Which are the best restaurants in Connecticut? Here are this year’s CT Restaurant Association winners

Every year, the Connecticut Restaurant Association gives out awards — the CRAzies — honoring the most outstanding restaurants, and the best chefs, in the state. The annual prizes were handed out on Monday at a gala event at Foxwoods Resort Casino.

So who are the winners, and what makes their food special? We asked the chefs and owners.

Restaurant of the Year, statewide (also winner in East Region): The Shipwright’s Daughter in Mystic

The Shipwright’s Daughter opened in the pandemic summer.

“The first year was chaos, tons of pivoting, everything always changing, first outside, then inside, and takeout,” said chef David Standridge. “The second year we figured it out as things got normalized.”

Now the restaurant, inside the Whaler’s Inn at 20 East Main St. in Mystic, is impressing diners every day with its focus on sustainable seafood, all sourced from the Stonington Town Dock: clams, mussels, oysters, fish, whiting, bluefish, fluke, black bass.

“The fish change all the time depending on what they catch. Everything’s basically right off the boat, so to speak,” Standridge said.

Landlubbers also are served, with burgers, steaks, roast chicken, pork ragu and duck.

The restaurant’s charming name is a nod to the town’s shipping history and its future.

“We wanted to be the next generation of restaurants,” Standridge said. See shipwrightsdaughter.com.

Restaurant of the Year North Region: The Charles in Wethersfield

The Charles, like Shipwright’s, opened in the pandemic summer. It was an unlikely success right out of the gate.

Opening in a converted 1790s home at 161 Main St. in Old Wethersfield, owner Bryce Hardy quickly built up a loyal client base starting with outdoor seating, then moving indoors.

Last year he was awarded newcomer of the year by the CRAzies. The key, Hardy said, is being as one with the neighbors.

“We didn’t want to be too high-end, too pretentious. No white linens. We wanted the community to be able to come in and enjoy our elevated American comfort food,” he said.

A popular dish is chicken dumplings. Chef Tom Kaldy elevates it with use of gnocchi instead of too-filling dumplings. French onion soup puts the ingredients into a pierogi swimming in the broth.

“America is a melting pot of cultures, so sometimes there are Asian or other influences,” Hardy said.

Also on the menu are shrimp puttanesca and Atlantic salmon. See thecharlesct.com.

Restaurant of the Year South Region: Tavern on State in New Haven

Emily Mingrone founded Tavern on State at 969 State St. in New Haven three years ago with partner Shane McGowan.

Her victory as South Region Restaurant of the Year is the third CRAzie award, after Chef of the Year (last year) and Newcomer of the Year.

Mingrone founded Tavern because she saw a void in the dining scene of the city she loves.

“A lot of restaurants here, there was not really much inventiveness,” she said. She founded a haven for New American Cuisine, where the menu changes with the seasons.

“Our popular dishes are grilled octopus, and corzetti with rock shrimp, but the specialty changes depending on the month,” she said.

Her secret weapon is the butcher shop two doors down. “We cut it, cure it, smoke it. So we have access to more unusual cuts of meat,” she said.

Other menu items are beef, chicken and lamb burgers, roasted steak and chicken, pork Milanese, halibut and some creative cocktails. See tavernonstate.com.

Restaurant of the Year West Region: Kawa Ni in Westport

Bill Taibe is no stranger to the CRAzies. Last year, he won restaurateur of the year. A few years before that, his Jesup Hall (now defunct) won newcomer of the year.

He now owns Don Memo, The Whelk and he operates Norwalk Art Space. Kawa Ni, at 19A Bridge Square in Westport, was founded in 2014 when Taibe wanted to stretch into new territory.

“We wanted to challenge ourselves to learn a new culture and cuisine,” he said. “I went to Japan and was introduced to the izakaya concept.” That concept, a bar that also serves small plates, inspired Kawa Ni.

Taibe, Will Friedman and Anthony Kostelis man the kitchen, serving up cold, hot and raw dishes of ramen, buns, dumplings, rolls, sandwiches and rice dishes.

Kawa Ni, which has 80 seats and a large bar, also prides itself on its whiskey selection.

“Whiskey is big in Japanese culture and it’s big in our culture. It’s a celebration of two cultures,” he said. See kawaniwestport.com.

Chef of the Year: Renee Touponce (Oyster Club and Port of Call, Mystic) and Bartender of the year: Sebastian Guerrero (Port of Call)

Mystic is having a pop-culture moment now. National publications have touted the small seaside town as an ideal vacation destination. Part of the reason is the food scene.

Renee Touponce is central in that scene as executive chef at Oyster Club and Port of Call. The restaurants are part of the 85th Day Food Community.

“I took the job because I loved what 85th Day was all about, very farm to table, they made everything in-house, there is a special bond between the cooks and the staff,” Touponce said.

Oyster Club is famed for its raw bar with items from Connecticut and Rhode Island. Other entrees are empanadas, whitefish kielbasa, duck leg, Jerusalem artichoke soup, house-made pastas.

Sebastian Guerrero rules over the bar at Port of Call, which offers drag shows, football games, concerts and other entertainment, and serves small plates of Touponce’s dishes. oysterclubct.com.

Restaurant Newcomer: Materia Ristorante in Bantam

David Di Stasi worked at a three Michelin star seafood eatery in New York and a Japanese-influenced place in Sydney, Australia. But moving to Tuscany helped him realize what cuisine he wanted to focus on: that of his heritage.

He bought a restaurant at 637 Bantam Road in Bantam in March 2021 with his brother, Michael. They renamed it Materia and redid the whole menu.

“It comes from la materia prima, Italian for ‘the first quality of ingredients.’ Di Stasi said the food is Italian, not Italian-American. “Italian American is chicken parm, heavy sauces, large portions. Everything we do has history to it, something grandma would make, like Sunday ragout, you’d wake up to the smell of the sauce cooking,” he said.

The menu, divided into antipasti. primi and secondi, features octopus, sweetbreads, braised duck, rabbit, halibut and pastas, of course made in-house. See materiaristo.com.

People’s Choice: Mecha Noodle Bar (Fairfield, New Haven, Stamford, Norwalk and West Hartford)

Tony Pham founded Mecha Noodle Bar in Fairfield in 2013 with his partner, Richard Reyes. Today, there are five in Connecticut and two in Boston. The chain offers ramen and pho accompanied by a fun cocktail selection including spiked boba teas and a wide variety of sakes.

Pham was inspired by Pho Vietnam, which he and his mother opened in Danbury in 2006. The name Mecha actually means “mom and pop.” “We opened up Mecha as just a ramen shop,” Pham said. “Then my mom came in one morning and put on a pot of pho. Now we sell both pho and ramen.”

Pham said he decided to put the native food in a funky cocktail-forward setting. “We get the true authenticity and creativeness of mom and pop shop combined with the American dining scene of craft cocktails in a bar with a cool, hip vibe.”

The shops also sell fluffy bao buns, dumplings, wings, spare ribs, banh mi and other snacks.

Pham took the “People’s Choice” theme seriously at the CRAzies award ceremony. “We brought 20 operating partners, head chefs and general managers. We filled out two full tables and got them hotel rooms to celebrate them. It’s the People’s Choice. It’s about the people, not about me or Richard.” See mechanoodlebar.com

Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.