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Tiny Le Penguin In Greenwich, Connecticut, Is A Model FrenchBistro

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Tiny Le Penguin In Greenwich, Connecticut, Is A Model FrenchBistro


Greenwich, Connecticut, has in the current century earned a reputation for having a few very good restaurants, which draw people from beyond its Gold Coast. One of the best was for years a tiny, quite serious French restaurant named Jean-Louis on Lewis Street whose owner, Jean-Louis Gerin, retired in 2012 to teach and consult. The premises were replaced in 2013 by a bistro named Le Penguin (does anyone remember a(unrelated) long-gone restaurant in Bronxville named Le Gai Penguin?) run by Anshu Vidyarthi and Antoine Blech, who also run the excellent Asian restaurant Orientale next door, as well as Le Fat Poodle, Siren RestoBar and JuJu in Old Greenwich.

Vidyarthi has a long career in hospitality, including at some of Los Angeles’s notable restautrants like The Ivy at the Shore, as well as the opener of Le Colonial in Manhattan and L’Escale in Greenwich. Blech, too, has his bonafides with stints at Spago and L’Orangerie in L.A. and Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia, as well as Le Bilboquet, Le Comptoir and Le Colonial in New York. Clearly they know what they’re doing for all their restaurants have a faithful crowd who go from one establishment to the other.

Le Penguin is full of bonhomie (though from six till nine the crowd gets loud), with French blue accents and banquettes against a pumpkin-colored wall hung with sconces and mirrors, with well-set tables and good lighting. The women dress with a welcome casual chic. The waitstaff knows the menu and acts with dispatch (though after nine they tend to linger at the bar, ignoring the dining area).

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The menu, appended with specials, is solidly French bistro in style, listed in French with English subtitles. Careful seasoning and spicing is key to the success of dishes like escargots ($17) with plenty of garlic butter and buttery puff pastry and ravioli ($17) with wild mushrooms, pea shoots, a touch of sage and parmigiano. Tender calamari cooked on the plancha griddle ($18) take on welcome flavors from a salad of arugula and cherry tomatoes. A tomato tart ($17) with puff pastry, arugula sand spicy tomato sauce should have started off with better, sweeter tomatoes.

Among the main courses, I thoroughly enjoyed the fat scallops ($40), pan seared and served with celery root puree and the smart idea of peppery, crumbled chorizo. I always order trout when I see it on a menu, and Le Penguin’s is a classic rendition à l’amandine ($ 35), roasted with plenty of brown butter that add crispness to the almonds, along with haricots verts and fingerling potatoes. The fish of the day ($46) was a nice slab of swordfish, somewhat overcooked that night. Lamb chops ($52) were a good choice, both generously proportioned, juicy and medium rare, and priced sensibly.

The desserts are all those favorites no one can turn down, from a rich chocolate mousse ($15) to tangy-sweet lemon tart ($15). A tarte Tatin ($15.50) needed more caramelization, and the floating island ($15) looked more like a floating lily pad.

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The wine list by the glass and bottle is printed on one page, and I’m perfectly happy with its brevity for a good bistro, its choices and its prices— plenty by the glass at $14—though not with its lack of vintage dates.

Good French bistros are not as numerous as they should be in the Connecticut/Westchester area, so Le Penguin is one to be treasured by locals proud of its existence as well as by those driving out of the city in search of a good meal far from the Manhattan crowd.

Le Penguin

61 Lewis Street

203-717-1200

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Open daily for lunch and dinner.



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The Houston Comets are back as the Sun sets on the WNBA’s time in Connecticut, where fans face unfortunate reality

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The Houston Comets are back as the Sun sets on the WNBA’s time in Connecticut, where fans face unfortunate reality


FORT WORTH, Texas — The Houston Comets’ four WNBA championship banners and the jerseys of their icons have a rightful home again. If only it didn’t come at the expense of another.

The news of the Connecticut Sun selling to Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and relocating to the Lone Star state as the Comets is a zero-sum game, transporting heartache elsewhere.

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Sure, it’s a long-awaited victory for Houston and its fans, who were many and only grew in number as vintage became trendy. This city deserved the return of a team ripped from its clutches at the start of the Great Recession, and despite decent attendance throughout its success.

