by | Jul 26, 2021 9:02 am | Comments (1)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Jazz on the patio at The Orchid Cafe
Brunch is one of the most celebrated meals in this city, and the brunches that include jazz are particularly revered. This reporter decided it was time to revisit three of them: one that had recently restarted, one that was a limited-run event, and one that had been ongoing for the past year.
by | Jul 19, 2021 2:53 pm | Comments (4)
Owner Josue Santana at his new restaurant across from Stop & Shop.
Inside a new fast-food Puerto Rican restaurant on Whalley, Chef Raul Santiago combines richly seasoned pork fried rice, pinto beans, and oven-marinated pork onto a plate. He then tops the entire dish off with a large serving of sweet plantains.
“That’s it!” said Santiago, holding out a plate of Arroz con Gandules.
Continue reading ‘Today’s Special: Mambo Arroz con Gandules’
by | Jul 5, 2021 2:11 pm | Comments (3)
Emily Hays Photo
Stephen Ross and Jason V. Watts outside their soon-to-open restaurant and music spot.
Jason V. Watts and Stephen Ross are bringing food from across the African diaspora — from jollof rice to jerk chicken to collard greens — to the spot the former home of the high-end Indian restaurant Thali.
The new restaurant, Jazzy’s Soul Kitchen and Lounge, is slated to officially open at the corner of Orange and George in September.
by | Jun 27, 2021 8:05 pm | Comments (6)
Sophie Sonnenfeld Photo
Zinc owner Donna Curran with U.S. Sen. Blumenthal at the restaurant Friday.
Donna Curran, owner of Zinc Restaurant across from the Green on Chapel Street, received word in May that she was getting federal pandemic assistance — and then a month later a letter arrived basically saying, “Never mind.”
Continue reading ‘Visiting Zinc, Blumenthal Vows To Deliver Restaurant Pandemic Relief’
by | Jun 25, 2021 10:25 am | Comments (2)
Ramen noodles bathed in a clear chicken and dashi broth, topped with a gooey, soft-boiled ajitama egg, shiitake mushrooms, and torched char siu combined into a riot of flavor at Menya Gumi, a self-described “hole-in-the-wall” ramen restaurant on Orange Street.
by | Jun 25, 2021 10:18 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Chef Franco
Is the clam boil the perfect summer food?
I got to decide that for myself, as did around 20 others, on Thursday night as the International Festival of Arts and Ideas presented Summer Cooking with Chef Arturo Franco-Camacho, an interactive cooking event broadcast via Zoom and featuring the long-beloved New Haven-area restauranteur.
by | Jun 18, 2021 1:13 pm | Comments (12)
Lisa Reisman photos
Co-owners Danny and Luann Scarpellino in action.
The Tony Soprano.
In August 1981, Danny Scarpellino sold his 1974 Cutlass Supreme for $800 to buy a new stove for the first Scarpellino’s Sub Shop on 140 Park St.
Continue reading ‘Today’s Special: Danny’s The Tony Soprano’
by | Jun 14, 2021 8:56 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
My Everything Everything bagel with Greenwave kelp schmear.
Bagels, beer, and seaweed don’t sound like three things that commonly go hand in hand, but this past Friday night they melded together deliciously as part of Food of the Future with Greenwave and Olmo, a Food Experience presented by the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.
by | Jun 7, 2021 9:20 am | Comments (14)
Fair Haven bound: Actor, director and studio head Michael Jai White (above), brewer Rob Leonard (below).
New England Brewing Company, outgrowing its space in Woodbridge, is negotiating to move to Fair Haven and set up production and taproom and event facilities with a scenic view of the Quinnipiac River.
Down River Street, the up-and-coming media production company Jaigantic Studios is also in negotiations to buy city land to set up headquarters.
The potential result: a“one-two” jobs and tourism revival punch for the long-struggling River Street Municipal Development district.
Continue reading ‘Studio, Craft Brewer Plan Fair Haven Moves’
by | May 27, 2021 12:26 pm | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Siul Hughes with DJ Collin In Kind
District Arts and Education turned their bi-weekly DAE Presents livestream into a live, on-site event Wednesday night as they invited a small number of guests in and added a food truck and outdoor musical entertainment — as a prelude to their indoor performance, that would be broadcast on Facebook Live.
Continue reading ‘District Opens Livestream To Live Audience’
by | May 21, 2021 9:19 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
The art on the walls of Claire’s Corner Copia, on the corner of Chapel and College, thrums with energy, vibrant colors, and shimmering textures. But there’s a heaviness there, too.
Neither simply joyful nor simply sorrowful, the work of New Haven-based artist Shaunda Holloway uses old motifs in new ways; it reaches back in order to move forward, with strength and resolve, mindful of the sorrows of the past but hopeful for the future.
Holloway’s pieces are the latest to be exhibited as part of an artist-in-residence program at Claire’s.
As friends and fellow artists dropped by on Thursday to have a snack or dinner and offer congratulations, Holloway had a chance to revisit how her artistic practice has developed in the past decade, and in what new directions it may point.
Continue reading ‘Shaunda Holloway, Claire’s Artist In Residence, Moves In New Directions’
by | May 20, 2021 8:36 am | Comments (1)
There was a problem. On Zoom, Chef Kevin McGuire of Kawit! was expertly moving his audience from how he makes chicken adobo to how he makes tofu. The problem was that I, at home, in an attempt to keep up, had already used the tofu I was supposed to have only now started cooking.
