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rocco's in new canaan
CT, we first tried the margherita, which has diced marinated tomatoes (not sauce) and fresh mozzarella. We also got the mushroom topping. The mushrooms are awesome sauteed veggies, not the stuff out of a can that you would get a regular slice place.
It was so good that the next night we tried the Nonna, which has buffalo mozz and sauce. That was good too, but I thought the margherita w mushrooms was slightly better.
rocco's in new canaan
Back to Rocco's, we ordered from there yesterday for the first time. We thought that the pizza was actually much better than Joe's Pizza. Obviously Joe's is a regular slice place and Rocco's is brick-oven, but I'm wondering why Joe's gets the props on our board when Rocco's is clearly the better quality pie?
rocco's in new canaan
Yeah, you won't feel like you're on the pacific coast highway or anything, but I think it's better than the chicken sando (where the main draw is the bread). They put some kind of cilantro aioli on the taco which is nice, and it is somewhat spicy.
rocco's in new canaan
Best thing I had at Gates was the fish taco. I liked it better than the bellagio which was the old go to.
New Canaan Eater Searching for the Best Meals
Yes, I had it last week. It's very good.
New Canaan Eater Searching for the Best Meals
Ok, thanks guys. I actually did hit Food Emporium (from looking at a more dated thread) today and they had a few cuts dry-aged at the counter. I thought the dry aging was very good on the rib eyes we had, and at $32 for 1 1/2 lbs, not too pricey for the category.
Separately I hit Sushi 25 for their Chinese offerings. The hot and sour soup was best along with the dry-sauteed string beans. The rest was pretty average...maybe we needed some more ordering guidance.
Moving back around to Tony's Deli, discovered the frozen lasagna dinner which we thought was really good. For meat it has chunks of juicy meatball instead of the usual ground beef that can tend to be dry at times. Comes with garlic bread for $16 and is enough for two...recommended. On a related note all the meatball items are strong at Tony's.
New Canaan Eater Searching for the Best Meals
I would not be opposed to going in with you guys on an order if you want to. Someone would have to come up with a plan for the logistics...
Back to the original topic, does anyone have a good source for dry-aged meats up here? I am very excited to won a bbq grill again.
New Canaan Eater Searching for the Best Meals
Regarding appetizing, I am hitting the same wall up here.
Seems like there are so many Russ & D fans (and you're never gonna beat them), if we were really smart we'd organize among ourselves a monthly shipment from the LES to keep the cost down.
How much does 10 lbs of eastern gaspe, a gallon tub of salmon-whitefish salad, 5 dozen bagels go for these days!?
New Canaan Eater Searching for the Best Meals
I've been hitting Tony's to order a "Mississippi" which is a bacon egg and cheese with french fries in it, get my coffee across the way, and return to pick it up. All good.
Also, used to frequent the Crumbs in NYC. Check out the apple cake!! (sold by the slice)
Regarding "real breakfast", as far as I can tell Rosie is your best bet. Great baked goods and hot breakfast items, fresh juice, and (limited) seating.
New Canaan Eater Searching for the Best Meals
Events conspired to place me in front of Tony's Deli today. I remembered your post and grabbed a chicken parm, which was excellent. The wedge roll was standard, the chicken was tender and great. Good rec. Also Tony introduced himself which was nice. Will be back for more.
New Canaan Eater Searching for the Best Meals
Thanks for the feedback here.
I followed up on the advice from LW1 and booked the Schoolhouse for dinner. They run a special menu on Thursday where you get 4 courses for $40, and I figured that would be a good way to test the place. However I did not make it as my wife went into labor the night before (we had a girl!). The menu looked good though and we'll get there for sure.
I appreciate the tip but Milford seems real far to travel for Chinese, not that I'm above a culinary trip. I'm hoping someone has some as yet undiscovered Chinese picks. I will certainly try Scotty's tip at Sushi 25, speaking of which, what do folks like for sushi around here?
Lunchwise, so far I've tried Forest Street Deli, Made It Myself, Garelick and Herbs, Rosie, and Le Pain Quotidien. The first two seem to be pretty much Boar's Head oriented (correct me if wrong), while Garelick was slightly more gourmet at a touch higher pricepoint. By far my favorites are Rosie and Le Pain Quotidien. At LPQ I go with the chicken arugula baguette (great bread, $8 or so) and the cobb salad is a winner. At Rosie I found a lot to like. Breakast items like poppy-blackberry and apple-carrot muffins are great, in addition to a serviceable huevos rancheros. For sandwiches, I really liked the italian, about $10 and worth it, but I needed to ask for hot peppers. I also had good chicken and mozz for a little less, and I special ordered a chicken salad with LT on a kaiser roll, a good deal at $8.50. The thing that distinguished Rosie and LPQ were higher quality ingredients and wonderful bread. Worth the extra buck in my book.
We covered some of the finer dining earlier, can anyone give some advice on more midrange places, good burgers, mexican, etc.?
New Canaan Eater Searching for the Best Meals
Moved up here to NC from NYC, where we lived for the past 10 years. After eating very well in the city, we were pleasantly surprised with some of the spots we've found here. Need to give a hat tip to "jfood" and other hounds who have given us some pointers. Wanted to give something back to the board by sharing some of our experiences within the last month (chronological order, dinner for 2 after tip):
Ching's Table-Having lived near Shun Lee on the UWS for years, we are absolutely ruined for Chinese food. We started out our NC eating tour at a Chinese place to gauge just how big the culinary adjustment might be. We quickly figured out that Ching's was more pan-asian than anything else. We started out with the calamari salad, which was excellent and reminiscent of the fried calamari salad served at the Continental during our Philly years. We moved on to the pad thai and wok duck, neither of which were terribly interesting. With a beer I believe the bill came to $90. Probably won't be back for a bit. If anyone can suggest a pure Chinese place, please let us know!
Sole-We walked into Chef Luis but they were booked, so we went next door to Sole and I'm glad we did. I can recommend the wood-oven roasted chicken entree as one of the better chickens you'll eat, served over mashed potatoes with gravy and greens. Perfection. Also the deserts we had on two separate trips, panna cotta and tiramisu, were excellent. It's rare to get a tiramisu made with such generous mascarpone. If anyone finds out the calorie count...do not tell me! Around $100 with a couple of glasses of wine, and well worth it. One of our favorites so far.
Chef Luis-After getting bounced the last time, we booked ahead. Truth be told, we did not really have a great meal there. The scallops entree was the best thing we ate, with the rest being lackluster, and at a price of over $100 with no booze, we're gonna pass for a while. In defense of the place, they were again doing a big business, and people were coming in for takeout. I'll also say that it is BYOB, but we didn't know it. Maybe we were grouchy with no wine, or maybe some of the other reviewers were a little tipsy...
Bonne Nuit-A classic bistro with well-executed plates. The best thing we had was actually the escargot appetizer, topped with a garlic rouille. The other dishes, both fish, were solid though we did not spring for the dover sole. Molten chocolate desert was also good. With a couple drinks the bill came to around $130, making it the most expensive place we visited. You feel like you're getting nice quality though, and hopefully we can work on our ordering here. Suggestions appreciated.
Harvest Supper-Probably our favorite all around spot so far. Every dish we had there was excellent: roasted beet salad with whipped blue cheese, poached egg over asparagus and mushrooms (divine), bucatini bolognese (the best dish per dollar in NC at $21?), and the duck breast. At $120 all in, easily the best bang for the buck so far, and probably the most skilled execution to boot.
Any advice always appreciated. And if anyone seems to care about this thread, I'll post about the lunch places next.
