:10:33):
everything's like set up to share. It looks like so
they have a whole bunch of looks. It's like all
these like really cool like little bites like ribbi shwarma
boo buns and like you know, grilled octopus, oh man,
crispy duck wings. I mean, you know they have a
Falaffel basket. I'm in on all this cold grilled calamari. Uh.

(01:10:55):
I mean this all sounds like really unreal.

Speaker 5 (01:10:58):
So all sounds amazing. And I tell you what restaurants
like that they do really well because it's it's a
little bit different than everybody else. The first time went
to Zohara in West Hartford, phenomenal, Like I just think
past the job, great food, everything is delicious, sounds like
ashes up there.

Speaker 6 (01:11:12):
With its ashes up there, and they've had I believe
they want to a crazy also, I'm not that's crazy.
Don't quote me on that one either, but I seem
to remember they at least got a nomination a couple
of times, and.

Speaker 5 (01:11:31):
Okay, they're good.

Speaker 6 (01:11:31):
I don't know, like it's they deserve it. They deserve
any nomination, any award. Like, I think that place is
really good and you should definitely take the wife there
for sure.

Speaker 5 (01:11:40):
I'm going next weekend. I'm going to text you if
they have going next weekend to make that happens. I
want to check it out for sure. It's it's fair
for it's not too far from me. We're gonna give
it a try.

Speaker 4 (01:11:47):
Andrew.

Speaker 5 (01:11:48):
We appreciate you joining us and kind of dissecting this
list a little bit and talking about it and talking
about how these things happen and how people get to
be a part of these lists before we get you
out of here, man, and again, we appreciate your time
as always. Any place that you've been to recently that
people should check out, like where should we go Fairfield
County or beyond? Like what's an easy drive something that

(01:12:08):
you went to and you're like, you know what, this
is amazing. Maybe it was after this list came out
or something, I don't know, something different, like take us
somewhere we haven't been before.

Speaker 6 (01:12:16):
You know, all right, I do have one, and it's
it's not somewhere that just opened. We actually touched on
it the last time I was on the show. Because
it's one of the few instances where I think a
fine dining spot is also a hidden gym, right yea.
And one of the places that I believe in a

(01:12:37):
lot is lost Solandarienne and they have gotten their share
of nominations and all that stuff, and it's a couple
of miles down the road for me. I don't go
all the time because it's like I said, that place
will run you too, province will style French chef Jared Sipple.

(01:12:57):
Menu changes all the time, so we're talking like you know,
Housemaide fugats and uh, you know he's doing like the
uh yoki with black truffles. Some nights, like some some
nights you'll go in and there's a lambshank like you're
not getting steak freeds or like duck lerange there. It's
it's it's a little more fine dining French than like

(01:13:21):
you know, Coco vonn or something like that.

Speaker 4 (01:13:23):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 6 (01:13:24):
It's it's uh cocktail program's amazing. Well, yeah, worth a strip.
I tell everybody, like, honestly, if if you want a
spot to celebrate something, or honestly, even if you're not
celebrating anything at all. They have an amazing happy hour
where you can get like a bunch of their little
snacks and stuff at the bar for really cheap. They

(01:13:45):
also do like a limited burger. I think they make
ten a night, and uh, that can blow your mind.
Homemade bun, crazy good like beef.

Speaker 5 (01:13:54):
He won't tell you too much about it, but ten,
just ten. I love that.

Speaker 6 (01:14:00):
And it's a true happy hour, like it's it's one hour,
that's it. And uh, you know, burgers are just not
something that they do. But I remember it took him
a while to even it took him months and just
come up with this burger that he was confident enough
in and loved it enough that he wanted it on

(01:14:20):
the menu.

Speaker 5 (01:14:21):
All right, what's the name of the place again, just
say it one more time? Restaurant, Lostle, restaurant, Lostyle.

Speaker 4 (01:14:27):
All right, Lostyle.

Speaker 5 (01:14:30):
Check it out and Darien definitely worth the trip that
we got to check it out. Man, listen, Jeffy, tell
us where we can get some more info. When Andrew
I could follow him and all things he's got going.

Speaker 4 (01:14:38):
On absolutely CT bites and west Chester Magazine and then
also at Andrew Domindic on Instagram. Give him a follow,
check him out, dropping his d ms, ask him questions
about stuff he love it, you love.

Speaker 5 (01:14:51):
Get in there, find out more information, ask him where
to go. We he loves to hear that stuff he'll
he'll answer you too. That's a cool part.

Speaker 4 (01:14:56):
Tell you.

Speaker 6 (01:14:57):
I will answer you.

Speaker 4 (01:14:59):
Here, Andrew, you are the man.

