New Gastropub Serves History In A Glass

“The beauty of New Haven is I can sit at a table with three people with almost nothing in common, but we invite each other into one another’s’ lives,” said Ryan Howard (pictured in the tie), managing partner of Elm City Social, a new gastro pub that opened its doors at 266 College St. last Saturday.

The Owl Shop’s latest neighbor — it replaces Briq, which replaced Bespoke — pays homage to New Haven’s vibrant past, which Howard described as a history of conversations. Howard maintains that at Elm City Social, the ambiance, menu, and the general aesthetic work in concert to nuance local gastrointestinal tradition. The pub boasts on its website how the location housed Kasey’s Restaurant in the early 1900s. And, thanks to the help of local historian Colin Kaplan, the place has an 1800s map of New Haven hand-stenciled onto the ceiling of the first-floor barroom.

The second floor perhaps best encapsulates the restaurant’s mission. An indoor terrace overlooks College Street. One wall features vintage photographs of 1920s College Street. The other has plasma-screen televisions and a mammoth marble fireplace (which still works). Howard looks forward to hosting nonprofit organization events in the space, as well as trivia, movie, or game nights come winter.

Howard doubts the remarkably vertical venue will be able to accommodate many musical acts, besides an occasional DJ on the terrace. But Elm City Social is located across the street from College Street Music Hall anyway.

“At the end of the day,” Howard said, ​“people will come onto the rooftop bar because it’s a rooftop.”

Howard hopes that by next year it can be transformed into a tiki retreat. Elm City Social also plans to break ground on a mysterious fourth floor expansion by next August.

The pub’s full menu — overseen by chef John Brennan, who has had his finger in a plethora of daring culinary projects in his home state of Connecticut for the last twenty years — is exhaustive. You can order everything from yesterday’s soup (ask your server what was made yesterday, $6) to today’s noodles (market price) to a jar of duck ($10). This reporter is excited for the shishito peppers — sweet Japanese peppers grilled, then dipped in a house made lemon pepper aioli ($8). The chef hopes to ​“emphasize the elegance of the pepper [in a] showcase of simplicity.”

The plates are meant to be shared, though Brennan shies away from the word tapas. He simply points to the freshness of both cocktail and food ingredients, and the way his culinary forays mingle the New New Haven with the Old New Haven. Drinks vary from a classic absinthe Sazarac ($14) to the Citra hop-infused gin of the Rubber Ducky ($13) to the ​“Shrub” (price unknown), served with sparkling water. The bar takes pride in its roaring 1920s cocktails served with a modern twist, like the jalapeño-infused vodka of the Miami Vice II. They even call their menu ​“History in a Glass.”