Had I ruined the dish?
by | May 19, 2021 11:34 am | Comments (0)
Lisa Reisman photos
Xiaona Lu picks up lunch from Healthy Way’s Melissa Chang.
It was a few minutes past 11 on a recent Wednesday on Cedar Street, and Christopher Chialastri was digging into an aluminum container of spicy fried shrimp.
Continue reading ‘Today’s Special: Melissa’s Eggplant With Tofu’
by | May 13, 2021 12:11 pm | Comments (1)
Maya McFadden Photo
The Pervises’ new location at 554 Whalley Avenue.
Darryl Pervis.
Contributed Photo
Chicken wings, candied yams, and mac and cheese.
Darryl Pervis is back home on Whalley Avenue — and, starting Thursday, once again filling customers’ cravings for juicy BBQ chicken wings, sweet and sticky yams, and Mac and cheese.
by | May 7, 2021 10:19 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Willie Moore and Patrick Williams.
Thursday was a near-perfect spring day, the first Thursday in a month that was not cold or rainy or both — blessing those eager to attend Harvest Wine Bar’s Jazz Thursday on its patio.
The restaurant has revived the weekly series, presented in conjunction with Blue Plate Radio Entertainment, that was so popular this past fall.
by | May 3, 2021 9:19 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Zombii.
This past Saturday was the first of many things: the month of May, new state-level bar and dining guidelines, and a return to live music for two local bands at The Cellar on Treadwell. Local trio Zombii shared a bill with the Manchester-based Johnny Mainstream for a punk-punctuated night on the patio at the Hamden venue.
by | Apr 22, 2021 11:03 am | Comments (1)
Lisa Reisman Photo
Brazi’s head chef Jesse Melgar in the kitchen.
Over the last 28 years, Brazi’s Italian Restaurant, just down the walkway from Long Wharf Theatre, has played the role of host to such luminaries as Arthur Miller, Robert Redford, and Al Pacino, as well as Brian Dennehy and Amy Irving.
So it’s perhaps no wonder that, on a recent morning, head chef Jesse Melgar was at the industrial stove, adding a touch of Chardonnay to a skillet popping with chicken cutlets, red bliss potatoes, and cherry peppers, before theatrically tossing its contents as a flame gushed upward.
Continue reading ‘Today’s Special: Jesse’s Chicken Cutlet Scarpariello’
by | Apr 21, 2021 5:38 pm | Comments (2)
Emily Hays Photos
Alders, mayoral candidates and neighbors celebrate Ramadan together.
As the sun set, even political rivals ate dates, lentil soup and rice together at Brick Oven Pizza’s iftar.
Continue reading ‘Iftar Brings Together Politicos, Neighbors, Students’
by | Apr 9, 2021 4:49 pm | Comments (8)
Courtney Luciana photo
Bark&Vine ribbon cutting.
City officials gathered in the Ninth Square Friday to launch “New Haven Eats Outdoors 2021.”
Continue reading ‘City Boosts Outdoor Dining, Small-Biz Pandemic Recovery’
by | Apr 8, 2021 9:52 am | Comments (5)
Gary Bimonte, at right, demonstrating his pie chops for a 2016 airing of Vice Media’s Pizza Show
Gary Bimonte, co-owner of Wooster Square’s legendary Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, died Wednesday night after a heart attack, police reported.
by | Apr 6, 2021 2:03 pm | Comments (2)
The plate was set for a return to social dining.
A friend who recently moved to East Rock called last week inviting us to a dinner party.
A dinner party? Leave the house? Eat with other people? Change my sweatpants?
by | Mar 31, 2021 3:13 pm | Comments (2)
Emily Hays Photos
Robert Harris: I can’t make just a little collard greens.
It was 30 years ago when Robert Harris finally got his mother’s collard greens recipe exactly right.
Now he doesn’t even have to taste the cooked greens to know that they are ready for the customers of his Whalley Avenue restaurant, Mama Mary’s Soul Food.
by | Mar 25, 2021 9:20 am | Comments (0)
Social media spats and California wildfires. The difficulties of freelance writing careers. But most of all food — growing it, foraging for it, cooking it, eating it.
On Wednesday night, these were some of the contents of the latest episode of Co Create, a conversation series hosted by Nadine Nelson, head of Global Local Gourmet, interdisciplinary artist, and creative in residence at the New Haven Free Public Library.
by | Mar 24, 2021 3:06 pm | Comments (3)
Lisa Reisman Photos
Chef and manager Kenia Calderon at the grill.
Kenia Calderon slathered Italian bread with mayonnaise and layered on lettuce and tomatoes. She slung sliced ribeye steak, onions, and cheese onto a grill. She gently transferred the sizzling ingredients onto the sub.
Calderon then wrapped up one of New Haven’s best-kept secrets: B&M Deli’s grilled steak and cheese sub
Continue reading ‘Today’s Special: Kenia’s Steak & Cheese Sub’
by | Mar 17, 2021 5:55 pm | Comments (2)
Courtney Luciana photo
Loretta and Louis Abate.
Regardless of lines going out of the door of New Haven’s renowned “Little Italy” restaurants, many owners didn’t think they were going to make it through the pandemic.
Continue reading ‘Wooster Square Rolls With Pandemic, Ready For Spring Rejuvenation’