Speaker 5 (01:15:00):
We appreciate it joining us here on Plumb Love Foods
and help breaking this down. We always appreciate your time,
and you're always the best to come out here, and
you're always going to come on and help us out,
so we appreciate it. First, you are the man. Stay
right there, you're checking out Plumb Love Foods right here,
w C s the Voice of Connecticut, Jeffy and I
be right back to bow on this and wrap it
all up. Stay right there. The w i c C

(01:15:50):
Impact Towards, jeff Are you ready to make an impact?

Speaker 4 (01:15:53):
You always ready to make an impact. I am too.

Speaker 5 (01:15:55):
The Voice that Connecticut wants to recognize those who make
a positive impact in our community. We want to award
local residents, local businesses, nonprofits, future leaders, and innovators who
do so much for the state. All you have to do, Jeffe,
is to submit your nominations with the WICC Impact Awards
is go to WICC.

Speaker 4 (01:16:12):
Dot com and submit right there, boom.

Speaker 5 (01:16:15):
The awards are happening and Wednesday, May fourteenth, at the
Vasianos four Seasons in Strafford. You can go check that out.
It's gonna be a lot of fun. You can go
see the awards and we can recognize important people. Jeffie,
that's what I think.

Speaker 4 (01:16:25):
You think I can get recognized there. I hope.

Speaker 6 (01:16:28):
So.

Speaker 4 (01:16:29):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (01:16:29):
I mean, I feel like I'm making an impact. You know,
my middle name was impact for a long time.

Speaker 4 (01:16:34):
Yeah, I mean, I've seen you do a cannonball.

Speaker 5 (01:16:37):
Do you think that's making any impact?

Speaker 4 (01:16:38):
Maybe, but that's a pretty big impact. I don't know.

Speaker 5 (01:16:41):
The WICC Impact Awards, make sure you check them out.
Go to WICC dot com and check out the Impact Awards.
Right there, you can nominate local businesses, residents, future leaders,
people who make a difference for the state. Do it
right there so they can get recognized on May fourteenth
at the Impact Awards held at Vasiano's four Seasons in Strafford.
I'm telling you it's worth your time. Go check it out.

(01:17:02):
Support people. Blumba Foods right here on WYICC, The Voice
of Connecticut excited to be hanging out with you. Whether
you listen on six hundred and am ninety five point
nine FM, or maybe we're checking out the podcast itself

(01:17:23):
after the fact, wherever podcasts are available. We just had
Andrew Dominic hanging out with us from CT Bites, Westchester
Magazine and all the other places he writes for. We
were breaking down some of the things that happen on
this list that comes out every year from our friends
over Connecticut Magazine. It's a Connecticut Magazine Top Restaurants of
twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (01:17:42):
Jeffy, I'm telling you.

Speaker 5 (01:17:44):
Man, like, as a person who talks to some of
these restaurants, who's been on this committee, who has helped
vote for some of these places, it makes a difference.

Speaker 4 (01:17:50):
Man, People do still check out these lists. They do matter. Yeah,
I couldn't agree more. I think I think these matter.
When I see these lists, I get excited and it
makes me there's places on here I want to check out.
And you know, when we do restaurant road trip, these
are the types of places that I like to see

(01:18:11):
and I like to reach out to as a producer
and see what's going on there and see if they
have a story that we can feature, because a lot
of them are really great and a lot of them
I remember a lot of these places from that.

Speaker 5 (01:18:23):
There's some great spots on here, and I love some
of the stuff that you know that the categories themselves
make me happy, talking about barbecue, talking about wine lists,
talking about breakfast places. I mean, if you're thinking about
a breakfast place, Jeff, all right, and like I think
about breakfast places as you know, a place where you
go to great egg sandwich, something like that. What's something
you look for when you go to a great breakfast place?

(01:18:44):
Because I have definitely I have a lot of ideas
in my brain, But what's something you look for when
you go there?

Speaker 6 (01:18:50):
Like?

Speaker 4 (01:18:50):
All right, So we're talking great breakfast place, like a
breakfast sandwich spot, or we're talking a dining and breakfast
sit down place, not diner specifically breakfast diner. There's another category.
Then there is a different category. So we're talking like
it could be like a breakfast sandwich spot, or it
could also be.

Speaker 5 (01:19:07):
What are you looking for when you go that you're
going to breakfast and you all that doesn't matter. You go,
you're going for breakfast. What's something you look for that
says this is a great breakfast spot just by reading
the menu.

Speaker 4 (01:19:19):
I like to see some sort of corn beef hash
on a menu. I really get excited when I see
that on a breakfast menu, if someone makes one from scratch, especially.

