CT Loves PR: A restaurant initiative to help the island

Restaurants all over the state are dishing and pouring out love to Puerto Rico.

By going out to eat, you can raise money for storm-battered Puerto Rico while enjoying cuisine inspired by the island.

The weeklong campaign starts today, Saturday Oct. 21.

Under the CT Loves Puerto Rico initiative, more than 60 restaurants – spanning southwestern Connecticut and the shoreline and up to the Hartford area – are participating in the weeklong fundraiser, which runs through Saturday, Oct. 28.

Each restaurant has added a Puerto Rican (or island-inspired) dish or drink to the menu, and 100 percent of the proceeds from those special items will be donated to the United for Puerto Rico fund.

The week's special menu features traditional fare like mofongo (a dish made with fried plantains), quesitos (cheese pastries) and flan.

Specialty cocktails include variations of coquito, a coconut-based drink, coladas and a complicated concoction called Davy Jones' Locker at Shell & Bones in New Haven.

Photo: Journal Register Co.

The idea kicked off in Los Angeles earlier this month with LA Loves Puerto Rico. Susan Hosmer, a Connecticut-based marketing and PR consultant who specializes in the hospitality industry, helped coordinate the effort there.

"I was inspired watching it all come together in less than two weeks and thought, 'this needs to replicated in other places'," Hosmer told Hearst Connecticut Media. Her home state seemed like the obvious choice for the next campaign.

With the help of Eat IN Connecticut founders Jeannette Dardenne and Kristen Fritz and Splash PR's Shelley Kapitulik, CT Loves Puerto Rico was underway in just a few weeks.

Here are the restaurants participating:

21 Oak @ The Barn Restaurant Agave Grill Artisan West Hartford Artisan Southport Amis Trattoria Artisanal Burger Company Avert Brasserie Barcelona West Hartford Beachland Tavern Black Bamboo Bricco Trattoria Butchers & Bakers Camille's Wood Fired Pizza Carbone's Kitchen Carbone's Ristoronte Chef Luis City Steam Brewery Claire's Corner Copia Caseus Fromagerie Bistro Cook & The Bear Cure First & Last Tavern Avon First & Last Tavern Glastonbury First & Last Tavern Plainville Geronimo Tequila Bar & Southwest Grill (Fairfield and New Haven) Grants Restaurant & Bar GZen Han Restaurant Hub & Spoke Ichiro Habachi & Sushi Icy Rolls L'escale India Jesup Hall Joey's Pizza Kawa Ni Liquid Nirvana Max Oyster Bar McLaddens (West Hartford and Simsbury) Millwright's Park & Oak Restaurant Park Tavern Restaurant Bricco Rockin Chicken Rooster and Co Shell & Bones Oyster Bar & Grill Shu Fairfield Shu West Hartford Table 570 Asian Fusion The Place 2 Be The Cottage The Green Teahouse The North House The Sweet Beet The Wharf The Whelk TruNORTH Tavern & Table Toscano Trattoria Treva Restaurant & Bar Vitality Juice and Smoothie Bar Wood -n- TapBar & Grill (all 9 locations) Zohara Mediterranean Kitchen

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