Only in Connecticut: The Official Connecticut Podcast

In this episode of Only in Connecticut, The Pizza State, we’re settling one thing right away…Connecticut pizza deserves the hype. We’ll dig into the coal-fired apizza that made the state famous, then travel beyond Wooster Street for Greek-style pan pies, bar pizza, inventive toppings, and gluten-free crusts that are still totally delicious. We’ll explore how immigrant families turned neighborhood pizza shops into local institutions, what judges look for in a competition-worthy pie, and how Connecticut transformed its pizza obsession into an official statewide trail. As usual, we’ll talk with people who know this world best, including pizza makers, pizza enthusiasts, and not one but TWO pizza artists. Bring your appetite!

Guests-

Colin Caplan, The Pizza Guru 

Michael Androw, World Pizza Champions

Michael Pollack, New Haven Pizza Club

Bryan "Etch" Madden, Pizzerias in Watercolor

In this episode of "Only in Connecticut", Trails and Treads, we're skipping right past “should I go outside today” in favor of “which trail do I want to tackle next?” We'll start easy, with flat strolls that anyone can do, before working up to steeper hills, rockier passages, and a gorgeous tower-top view. Then we'll swap boots for wheels, riding along old rail trails and maybe even attempting real mountain biking without embarrassing ourselves (well, YOU will…I’m probably just going to stick to my own two feet). As usual, we'll talk to the experts: cyclists, bloggers, and trail enthusiasts who can point you toward exactly the right path for wherever you're at today.

Guests-

Gregg Ferraris, The Connecticut Cycling Advancement Program

Kristen Valenti, Early Bird on the Trail   

Kristen's book is available HERE

Mosi Moses, CT Trails

Cara MacDonald, Cara Mac Media

In Episode 4, Connecticut Grown, we swap "What's for dinner?" with "Where'd dinner come from?" on a wander through the charming local farm scene. We'll spend weekend mornings at farmers markets in parking lots and explore fields amongst rows of tents loaded with berries, bread, maple syrup, and flowers, and we'll try enough samples to count as a meal. Then we'll follow the food back to its source, visiting pick-your-own fields, vineyards, and a variety of farms on land and sea. We might just encounter some llamas to pet, goats eating our shoelaces, or oysters doing.... well, oysters don't really do anything (except be delicious). As usual, we'll talk to the experts, the farmers who can point to your plate and tell you exactly how that salad came together.

Guests-

Heather Neal and Melissa Tremblay, Coventry Farmer's Market

Donna Moore, Sunset Hill Vineyard

Beth Simons, Stonington Farms Shellfish

In Episode 3, Making Waves in Connecticut, we fully embrace the July mood of “I need to be in the water, near the water, or at least staring at it with something frozen in my hand.” We will float on tubes down the Farmington River, wander lakes big and small, and ignore TLC’s advice and go chasing waterfalls.  We might accidentally take 200 photos and keep them all. We will also spend a full summer day on Long Island Sound,  complete with “okay, fine, one more hour” energy.

Along the way, the episode explores how water is integral to Connecticut life and why we have so much of it…from our glacial backstory to its role in America’s history. We’ll even find the water in our old-school local sodas, non-alcoholic brews and New Have apizza dough. For all the lake days, river runs, shoreline walks, and Crocodile Cove chaos at Lake Compounce, if it helps you cool off or splash around, it’s in here. 

Guests-

Suzanne O'Connell, Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science

Mason Trumble, Deputy Commissioner of Environmental Conservation at DEEP

Jason Scappaticci, The Bowtie Historian

Listen to Episode 2 of Only in Connecticut: The Official Connecticut Podcast

Hit the road with us - no packing required. The Only in Connecticut Podcast is your monthly guide to discovering the best of Connecticut, told like a road trip with a friend who knows all the hidden gems (and has strong opinions about snacks along the way).

In Episode 2, The Ice Cream State, we turn the whole map into a sundae. We'll check out UConn's legendary Dairy Bar and farm stand scoops in Simsbury, sample the Newtown creamery named best ice cream shop in the country, and enjoy small-batch standouts from Milford to Granby. Along the way, you'll hear from the people behind the cows, behind the counters, and even from an ice cream super fan who turned exploring the Connecticut ice cream trails into a full time business.

Guests-

Bill Sciturro, Manager of UCONN Creamery 

Christiana Barabe, owner of Honeycone Craft Ice Cream

Craig Behun, CT Ice Cream Tour

Welcome to Only in Connecticut.... the official Connecticut podcast. This first episode is a cozy, slightly chaotic love letter to Connecticut, hosted by voice actor and tea enthusiast Amanda Elgie.

In this debut, Amanda trades flat Illinois backroads for New England hills and invites listeners along as she chases the little things that make Connecticut feel like home - hidden reading nooks, riverside trails, Main Street cafes, and small-town oddities. Episode One hops from artisan chocolates in the Litchfield Hills to a sprawling used book barn in Niantic, and a historic whaling ship in Mystic. It continues with a storybook steam train ride, a riverside opera house, and a Dracula-themed Romanian restaurant, proving that staying local can be a full on adventure. 

Guests include:

Bryan Hurlburt, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Agriculture
Rachel Lenda, Director of Tourism for the State of Connecticut
Maria Petrillo, Director of Interpretation for Mystic Seaport
Stephanie Stephan, Local Author
Cat Carter, Goodspeed Opera Season Ticket Holder