Speaker 5 (01:19:28):
With some little scrapple.

Speaker 4 (01:19:30):
Yeah, I'm not so much scrapple, but corn beef hash.

Speaker 5 (01:19:34):
Maybe to hone it in a little bit. Let's say
you're going to go there and get a breakfast sandwich,
to go from a particular breakfast spot. What's something you
look for immediately that says this is a great place.

Speaker 4 (01:19:44):
What kind of bread they're using?

Speaker 5 (01:19:46):
Yeah, I agree with that.

Speaker 4 (01:19:48):
You know, if they're baking their own biscuit, if they're
making some sort of homemadeo muffin or brioche, or you know,
even a fication. Maybe if they're doing it right, and
then the sandwich makes sense. I get excited about stuff
like that. You know, yeah, no, it makes total sense.
You know, you know what it was for me. I'm
looking at breakfast sandwich. Good.

Speaker 5 (01:20:05):
If they put mayo on it, now, I'm in count
me in. Let me tell you something right now. Mayo
on a breakfast sandwich is a life changing experience. It's
something we did done South. It's incredible. And I know
you're thinking egg on egg is at work. I'm telling
you Mayo on a breakfast sandwich is the greatest thing
you'll ever have in your life. You'll never put ketchup
on it ever again.

Speaker 4 (01:20:23):
So I still use a little ketchup hot sauce, but
I like a little Mayo one mind. Now you convinced me,
and I tried it, and you didn't believe me. You
know I did not. In fact, the first time you
asked me to put Mayo on it, I laughed. And
then when I went over, I ordered you something I
got like ketchup and mustard or some ketchup in salt
and pepper, like I might mind, And you were like.

Speaker 5 (01:20:42):
What, what?

Speaker 4 (01:20:43):
Why wouldn't you do Mayo? You were like so upset,
and oh my gosh, I didn't realize this was the thing.
The Mayo salt pepper.

Speaker 5 (01:20:50):
Mayo salt pepper is phenomenal on a breakfast sandwich, any
breakfast sandwich, no matter what your breakfast sandwich is. Give
me a breakfast sandwich with peppers and onions, a little
bit of salsa. Little Mayle makes the phenomenal. Give me
a breakfast sandwich that has like one of those hash
brown patties on there, and and bacon and cheese. Little
Mayo makes a phenomenal. I'm telling you. It works on
every sandwich.

Speaker 4 (01:21:11):
All right, you know what breakfast sandwich I really love.
Tell me shout out to mcgriddle. Oh gosh, are you
kidding me? Bro? All right?

Speaker 5 (01:21:20):
For maple is just overpowering, overpowering. Yeah, dude, the maple
and the sandwich just kills it for me.

Speaker 4 (01:21:30):
How could maple kill anything?

Speaker 5 (01:21:32):
It's just way too strong now when it mix it
with mayo, like a maple. Male, now we're talking, you.

Speaker 4 (01:21:36):
Can add mayo to your mcgriddle. M And honestly, I'm
still waiting to go to a restaurant and have someone
make like you know, like the mcjeffey or something, and
it's like, I don't know, you know, like maybe not
even Mick. It's like a like the something like it.
But you know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (01:21:56):
All right, Well, let's just take a little spin here,
just kind of along the same lines.

Speaker 4 (01:21:59):
It's a little bit of a pivot.

Speaker 5 (01:22:01):
Best diners, you know, our list here from Connecticut Magazine
talks about Laurel Diner, which is a great spot, I mean,
a phenomenal spot. Uh, the new Canaan Diner obviously a
spot that's been around forever. I mean a lot of
different choices here Shoreline Diner of course down in Guildford.
But when I look at diners, what do you look for, Jeffy?
For me, I look for a place that's been around
for a long time, because I think most diners do

(01:22:22):
you know what they do, they've been doing it for
a long time. And some diners even there's one in
Sandy Hook in particular, which I like a lot. They
have a whole bakery section where they sell you bake
goods at the diner, which is pretty crazy. So what
do you look for at the good diner?

Speaker 4 (01:22:37):
I mean, for me, it has to have diner in
the name. And then I'm just joking because everyone that
says diner at the end of it's like missing dinner,
Uncle D's dinner, shortline diner. I'm like, okay, okay, we
get it. Thrill diners. I look for a huge menu.
When I go to a diner, I get excited because
it's like breakfast. There's sandwiches. They can like a meat

(01:23:00):
loaf on there. They'll have like an open faced turkey
sandwich for some reason, Ruben of some sort, yeah, Ruben.
They'll have like, you know, Mitch's sandwich. Or you know,
and it'll be some weird thing with a frag green
tomato maybe depending on where you're.

