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Allison Hadley |
Apr 17, 2020 11:43 am
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A cocktail kit from Sherkaan.
As social distancing wears on, walls become conversational, watching movies featuring crowds becomes fraught, and masks are a necessary fashion accessory, life still finds a way. No coffeeshops open? Enter FaceTime coffee dates. No restaurants open to gather with friends? Zoom dinners!
But what of the deliciously crafted cocktail from a mixologist, presented just-so in a coupe glass with an artful garnish? How do we fill the void that happy hour left?
With chairs stacked on tables after Gov. Ned Lamont ordered all dine-in restaurant service closed on March 16, most Hamden restaurateurs have managed to stay afloat for now with deliveries and takeout. But they’re scraping the bottom of the pan, they said, and some may soon be baking their last batches and flipping their last pies.
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Thomas Breen |
Mar 13, 2020 8:29 am
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Free bowls of ramen at Menya-Gumi.
Customers line up outside of the new Orange Street restaurant.
Three hundred free bowls of ramen at a new Japanese restaurant on Orange Street trumped local lunch-goers’ concerns about going out to eat during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, as local restaurateurs scrambled to prepare for tough months ahead as people hunker down at home and public events are canceled.
It happened about nine years ago — - three months after Dominick Splendorio opened his dream eatery, Zafra, a Cuban-themed restaurant and rum bar on Orange Street just above Elm.
The place was packed, having already developed a word-of-mouth following. A warm, gracious feeling spread among the guests, between the servers and the customers.
Amid the hectic serving of mojitos and ropa vieja, Splendorio’s then bartender tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Stop. Look up. See what you’ve created?”
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Maya McFadden |
Feb 28, 2020 1:27 pm
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Members of the audience taste Terry’s recipe.
While cooking up a savory carrot soup, nationally known “vegan eco-chef” and cookbook author Bryant Terry diced up a history lesson on the flavors and ingredients of African American food for Black History Month.
Alisa Bowens-Mercado (above) at launch of her new beer (below).
Tashawna Peete does not usually drink beer. But as she sat with her wife-to-be, Kim Jenkins, at Te Amo Tequila Bar & Tacos on Temple Street on Saturday, she decided the brand new Rhythm Blue might be her go-to lager.
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Allison Hadley |
Feb 14, 2020 8:37 am
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PARK on Crown should be a familiar sign to any passersby on Crown Street for the last decade. The sign, that is. Whether they know it’s now also the sign for a new bar is another thing entirely.
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Allan Appel |
Jan 30, 2020 5:47 pm
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The Lacys, Cathy Graves, Mayor Elicker, and Alder Richard Furlow.
Forty different glazes for chicken wings — ranging from mango habanero to garlic parmesan — are just not enough for fledgling and creative restauranteurs Lachelle and Linwood Lacy.
They have a still-secret 41st sauce coming, combining the best of the previous 40. It is still in the research stage, meaning only family members get to try it.
Glazes and wings galore will also be ready for upcoming Super Bowl weekend.
Quinoa, brown rice, roasted brussels sprouts, and veggie meatballs were on Mayor Justin Elicker’s agenda Tuesday afternoon, along with a main course of promoting small business in New Haven.
Nebyat Shewaye taps kombucha at his new “farm-to-counter” eatery.
Two secret recipes produced this aromatic pan of “fir-fir” beckoning to visitors inside the bright confines of downtown’s new “farm-to-counter” restaurant.
Poreyah Benton at work in the mobile Vegan Ahava kitchen.
Plant-based cooking in the Elm City.
It was Thursday, so the orders were coming in for the meatless, dairy-free “Philly Cheesesteak” inside New Haven’s newest — and first vegan — food truck.
Oxtail to go, with rice, beans, vegetables, and plantains
City’s Cathy Graves with Stone at opening.
Oxtail, curry goat already drawing loyal customers to Andrea Stone’s lifelong dream business. A spicy secret was revealed at the formal ribbon-cutting.
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Allan Appel |
Nov 22, 2019 1:11 pm
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The Lacys with Gerry Garcia and wings.
Aspiring local restaurateurs Lachelle and Linwood Lacy had a productive Thursday: They graduated from the city’s small business academy, and they got word that the lease for their first restaurant, planned for Whalley Avenue near Ramsdell Street, had been signed.
Result: Opening day for the new business, dubbed Woody’s Wings, is coming, and Linwood cried with joy.
A decade-long study from the National Institute for Redundant Information has found there are three ways to celebrate a birthday in America:
“1. Have a party.
“2. Pass the occasion quietly because you are not inclined to advertise that you are a year older.
“3. