Anonymous eating with Patricia Brooks

When Patricia Brooks dines out, she does it a bit differently than most. She phones ahead using caller ID block and reserves a table under a false name. When she arrives, she carries a credit card to match her alias.

"Sometimes I feel that people are on to my identity," she said. "I'm a bit paranoid."

Anonymously, Brooks eats, writes and reviews food. She doesn't want quickened service, fattened servings or special attention. She strives for an authentic dining experience, though in many ways her meal is quite unique.

"I never want a chef to know who I am, even after I write a review, because I can never rule out that they won't open another restaurant somewhere down the line," she explains. "I can never rule out that I won't encounter them again. ... I know that they're on to me when they give me a double serving that the next table over only has one of."

A New Canaan transplant bred in the Midwest, Brooks has kept a hearth in town for 50 years. She came to food through writing, dabbling in general features and the travel and history genres along the way.

Throughout her career she has written numerous articles for popular magazines including Bon Appetit, Food & Wine and Travel and Leisure. She has authored 25 books including three cookbooks and guidebooks to New England, New York State, Spain, Portugal and Great Britain. And since 1977 she has tasted and critiqued dishes from kitchens across Connecticut as a restaurant reviewer for The New York Times.

Last week marked the release of Food Lovers' Guide to Connecticut, her resource guide to the state's most notable restaurants, farm stands and gourmet food shops.

Illustrated by her newest book, Brooks believes that food and travel go hand-in-hand.

"Whenever I get back from a trip overseas, people don't what to know what sites I saw, they want to know if I found any great places to eat," she said. "So much about travel is really about food."

Now in its third edition, Brooks' local food directory is an expanded version of earlier editions. And according to Brooks, it's the only statewide food resource for Connecticut.

"Anything food-related has a short shelf life," she said. "Some of the places listed in the earlier editions are long gone and there are always new ones springing up in their place. Even in a recession, they're still opening up."

Fatter than the earlier editions, the book includes a new section called Nibbles--a listing of hot spots perfect for an informal on-the-go meal or snack.

"It's not a novel that you read through," she explains. "It's a resource guide that you keep in your glove compartment or somewhere handy. It's helpful if you're going somewhere else in the state that you're unfamiliar with and you're looking for a good restaurant or food stand nearby."

The food guide includes 125 farmers markets and 219 restaurants. Brooks has visited them all. But when asked to choose a favorite eatery, she shies away from the task.

"It's like saying which child you like better," she said.

New Canaan's Zumbach's Gourmet Coffee, Cava, Ching's Table and Silvermine Market make the third edition cut, but Brooks says The Roger Sherman Inn holds a spot one notch above the rest -- and this is the closest she comes to playing favorites.

"It's never been this good," she said of the French-American fine dining establishment on Oenoke Ridge. "I've been eating there since the '50s and this is the best it has been."

The Little Thai Kitchen in Darien and Homestead Inn in Greenwich are on her local radar, too.

"It was travel that did it for me," Brooks said of her varied palate. "You don't want to eat at a steak house if you're in Burma; you want to eat where the locals eat. So you get adventurous that way."

"I like kidney," she explained. "I eat a lot of liver. I eat innards. But I don't like cod."

In addition to food shops and restaurants, Brooks includes wineries, microbreweries, cooking schools and recipes in her roundup.

"It's a bit of everything," she said. "These are all great picks from my personal perspective."