Grant’s, on
Farmington Avenue in West Hartford Center, has far and away the best
value in town in their early bird specials – if you order before 6:00,
you can get a three-course meal (appetizer, main course, dessert) for
$25. The portions are generous, the selection broad (typically six or
eight choices of entree; usually salmon, always some chicken and beef,
and other choice), and most are from the main menu with perhaps a less
glitzy garnish. If you’re looking for recommendations, the huge portion
of calamari fritti and the French country salad (meaning “with bacon”)
are wonderful appetizers; the enormous roast chicken breast and the
trout with lentils are usually to die for. It is however easy to
drink up the savings (wine by the glass tends to run $7-$12, and though
there are some good wines on the list under $30, there aren’t many). If
you don’t make the six o’clock deadline the prices increase, but the
food (modern American with some diner favorites like meatloaf) is as
good as any around, and frequently better. The huge, slender room isn’t
to everyone’s taste but the service is good. Last visited October 2005.
Peppercorn’s Grill,
on Main Street in Hartford next to Spiritus, clearly thinks it serves
the best food in the area if not the state, and they may be right.
Focusing on Northern Italian cuisine, the extensive menu offers a broad
variety of choices ranging from plain grilled foods through pastas,
fish, chicken, beef, and veal (pork is rarely served except in
charcuterie). The veal choices are so good that we typically stick with
them and the pastas, but we’ve never had bad food and are probaly
missing out on some exceptional alternatives. (You can see the menu,
and the wine list, from the linked web page; they also typically have a
full page of daily specials in all categories.) Expect to spend $25 and
up – far up – for a bottle of wine, but the prices are fair for what
you get. (A 2000 Zenato Amarone was $85 – a wonderful Amarone that is
perhaps a little young to drink; a 2001 Gaja Charonnay, almost never
seen in restaurants here, was $100 and heavenly). The room is elegant,
but the tables feel cramped together;
But ... Peppercorns is a restaurant with an attitude and the
attitude is that you’re lucky to be there. Last visit, the lobster and
artichoke salad was served with mushrooms instead of artichokes. The
mushrooms were delicious, but it would have been nice to have been told
of the substitution. (The lobster, two claws and the accomanying arm
meat, was icy at the center and light on flavor.) The veal tenderloin
with truffled jus was served with perfectly cooked spinach and mashed
potatoes that had died and gone to heaven; the quality came from the
potatoes and their cooking, not just from oodles of butter and cream.
But the veal, ordered medium rare, was without apology delivered very
rare, and the truffles in the jus were impossible to detect, a far cry
from the heavenly perfume we recalled from previous occasions. The
Connecticut Opera tells subscribers that Peppercorns will give them 20%
off on two entrees, but the restaurant says that’s a “mistake” (they
don’t seem to have tried to get the Opera to correct it) and offers 20%
off on one entree, one card per table (another limitation nowhere
mentioned in the materials distributed).
So ... you can go to Peppercorn’s and, if everything works, get a
wonderful meal, great wines, and an elegant experience. But if things
go wrong, don’t expect them to apologize. We’ve never had bad food
there, but we often haven’t enjoyed the experience. Caveat emptor. Last visited November 2005.
Piccolo Arancio, in Farmington, is Peppercorns’ sister. Next to
a motel, the rooms are larger, the tables more generously spaced, and
the staff generaly more interested in pleasing the customers. The
menu and wine list are similar but not identical (for instance, the
Gaja chardonnay that was $100 in town is $90 here), and some of the
fancier dishes are missing. However, the cooking’s still excellent and
overall we’ve had better experiences here than at Peppercorns. The only
real drawback is location; this is too far to go before a night at the
opera. Last visited summer 2005.
