This was one of those weeks where the food kept pace with the life happening around it. There were quick city slices and a Manhattan in a bank vault, a proud parent moment on the streets of Lower Manhattan, local oysters and linguine with clams in Rowayton, a gorgeous lunch in Southport, and a Sunday that ended with Colony Grill pizza after a flea market score that made my inner kid very happy. Some weeks are about the restaurants. This one was about the moments the restaurants were wrapped around.
Monday: Sausage & Peppers at Lunch, Cutlets at Dinner
Monday had that satisfying quality of a day that asks very little and delivers anyway.
Leftover peppers and onions in the fridge — and a package of Lazlo’s sweet Italian sausage I’d picked up on Sunday — turned themselves into a sausage and pepper sandwich for lunch that hit exactly the right spot. That’s the thing about good Italian sausage. It doesn’t need much. Just heat, sweet peppers, and a roll, and it becomes something you’d order off a menu.
Dinner shifted gears entirely. Gluten-free chicken cutlets — crispy, properly seasoned — alongside a pear tomato salad with a honey Dijon dressing. Light, bright, and just the right contrast to a heavier lunch. It’s the kind of pairing that doesn’t announce itself but works every time.
Tuesday: Two Slices at Jay’s Pizza & Gelato for Dinner
Tuesday was a New York day, and the city delivered on both ends.
Late lunch brought me to Jay’s Pizza on Chambers Street — two slices, two very different experiences. The New Yorker, a classic cheese slice, was excellent. The crust had that proper fold-and-bite structure, the sauce was clean and flavorful, and the fresh basil scattered across the top was a nice, considered touch. The Calabrese was equally good — bold, well-built, the kind of slice that makes you want to come back and work through the whole board. Jay’s is doing it right.
Dinner, I’ll be honest, was gelato. Oggi Gelato in Fairfield — Tiramisu and Chocolate Hazelnut in a cone. No regrets. Some evenings just call for it, and this was one of them. When the cone is that good, it is dinner.
📍 Jay’s Pizza | Chambers St, New York, NY ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📍 Oggi Gelato | 1499 Post Rd, Fairfield, CT ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wednesday: A Quiet Night In & One of Those Dinners That Just Works
Wednesday was a home night, and the kitchen didn’t disappoint.
Chicken thighs — my go-to this time of year — alongside a Parmigiano risotto, roasted asparagus finished with more Parm, and sautéed artichokes in garlic and butter. It’s the kind of meal that looks like a lot on paper but comes together naturally once you’re in it. Each component simple on its own, but together they made the table feel like something.
The artichokes in garlic butter alone were worth the effort. There’s a reason that combination has never gone out of style. It never will.
Thursday: Downtown With My Daughter, a Pizza Stop & a Bank Vault Burger
Thursday was a big day — one of those that starts as a work day and quietly becomes something much more.
My youngest came into the city for her final interview, which happened to be right across the street from my office. I walked her over, wished her well, and then gave myself a lunch errand that conveniently landed me at Abitino’s Pizza on Broadway. Two slices: a plain cheese and a grandma-style Sicilian. The cheese was solid — good crust, good flavor. The Sicilian didn’t land for me. The texture was off in a way I couldn’t quite get past. The foundation was there but the execution missed the mark.
With her interview running until around 5, I slipped out of the office a few minutes early and stopped into La Noxe Trinity nearby, partly for a Manhattan and partly because there was a sign outside advertising the Germany vs. Ecuador World Cup match. I was sold. Except — no game on inside. The bar was empty. The energy was flat. I finished my drink and moved on.
The real stop of the evening was Trinity Place Bar & Restaurant — an old bank vault converted into a bar and restaurant, and it worked on every level. The game was on. The vibe was right. And when my daughter walked in after her interview — which went great, by the way — we both ordered the Wagyu burgers. Excellent. The kind of celebratory meal that doesn’t need to announce itself as one. We just both knew.
📍 Trinity Place Bar & Restaurant | 115 Broadway, New York, NY ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Friday: Bacon & Eggs at Home, Then Rowayton Seafood With the Kids
Friday had the kind of easy pace that makes you appreciate a week well lived.
Breakfast was Lazlo’s Canadian bacon and thick-cut bacon from Sherwood Farm, scrambled eggs, and very little else needed. That’s what good sourcing does — it makes the simplest meals feel like the right choice. When the bacon is that quality, you don’t dress it up.
Later in the day, we headed to The Restaurant at Rowayton Seafood for a late lunch that stretched comfortably into early dinner. We started with local oysters — clean, briny, exactly as they should be — and then I ordered the linguine with clams. It was excellent. Properly sauced, not overdone, the kind of dish that reminds you why this combination has been on menus forever. Fun drinks, good energy, the kids around the table. Fridays like this are what summer is supposed to feel like.
📍 The Restaurant at Rowayton Seafood | 89 Rowayton Ave, Rowayton, CT ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Saturday: Southport Exploring, Martel Bistro & Filets at the In-Laws
Saturday was one of those days that unfolds better than planned.
We spent the morning exploring Southport, starting at Foxtrot Home on Pequot Avenue — a beautiful home goods shop where we’d been hunting for outdoor chairs. We found them. There’s a specific satisfaction in that kind of Saturday errand done right.
Lunch was at Martel Bistro on the Post Road, and it was exactly the kind of place Southport deserves. I ordered a speck ham and fresh mozzarella on a baguette with tomato and basil — simple, precise, and outstanding. Speck has that subtle smokiness that prosciutto doesn’t, and paired with good mozz and ripe tomato on a proper baguette, it doesn’t need anything else.
Dinner was at my brother-in-law’s, where he cooked filets. They were excellent. Some meals you just show up for, and this was one of them — the best kind.
📍 Martel Bistro | Southport, CT ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sunday: Flea Market Finds, an Herb Garden & Colony Grill to Close the Week
Sunday had that perfect end-of-week energy — part adventure, part productive, part deeply satisfying.
We drove out to Elephant’s Trunk Flea Market in New Milford, one of those sprawling outdoor markets where you never quite know what you’ll walk away with. We found a few small things here and there, but the real score was an original Nintendo Entertainment System — complete with Super Mario Bros. Mine was thrown out years ago. A decision I’ve mourned quietly ever since. Not mourning it anymore.
Back home, we stopped at Outdoor Design & Living Center on Bronson Road in Fairfield to pick up plants and herbs. The herb garden is officially happening — and there’s something very right about that. Growing your own basil, your own rosemary. It connects you to the food in a way that’s hard to articulate but easy to taste.
The week closed with Colony Grill pizza for takeout, eaten at home. Hot oil, thin crust, exactly what it always is. The right ending.
📍 Elephant’s Trunk Flea Market | 490 Danbury Rd, New Milford, CT ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📍 Colony Grill | Fairfield, CT ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Closing Reflection
This week didn’t have one headline meal. It had a dozen quiet ones — and a few that were anything but quiet.
A sausage and pepper sandwich that made Monday feel like Friday. Two perfect slices on Chambers Street. A risotto and artichoke dinner that asked nothing and gave everything. A bank vault burger shared with a daughter who crushed her final interview. Local oysters in Rowayton. Speck and mozzarella on a baguette in Southport. An NES rescued from obscurity. An herb garden in its first week of life.
Some weeks you’re chasing the meal. This week, the meals just kept finding me.