FoodieJim's Profile
Alinea wine pairings
Just thought I would give a quick update. I cannot recommend the wine pairings, especially at the price charged. We all know that the restaurant revels in its reputation for the unique and often obscure. (Hungarian Wooley Pig??). In my opinion, they carry that over to the wine pairings more than they should. Seems as if they go out of their way to pour you too many wines that you have never heard of before, with the idea that if you haven't had it before, it must be good. Well, two of us at the table are very well versed in wine, and we were familiar with most of the wines, and in many instances, not in a good way. We looked at the list of pairings before deciding and then settled in on a Brewer-Clifton Pinot, a Fisher "Coach Insignia" Cabernet and a Peay Syrah, all for over $180 less than it would have cost the four of us to have the pairings. We all thought that the pairings showcased too many whites, and too many average ones at that. With the fish course, they insisted on pouring a Bourgogne Blanc which was insipid. No one finished theirs. The Pinot was a much better match for the grilled fish. If this was any indication of what the rest of the wines would have offered, I would say that we did much, much better off the list.
New Haven Pizza Tour
Thanks so much for reporting back. I am sorry for your loss. Your anniversary tribute to your brother sounds spectacular. New Haven is worse off for never having the pleasure of his company.
anyone try Taste of Hartford yet?
We tried Max Downtown last week. From a volume standpoint, this was a big winner. No skimping here. The pork shank and the chicken dishes were huge for the $20 price tag. Good+, but not necessarily all the way up to Max's usual standards. But good enough. The Almond Joy tart was the winning dessert over the creme brulee.
Sally's Apizza is obviously better than Pepe's and Modern
But the basics of which you speak are those of Domino's, Papa John's and Pizza Hut. Not New Haven apizza. If I were to go to three New York delis to compare them, I wouldn't order corned beef though all would serve it, and some very well. If you want to know if Pepe's serves a transcendent pie, order a white clam or sausage. If you want to see if Sally's can blow you away, go for the tomato pie with grated cheese. Add a topping if you wish. Coming to a conclusion as to which place you like better is not a simple matter of comparing like pies. Instead, you should try what each place does best and figure out which one gave you greater pleasure.
Sally's Apizza is obviously better than Pepe's and Modern
And herein lies [one of] the problems with the original post. The pie that one orders has so much to do with the final results. I prefer Pepe's. That said, if I wanted a "plain" pie with nothing on it, I would be perfectly happy with Sally's, and cannot dispute that it might in fact win the day. (Leaving aside the headache of actually getting a table and putting up with the awful service.) If you did the same test and ordered pies with sausage and onion, I'd be surprised if Pepe's didn't top your list. And if you ordered pepperoni, I'd venture a guess that Pepe's might finish last. (I cringe when people who have never been to Pepe's go and order a pepperoni pie and then complain that the pizza was just OK. I just don't think that pepperoni on top shows off what Pepe's is all about.) And as posted above, order a white clam in each place and Pepe's is number one with a bullet.
Bottom line. You can't reach any sort of conclusion one way or the other by going to both Pepe's and Sally's and ordering a "kid's pizza" (i.e., plain cheese).
Colchester, CT - a culinary wasteland?
Quote: "I do not agree that people in Colchester want to live in a town that is very different from Glastonbury. I think Glastonbury is over populated, has little parking and is becoming a bit saturated, however not all of the people of Colchester lack the sophistication or income to support a well run, quality restaurant..."
You are making my point. People choose Colchester over Glastonbury because they view the latter as over populated, with little parking and saturated. It has nothing to do with sophistication, income, or lack thereof. It is a reasoned decision that some make and others don't. You simply cannot expect restauranteurs to try to make a go of it in a town that is less than half the size of Glastonbury, population-wise. The economics of scale are simply not there, even if the income and sophistication are. There are dozens of sub-20,000 towns in CT that have ample sophistication and income, yet have few if any restaurants of the ilk you seek. No one is going to question the income levels or sophistication of places like Sharon, Litchfield or Hebron. But that doesn't mean that investors are drooling at the prospect of opening up high end restaurants there. It all comes down to population. If one of the reasons that you chose to live in Colchester is to avoid the perceived overpopulation of other towns, that makes perfect sense. But once you do, you can't look over the fence and long for the things that the more populated towns have. Sort of like the Manhattanite who buys a vacation home in VT and then complains that there is no good deli.
Colchester, CT - a culinary wasteland?
I'd have to agree with bagelman. Colchester is not a "large" town. It is a rural bedroom community populated by people who, for their own good reasons, want to live in a town that is very different from Glastonbury, West Hartford, Farmington or the like. In order for the culinary scene to measure up with what you are looking for, Colchester would have to lose much of the charm that makes it what it is. Glastonbury and W. Hartford have "Plan B". You have "Harry's". Therein lies the difference between the towns.
