by | Sep 23, 2020 5:50 pm | Comments (2)
RABHYA MEHROTRA PHOTO
One of Wednesday’s ribbon-cuttings.
In the midst of a pandemic-spawned recession, New Haven officials Wednesday cut the ribbon on three new storefront businesses.
Continue reading ‘Ribbons Cut Amid Recession On New Storefront Eateries’
by | Sep 23, 2020 10:57 am | Comments (1)
Emily Hays Photo
Havenly Treats Head Chef Nieda Abbas packs up boxes of grape leaves.
The staff wrapped the grape leaves carefully, filled them with just the right amount of tomato sauce and rice. The finished product — an Iraqi appetizer — was then available for purchase for $4.99.
It also served as a way for refugees to train for gainful employment.
Continue reading ‘Grape Leaves, Biryani Arrive On Temple Street’
by | Sep 14, 2020 9:23 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
The William Fluker All Star Band at the Orchid Cafe
Jazz and brunch go together like chicken and waffles, like mussels and fries, like eggs and bacon. So when this reporter heard that an old favorite brunch was starting up again and a new one had arrived, I set my sights on checking out both.
Each one had a distinct flavor and sound. Each one reminded me how much I had missed the jazz brunch scene in New Haven — decimated by the Covid-19-related shutdown, but now coming back to life.
by | Sep 4, 2020 8:20 am | Comments (10)
Brian Slattery Photos
Chef Lucky and the Lucky’s Star Bus Cafe crew.
Chef Larry Lucky stood in the kitchen installed in the back of Lucky’s Star Bus Cafe, deftly cooking up a piece of blackened salmon, which he explained was a customer favorite.
The year-old, family-run business recently relocated from Fair Haven to Newhallville — bringing to the neighborhood Lucky’s decades of restaurant experience and his seasoned culinary chops.
Continue reading ‘Bus Cafe Serves Up Salmon In Newhallville’
by | Aug 25, 2020 11:36 am | Comments (8)
Allison Hadley Photo
The Wooster Square farmer’s market, now held at Conte West Hills Magnet School on Chapel Street, buzzed with masked figures, leaning in (but not too close) and pointing at gleaming piles of produce: peppers, tomatoes, leafy greens springing up with an airy confidence.
A farmer paused between transactions to spray hands and surface with disinfectant.
Lines stretched even longer for Jitter Bus’s iced coffee, with six feet the norm between each person in the queue.
Everything was familiar and different, like a filter on Instagram, yet everything had also changed.
Continue reading ‘How New Haven Keeps Eating During Covid-19’
by | Aug 24, 2020 8:35 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio photos
David Taylor Coffey.
New Haven-based singer-songwriter David Taylor Coffey was at the Cellar on Treadwell again on Saturday — not virtually, as he was in April, but on the venue’s new expanded patio, as part of the Cellar’s latest Dinner and a Show.
Continue reading ‘The Cellar Takes Dinner And Show To The Patio’
by | Aug 21, 2020 5:42 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photos
Vegan treats back on display, behind plexiglass.
Claire Criscuolo at her reopened restaurant.
Downtown New Haven feels just a little bit more like Downtown New Haven again, now that Claire’s Corner Copia — remodeled, expanded, and replete with vegan baked goods and a supportive community 45 years in the making—has reopened.
“It’s gonna take more than a pandemic to get rid of us,” said Claire Criscuolo, a faint smile visible behind her face mask.
Continue reading ‘Remodeled And Resilient, Claire’s Reopens’
by | Aug 19, 2020 12:07 pm | Comments (6)
Lotta Studio Photos
Inside the new Westville cafe, Pistachio.
The coffee was silky and smooth, with a rich, complex flavor. The foam on the top was thick and creamy, with a stripe of sweetness in it, a mystery ingredient. What made it taste like that? “You start with the best bean you can find,” said Mohamed Hafez, architect, artist, and now owner of Pistachio, the new coffee shop opening imminently at Lotta Studio in Westville. “Good milk that is fresh and coming from close by.” And maybe, he said, the sweetness came from a dash of agave.
Continue reading ‘New Coffee Shop Brings Majlis To Westville’
by | Aug 19, 2020 10:46 am | Comments (4)
Allison Hadley Photos
McGowan and Mingrone.
Provisions on State — opening on Upper State Street in September — will be New Haven’s only whole-animal butcher shop that uses regional animals; it also plans to have “everything you’d need for a simple, excellent meal,” said chef Emily Mingrone, who is busily readying the shop for its opening with business partner Shane McGowan.
Continue reading ‘New Butcher Provides For Upper State Street’
by | Jul 31, 2020 4:14 pm | Comments (12)
Alana Dina, Craig Gomes, and Evongee Smart outside Pacifico.
Laura Glesby Photos
South Bay and Pacifico tables bustling on Wednesday night.
Ray Andrewsen felt like he was in Paris. Alana Dina, the Big Apple.
In reality, they were dining on pear and walnut salad and guacamole on College Street in New Haven — not inside eateries, but right out on the sidewalk, part of a Covid 19-sparked experiment that’s breathing new life into downtown’s battered restaurant industry.
by | Jul 22, 2020 12:55 pm | Comments (1)
Ko Lyn Cheang Photo
Streeter at work at Streets Boathouse Smokehouse on Front Street.
