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Post New Year’s Culinary Stew

A stew of food notes is what we’re talking about here.

Wooster Square Market Jan. 16, 2010

The Diehards and Newcomers

CitySeed’s first New Haven market of the winter season (oh thank you for those 45-plus-degrees!) had a hefty showing of the stalwarts on Saturday: Stone Gardens still with Brussels sprouts and some pristine garlic; greens from Starlight and 2 Guys from Woodbridge; Waldingfield Farm had some lovely potatoes.

And of course there were the – essentially — non-seasonal guys: Trinity Farm with the full compliment of milk products and butter! They don’t always have that. Four-Mile-River was happily long on eggs and the various cheese guys had plenty.

And there were some welcome newcomers: Riverbank Farm from Roxbury, an organic grower with a commercial kitchen. So aside from loads of lovely looking carrots and parsnips, they had a large selection of prepared products. Riverbank is no stranger to Westport and Fairfield and a bunch of other markets, but they’re new to Wooster Square.

And an interesting surprise – Skappo restaurant in New Haven, known for Umbrian home-style specialties, also came loaded with soups and such. It’s all going make venturing out on those cold future Saturdays a lot more worth it. Market runs first and third Saturdays of the month at Wooster Square, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Warming up in Fairfield

For all the thin-blooded types who have been griping (and believe, me, I’ve heard you) about the winter Fairfield market being outdoors – good news, it’s back indoors. The market is in the Warehouse at the Fairfield Theatre Company, 71 Sanford Street, but had been relegated to the parking lot these last really, really, really cold weeks while repairs were being finished. They’re finished. Market is Saturdays 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

And speaking of FTC – Play with Your Food is back for another season at FTC, as well as in Greenwich and Westport (where it began in 2003). $42 will buy you a catered lunch and readings of one-act plays plus discussion.

Changing Hands

We reported several weeks ago that Arturo Franco-Camacho of Bespoke/Sabor and formerly Roomba in New Haven had two new enterprises planned for Branford. A deal to sell Bespoke/Sabor was underway at the time and was completed as of the end of the year. Bespoke and Sabor have new owners, new chef – all with histories in the Max Group (and elsewhere). Check out the website for the particulars. End of an era for New Haven, but as we reported – the three food carts ain’t going anywhere.

Be-Speaking of Branford

Arturo Franco-Camacho doing what he does best.

Arturo Franco-Camacho doing what he does best.

The man who set the New Haven restaurant scene on its ear when he introduced Nuevo Latino food in 1999 at his (now defunct) restaurant Roomba, and upped the ante three years ago with the upscale Bespoke/Sabor is about to establish a beachhead in that cute little downtown strip of Branford.

And we mean beachhead.

Come the new year, look for not one, but two new restaurants from Arturo Franco-Camacho. No specific menus – not that he and his wife Suzette are divulging yet. But we can say this:

The first of the two will be called The Suburban and will be in the space now occupied by Brunello’s Ristorante (Tenderloin before that; Pesce before that; I don’t remember before that). Goal is February and the concept is gastropub – that new-fangled British export that is part bar, but with food that ratchets up the refinement level a few (or more, or many more) notches.

The Franco-Camacho’s are going after a modern European take with fresh and local foods and a simpler presentation than, say, Bespoke. “You can go any night of the week and be comfortable,” explains Suzette.

The space is much smaller than the Bespoke space and that is part of the goal, she says: “We really miss the intimate small space we had with Roomba.” (And I’m betting/HOPING this will be cozy without Roomba’s noise levels. Great food, but you couldn’t hear yourself eat.)

The other new restaurant will be pretty much across the street. No name yet, but the concept is modern Mexican (remember Arturo is a native of Tijuana) and it’s to be less formal than either Bespoke or Roomba. Think April or so for this one.

And for all of you worried about the burrito carts – still known as the Roomba carts to many, but now actually called the Tijuana Taco Company for the name of Franco-Camacho’s original 1996 carts that predate his restaurants – all four of them will stay right where they are in downtown New Haven.

Whew – we were worried there for a minute.