by | Dec 17, 2020 12:50 pm | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery Photos
Seikichi Muto, owner and chef at Sonobana on Dixwell in Hamden, took a small ball of rice in a gloved hand and deftly made it just the right shape to accept a piece of raw, tender yellowtail. He did the same with with piece of salmon, and with a piece of tuna — as he has been doing for 34 years in the same location, and now during the Covid-19 pandemic.
by | Dec 16, 2020 10:52 am | Comments (0)
The monthly NHDocs series that debuted in November is already taking a turn towards adapting its offerings, this time considering not only the holiday season but the spirit of its generosity and good cheer. Moving the series to the third weekend of the month is only one part of the change. Adding in a filmed musical event and raising funds for a local beloved club are two more.
Continue reading ‘NHDocs Delivers “North Pole, NY” And “Covidtorium” To Virtual Stage’
by | Dec 15, 2020 1:57 pm | Comments (0)
Sophie Sonnenfeld Photo
Alison De Renzi and Francesco d’Amuri.
L’Orcio lights up State Street as it has for the past 18 years with customers dazzled by the Tortelli di Zucca and Pappardelle Al Ragù.
by | Dec 15, 2020 11:04 am | Comments (0)
Dan Katz
Dust Control at NG2BC, pre-pandemic.
Dust Control’s “Your Idea of Success” starts with a churning guitar, a growling bass, before the drums begin to propel everything forward, and the singer hollers out his truth. It’s the kind of music that needs and finds a home in every city, and as the title of the album — “Live” at Never Get To Be Cool — Dust Control found its home at Never Get to Be Cool, or NG2BC, a DIY music space in the Wooster Square neighborhood that gave up its lease at the beginning of December, about a week after “Live” was recorded.
Dust Control’s album thus marks the end of a run for NG2BC, of over two years, about 150 shows, and who knows how many recording projects.
by | Dec 14, 2020 10:59 am | Comments (0)
Kicker Pictures
S.G. Carlson & The Tines
Sam Carlson has made it one of his personal and professional goals to create new ways to help New Haven’s music scene survive, thrive, and proliferate. His latest endeavor involves video, a media he has used with success before. But this time he’s using it to showcase a live performance of three songs at one of New Haven’s live venues — even if that venue can’t be open for an audience to enjoy them in person.
Continue reading ‘S.G. Carlson & The Tines Debut Live On Video’
by | Dec 11, 2020 12:28 pm | Comments (3)
Brian Slattery Photos
Owners Sukra Shrestha and Arjun Khadka, chef Krishna Paudel.
Arjun Khadka, the head chef and one of the owners of Cumin India on Skiff Street in Hamden, laid out a spread of Cumin’s more popular dishes. Among them were well-known fare like chicken tikka masala and garlic naan.
But the restaurant is also a place to sample Indo-Chinese dishes, a lesser-known facet of Indian cuisine that combines the influences of India and its neighbor, China. Among the many Indo-Chinese offerings on the menu is vegetarian Manchurian — vegetable dumplings topped with a sauce that pulls its ingredients from across Asia and elsewhere, and reminds us that India, as vast as it is, is also connected inextricably with the wider world.
Continue reading ‘Today’s Special: Arjun’s Vegetarian Manchurian’
by | Dec 11, 2020 11:51 am | Comments (17)
Laura Glesby Photo
Drivers honked to protest Yale. Marchers chanted and claimed the street. A boxed-in bus driver yelled his own protest and ended up in a rush-hour stand-off. Other drivers slipped by ferrying menorahs.
The evening ended with a hushed tree-lighting to launch the official Christmas shopping season.
by | Dec 11, 2020 10:59 am | Comments (3)
Avi Szapiro at work.
On the evening of Dec. 19, my wife Suzanne and I will cook a whole fish while being advised and encouraged by an expert at such delicate culinary matters.
It’ll be an adventure, I’m sure, just as on previous Saturday evenings when challenged by this internationally trained chef to do the right gastronomic thing, we have complied — though not always without some strain and a sprinkling of four-letter commentary.
by | Dec 11, 2020 10:40 am | Comments (0)
REINALDO GOEYENECHEA/ LA VOZ HISPANA
by | Dec 10, 2020 4:32 pm | Comments (0)
As we enter the darkest of viral times we are told
Along comes the Jewish festival of Hanukkah
by | Dec 10, 2020 10:48 am | Comments (0)
Zulynette stood on a stage blank enough that it felt like a void. “This show is a spell,” she said. “If you have lived a life, you have a story to tell.”
She was introducing A Little Bit of Death — now available on Long Wharf Theater’s website through Dec. 11 — an evening of storytelling she put together that is part of Long Wharf’s new One City, Many Stages program.
In teaming up with Zulynette, the Long Wharf’s artistic leadership is making good on its promise to ground the theater further in the community around it, even as it wrestles with the restrictions imposed by the pandemic.
Continue reading ‘“A Little Bit Of Death” Captures A Lot Of Life’
by | Dec 9, 2020 1:00 pm | Comments (4)
Linwood “Woody” Lacy found his wings, and never gave up on his cooking dreams — which spawned a colorful spin on surf and turf.
by | Dec 9, 2020 10:51 am | Comments (0)
The Christmas season is a time for traditions such as tree lighting, gift giving — and punk music.
