My Favorite Restaurants, Music Venues, and More in the Greater Danbury Area 2016

American Pie is located at the junctions of Routes 37 and 39 in Sherman and is worth the beautiful scenic drive. Don't get me wrong, I love a first-rate diner, but American Pie is a step-up because of their creative menu selections and great food. Go there, you will love it and you will thank me. Just a heads-up, if you plan on going on a Sunday morning between 8:30 and 10:30am, there may be a bit of a wait. It is most certainly worth the drive. You're welcome.

The Whitehorse Country Pub and Restaurant on Route 202 in Washington is midway between New Milford and Washington, CT. Walk in the door and turn right and you'll see a full size vintage motorcycle over a huge beautiful wooden bar. On a busy Saturday evening, the vibe is eclectic and the conversation is noisy. The actual dining room is much quieter. The menu selections are adventurous and mouthwatering and the wine and beer selections are plentiful. They even have one of my favorite beers on tap, Old Speckled Hen. My favorite Whitehorse menu items are the Whitehorse Seafood Bake which is a must for any seafood lover, Chicken Pot Pie, and their Steakhouse Shepard's Pie! Go there and take a group of friends along!

The Ridgefield Playhouse located at 80 East Ridge in Ridgefield is far and away the best venue to experience your favorite live musical acts. The Playhouse is a not-for-profit 500 seat newly remodeled concert facility with superb acoustics that offers up live entertainment from classic rock artists, to comedians, to children's shows. Snack bar selections are reasonably priced and for the grown-up shows, there's a lobby bar available. You're welcome!

The Note Kitchen and Bar at 227 Greenwood Ave in Bethel is perfect for both the foodies and lovers of live music. The menu is unique, the ambience is welcoming and cozy, and the music is bountiful. From bands to singer/songwriters to jazz at Sunday brunch, check out their musical lineup at notekitchen.com. Would you look at that, my son, Ethan James will be playing on Thursday, January 5th beginning at 7:30pm, so come on down and "music" with Mindy and I. For my in-depth review of The Note, click on i95rock.com.

Just recently we double dated with some good friends of ours to the movies and then went back to our house for some Chinese take-out. When I told them we were ordering from Jeffrey's, which they'd never heard of, they half kiddingly freaked out saying that Jeffrey's certainly didn't sound like a Chinese restaurant to them! I've ordered Chinese take-out from many restaurants throughout the surrounding Danbury area and Jeffrey's Chinese Kitchen always comes out on top.

The sauces are thicker and tastier, the chicken is always tender, and they give you these small fried donuts covered in sugar, at no charge. One of our favorites is their Sesame Chicken and Jeffrey's Spiced Lo Mein. You'll find Jeffrey's at 7 Pembroke Road (Rt. 37) in Danbury just before the turnoff to the Amber Room. For take-out, call 203-730-8603. Go there! Order some Crab Rangoon. Trust me, you'll thank me later!

You'll most likely agree that there are so many incredibly talented musicians and bands throughout the Greater Danbury area, but ever since I experienced Future Tense perform for the first time many years ago, I was hooked! Take the smokin' vocals of Mike Walsh and Paulette Barnes backed up by some of the tastiest veteran musicians in the area and you've got a band you can rock-out or dance-out to! Unfortunately they've cut their live shows down to maybe one or two a month. Check out when and where they'll be playing, or better yet, book them for your next party at future-tense-band.com

My favorite bakery/coffee shop has always been The Goodie Shoppe in the New Fairfield Shopping Center at 1 Brush Hill Rd. in New Fairfield. The GS's owner, Mark Jayson makes everything from scratch and he bakes a lot of it, like bread, muffins, coffee cake, cookies, donuts, and pies, etc. Go there! Have a Black N' White cookie and a cup of coffee, sit and relax. You're welcome.

The Guitar Hangar's owner, Rick Tedesco started up his company in 1999 as an online guitar store that featured mostly high end gear. In July of 2014, Rick opened his first retail location at 270 Federal Road in the Brookfield Square Shopping Center. Not only is Tedesco a business owner, he's an exceptional player where he's shown off his ripping guitar riffs with Future Tense, The Doug Wahlberg Band, along with the original bassist from Alice Cooper's band, Denis Dunaway, and his own band, The Psycho Merchants. Not only does The Guitar Hangar sell both electric and acoustic instruments, but they offer lessons and guitar repair. The only guy who works on my Taylor 614ce acoustic is Rick Tedesco. Go there! Buy a guitar, take lessons and then play the opening riff to Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the Water.'

I understand that the majority of humans purchase their favorite recorded music on itunes, Google, or maybe CD Baby. There is one true old-school record store left in our area located at 246 Federal Rd. in Brookfield and they are kickin' ass!  Gerosa Records opened in 1986 to sell vinyl, lots and lots of vinyl in every format from classical to rock, soundtracks to jazz. Not too long ago I wrote an in depth blog on Gerosa Records on i95rock.com and the i-95 Facebook Page. Go there! Buy a Michael Buble album but just make sure you have a turntable on hand. Remember the turntable?

Lou and I order "breakfast" on a daily basis from Jose at Chihuahua's Deli at 305 Federal Road in Brookfield. Every single menu selection we've ordered has been delicioso! My favs are Jose's Chicken Mediterranean Wrap, his own Clam Chowder Soup, Roast Beef Au Jus Grinder, and his Chef Salads! For takeout breakfast or lunch orders, call 203-740-8800. Ve alli! Tener un poco de sopa! De nada!