Talk-A-Vino

What do you think of the following evening – fresh, super-fresh burrata (burrata any fresher is still inside the cow), pizza – made right in front of your eyes, and a flight of wine. How is that for the definition of a good life? Yep, I thought you would agree. And you know the best part, my friends? I can tell you where you can have all of that and much more!

Brick+Wood in Fairfield, CT is it – the new restaurant where you will find burrata, pizza, fried calamari, an Italian street food called Panzerotti and lots more. And to top it off, the wine flights! How many restaurants do you know where you can build your own wine tasting flight? Here you can! And as an extra bonus, Brick+Wood is probably one of the most cheerful restaurants I ever been to – just look at the t-shirts the staff is wearing (aren’t you making your reservation yet?)!

Let talk about cocktails and wines first. We started with two cocktails – The Brick and The Wood – it was purely unintended, only when I started to write the blog post I realized that we got cocktails to match the name of the restaurant. Nevertheless, The Brick (bulliet rye, aperol, fresh mint, lemon) was very potent and refreshing. The Wood Martini (orange flavored vodka, limoncello, campari, fresh squeezed orange juice) was surprisingly not sweet, with the good balance of flavors.

Now, let’s talk about the unique wine program at the Brick + Wood. The “unique” part is that all of the wine on the list (about 30 in total between whites and reds) are available in any size you want – by the tasting pour (2 oz), glass (6 oz), carafe or a whole bottle. You can build your own flight and have a tasting or pair different wines with the different dishes – everything is possible, and all the wines are priced quite reasonably. The selection represents California, Washington, Oregon, New Zealand, Argentina, Spain and Italy – you can see fragments of the wine list in the picture below:

Okay, time to talk about the food. We started from what was called in the menu a “Neapolitan Street Food”. House Made Crostino was very simple but every bit delicious (you can’t go wrong with prosciutto which is sliced right there at the kitchen table). Loaded Potatoes were very tasty, boasting tangy cheese. Next we had Panzerotti (fried dough stuffed with salamino, fresh mozzarella and basil, marinara sauce) which were even served as the street food would be, wrapped in the parchment paper. Fritto Misto (Fried Calamari and shrimp with cherry peppers, chipotle and miso aioli) was excellent, crispy and light, complemented very well with the aioli. Last in that part of our dinner were Arancini (4 cheeses, vodka sauce), which seems to be all of a sudden a very popular appetizer and every and each Italian restaurant around.

I don’t know if this will sound right, but culmination of our dining experience happened right in a middle of our dinner – we were introduced to the Mozzarella and Burrata Bar at Brick+Wood. Imagine the mozzarella been pulled right in front of us, and stuffed with the cream to become a burrata, tied up and served to us right at that  very moment. Yes, as I mentioned before, the mozzarella any fresher will still be inside the cow. Here is a series of pictures which will show you creation of burrata – but pictures don’t do the true justice to the food wizardry – you better get yourself to the Brick+Wood and taste for yourself:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Next it arrived at our table – Burrata (house made mozzarella with a cream filled center, assorted meats and vegetables) was served two ways – regular and with truffle oil. The addition of the pungent truffle flavor to the burrata created yet another level of magic – the melding of flavors was just spectacular.

Next dish was yet again nothing short of spectacular – Girelli (thin mozzarella layered with the eggplant, prosciutto and roasted peppers) – I never had mozzarella sliced so thin, used as a perfect dough-like wrapper – it was definitely a wow dish. Last dish in this part of the dinner was Irving Salad (mixed greens, dried cherries, glazed pecans , goat cheese) – fresh, light, with delicious combination of flavors and the goat cheese which even goat cheese haters would be able to enjoy.

Remember I mentioned Pizza in the title? Yes, Pizza time! Brick + Wood sports a wonderful wood-fired oven where you can see pizza been made, right there, right then:

We had 3 different pizzas, all made with the double zero flour: Margherita (San Marzano tomato sauce, basil, fresh mozzarella, evoo) – very good crust, nice flavor profile; Spizy Pizza (San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella, sopressata, prosciutto cotto, bacon and jalapeno, red pepper infused honey) – perfectly spicy!; Mare a Monte (shrimp, corn and crispy pancetta) – delicious with the nice sweetness, the corn was very interesting on the pizza.

Last but not least – dessert! We had Maple Cheesecake, which was excellent, and Peanut Butter and Nutella Pizza, which had a great combination of salty crust with Peanut Butter and Nutella – simply outstanding.

There you have it, my friends – a delicious evening and a unique and different experience. If you are in the area and looking for a great food and wine, in good company of friends, accompanied by a great service with the smile, I can’t recommend Brick+Wood highly enough.

Have fun and cheers!

Disclaimer: I visited restaurant as a guest of the management. All opinions are my own.

Brick + Wood
1275 Post Rd Ste 7
Fairfield, CT 06824
(203) 939-1400
http://lovelifeandpizza.com/