Yes, indeed — a celebration that includes punk music is one local tradition that will continue this year at The Cellar on Treadwell, as the annual Punxmas show will go on this Saturday, albeit in a much different way than previous years.
Continue reading ‘Punxmas Brings Holiday Cheer To The Cellar’
by | Dec 8, 2020 8:22 pm | Comments (3)
by | Dec 8, 2020 1:24 pm | Comments (1)
Emily Hays Photos
Te Amo Tequila co-owner Sonia Salazar.
As Georgina Iglesia’s chicken soup simmered in the kitchen of Te Amo Tequila, Iglesia herself was 2,096 miles away in Barranquilla, Colombia.
Her granddaughter Sonia Salazar was the one stirring the soup and adding onions, jalapeños, cilantro and avocado on top.
by | Dec 8, 2020 10:41 am | Comments (1)
Musician Robert Messore sat in front of the camera, surrounded by cozy blankets and colorful Christmas lights. It was already an hour into the latest installment of Live From the Blanket Fort, with Sunday turning into Monday. Eager listeners filled the chat box in his livestream as he did a sweet rendition of “Dream A Little Dream of Me,” then a straight-faced, low-register take on “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” After chatting with listeners about everything from the bridge in the Aretha Franklin song to Star Trek to television writer Joss Whedon, he unfurled a delicious version of Jerry Douglas’s and Russ Barenberg’s “Hymn of Ordinary Motion.”
As he moved it was as though, for a moment, the internet was actually quiet.
by | Dec 7, 2020 1:49 pm | Comments (0)
Laura Glesby Photo
Pataka co-founders and brothers Romy and Harry Singh.
If you ask for a Chana Kulcha, Harry Singh will give you two pockets of homemade pita, overflowing with a fruity mix of sweet chutney and warm spiced chickpeas. The pomegranate seeds on top will burst with tart flavor like the fireworks after which Singh’s restaurant, Pataka, is named.
Continue reading ‘Today’s Special: Singh Bros.’ Chana Kulcha’
by | Dec 7, 2020 10:46 am | Comments (2)
Courtney Luciana photo.
Viva Nutrition’s energy tea and Italian cookie-flavored protein shake.
Angela Vasquez mixed water and ice with protein powder, adding vanilla and lemon extract, pouring the blend into a medium size cup, layered with caramel and sprinkles. The Italian cookie-flavored shake was served up at kickoff party for her new smoothie establishment, Viva Nutrition.
by | Dec 7, 2020 10:38 am | Comments (2)
Brian Slattery Photo
Crowley.
Dried fish like graceful plant life. A chunk of gray liver that looks like a “silver ingot,” as a visitor to the exhibit put it. A photo that captures the energy and the sadness of an overcrowded pen of fish. With “Thinking Twice” — on view now through Dec. 27 at City Gallery on Upper State Street — artist Phyllis Crowley asks us to both appreciate the fascinating forms that nature creates, and examine our own relationship to it, particularly in how we eat.
Continue reading ‘Exhibit Weaves Together The Beauty And The Horror’
by | Dec 4, 2020 4:03 pm | Comments (1)
Thomas Breen photos
Archaeologists from the future have sent a backpack of clues back to present-day New Haven. They need our help solving an outdoor puzzle.
by | Dec 4, 2020 3:57 pm | Comments (2)
Brian Slattery Photos
Lara.
Aaron Lara added a final touch — a sprinkling of freshly cut scallions — to a Peruvian rice bowl, one of the most popular dishes at Bomb Wings and Rice. With its combination of marinated chicken, aji verde (a flavorful green sauce) and rice and vegetables fried fast in Bomb’s special sauce, the dish balanced tastiness and healthiness, or, as owner Jason Teal put it, “naughty and nice,” a mindset that has guided Bomb since its opening in March 2019 and through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Continue reading ‘Today’s Special: Aaron’s Peruvian Rice Bowl’
by | Dec 3, 2020 6:50 pm | Comments (4)
Pre-pandemic photo
It was a Jewish wedding — so of course this spread came from Abel’s.
The pandemic has claimed a second-generation kosher catering business that was an omnipresence at local religious celebrations.
by | Dec 3, 2020 2:59 pm | Comments (5)
Paul Bass Photo
Qulen Wright at Ninth Square’s vegan Caribbean paradise.
Qulen Wright didn’t have “chicken” or “wings” in mind when he invented his latest main course dish.
Then his customers took a taste.
by | Dec 3, 2020 1:23 pm | Comments (0)
Kevin Sanchez Walsh
by | Dec 3, 2020 10:41 am | Comments (2)
Host Babz Rawls-Ivy beamed from the offices of the Arts Council at the over 100 people gathered virtually Wednesday evening to celebrate the Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s 40th annual arts awards. She noted that it was an historic occasion — but not because pandemic restrictions had prevented the audience from gathering in person at the New Haven Lawn Club, as they have in years past.
“Forty years,” she said, “and all the awardees are Black. I love to see it.”