Tango now Pond House - Glastonbury, CT
Meh. I wish them well, as a "fine dining" establishment with reasonable corkage is always welcomed, (as opposed to a hole-in-the-wall, which is fine too, but we need more nicer restaurants in CT to embrace the practice). But our meals were just OK and the service fell well below the standards of a $25 per entree restaurant. Every course that came out was plated in front of the wrong diner. The server would ask: "who had the calamari?", while holding a Caesar salad, when, in fact, no one had ordered calamari. Is the training so bad that the server cannot distinguish a Caesar salad from calamari? The lamb shank was fine, but the onion rings served with it were inedible. Pounds of tasteless batter caked on to each ring. My daughter enjoyed her duck, but the starch on the side tasted of sweet pumpkin pie filling. Far too sweet to accompany a main course. The cioppino had no shellfish whatsoever. Just chunks of white fish in a broth finished with what appeared to be some cream. Not terrible. But not what one would expect when ordering a dish that is rather iconic in preparation. All in all, I thought that we were paying Max or Bricco pricing for food that was much more "homestyle" than we would have preferred. And I really expect more professional service when I am spending $40 per person for a meal. Not diner-style service, which is what we received. Three times the water server poured (or tried to pour before we stopped him) still water into our glasses half filled with S. Pellegrino sparkling. And the first time it happened while we were engaged in coversation and couldn't stop him, no offer was made to comp us a new bottle of sparkling water. Instead, the server simply said: "would you like to drink this water, or would you like another bottle of Pellegrino." I was astonished when bottle #2 showed up on our bill. Things like this are simply unforgivable in a place that is trying to establish a reputation as a step above "family cuisine". Not sure what will compel me to return, other than my own self-interest in seeing businesses in my town succeed as opposed to seing "For Lease" signs linger for years on end.
Hot Tomato's - disappointing
Yes. It started out where "Tapas on Ann" is now. Then it moved to a "stand alone" building on Asylum, (which later became a BBQ place, and then was torn down for parking), and then moved to the train station.
Hot Tomato's - disappointing
"I still remember my first visit to Hot Tomato's, it was awesome. I had many fine meals there, but those days are long gone apparently."
After HT closed and then re-opened, there really wasn't anything left of the original except for the name. In fact, Salute has far more in common with HT than HT. The current iteration of HT is souless, and the food is hard to recommend. I doubt it will last much longer. Too bad. But if you harbor memories of HT in its heyday (when you needed to buy a $100 preferred customer card to get a prime time reservation), you will be sadly disappointed with the current version. There is nothing left from that era. Nice TV behind the bar, though. I'll give them that.
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Hot Tomato's
1 Union Pl, Hartford, CT 06103
Pepe's in Manchester- Recent visitors?
Not suprisingly, I agree with Jay and bigboy. I grew up 10 miles from the original but now visit the Manchester location regularly. It would be so easy for me to be patronizing and pooh-pooh the spin-offs. But from a purely objective standpoint, Manchester is as close to the original as one could hope for. (Which is to say, there is a certain amount of inconsistencyat the original, and in Manchester as well.) As for crowds, we almost always go on Saturdays and usually arrive before 5:30 and the longest wait that I have had in about 20 trips is 20 minutes.
T Rex in Stamford's south end?
T-Rex Cafe is an arm of the Landry's Group of restaurants and is very similar to its "Rainforest Cafe" chain. Instead of apes and elephants, the restaurants are populated with dinosaurs. And instead of a "thunder storm" every 15 minutes, they have a meteor shower. www.trexcafe.com . Definitely not the one coming to Stamford.
T Rex in Stamford's south end?
No it's not. The article you linked is not about T-Rex at all. It is about Dinosaur which is an entirely different enterprise.
Rooftop 120, Glastonbury, CT
I heard that it was going to be a Martini Bar owned by the owners of Eric Town Square, which seemed odd to me, as its success could cannibalize some of the bar business of their existing tenants, like Sakura and more specifically, Plan B. The whole idea seems very "1995" when Martini and Cigar Bars were all the rage. I think (and hope) that we are passed that.
Sea Swirl...what happened to your fried clams??
Went yesterday and noted no loss in quality (we're talking whole bellies here). That is not to say that the OP didn't hit it on a bad day. To my way of thinking, there will be good days and bad at a lot of casual chow locales. I can live with that. I tend to be a bit forgiving on consistency when it comes to a roadside shack. It can be part of the charm. Or not, if you demand more from a drive-up.
