John V's Profile
Burlington area restaurants
What's up with the Burlington restaurant scene.
Somkejacks is gone, Taste of Burlington closed for the winter(is that permenant?).
Any new additions and or closing anyone knows of.
Coppia, Fairfield CT
Has anyone been to Coppia on the Post Road in Fairfield?
I have read a few things about it. Most things have been very positve.
I like small chef/wife owend places that are a little work to locate and gather information on.
Might try it as a Valentines day suprise(the suprise being not going on Valentines Day)!!!!
Any info is welcome.
Thanks,
JohnV
Metric Restaurant, Bridgeport CT
Metric is located on Cannon St in downtown BPT. Cannon St is between the federal court house and MacDonalds. The artist lofts in the old Read's building is behind Metric.
Metric Restaurant, Bridgeport CT
Stopped at Metric on a Monday night. It was early around 5:00pm. Only a few people in the dining room and 2 people at the bar. My wife and I had a couple glasses of wine. Not much of a selection by the glass, but being new I am sure this will change in the future as they get a larger following. The place is very atttractive and comfortable. I must say that every one we met, customers and staff were very friendly. It made for a very comfortable place to be.I can see this becoming a regular stop for mysefl and many people. The menu has a varied selection of apps, salads, pastas,pizza, sandwich's and entrees.
My wife decided to "test" the kitchen. We both have special dietary needs. I can have no dairy and she can have no eat.So, she ordered pizza with the instructions of our dietary needs and a "have the chef do whatever he wants". Our order was happliy taken by the bartender (Chantell), who was very helpfull and a pleasure to talk to. After a few minutes Pierre the owner/chef came over to make sure he understood our needs. He is a very happy pleasant person who sincerly wants to please his customers. In about 15 minutes out came 2 pizza's. One with grilled vegtables and cheese and the second with grilled vegtables, sundried tomatoes, olives and no cheese.......exactly as we ordered. Both my wife and myself aggreed that both pizza's were great and we finished them quickly. The chef did come over to see if we were pleased and we were.In conversation he was suprised that I could eat meat and said that he would have put some on my pizza if he knew. Well a few minutes later the chef comes back with a small plate with 2 wedge sandwich's. He said this is because he didn't put meat on the pizza. The sandwich was paper thin prime rib with carmalized onion. It was a pleasent suprise and also delicious. I will defintley go back to Metric to try a complete dinner. It seems like a place that is run by happy people who want to take care of the customer. It is also nice to see new places opening in downtown BPT. Now you have Ralph and Rich's, Cafe Roma, Joe's Steakhouse, 2 Boots and soon Fat Cat Pie and State Street Bistro.
I would recommend trying Metric.....They need to improve the wine selection by the glass and the wine service (different glass when changing wines) but wine is my hobbie so maybe I am too critical on this but I like a choice of a standard and a higher end wine of the same type. But this will not keep me from a return visit. It is to comfortable a place to avoid.
..I think the few kinks will be worked out in the future.I wish them well and hope they are a success....I wait for others to try Metric and to read the comments.
John V
Green Room, Magnolia, Delia - other good eats in Burlington, VT?
Thanks for responding, Ike. Yes I am partial to Starbucks with my daughter working there. But I have also been to Uncommon Grounds and have friends that have a child working there. I like it there too. No, my daughter does not spin fire on Church St. Thank God!!!! By all means try Bearded Frog. I think you will enjoy it. Also try Tilley's on the lower part of Church St. Kind of an island feel with interesting food and good service. The bar is also a nice place to hang out. Sorry for my grammer errors.....I post my ideas and do not claim to be Hemingway.....but I do try to get to as much spelling and grammer correct as I can. Thanks for reading my post's ( there goes that apostrophe again).........JohnV
St Tropez, Fairfield...what happened!!
I am glad that you experience was up to the standards that St Tropez has been in the past. I agree that I may have just hit a bad night. As a rule I shy away from Saturday's as that is the toughest night to get the best service. If the service and the attention to dietary issues were addressed I would have been able to deal with the rest. In due time I would like to try St Tropez again......but there are many other places I will try first. Thanks for the update.....JohnV
St Tropez, Fairfield...what happened!!
I went to dinner at St Tropez a week or so ago. I have been there quite a few times over the years and have always been pleased by both the food and the service. That was not the case this last visit. My wife and I met 2 other couples for dinner on a Saturday night at 8:00pm. Now I realize that Saturday is the busiest day for most restaurants...and that brings me to my first concern. We all met in the "O" bar next to the restaurant for a drink and to wait for our table. We did have to wait a little while for our table (the place was packed) and this was not a problem for us. What I did notice was that the head chef/owner was standing outside the bar talking to another guy. Maybe it's just me, but 8:00pm Saturday with a packed house and other people waited to be seated I would think the chef should be in the kitchen!!!! Even if all the kitchen stations are manned and operating correctly the head chef on a busy night should be checking plates as they go out (don’t forget every plate has his signature on it)!!
OK, so now we sit down at our table. We order a bottle of wine and start looking over the menu. It seems that the Duck breast was the choice of the night. Three of six people and Duck, two had fish and I had the short ribs. At the time of order I did mention to our waitress that I have an extreme allergy to dairy. I also said that I would eat anything as long as it did not have dairy in it. She assured me that nothing I ordered in either my first or second course had any dairy in it.