Szechuan Garden, a restaurant in the space once occupied by
Metropol
and Shangri-La (see below), is a marvellous new effort with outstanding
Szechuan dishes. They have a general menu, which is okay, but the glory
of the
restaurant is found on their menu inserts of Szechuan specialties. A
particular
joy is their dinner for four (soup, plus choice of one entree from each
of four
categories, including one fish and one shellfish) for $50. If you're
picking
individually, I can especially recommend the "strange flavor chicken"
and dried tofu salad from the appetizers (about $5 each), or the double
sauteed
pork belly, "Ants climbing the tree" (noodles with pork bits) or any
of the whole fishes. The more adventurous can try sea cucumber, duck
tongue,
pig ear, and beef tendons. Appetizers run from $3 to $6, main courses
from $8
to $18 (which gets you a whole fish, enough for two). Update September 11, 2005. They’re
still going, but with at least new staff; we had to ask for the
Szechuan menu, but once we asked we got it. Pork with preserved cabbage
soup was plentiful and tasty though mild flavored; shrimp with
preserved Szechuan vegetable was plentiful and delicious. We were the
only Westerners in the nearly empty restaurant. The day was warm, not
hot, and they didn’t have the air-conditioning on. 904 Farmington
Ave.,
231-7677. Last visited September 2005.
Monte Alban, on Farmington Avenue down from the Law
School, is a pretty good Mexican restaurant, with food ranging from
tacos, burritos, and enchiladas through a variety of fancier specials.
From the outside it looks a bit like a hole in the wall; inside is
pleasant and clean. Three years ago I was there for dinner (the fancier
stuff) which was okay not great; more recently, at lunch, the tacos (I
had Pastor, spicy pork) were excellent, served with tasty rice and
beans and an optional tasty dark red chili sauce (mildly spicy). Based
on that lunch I’d say it’s excellent; the one caveat is that the lunch
menu is no cheaper than the dinner menu, so two orders of tacos and one
of guacamole and chips came to $25. Last
visited September 2005.
Cate's Corner Bistro is a promising newcomer in downtown Hartford, at the corner of Main Street and Capitol Avenue where Savannah’s used to be. The main dining room in front is airy and pleasant, with high ceilings and a high brick wall; tables are comfortably spaced, and several look pleasantly out over the street if you enjoy watching people walk by. The dinner menu is bistro food tending towards the Italian, with a few surprises. The cooking ranges from stunningly good (crab cakes, $22, as good as they are in Annapolis, so good I ate them with just a squeeze of lemon and ignored the excellent tartar sauce) to bistro-good (the veal dishes, for instance, about $17). Pastas (about $12) have been quite tasty and extremely generously portioned. The small roster of desserts is excellent, and the wine list similarly small but carefully selected; the Groh chardonnay from California ($39) was delightful and a Pinot Gris from Oregon equally good value. Bottles ranged from $20 to $60.
If you’re eating downtown, try Cate’s. It’s not crowded, it’s relatively inexpensive for the quality of food, and the service is friendly and knoledgeable. The Courant’s food critic, Michael Gannon, savaged the place in an entirely unprofessional review that said more about Gannon’s high opinion of himself than it did about the food, so it may need some help to survive. 391 Main St.,Hartford. 860-727-1124. Last visited October 2005.
King and I Thai at
1901 Park
Street (right next to Casa Lisboa) has changed owners yet again but
still provides the best Thai food in the area. The menu’s expanded
considerably since its last incarnation, with a larger selection but
more standard choices; they also have a whiteboard of daily specials.
Appetizers are about $4 to $7, main courses $8 to $12, and they
have
sticky rice for those who love it. Last trip the seafood salad was to
die for, the seafood with Panang currey excellent, the duck special
crispy and spicy (if sweeter than I like, but that’s personal taste),
and the spicy rice noodles very good. Takeout available; most dishes $1
cheaper at lunch; bring your own liquor. Last visited October 2005.
The East
West Grill, at 526 New Park
Avenue just
about across from Home Depot, is the only (partly) Laotian restaurant
in the
area. We've been there three times; two meals were wonderful, the third
— after
a rave review in the Courant, and when the restaurant was more crowded
— was
good. I hope the third visit was just an off day. Yarng gai noy,
barbecued
Cornish game hen ($8.95 at dinner, a couple bucks cheaper at lunch) is
delicious, nicely barbecued whole game hen with a delicious Lao hot
sauce on
the side that you can consume or ignore at your pleasure. Seen Hang
(Laotian
beef jerkey) is delicious beef jerkey, but you have to like the dried
texture
to enjoy it (I did); $8.50. Probably the best of the batch was Larb
Seen,
delicious thin-sliced grilled beef with mint and spices ($8.95). We've
liked
all the noodle dishes, salads, and soups that we've tried. The only
losers have
been the dumplings. The gyoza were okay ($4.75), but the shrimp shu mai
were
losers both times — apparently frozen, they were noticeably less good
than the
packaged variety you can get at A. Dong's supermarket in Shield Plaza.
All of
the main courses come with a choice of sticky rice (Laotian and
Northern Thai
specialty) or regular boiled rice.
China Pan, in the shopping center beyond Westfarms, behind Borders, is unpretentious,and little known. On a good night it can be the second best Chinese in the Hartford area (particularly its Shanghai and vegetarian specialties), but on a bad night the food can be distinctly mediocre — particularly the Hunan dishes. (Recently we got a “Hunan Chicken” that was dry, not at all spicy though we’d asked for “extra-spicy,” and in general seemed as if it had been waiting around since lunch.The sauteed bean leaf tips can be absolutely heavenly, but recently they’ve tended to be poorly trimmed and on the tough side; still tasty, but not an $11 vegetable dish. The vegetarian goose meat is bean curd skin wrapped around mushrooms and bean curd, served with baby bok choy in a tasty brown sauce; don’t miss it. Dim Sum on weekends. The daily brunch is great value (about $6), but uneven. October 2002.
La Casona, on Wethersfield Avenue just beyond Brainard
Road, a convenient spot
for dinner after a matinee at Hoyt’s Conema City, is a new South
American restaurant with
a cheerful staff determined to please. To my not too educated palate
I’d say that the menu
centers on Argentinian and Caribbean foods, but I could be wrong. The
portions are very
big; we stuffed ourselves on two main courses, and the waitress said
that the squid appetizer
would feed several. The parillada ($16) was half an excellent sausage,
a good sized piece of rib
eye steak, a slice of chicken breast, and a big chunk of pork rib,
served with an okay mushroom
sauce and a very tasty chimichurri. "Tierra Aire" subtracted the pork
and sausage (and
the chimichurri sauce) and substituted a grilled, rather dry lobster
tail ($20). It was fine but we wouldn’t try that again.
There’s a good selection of (mostly Chilean) wines by the glass, about
$6 and $7; a similar
selection of bottles ($20-$30); and quite a few drink choices (about
$7). If you don’t see
it, ask; the Pisco Sour (not on the menu) was
extremely good. 681 Wethersfield Ave.,
296-9929. Last visited August 2004.
Min Ghung in Glastonbury pitches itself as an
“asian bistro,” and offers what as far as I know is the
largest selection of quality sake within 100 miles. They
offer a goodly selection of sushi and sashimi, including both classic
selections and others (mostly rolls) clearly aimed at Western tastes
(e.g. the Snow Roll, “Apple, cream cheese & kani, and the roll is
fried.”). The rest of the menu is a mix of Japanese, Thai, Korean, and
eclectic. The restaurant itself is a large, open space (with a nice
patio) in a mall that feels like a clone of the Exchange in Farmington.
We had a lovely time for our one meal. We tend not to like sweet
flavors with meat and so had to dodge a lot of the entrees (the spicy
pork, bul go gi, and short ribs all emphasize honey) but with a little
care that was possible. The slow cooked rainbow trout was outstanding
(we thought smoked, but they said pan cooked), the avocado eggrolls
unusual and tasty, and all the sushi we tried, from uni through a Kill
Bill roll” was delicious. The sake selection (all served cool) is
unique; resist the waitress’s attempts to have you order yourself, and
chat up the bartender who knows them all well and, when you return,
will likely remember what you had the last time. Since the sakes are
quite different, you’ll likely want to wait until you’ve chosen your
food to choose them. If you don’t like sake, they have a full bar and a
small selection of beer and wine. They have live music (relatively
quiet) on Thursday and Saturday. 39 New London Turnpike, Glastonbury;
860.659.2568.