Hartford help please
If you will be around on a Friday, you have to check out On20. You may have to pay out of pocket for breakfast and lunch, but your per diem will buy you the best meal you can get in Hartford.
http://www.ontwenty.com/
Flood Tide, Mystic CT
Yes, the budget was limited, but that teaches a valuable lesson. Never do anything half-a$$. Leaving the beautiful wood "as is" would have been far better than a cheap make-over. I have eaten there many, many times, mostly in the "hey-day" that they described as the mid to late 80s. Most of my visits were between 1989 and 1995 and back then, it was as "fine" as fine dining got in the area. Then, they went to a more casual, cafe style menu with the open kitchen and we hated it and stopped going back. There were plenty of upgrades necessary to the menu and kitchen, but one thing that didn't need to be re-done was the interior. If you watch all of the episodes of this show, you will see that the design team basically guts every restaurant that they go into...except this one, where they made only minor cosmetic changes. What does that tell you? It tells me that they didn't hate the interior. (In fact, Irvine never once showed disdain for the interior the way he has in other episodes). So they decided to make some changes for change sake. Gotta make good for the camera. It was a mistake. I don't hate the fish sculpture, (though for the life of me I don't see the need for separating off a "VIP Area", whatever the hell that is), but painting over the figure head and painting the polished wood over the kitchen were both grave mistakes. I hope to get back there in May to check it out, and by then, I hope they have sanded off that awful paint job.
Mohegan Wine Festival on Jan 25...
The Grand Cru event is definitely worth it, especially if it is free. Down some Dom Perignon and Gaja and you'll be fine. Just don't kill too many brain cells at the main tasting room. Save your liver for the good stuff.
Help! Need a caterer in Hartford, CT area... fast.
Went to an event recently catered by Ann Howard. It was really good. Not sure about the Kosher aspect, but I assume that a caterer of Ann Howard's reknown could do whatever you want.
Best pizza to order at Sally's or Pepe's in New Haven?
I guess it all depends on who is doing the cutting. I still get plenty of idiosyncratic pieces, both in NH and Manchester.
Best pizza to order at Sally's or Pepe's in New Haven?
I'd have to disagree with notion that things have gone downhill since the expansion. Expanding to other locations did not change the age of the 100 year old oven, nor did it change the recipe of the dough, or how they make it (in house). It would be different if each location were now getting ingredients from a corporate supplier a la Pizza Hut. But things in New Haven are completely independent of the other locations, and Gary is still there running the show. I have not noticed any decline. I agree that Pepe's can be inconsistent, because when you cook in an oven heated to almost 800 degrees, 15 seconds in the oven on either side of "perfect" can make a difference. But I have not found any less "perfection"in the past 5 years. Just the same degree of inconsistency, running from "perfect" to "almost perfect."
Mohegan Wine Festival on Jan 25...
It takes place 28-30th this year. I go every year, and take advantage of the "trade" early admission as well as the "Elite Cru" option which is a separate admission and a separate room where the good stuff is poured. If it were not for these options, I would not go as the general room is a bunch of low end supermarket wine that is of no interest.
French in CT
In the Hartford area, Cavey's is the best.
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Cavey's Restaurants
45 E Center St, Manchester, CT 06040
custys lobster buffet
With buffets, it is always tempting to try to figure out if you are "eating your money's worth". But that is not really the proper inquiry. If you go to a fine dining restaurant and order a $16 app, a $37 entree ($45 or more if it is a pound and a half lobster) and a $9 dessert with a $4 cup of coffee, did the restaurant serve you $66 (or $74) worth of food? Of course not. But rarely do people think to parse out the costs on such a meal the way they do with buffets. Now, I am not saying that Custy's is fine dining, but I think the proper inquiry is: If you want to go out for a lobster dinner and not have to worry about the shopping, cooking and cleaning, would you rather go to a fine dining restaurant and spend $80 for a meal that icludes a single lobster entree, $30 to go to a lobster shack and get a lobster with chowder and corn, or $80 for an all you can eat experience. Only you can answer that. But let's move away from the analysis that the value of the food put in front of you did not equal the amount that you paid for it. That will always be the case whether you spend $4 at Taco Bell, $80 at Custy's or $265 at Per Se.
Heritage turkeys? Any body tried them and where can I get in southeastern CT or New Haven, Middletown areas?
