Business & Tech

Stamford Restaurant Week Brings Locally-Grown Goods to the Table

This year, Stamford Restaurant Weeks has a special offering for people coming out to enjoy great food with greater deals—some of the participating restaurants will be offering up delectables grown right in the city's own back yard.

"Stamford Downtown [Special Services District] (DSSD) teamed up with Sustainable Stamford to add locally-grown produce from area farms to some of the restaurants this year," said Robin Wexler, Director of Media Relations for the Stamford Museum & Nature Center.

The Local Harvest theme will be playing a prominent role in the 2013 Summer Restaurant Weeks event from Monday, August 19 to Monday, September 2. The goal, according to the DSSD, is to partner local farmers with local restaurants to create viable, in-town partnerships.

Four area farms or organizations with farms are taking part in the event: DOMUS, Green Up Group, Stamford Museum & Nature Center (SM&NC) and Hubbard Heights Farms.

"In addition to produce, we'll also be providing maple syrup and eggs since we have maple syrup production and chickens on site," Wexler said. "We're a more educational facility, so we have more limited production. Exactly how much we'll be providing is still up in the air."

The farmers involved in the event are excited to participated. Bob Coogan, a Mount Kisco resident and farmer at Stamford's Green Up Group, grows lettuces, microgreens, juiceables, herbs and a variety of Heirloom tomatoes, peppers and eggplant locally or hydroponically. Green Up was created by Coogan's son, Colin, of Norwalk, who was a former Wallstreet banker for seven years prior to getting out of the business just two years ago, in need of a quality-of-life change as Coogan put it.

"We're a small, family business which concentrates on organic gardening," Coogan said. "[Being asked to be involved is] the best, that's why we do this. We know you don't need to truck stuff all over the United States to get food to people. We know what we make is the right stuff, it's what we eat and what our families eat and we're happy with what we do. It's nice when people can enjoy that."

Coogan said he hoped Green Up would be able to provide a large sampling of the various goods they produce, from the aforementioned Heirlooms and eggplant to their fruits like peaches, apples, cherries and blueberries.

He hadn't met any of the restauranteurs or chefs who were going to use what he was providing, but Coogan said he was excited to head out and see with what they'd come up.

Wexler echoed Coogan's sentiments, happy to be able to provide something that would be enjoyed by the people of the SM&NC's hometown.

"It's a great opportunity and we're excited to participate," she said. "We like to let people know where their food comes from and it's wonderful when it comes from your own backyard."

The list of restaurants supporting local farms this year during Restaurant Weeks is as follows:

Bobby Valentines
Fin II
Capriccio Cafe
Kujaku
Volta Gelateria Creperia
Bar Rosso
Columbus Park Trattoria
EOS Greek Cuisine
Napa & Co.
Rodizio Grill


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