Connecticut is launching a new tourism trail that highlights the state’s top celebrity chefs, restaurants and food destinations featured on national TV shows including “Chopped,” “Beat Bobby Flay,” “Top Chef” and “BBQ Brawl.”
The Connecticut Office of Statewide Marketing and Tourism is unveiling the new TV-to-Table Trail during a culinary event on Oct. 5 at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center hosted by Waterbury native and James Beard award-winning chef Scott Conant.
The event includes a live cooking competition between the state’s most recognizable TV chefs including Tyler Anderson of Millwright’s, Joel Gargano of Grano Arso, Matt Storch of Match, Lisa Storch of Catch a Healthy Habit, Adam Greenberg of Sparrow Pizza Bar and tacobarn, Emily Mingrone of Tavern on State and Fair Haven Oyster Co. and Adrien Lech of Orienta.
“Connecticut has become known for finding creative new ways to showcase what makes our state worth experiencing, and food is a huge part of that story,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in a recent press release. “Some of the most talented chefs in the country are cooking right here in Connecticut, and many of them have captured national attention on television. This new trail and tourism experience will give people another reason to seek them out, visit their restaurants, and discover just how extraordinary Connecticut’s food scene has become.”
The TV-to-Table Trail is the latest in a series of tourism initiatives developed by the Connecticut Office of Statewide Marketing and Tourism. Other trails include the Connecticut Pizza Trail and Connecticut Christmas Movie Trail.
“Food has become one of the most powerful ways travelers experience a destination, and Connecticut has an incredible story to tell,” Ellen Woolf Rubrich, Connecticut’s state brand director, said in a recent press release. “What makes this trail so much fun is that people may already know these chefs from television, but now they can experience the real thing—sit at their tables, taste their food, and explore the Connecticut communities where they’re creating it. It takes something people recognize on screen and turns it into a reason to get in the car and experience Connecticut for themselves.”
Dining and Cooking