Azul, a
new restaurant in a former bank building on LaSalle Road in West
Hartford, is
gorgeous inside; it gives you the feeling of a nice restaurant in Miami
Beach.
Most everyone we know loves it; we’ve been disappointed each time we’ve
been
there (two dinners and a lunch).
The food is good but not wonderful.
Black bean
soup and duck and goat quesadillas were bothe fine, but nothing to run
for.
Beef tenderloin, which came rarer than requested, was fine too but the
purple
mashed potatoes were a little dry. The roast chicken looked gorgeous
but was
cool when it came out. Black beans and rice and plaintain chips were
both
tasty. Salmon was a disappointment (not bad, but not as good as
homemade
pan-roasted fish.) The wine list is broad and relatively inexpensive
for a
fancy restaurant. Service was just okay; we had to ask a couple of
times to get
our water glasses filled. All in all, we'd say you'll have a good time,
the
surroundings are delightful, but there's nothing we're dying to eat
again. Last
visited February 2004.
Dim Sum
is a small restaurant in Shield Street plaza (right next to the
wonderful A.
Dong’s Oriental supermarket, and a few doors down from Pho, a
Vietnamese
restaurant) that, uniquely in the Hartford area, serves dim sum from
rolling
trays every day from before noon until at least dinner time. Since
we’ve been
visiting it, it’s gone through a couple changes of ownership and at
least one
change of style (for a brief, horrid period it tried to turn into a
lunch
buffet). Most of the time they have an ordinary menu, but that’s not
the reason
to go. The reason, quite simply, is the best dim sum in town and maybe
the best
within 100 miles.
The dim sum comes on rolling trays.
Point, and ye
shall be served. If you don’t like what you see, wait for the next tray
(though
a few items have to be ordered specially). Be sure to try the seaweed
salad if
it doesn’t show up. We tend to prefer the various translucent-wrapper
items
(several kinds of shrimp fillings), the chinese chive dumplings, the
marvellous
bean curd skin with pork, but we’ve never had anything badly made
(though we
can’t say we enjoyed the spicy chicken feet — and not because of the
spice). $20
will stuff two hogs (us) at lunchtime. Highly recommended. Last visited
June
2004.
Pho Boston,
a few doors down from Dim Sum in Shield Street Plaza, serves mostly
Vietnamese
noodle soups, with a selection of other dishes. You can't beat the
prices
(under $5 for a big bowl of the basic pho, and many other things), and
the
food's pretty good, the servers enthusiastic when we were there. We've
been
there twice; egg rolls were okay, the soup (beef pho -- the beef in the
soup is
very skinny slices) delicious, and a spicy pork casserole
($6.50, the
most expensive thing we ordered) was tasty, very hot, but a little on
the salty
side. (Probably if you ate it as many people do -- with a little meat
and a lot
of rice -- the salting would have been perfect.) Open every day, 9 to
9. Last
visited September, 2002.
Coyote Flaco, the skinny coyote, may be small but it’s
lovable. It’s
run by a charming couple some of whose children may be wandering about
during
weekend days. The restaurant has a few nice blue tables and delicious
food. The
soup of the day was a very flavorful chicken broth with rice and some
chicken.
A chicken tamale was delicious; the tamale itself was on the light and
fluffy
side, not the solid tamales that you can eat with your hands. It came
topped
with a little melted cheese on a very hot plate (helpful, since the
restaurant
itself was on the chilly side this January day; everyone kept a coat
on).
Burritos — one “express,” without side dishes, and one with rice,
beans, and
salad — were the real kind, a flour tortilla stuffed with the meat you
chose
(beef, pork, chicken, ground beef, or sausage). We had a beef and a
pork; the
pork was tenderer, but both were tasty. The side rice was good, the
side beans
very good, and the small salad tasty. All in all, with coffee this cost
about
$17. In addition to standards (enchiladas, quesadillas, tacos, chili
rellenos)
they have combinations for $9 and grilled chicken, shrimp, and beef
dishes from
$7 to $15. I think they now sell beer.. All in all, a great addition,
good for
takeout and a nice place to eat before movies at Cinestudio. Open 7
days a week
from 10 a.m. (noon Sundays) to 10 p.m. Takes VISA. Last visited August
2002..635 New Britain Avenue, Hartford, about 3/4 mile over the
Hartford line
from West Hartford. (860) 953-1299.
