Dining

Want Some Organ Meat With That Smoothie?

by | Mar 1, 2024 12:24 pm | Comments (10)

Nora Grace-Flood Photo

The Redberry Basil, Fruit Roll-Up, and "Fortitude" smoothies.

The thick, tawny mason jar smoothie I ordered from The Remedy’s Cultured Cafe on State Street looked, smelled and tasted like soft, cinnamon cream — despite the fact that it was filled with liver, pancreas, blood, tongue and heart.

It also had 2.5 mg of THC, a splash of CBD and CBG, maca- and ashwagandha-infused cashew butter, coconut yogurt and banana.

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Pols, Pom-Poms Celebrate Pizza, Magnets

by | Feb 9, 2024 4:50 pm | Comments (5)

This reporter's favorite student as seen during Friday's Davis magnet school pep rally.

Nora Grace Flood Photos

Ernie's owner Pat DeRiso tries to get orders out for delivery while reporters hound him about National Pizza Day.

A plethora of pizza, pom-poms and politicians flooded Upper Westville Friday morning amidst a pair of symbiotic popularity contests – in which every party was a winner.

The slices of of za and strings of plastic were featured in two separate city celebrations taking place around the corner from one another. 

Over at Davis Academy, students screamed out of ostensible excitement or, perhaps, excess energy as their principal announced that both The Magnet Schools of America and the University of Connecticut have recognized the school for innovative excellence.”

Down the street on Whalley Avenue, politicians and thin-crust fanatics packed like anchovies inside Ernie’s Pizzeria for National Pizza Day and a proclamation by the governor naming New Haven the Pizza Capital of America.”

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Jazz And Pizza Pair Well At Nolo

by | Nov 30, 2023 9:23 am | Comments (0)

Karen Ponzio Photos

The Nick Di Maria Quartet

Wednesday night’s luminous lunar display recalled the opening line of That’s Amore”: When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie…” so it seemed apropos that I was on my way to see The Nick Di Maria Quartet at Nolo, the State Street purveyor of New Haven’s most well-known meal and so much more. 

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Wine Down Closes Out Summer With Groove

by | Oct 10, 2023 12:19 pm | Comments (0)

Lisa Gray Photos

Wine Down CTs end-of-summer event, Dear Summer, went down Sunday evening. If you get a chance to go to their next event, get your ticket early because they sell out fast, and I see why. Wine Down CT — which, according to Aislin Magazine, started hosting lusciously curated events as a riff on Wine Down Wednesdays, popularized by the TV show Insecure — throws fabulous day parties that draw hundreds of people to hang out, taste great food, vibe to good DJs and live music, imbibe scrumptious libations and generally have a good time.

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Hi-Fi Pie Fest Makes Sure Everyone Gets A Piece

by | Jul 25, 2023 9:08 am | Comments (1)

Eleanor Polak Photos

Westville neighbourhood lines up to buy homemade pies.

The air over Beecher Park, located at Mitchell Library at 37 Harrison St., rang with chatter, music, and a heavenly mixture of sugar, spice, and everything nice. 

Westville Village Renaissance Alliance hosted on Monday evening the latest installment in Hi-Fi Pie Fest, its weekly summer pie baking competition, a community-centric event complete with food and live music. 

It’s really just getting people together,” said WVRA Executive Director Lizzy Donius, who sported a Hi-Fi Pie Fest t‑shirt bearing the words Come for the music, stay for the pie!” The slogan, said Donius, is interchangeable. Some people come for the pie and stay for the music.

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Cross Culinary Champs Bring Home The Gold

by | May 12, 2023 4:59 pm | Comments (8)

Nora Grace-Flood photos

Cross chefs-in-training show off their culinary chops at Friday's presser.

Punchy restaurant pitches and smoke from searing scallops filled Wilbur Cross Friday morning as students showed off lessons learned from participating in a nationwide youth culinary competition — and from living in a small city as culturally rich as the meals served up by the school’s award-winning cooking crew.

