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NORWALK, Conn. – Norwalk is hot, hot, hot, according to a statewide magazine – at least as far as food goes. Style, health and beauty? Entertaining activities? Not so much, although the big screen at the Maritime Aquarium scores high marks.
Norwalk hot dogs, hot food and hot chocolate made it onto Connecticut Magazine's 2012 Best of Connecticut list, released this week in its September issue. Two cocktails are listed among the best in the state, and oysters cooked in SoNo are tops, according to the magazine.
In fact, Norwalk did well, with nine businesses listed among the 238 winners. They are:
- Swanky Franks, 182 Connecticut Ave., is anything but ritzy, according to the magazine, but it's a "must-have on our Connecticut road-food bucket list."
- Chocopologie, 12 S. Main St., has the best hot chocolate, "traditional style or spicy, i.e., jazzed up with chipotle, cinnamon, cloves and ginger, with both available iced or frozen as well as hot."
- Stew Leonard's has the best hot food bar, at both its Norwalk and Newington locations.
- Match, 98 Washington St., offers "a little bit of heaven on a plate" with its oyster appetizer, dubbed "carpetbaggers" on the menu, the best oysters in the state. The concoction features black truffle crema, truffled steak tartare and a dot of truffle aioli.
- The Loft, 97 Washington St., mixes "excellent martinis," but the cosmopolitan is "superb."
- Barcelona Wine Bar & Restaurant, 63 N. Main St., has a "fruity, refreshing sangria" that Connecticut Magazine writers just "can't get enough of."
- The Lime Restaurant, 168 Main Ave., serves a veggie-nut burger that even meat lovers can get hooked on, according to the magazine.
- Sono Baking Co., 101 Water St., upped the ante for South Norwalk when it opened in 2005 with its "elegant cakes, perfect fruit and lemon meringue tarts, fruit galettes and artisan breads."
- The Maritime Aquarium's IMAX theater has "astonishing picture clarity."
Lou Renzueli, owner of Swanky Franks, the most venerable business on the list, was surprised at being mentioned because no one contacted him. He attributes the honor to the freshness of the food – mandatory in part by the lack of storage space in a 60-year-old establishment that was once the only truck stop on the thoroughfare.
"We can't change any of our menu to a lesser quality because people have come to expect it," he said. Some people have been customers for six decades, he said. He can add things, though. This winter he plans to begin offering a barbecue menu.
"Everything is top-of-the-line quality," he said. "If you go to Stop & Shop you'll pay $5 to $6 a pound for these hot dogs. The bread is fresh, it's delivered every day. The chili is fresh. We make everything fresh."
Comments (33)
Where is Valencia - Venezuelan Beach Food? Hands-down, the best restaurant in Norwalk.
Its on Main street, its one of the highest rated zagat restaurants in Norwalk Actually!
Always packed and they also have a great breakfast...
We can all ignore ffctguitard as he is the sicko from topix that posts as Niikk (in black).. He is a stalker and has now begone stalking me on that site along with many others..Just take a look at some of the weirdo post from just today..Also if you really want to get grossed out take a look at some of his previous post.
Has anyone tried the chipotle-spiced hot chocolate at Chocopologie?
@ Nancy;
I haven't had it at Chocopologie but it is something my kids and I have developed a taste for from years back, skiing out in Breckenridge Co. A dash of the green Tabasco sauce works pretty good too. Hot or iced.Suprizingly good isn't it ! :-)
@ Nancy and Broad -
Green chili sauce in hot chocolate? Does it taste anything like mole (sorry, can't get the grave mark over the "e") sauce. I've been told one version of it has avocado and chocolate. This sounds like it is along the same lines.
Personally, I believe that chocolate is not just for breakfast anymore.
Broad, iced hot chocolate with a dash of green Tabasco sauce? Do you make it with milk or use the instant hot cocoa mix? How do you make it? Inquiring minds want to know.
@ Paige,.. just cheat and use the tilde. Molé,..if you are trully interested in South Western/Mexican foods Rick Bayless has a food site with weekly recipies you might enjoy. along Spoon's line, has anybody tried Michele's Pies 666 Main Avenue, Norwalk? She has knock your socks off delicacies !
Find one of the better, higher cocoa content powders / mixes. Whole Foods has a large selection. There is one that comes in a
cardboard cylinder, the name escapes me right now but it comes from Malaysia.The Connecticut-based Knipschildt is a good brand as is Pepperidge Farms Godiva.
I prefer to use a dutch process for some if not all of the recipe, the sea weed keeps the cocoa suspended better.
The run of the mill hot chocolate mixes don't work well at all and I think it is due to the powered milk they use but a better one might be fine.
I just so happen to have a Chocolatier in the family who told me last night, as i was having her homemade coconut Italian ice, that any dried hot Green pepper is what to use and also a dash of powered cayenne works well. Easiest first try however would be with Hershey's cocoa and milk maybe toss in a few chocolate chips.
Once you have it made, chill it, don't add ice until it's served, you don't want to end up with a peppery yoo-hoo :-)
@Paige;
When you use Olive, Rosemary and toasted in the same sentence, I get flashbacks of the late 60's and a VW bus !
I hope they are good flash backs! Wait, is that Mary Hopkins I hear singing in the distance..."Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end."...?