El Sombrero, on
Queen Street in
Newington, is the best Mexican choice for those who want liquor or
don’t cotton
to Coyote Flaco’s small menu and distinctive style. Although the food
isn’t
what you’d find in a restaurant in Mexico, the cooking all has a
Mexican flair
to it, and the menu gives more choices than most anyone needs; there
are also a
couple of daily specials. Portions are large. In addition to the
standard
burrito-enchilada collections, they serve quite a few sauced meats;
anything
with the pepita (pumpkin seed) sauce is likely to be particularly good.
nt.
Main courses $9 - $14. Last visited June 2004.
Puerta Vallarta opened a while back in West Hartford Center,
the local
incarnation of a Mexican chain popular on the West Coast.We first
called it
“promising,” but six months later we have to say that the promise is
unfulfilled. Try at your own risk.
The menu is huge -- four large pages,
plus an
insert of more expensive dinner specials -- and they've got a broad
selection
of aged Tequila for those who like them. Foods range from the standard
enchilada/burrito/taco/fajitas through tamales, chile relleno, several
moles,
and half a dozen fish dishes, emphasizing shrimp.
The salsa served with chips was stronger
and
darker than the standard, more chile and less tomato flavor, quite hot
but
good. Tortilla soup ($5 for a remarkably small bowl) was more like a
vegetable
stew despite the menu claim of large chunks of chicken. (The manager
said
they'd changed the recipe after the menus were printed, but didn't seem
concerned that the menu was misinforming diners.) First brought out,
the soup
was lukewarm; when we complaned, we got a hot bowl. A chile relleno was
a tasty
large well cooked poblano chile stuffed with cheese (we thought the
menu had promised
meat, but didn't recheck) in an attractive and moderately spicy tomato
sauce. A
chicken burrito was large, mostly rice and beans, but decent. The
special red
snapper (in a garlic sauce with chopped octopus) was originally a
disaster:
under the spicy topping, the fish was cooked on one side, raw on the
other, and
frozen in the center. When we complained, they cheerfully took it back,
returning a few minutes later with the same plate, somewhat messed up,
and the
fish cooked to a fare-the-well. Perhaps too well? It was the toughest
fish I've
ever eaten, impossible to cut with a fork, and far tougher than the
octopus in
the topping. I know of no way to make a red snapper this tough. Is it
possible
that too long in a freezer will do this?
Nevertheless, the dish tasted delicious. Flour tortillas than came on the
side were
superb. Portions of everything except the soup ranged from large
(chile) to
huge (burrito and fish); we took a good bit home. Two margaritas
(Miguel's
special) were tasty, but very different from each other (the first was
sour,
the second sweet). Either the water bobbled the order or the bartender
makes
them variably. August 9, 2000.
Another view: One of my
students
writes (August, 2001) that “It is my opinion... that the Puerta
Vallarta
is
probably the closest one can get to "authentic" mexican. It's rare
that I can eat anywhere back home and not have the pleasure of wading
through
incredible amounts of cheese, sauce or gravy. I will say that their
salsa is
probably a bit over-chili'ed and that the rice leaves a bit to be
desired
(tasting rather bland, or rather not tasting)._The rellenos are
especially good
(it must be incredibly hard to get the peppers up here with just the
right
mixture of sweet and spicy) and the tamales are some of the best I've
ever
eaten, bar none.”
The Frog and Peach,
out in Canton
just beyond Margaritas, is gone. The new restaurant in the same
location is from the owner
of the (also now closed) Back Street Grill in West Hartford.
Main Moon Buffet, on Prospect just south of Park, is remarkably inexpensive ($5 for lunch, $6.30 for dinner on weekdays, a little more on weekends) and serves quite palatable Chinese and some American foods buffet-style. Open from 11:30 every day. (January 11, 1998)
Thai Taste, 1151
Chapel Street,
New Haven -- in what used to be the Rathskeller, and still has Yale
oars on the
wall -- just may be the best Thai restaurant in Connecticut. If not,
it's very
close. Luncheon dishes are $4 - $7 (and there are combos), dinner about
50%
more expensive. For a wonder, if you ask for the food "Thai hot" it really
is, so don't overstate your
preferences.
