Norwalk, CT recommendations

We were up in Norwalk, CT recently staying with friends, and they took us to some great places, so I'm passing on the recommendations.

1) Michele's Pies is a many-time National Pie Championship winner and was recently feature on a Bobby Flay Throwdown. We tried a variety -- chocolate pecan (to die for), mango pineapple macadamia crumb, strawberry-rhubarb, and coconut cream. The winner among these was definitely the 2010 award-winning coconut cream. (Photo from Michele's Pies website)

666 Main Avenue, Norwalk CT 06851 Phone: 203.354.7144

2) Fat Cat Pie Company: According to my friend, the Fat Cat guys are originally wine guys, who then branched into opening a pizza joint and coffee shop. The menu is simple -- thin crust pizza: 1 size, choice of many toppings; salads: choice of toppings; natural sodas and ice cream sandwiches. In fact the food represented 1/4 of the menu, with alcoholic beverages the remaining 3/4.

Crust was super thin and crisp, toppings were yummy, especially the caramelized onions. They also brought a caddy of Penzey's spices to top your pizza with which included the traditional oregano and red pepper flakes, but also Bangkok Curry, Turkish pepper, and other exotic spices. I was a big fan of the curry powder.

The ice cream sandwich (with a very mild and delicious lavender ice cream and chocolate chip cookies) was the perfect ending, and they even cut it into quarters for each of us to have 1 bite!

9-11 Wall St, Norwalk, CT 06850, (866) 322-8123


3) Stew Leonard's: I can't even describe the joy that is Stew Leonard's. It is like no other grocery store I've ever been to. It's like Trader Joe's meets Disneyworld. The Guinness Book of World Records has certified it "The World's Largest Dairy Store." You can watch the dairy in action, you can see live video feeds from the farms - watching cows in the pen as you pick up a nice steak cut from their recently slaughtered brothers (http://www.stewleonards.com/cowcam/), you can watch trains traveling overhead or trapeze-flying animals. And every few minutes you can catch different shows of animatronic food singing their own praises (http://www.stewleonards.com/html/ff5.cfm).



There's a petting zoo outside, and free ice cream cones whenever you spend $100. Redneckhunter knows that if this place was near us and was our regular grocery store, shopping would be an all day affair -- between the Ikea-like maze store design, abundant samples, singing vegetables, pig and cow videos, live animals and free soft serve, he'd never get me out of there. (Photo from Stew Leonard's website)