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Dixwell Pitch Night Gives Biz Dreams A Kick "Start"

by | Apr 14, 2023 8:26 am | Comments (5)

Brian Slattery Photo

Ben Wrobel: "How do we shift decision-making power to people with lived experience, people who are proximate to the problem?"

Ben Wrobel had just finished the beginning of his pitch, about the need for solutions to public policy programs that come from people’s lived experiences. The audience at NXTHVN on Henry Street in Dixwell was listening. So why am here today?” he said. Well, last month I quit my job.” 

Before he could continue, there was a hearty round of applause. It was support for his willingness to take a risk, on an idea that might lead to some good.

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Salsa's Kicks Off Citywide Outdoor Dining Expansion

by | Apr 13, 2023 5:07 pm | Comments (6)

Maya McFadden Photos

Salsa's owner joins city officials to cut the ribbon ...

... on outdoor dining on Grand Ave.

Fair Haven diners can now enjoy chicken flautas on the sidewalk-adjacent patio of Grand Avenue’s Salsa’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant a month earlier than usual, thanks to the city’s expansion of outdoor dining season — which will extend year-round for qualifying businesses.

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Today’s Special: Wilson’s Seafood Pasta

by | Feb 7, 2023 9:25 am | Comments (2)

Lisa Reisman photos

Manjares chef Wilson Coronel preparing seafood pasta marinara.

Clams. Shrimp. Escargot. Calamari. 

All elements are crucial to Wilson Coronel’s seafood pasta marinara. But the secret to its exquisite flavor is in the sauce. 

You have to reduce it, so it’s not too much and the taste comes through,” Coronel said on a recent late afternoon in the pocket-sized kitchen of the Westville institution that is Manjares Cafe.

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Cultured Cafe Brews Up The Remedy

by | Feb 7, 2023 9:04 am | Comments (2)

Karen Ponzio Photo

Alexander Silver Angeloff and a sampling of his creations.

When you walk into The Cultured Café on State Street, you are greeted by the feeling that you’ve walked into as natural a habitat as you can find that is not actually outside. Philodendrons wind around glass jars full of fermenting vegetables on a wooden counter. Above, cotton ball-like clouds dot a blue sky ceiling. What the café serves is also as close to nature as it can be, courtesy of the café’s owner Alexander Silver Angeloff, who is trying to make the path into the world of natural health safe, welcoming, and delicious. 

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Hello, Halloumi! Pistachio 2 Opens

by | Jan 31, 2023 11:38 am | Comments (3)

Nora Grace-Flood photos

Rahaf Sayet about to press another pistachio halloumi panini.

Rahaf Sayet took two slices of blended whole wheat and sourdough bread from Whole G Bakery, layered on Cyprus-made cheese, and placed the sandwich in a panini press — crafting a local-foreign fusion meal that’s selling fast at a new Chapel Street Middle Eastern eatery. 

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Bluegrass Jam Packs Next Door

by | Jan 27, 2023 8:52 am | Comments (0)

Karen Ponzio Photos

Bluegrass Jamming

The back room at Next Door was jam-packed with bluegrass music lovers as the Humphrey Street restaurant featured its latest installment of the Bluegrass Jam, held on the fourth Thursday of every month and hosted by the New Haven-based band Five n Change. According to band members Ken McEwen and David Sasso, the jam has been growing steadily since it began back in the spring of 2022. 

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Fridge Vote Leaves Sandra's In The Cold

by | Jan 19, 2023 9:45 am | Comments (33)

Allan Appel file photo

Sandra's owners Miguel and Sandra Pittman: Planning to push back on zoning board rejection.

Nora Grace-Flood photo

The contested outdoor refrigeration containers on Arch St.

City zoners turned down a Congress Avenue culinary institution’s bid to store five outdoor fridges in a residentially zoned area — following testimony from the restaurant’s neighbor that the restaurant’s expansion has resulted not just in nationally renowned chicken wings, but also pesky rodents and stenches. 

The restaurant’s owners now plan to contest that decision so that they can continue to keep corn, sugar, flour and plenty of perishables nearby as they look to continue serving the neighborhood they’ve long called home.

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