I think I'll have to go down to Chocoapology (sp?) and try it out first before I sacrifice any of my Dutch Cocoa or Droste's.
@Paige;
Of course they are, Only good flashbacks should ever be spoken of. It could be Hopkins in the background, it's just drowned out by (yet another Dutch process), Purple Haze.
Every year around Christmas I get a Droste Orange.
I haven't tried the hot chocolate at Chocopologie yet. Cinnamon I get, but hot sauce? Hard to believe but I'm willing to give it a shot! But not now ... it's the wrong time of year. I just can't wrap my mind around the idea of iced hot chocolate.
Within the core of each of us is the child we once were. This child constitutes the foundation of what we have become, who we are, and what we will be
It is always nice to see Norwalk's restaurant scene get some nice press. Congrats to all the restos mentioned.
I read the comments every day just to see the two of you go at each other. Thanks for the entertainment!
micheleerica
You are Very Welcome
They missed Wave Hill Breads on High Street - excellent pastries and breads baked fresh every day except Monday, when they're closed. Also a great breakfast and lunch menu and a very comfortable setting.
Anything in particular you'd recommend? It was kind of fun being Secret Restaurant reviewer.
As far as desserts, nothing tops the chocolate croissants, but the danishes are good too. All of the breads are excellent but the kalamata olive and red pepper ciabatta is out of this world.
Off the menu, the French Toast is the best I've had in CT.
woW Spooner
It sounds good..We should go sometime..Hows Friday?
Okay. Sounds great? They don't do an olive and rosemary bread, do they? One of my friends who has moved out of state used to make this fabulous olive and rosemary bread. Absolutely delicious toasted with a little butter.
I don't think there's an olive and rosemary bread at Wave Hill but they do try hard to be responsive to requests, so if you asked maybe they can find a way to accommodate. Now that I think about it, the roasted red pepper and kalamata olive ciabatta probably has some rosemary in it, because rosemary is a common ingredient in ciabatta.
Whole Foods in Westport makes a rosemary bread which is good but not great, and has no olives. I've had the olive bread from Isabelle et Vincent, a French Bakery in Fairfield, and it's amazing. I'm pretty sure there's rosemary in it but I'm not certain.
Spooner
Please provide verifiable facts that they have excellent pastries and breads and also a great breakfast and lunch menu
I've lived in Norwalk for most of my life and I've never been to Swanky Frank's. This week - for sure!
@Paige;
I think you'll find that you'll go once. bon chance
Hey Broad Swamp
I was just checking out the filth you posted on Topix as Niikk (in black) and I see that someone has already called you out for making yet another topix user name just 30 minutes ago as in "Mkbocc"..How many are you up to now about 40? You are such a robtard. DO NOT DENY AS WE ALL KNOW IT IS YOU. How long before Paige runs to your rescue?
Last time I went the place was filthy--ketchup on the floor, just disgusting, food was greasy..please report back after youve tried it and let us know what you think!
Okay. Mission accomplished. It was kinda fun. I felt like Secret Food Reviewer. While I was there, most of the customers were men, several in business suits.
I went, sat at the counter and had a hot dog and fries. When you asked for a "hot dog", the one you get is deep fried, which is why both you and Broad probably felt it was greasy. They also have a "grilled" hot dog on the menu. Since the thing they are famous for are the hot dogs, that's what I ordered. They have condiments on the counter; green relish, ketchup, raw white onions, deli mustard and my personal favorite, hot dog relish. The hot dogs can be topped with numerous other items, like fried onions, sauerkraut, and chili.
The fries are fresh cut potatoes quick fried and generously served without any salt. There are a few people I know that would appreciate that. Several of the customers came in, ordered without looking at the menu and requested that the fries be "extra crispy". Obviously, they were regulars. They also were familiar to the grill master.
The counter area was clean, as was the floor and the grill area. The hoods above the grill area were very clean. Although I didn't go into the small part where the booths were, it looked as clean as the rest.
Bottom line: I'm glad I went. I may go back again to try a burger and some onion rings. But as for hot dogs, after having tried Super Duper Weenie in Fairfield and now Swanky Frank's, I think I'll stick with my favorite, the Costco concession.
The Super Duper Weenie is that in Broad River?
See Paige I told you that you would enjoy a greasy pit.
The least you could do is thank me.
@ Paige;
I think they are know for their grilled then deep fried dogs. The old Kuhns,(Tiunxis Hill / Black Rock Tpke),Tomlinsons ' the greeks ', (Boston Ave / Noble Ave) and the Cricket (Access Road / Main Street) also cooked their dogs this way. It wasn't the dog I like them to have that snap. It was the laminated counters, so worn the pattern was disappearing, the day old (or 2 ) condiment containers, the flies and the Greasy floor. Obviously things have changed very much for Swanky's,.. good for them. :-) I have found that sometimes also when renovations happen it can takes a year or so for the new grill to get seasoned. I think my all time Favorite place would have to be the old Jimmies of Savin Rock. I still go there for their fried clams and if not there then Johnny's out on City Island
Bravo on the research!
Definitely.
@ living;
That's how it was one summer day 1977 too. Admittedly they do have loyal followers but I've never seen it where you'd worry getting a parking spot. I've always been amazed at how they can stay open.
It's the little dump next to silver star..Some brag about it but I find it to be way to greasy. I bet you would like it..