Trish,
Sorry for taking over a year to reply! I just saw your post for the first time. Yes, would love to catch dinner with you and husband. Please contact me off boards at sspublic at schragerlightingdesign.com.
Chowhounds - sorry about this, I don't know any other way to contact Trish.

I just got a slow cooker and have been reading recipes. Many of them recommend adding a slurry of flour and water at the end of cooking to thicken sauces for stews and braises. This sounds awful. Uncooked flour? Can you make a roux and add that instead? Is it worth the effort?

Hi Trish,
I met you a couple of years ago at Goulash Place! Anyway, I really miss the Cuban restaurant across the street from our old NYC apartment and get to stoke up on the cuisine when I visit my parents in the Miami area. So were thrilled to see the cuisine reach white-bread Ridgefield. We waited a couple of weeks for the place to settle in and went for dinner tonight.
First, let me say that the food was really delicious. If you are looking for "nuevo Latino" this is the place to go. If on the other hand you are looking for more down home traditional Latino cooking at low price points, this is not the place.
It wasn't exorbitantly expensive, in fact considering the large portion sizes it was quite reasonable. We paid $100 plus tip for 1 shared appetizer, 3 glasses of wine, 2 entrees, and one huge dessert.

I went there last night and couldn't agree more with the previous post about the wine. I'm not a wine maven, but I really thought the wine by the glass was pitiful.

That said, the food was good, but nothing unusual. Copycat menu, but well executed and pleasant service.

If you want to go to a real wine bar with good tapas, try Barcelona in S. Norwalk and other locations. Too bad they haven't opened one in Danbury.

I second Ancient Mariner in Ridgefield. Especially the Jesse Burger. If you go there and your appetite isn't gargantuan, ask for the child size, but warn them not to overcook it. They tend to keep them on the grill the same amount of time as the regular size. Hence the warning.

I just saw an old Baking with Julia episode on PBS. The guess chef, Alice Medrich, showed a technique for skinning hazelnuts, where she boiled them in water & baking soda until the water turned black. Unfortunately, I didn't note the proportions of water/baking soda. It looked like a much better technique than the old toast and rub.