Speaker 5 (01:23:14):
At, named after their kids or their or.

Speaker 4 (01:23:17):
Something or presidents you know that you really love. I'll
tell you what.

Speaker 5 (01:23:21):
Diners are very much a Northeastern thing like this, especially
independent diners like this. Growing up down South, we had Denny's,
we had waffle House. We didn't go to a diner.
We go to Denny's. You go to waffle house. We
didn't go to a diner like that was a it's
definitely a Northeastern thing.

Speaker 4 (01:23:34):
So you went to the bus stop. What do you
mean the bus stop?

Speaker 5 (01:23:38):
What does that mean?

Speaker 4 (01:23:39):
Like down South, I've taken the bus every every every
it's always like a diner situation at like at like
you know where you get like the Grayhound at we
do the waffle house.

Speaker 5 (01:23:48):
Which is like smothering covered and there's a whole way
to order and it's a whole situation. But it's not there,
you know, it's a corporation. It's not like an independent
diner like the Laurel Diner in Southbury, which is a phenomenon.

Speaker 4 (01:23:57):
No, it's definitely it's not Greek owned either, you know,
I like a nice Greek owned diner that like, you know,
there's like you know, it's like they have schwarma on there.

Speaker 5 (01:24:06):
You're like, what, Yeah, the Sandy Hook Diner, which has
a full on bakery you can buy. You want cheesecake,
you can buy a full cheesecake. You can buy like
people go there and get like stuff for people's birthday.
It's like, oh, you want a birthday cake? They got
the diner makes it.

Speaker 4 (01:24:18):
When I was a kid, like, really nice restaurants always
had that like giant dessert section in the front when
you walked in. You know, they had like all the
pies and all the different stuff and you can get
a slice, so you can get a whole pie.

Speaker 5 (01:24:31):
I love the bit which is great stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:24:32):
I love it.

Speaker 5 (01:24:33):
I think it's I agree completely by the course and
the menu is just overwhelming. You look at you know,
like you said, the breakfast whole section and you got
the meat loaf and the entre, the rim eye.

Speaker 4 (01:24:42):
You know, no one's buying a rib i, no one's
buying a NewYork We didn't, we didn't shout out for breakfast.
But one of the really important things for breakfast being
a New Yorker and now I know, I know they
make them great in Connecticut is bagels like old Mo Bagel.

Speaker 5 (01:24:57):
We went there with that's phenomenal. My friend over here
in Newtown pop up Bagels is a great spot. He's
killing Alcoa.

Speaker 4 (01:25:04):
Bagels and then uh Poppies that We also went there
in New Haven for a restaurant road ship and they
made the list, which is awesome. That really makes me
super happy because they they do a great job. They
brew their own coffee right there on site. They from fantastic. Yeah,
I mean that's what I meant. They roast their own
coffee beans right on site. It was just such a

(01:25:24):
great spot and they were they couldn't have been nicer people.

Speaker 5 (01:25:27):
Same thing with the OMO right on the campus too,
which is pretty cool.

Speaker 4 (01:25:30):
Yeah. And and the bagels that Omo were so special.
It's like a chef put his mind to making bagels.
And like I said earlier, you know, chefs we streamlined
and we like to like look at a project and say,
how can we make this better and faster and how
can we do this this? And and his bagels are awesome.
Lining out the door every day, yeah, and going there

(01:25:53):
and talking to him and seeing the passion and the
love behind the bagel and how they do it.

Speaker 5 (01:25:58):
Just it just it was like thanks episode going to
get you to move here, buddy, because we have some
great food here.

Speaker 4 (01:26:04):
Listen. We appreciate you guys.

Speaker 5 (01:26:05):
Check out the program here on w i c C
the Voice of Connecticut. Plumblove Foods. Thanks for hanging out
with us, man and and and and you're just getting
a little information and learning how these lists are made.
We really do appreciate that because it's not always uh
you know, it's always rocket science, and sometimes it is,
but we have some great spots. Get out there. Check
out this list on the on a Connecticut magazine dot com,

(01:26:26):
and go check out.

Speaker 4 (01:26:26):
The new places. We appreciate you guys, check out the program.

Speaker 5 (01:26:28):
Remember, food is one of those important things we have
in life. Everything important life evolves around food time. It
deserves you guys.

Speaker 7 (01:26:34):
Next week foods, sweet Suit.

Speaker 2 (01:26:46):
We Yes, colinary conversation. So on the fast say Son
handing on the knee.

Speaker 4 (01:27:07):
Set one in the list.

Speaker 3 (01:27:12):
And the rest

Speaker 6 (01:27:16):
M