Whole Foods is selliing "Heirloom" turkeys (raw) that they refer to as "of the heritage variety". You can order on line and pick up at your closest store.
http://shop.wholefoodsmarket.com/store/Whole-Raw-Turkey/Heirloom-Bronze-Organic-Turkey-P230C47.aspx
Big E 2010 -- Fair Food Highlights
One can enjoy food from a fair and still not enjoy food from THIS fair. You seem to imply that if one does not enjoy the food at the Big E, one does not enjoy food at all. Faulty logic. My point is simply that every year a call goes out for the "must have" items at the Big E. The truth is, the food doesn't change all that much from year to year and is not all that different from any local church carnival where they bring in commercial carts. If that stuff turns your crank, you certainly don't need to go to the Big E to get it. Any local fair will do. If foil wrapped baked potatoes and microwaved corn on the cob are a "must have", then by all means, get your season pass. Personally, I prefer the Feast of San Gennaro. Certainly not Roquefort or Brocciu. But pretty good food none the less.
Big E 2010 -- Fair Food Highlights
Every year there is a long post about the food at the Big E, and every year I shake my head with a lack of understanding. I have been each of the past 5 years for various reasons, (take kids on rides, watch equestrian competitions, etc), but I have never gone because of the food. In fact, I go in spite of it. It is a very expensive way of ensuring gastrointestinal distress for the most part. Not picking on any particular post or poster, but here is what I am talking about. If this is the "best" of the fair, then Houston, we have a problem:
NH - Corn on the cob is usually good even though it's microwaved.
Really? People should wait in line and pay money for an ear of corn that is microwaved? How about buying a fresh ear from a roadside stand for a dime and cooking it at home. I have to go to a fair for this?
CT - Nothing. Hands down the worst State building year after year.
Agreed.
VT - Cabot cheese, American Flatbread pizza, Otter Creek beer.
Uh...OK. I'll admit to liking both Cabot cheese and Otter Creek Beer. (Flatbread pizza, not so much). All of these are available at every grocery chain in New England. Why would one get giddy over the notion of overpaying for them at the Big E?
ME - Yes, the potato, but only if there's no line!! Billies is just as good.
See my thoughts above re: corn. It's a potato, people. You buy them at the grocery store for about $0.30 each.
MA - Rasberries, and the lobster roll (if it's not claw meat, it's a rip-off)
I'll admit that the hot lobster roll is probably the best "value" at the Big E. The ones that I have had were as meaty as most shacks, and no more expensive.
RI - Lobster chowder, clam chowder, stuffed Quahog, lobster ravioli with vodka sauce.
While I applaud the effort of the folks from the Ocean State, as they are offering local, non-commercial items, I can't say that the quality has been up to par. Seems to vary from year to year. When forced to pony up money for food, this and the lobster roll seem to win my money.
As for the rest of the Big E, it is largely a fried food fest with a fair smattering of sausage and pepper carts that can be found anywhere. I think that nostalgia and childhood memories cloud the culinary judgment of many fair goers. In all honesty, if a Chowhound from another part of the country who has never been heads to the Big E with visions of culinary splendor, I dare say that he will be disappointed. If one wants to go to the fair for reasons other than food, (and there are many), choose wisely and prepare to to be bombarded by every food that has ever been fried, and some that never should be.
Cobb's Mill Inn, Weston, CT, shutters its doors
Seems to me that moving 11 feet hardly constitutes an interruption in service. The website says "food establishment" which, to me, signifies the enterprise serving the food, as opposed to the physical structure from which it is served.
Cobb's Mill Inn, Weston, CT, shutters its doors
Sad to see that the new owners couldn't make it work.
Incidentally, the claim that this is Connecticut's longest continuous food establishment is spurious, given that it opened as a restaurant in 1936. The grills used at Louie's date back to 1898, and Frank Pepe was serving pies from his building (as opposed to from a cart) as early as 1925. And those are just two I can think of off the top of my head.
Pepe's is coming to Danbury, CT
"One person's "sucks" is another person's "stellar" and there is really no right or wrong. It's all a question of personal taste and preference and liking or disliking..."
That is precisely the point. In these discussions, people should be free to provide their opinions, but be careful to couch them in terms of their preferences and avoid wide-sweeping denigration (or praise). Saying that a place “sucks” in a general sense gives the impression that the establishment is an abject failure from start to finish with no qualities that a reasonable person could find redeemable. That is a far cry from noting that the food served is not of the style or quality that the individual poster prefers. Since there is no right or wrong to personal preferences, people can’t go wrong with noting those preferences. But generalized characterizations can prove misleading, especially on a board whose goal is to inform readers of places that they haven’t yet tried, but might want to some day. Let’s all keep in mind that a place does not “suck” simply because it served charred, thin crust round pizza to a person who prefers doughy, thick crust squares. And a clam shack does not “suck” because it served large, whole belly clams to someone who prefers strips or small bellies.