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Yet, the basketball-crazed state of Connecticut will now feel that same void. It’s hard to overlook that the final report of the sale dropped while 12-time national champion UConn actively extended its winning streak to 53 with a victory in the Sweet 16 here in Fort Worth, Texas. Four hours from Houston.

Hey, the move screamed, look over there instead. The epitome of a Friday night news dump that everyone involved with hoped wouldn’t sting quite so much.



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Are You From a Connecticut Family That Eats Toad in the Hole?

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Are You From a Connecticut Family That Eats Toad in the Hole?


Are you from a Connecticut family that grew up eating Toad in the Hole? If so, you probably know it as a quirky breakfast dish — an egg cooked right in a hole cut out of a slice of bread. Just to be clear, no toads were harmed — I simply couldn’t resist using an actual toad photo. But the story behind the name and the dish is a little stranger than you might think.

The original Toad in the Hole comes from England, where it’s a savory meal of sausages baked in Yorkshire pudding batter. No eggs, no toast, just sausages popping out of golden, fluffy batter — the name supposedly comes from the way the sausages peek out like toads in a pond.

When English families settled in New England, they brought culinary traditions with them, and over time, the dish evolved. In the U.S., particularly in some Connecticut households, Toad in the Hole became the breakfast version we know today: an egg nestled in bread, sometimes cooked in a skillet or baked. It’s a far cry from the original sausages-and-batter dish, but it kept the playful name and sense of whimsy.

Read More: Connecticut Zookeeper Explains the Secret Lives of Skunks 

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What’s fun is that the U.S. version is sometimes called “egg in a basket” or “egg in a hole” in other parts of the country, but in many Connecticut homes, it proudly keeps the Toad in the Hole moniker. For families with multi-generational ties to the state, this little breakfast dish is a taste of history, a nod to old English roots, and a perfect reminder of just how weird and wonderful Connecticut’s food traditions can be.

Before researching this, I’d never heard of it, but you’d better believe I’m making one of these this weekend — both the UK and U.S. versions.

Sources: Wikipedia & Food Science Institute 

The Top 10 Shoplifted Items from Connecticut Target Stores…

Luxury Meets Privacy: Discover Old Greenwich’s Exclusive Peninsula

28 East Point Lane is a luxury address in Old Greenwich, CT that happens to rest on a peninsula. If you have a metric f— ton of money I have good news, It recently hit the market for $12.5 Million. 

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Gallery Credit: Lou Milano

10 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods, in Connecticut’s Highest Crime City

Those of us who live in Connecticut know, this place is NOT what the rest of the country thinks it is. We have folks struggling to get by, we have crime, drugs and very dangerous neighborhoods. Recently, I set out to find the most dangerous city in Connecticut and I got a lot more detail than I bargained for. After determining Hartford was the city with the most violent crime, I was able to find the specific places that are the most dangerous within the city. These are the 10 Most Dangerous Places in Hartford according to the Connecticut Bail Bonds Group.

Gallery Credit: Lou Milano





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Connecticut Gas Tax Holiday Proposal Stalls – We-Ha | West Hartford News

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Connecticut Gas Tax Holiday Proposal Stalls – We-Ha | West Hartford News


A spokesperson for the governor said the gas tax holiday remains an option ‘should gas prices continue to climb,’ but Lamont is not actively pursuing it due to lack of support from the legislature.

By Karla Ciaglo, CTNewsJunkie.com

On March 10, Gov. Ned Lamont proposed a temporary gas tax holiday to help Connecticut drivers amid rising fuel costs tied to global conflict, but the plan was met with mixed reviews and now appears to be in limbo.

While top Democrats urged immediate action using emergency authority, other legislative leaders and Republicans expressed concerns over timing, fiscal impact, and whether the savings would actually reach Connecticut residents.

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Lamont’s proposal would suspend the state’s 25-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax — and potentially the roughly 49-cent diesel tax — as prices climbed following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and the resulting disruption to global oil markets. Despite the urgency, it lost traction among legislators.

Click here to read the rest of the article on CTNewsJunkie.com.

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