Chef Damon Daye Sawyer's love of cooking started at a young age. Growing up in a house of meat eaters, the teenage vegetarian learned to find his way around the kitchen.

A bit of word of mouth goes a long way. I’d heard about 29 Markle Ct. by early this spring from disparate sources in the Connecticut food community and then again, twice, in the week since I’d made my first reservation this May. The first word came from a friend from West Hartford, the second from Westport — no small achievement considering the restaurant’s location in downtown Bridgeport. It seems the word is out.

Chef Damon Sawyer doesn’t just smile. He beams.With good reason. He opened his first restaurant, 29 Markle Ct (29), this winter and it’s already exploded onto the restaurant scene.

A selection of Georgia O'Keeffe's personal recipe collection is on display at Yale's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. We talk with its curator about what the iconic American artist was cooking and eating when she wasn't painting giant flowers, skulls, and landscapes. And, there's a new restaurant in Bridgeport we're excited about. We sit down with chef Damon "Daye" Sawyer to talk about his approach to cooking and what inspires his work at 29 Markle Ct.

“Mixing records is very similar to balancing tastes if you can imagine that. The lows of a record are like beets to me. That funk, the color of it. It’s a deep sound. You add shallots, it’s like a string session. That was a major component into my transition to being a chef. I knew what balancing sound was. Same thing as ingredients.”

Damon Sawyer and his Bridgeport-based partners, Ishalee Green and Wesley Saintil Arbuthnott, opened 29 Markle Ct, named after the restaurant's address, on Nov. 4.