Many more of those unique smoked lobster rolls will be rolling out in Fair Haven, and jerked chicken and spicy plantains will soon be making their debut in the Hill.
by | Jul 16, 2020 1:30 pm | Comments (8)
Ko Lyn Cheang Photo
Streeter at work at Streets Boathouse Smokehouse on Front Street.
Smoke billowed out of the barbecue pit as Steve Streeter lifted one of the lids on his massive outdoor smoker.
by | Jul 14, 2020 10:06 am | Comments (1)
Standing in the corner of the back room at Next Door on Saturday evening, Seth Adam rearranged his mask without dropping a beat. The rhythm he had looped stayed steady behind him, and he turned the pause into something musically dramatic, then kept going, singing, and into a lithe solo.
“That was tough with a mask on,” he said at the end, when the audience gave him its applause. He mused on the possibility of having a mask that would somehow make it easier to perform music while wearing one. “Someone’s going to design one — you know it.”
by | Jul 3, 2020 10:19 am | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photos
Beer Collective co-owners Sklar and Davis.
A Court Street craft beer bar has shut off its taps and closed its doors for good — becoming downtown’s latest small-business casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic.
by | Jun 26, 2020 11:02 am | Comments (1)
Laura Glesby Photo
Alejandro and Andres Cordido at their newly opened eatery.
Alejandro and Andres Cordido dreamed for years of starting a restaurant of their own devoted to the Venezuelan recipes they grew up with. They never imagined that opening week would comes amidst a pandemic.
They never pictured tables spread six feet apart. Floor stickers spaced out to help customers keep their distance. Plexiglass barriers between employees behind the counter and the customers they feed. Surfaces sanitized extra frequently. Customers’ smiles undetectable behind their protective masks.
by | Jun 25, 2020 2:26 pm | Comments (1)
Ko Lyn Cheang photo
Recaffeinating, on East Street.
Six days after the state of Connecticut commenced Phase 2 of reopening the economy during the pandemic, allowing coffee shops and restaurants to resume indoor dining at 50 percent capacity, Michael Sakelarakis had just finished taking the final exam for his pediatric advanced life support certificate. He decided to head to The Coffee Pedaler, his favorite neighborhood coffee shop.
by | Jun 22, 2020 1:15 pm | Comments (22)
Paul Bass Photo
“You’re the problem!” “I’m the solution!”: Marshal Criscuolo spars with co-owner Monsanto outside Fitch 50 at Monday’s paper-serving.
Prompting accusations of racism from the owner, the city closed down the popular 50 Fitch restaurant and bar and revoked its license after an event that drew an estimated 1,000 people to its parking lot amid restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus.
Carlton Staggers (center) at Monday evening support gathering: “We’re standing by” Monsanto.
by | Jun 8, 2020 10:35 am | Comments (2)
Sumiya Khan and Chef Nour.
We were supposed to have a food processor and did not. But thanks to the right ingredients provided by Sanctuary Kitchen, and expert guidance from Chef Nour, we were able to create flavors from the city of Homs, Syria right in our own kitchen.
by | May 27, 2020 3:02 pm | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen photo
Lamont, Elicker polish off mozzarella, tomato, and basil.
Gov. Ned Lamont and Mayor Justin Elicker took advantage of the state’s recent resumption of outdoor, sit-down dining to partake in a time-honored tradition among state Democratic politicos: a power meal at Portofino’s.
by | May 21, 2020 11:45 am | Comments (5)
Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Eammon Ryan, second from left, with crew on opening day.
Eamonn Ryan was ready to start serving customers at The Playwright Irish Pub the moment the governor gave the green light — and five cooped-up Southern Connecticut State University students were ready to order.
by | May 20, 2020 7:01 pm | Comments (15)
Emily Hays Photo
Enjoying a lunchtime beer and waiting for steak tips to arrive, Al Casagrande (pictured) felt safe sitting outside Temple Grill on the first day of Connecticut’s “phase one” reopening — safer than he feels on his construction job.
by | May 15, 2020 3:24 pm | Comments (9)
Paul Bass Photo
Master chef Arturo Camacho onsite.
Chef Arturo Camacho is about to do what you would expect Arturo Camacho to do: open a new restaurant amid a pandemic.
by | May 11, 2020 9:43 am | Comments (6)
Emily Hays Photo
Havenly Treats’ Passoni and Nieda outside Sweet Mary’s, where they plan to start serving free food this week.
When Caterina Passoni and Nieda Abbas heard that downtown bakery Sweet Mary’s was temporarily suspending business during the Covid-19 pandemic, they saw an opportunity to support two bakeries at once.
by | May 1, 2020 3:05 pm | Comments (4)
Maya McFadden Photo
Steady stream of customers at Sandra’s Next Generation.
Miguel and Sandra Pittman have figured out how to keep their popular soul food restaurant hopping during the pandemic — and picked up some ideas for how others, too, can adapt when the state gradually reopens.
by | Apr 20, 2020 10:21 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Eric Vikmanis delivers.
Pete Mould, co-owner of The Cellar on Treadwell in Hamden, was seeing the crowds at his bar and concert venue grow steadily — until the Covid-19 outbreak.
Since the government-mandated closings and alterations of businesses in Connecticut, Mould and his partners Shari and Eric Vikmanis have found a way to keep their patrons coming back for more, albeit at a distance, with The Cellar Presents: Dinner and a Show. This Friday night event pairs curbside pickup of the best of the club’s bar food and drink with live streamed shows on Facebook by bands that have performed or were to have performed at the venue.
Continue reading ‘The Cellar Does Distance Dinner And A Show’