Bloodroot

Selma Miriam and Noel Furie have been operating Bloodroot, located on Long Island Sound in Bridgeport, for 35 years. That means the business began in the late ‘70s, a time when restaurants first started looking for food that was more progressive — organic, health-conscious, ethnically diverse. Bloodroot, named for the white flower beautifully recreated by Tara Rubano as the restaurant’s logo, led the way and is a regular winner in this category. Selma and Noel attribute their success to the diversity of the menu, which changes every three weeks, depending on what’s available. By the time you read this, fresh asparagus should be featured. Beloved of foodies, vegans, vegetarians, feminists, and everyone who wants to experience food made by cooks, not chefs — which is to say, food made by experiment, by consensus, and by an unerring sense of how to select recipes from all over the world to recreate “the food that people really eat,” wherever they happen to be. Granted, it can sometimes get tricky finding the ingredients for a Haitian or Turkish dish, as made in those countries, but, with a little adaptation, the cooks at Bloodroot will find a way to put their own stamp on it, for instance their Ecuadorian potato cakes. Other recent treats include rhubarb pie, made from fruit harvested by Noel from the backyard. New in the months ahead will be the availability of the famous Bloodroot vegetarian burgers for bulk purchase. Bloodroot is the place to go to eat local vegetarian ingredients delivered as global cuisine. And check out the two cookbooks, one vegan, one vegetarian, which the Bloodroot cooks themselves use to recreate their signature dishes. Try a recipe and see.

Winner of Best Vegetarian Restaurant in the Fairfield County Advocate's Best Of Readers' Poll 2012.