Well the first course went pretty well.....everyone seemed to enjoy everything (including Bob who suddenly realized that this was a French restaurant....you see he has a slight grudge that they didn't back us in Iraq fiasco!!!!).
We ordered a second bottle of wine before our entrees arrived. A few minutes later the entree's came to the table. This was a disappointment. The Duck was chewy and bland, one of the fish entrees was missing some ingredients and my short ribs resembled the barbeque sandwich at Burger King!!! No bone....perfectly formed little rectangular pieces of meat with no bone (meat is not symmetrical....especially when there is a bone involved)!!!!
I looked around the table and noticed that every single plate looked exactly the same except for the protein. The plate had green beans, you can call them haricot vert if you like - but they are still green beans. And the starch was MASHED POTATOES. Yes, even my plate. The guy with the dairy allergy had creamy, buttery mashed potatoes on his plate. Now I had to ask the waitress if there was dairy in it....just to see what she said. Without flinching she said yes, cream and butter. I ate the meat I could and some of the green beans, making sure not to anything that touched those creamy buttery potatoes.
Needless to say we all expected better....and if we would have left after the app's we would have still pleasant memories of St Tropez. But the entrees looked to me to be massed produced wedding style. Now the green beans were cooked correctly....nobody was impressed with the potatoes ( I wouldn't know). No apology was offered for the dairy guy.
Now I understand that duck can be tough sometimes....and sometimes the cook forgets and ingredient or two when he is busy....and no one reads the note regarding the food allergy.
Maybe we expected to much on a busy Saturday night with the chef out side socializing.
Too bad I really used to like this restaurant....before this I was also planning on trying the new one they opened in New Cannan. I think I will wait on that.
Now I can forgive the French for political differences....but I find it harder to forgive them for uninspired food.....The French have always been known for love, romance, food.....maybe the opening of MacDonald’s in Paris has had an effect!!!! Please prove me wrong.
John
Green Room, Magnolia, Delia - other good eats in Burlington, VT?
I didn't see Bearded Frog in Shelburne listed. I really enjoyed it there. Nice dining room, great bar and the food is very good.
Where Souza used to be is a Barbeque place...I don't think Barbeque when I think of Burlington!!!
Also try Taste of Burlington...located on Lake st accross from the lake. One of the better places in town.
Red Plate for sandwich's...the bread is great and it is right on Church St ( the hub of the world in Burlington).
Muddy Waters for a casual bite and cool place.....chili, humus , bagels, baked goods.
Don't forget to spend some time at Starbucks sitting outside...There is always someone perfoming in that area of Church ST, usually twirling FIRE!!!!! (beside's my daughter works there, so I have to plug it !!!!!)
Best Hotdogs in Conn.
I agree....try Dragon Dogs....There is a Lobster dog but also beef, pork and vegan. The topings and combos make the dogs (my Fav the Adam Bomb-named after the bartender at Jack's restaurant). There are also redhots and aleast a doz different topings.
Burlington picks for foodie family?
I would recommend Taste. They overlook the lake...you can sit outside under a tent...the tables inside are well spaced. On top of that the food is very good (do get the quail app)and so is the service. They have an interesting wine list (try Abbott's Table) and have an extensive list of martini's and such.
The Green room food is also good, but it has a club type of feel(loud music..dark...close tables) not the best choice with children.
Trattoria Delia is another good place..food is very good(try the shrimp and pasta cooked in parchment). They have an area in the back right with about 3 tables....would be quiet spot.
A few days in Burlington, Vt alone
The first place to try is Taste. If you are dining alone or with others you will be well cared for there. They have a very nice bar that you can eat at, there are tables in the bar with a flat screen TV. They also have a few dining rooms for a little more private setting. The food is very good as are the wines and martini's. It is located on Lake St....a little work to find at first but worth it.
Trattoria D'Elia is on St. Paul ST. Kind of a hidden door to get in, dark inside but a nice place...interesting Italian wines...try the pasta and shrimp baked in parchment paper. Tehy also have a nice bar that you can dine at if you wish.
L'Amante's is on College ST. This is another Italian restaurant, but different than "Tratt".
A little more progressive menu...nice wines and they also have a bar to eat at.
There a re many other options.
SmokeJack's a contempory style restaurant right on the corner of Church and Main.
Sotne Soup, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant...very casual beer and wine, counter service with tables, some communal.....Nice lunch place food is good.
RiRa, a Irsh pub style restaurant, that does a hell of a bar bussiness.
There are so many more.....what are your preferences?
I think the best place to start would be "Taste" on Lake St. You will not be dissapointed.
Hartford for New Years Eve
I second FENG. The food is great and the bar is cranking !!!!!
It can get a little noisy,,,but isn't that what New Years is for !!!!
New Year's Eve in or around New Haven without the hype
If you want to have some great food without going broke you might want to look into THALI on Orange st. It is a great Indian restaurant.....now wait, don't have any preconcieved notion about this place...I never was one to try any Indian restaurant!!!! THALI is a very refined restaurant. The food is composed beautifully!!! I had crab with coconut, and chat(an Indian small plate of lentiles, rice, herbs). The presentation was comparable to any fine restaurant regardless of cuisine. They have a great wine list. Check out their website....I am going back this weekend!!!!
They have 3 locations.
http://www.thali.com/