Among the appetizers, we particularly like the Thai dumplings ($3.50),
rather
like shiu mai but with a fried garlic on the top and a Thai edge to the
spices;
and the Som Tom, which they say is a papaya salad (doesn't seem like
papaya to
me, but it's wonderful ($4.95). We haven't had a loser among the
curries and
noodles, and can particularly recommend the spicy noodle (broad rice
noodles;
available with meat or vegetarian), Pik King shrimp (more string beans
than
shrimp, but delicious); and the Massaman curry (a milder coconut milk
curry
with potatoes and peanuts). We spent $38 for two appetizers, a noodle,
a curry
-- and a noodle and
two curries
to take home, lunchtime prices. (September 11, 1999)
Ibiza, New Haven.
This is a new incarnation of Pika Tapas, and has switched from an
emphasis on Tapas to a full-service, full-Spanish-meal restaurant. The
Tapas, tasty and garlicky, were much as before, strong flavored and
garlicky, but the selection is smaller.
We haven't hit a loser yet. Main courses were generous and excellent.
We’ve not tried many of the desserts, but the Catalan version of creme
brulee (a little more tart than the usual) was spectacular. Wines
(mostly Spanish) are
available by
the bottle; a small selection is available by the glass. They also
serve beer
(mostly American). We spent $149 on dinner for two but that
included not only lots of food but some pretty expensive wine. 39
High
Street near the Museum of British Art. Last
visited May, 2005.
Union Leage Cafe, New Haven.
The long-running Union League Cafe serves probably the best French food
in Connecticut this side of Stamford. The room is large and open, with
high ceilings, lots of dark wood, and impeccable linens (there’s also a
bar at the back). The menu, which slides slightly towards bistro
cooking, changes frequently (we love the rabbit but rarely get there
when it’s on) but always includes a good selection of seafoods and
meats. Flavors are strong and clear; the staff friendly but
professional; and the wine list, also bistro-like, emphasizes
lesser-known wines that are often excellent value. They open at 5:30 so
you can manage dinner before a play, but you’ll have a lot more fun if
you leave time for a full, unhurried experience. Last
visited September, 2005.
Penguin Cafe, Branford. It
used to be
wonderful, but after the expansion the prices have gone way up (and
they've
gotten a liquor license) and the service is uneven. When everything
hits just
right, they're still wonderful, but no longer a bargain. When they
swing and
miss, you'll regret paying the price. (March, 1998). Go around the
corner to Le
Petit Cafe, prix fixe and delicious.
Sienna
Restaurant, South Deerfield, Massachusetts.We
heard about this
Chinatown Express,
Washington, D.C.. Inexpensive Chinatown
storefront where you can watch the cook make noodles by hand (twisting,
twisting, twisting) and get little Cantonese dumplings with the soup
cooked inside
the dumpling.Tasty, different, and extremely cheap. They have a larger
menu for
those who want; we stuck with the specialties. Our lunch cost a tenth
of the
previous night's dinner at Vidalia. (December 2002).
Vidalia, Washington, D.C.. One
of the best
restaurants in the city, it's said, and it was certainly full. The
appetizers
(crab cakes ($15) and a mushroom ragout ($13)) were delicious; the
sirloin
($30) beautifully aged and cooked just as ordered. The sweetbreads and
lobster
($29) were disappointing; too-large pillows of sweetbreads (nicely
cooked, but
they would have been crisper cut in smaller pieces) and a genuinely
tiny half
lobster tail.Disappointing, too, was the onion casserole ($5.50 side
order);
not nearly as good as a Julia Child soubise we made at home the
following week.
A buttermilk panna cotta was excellent, our Willm Pinot Gris ($30) a
bargain,
and the Vine Cliff Merlot ($41 for a half bottle) outstanding.
(December 2002)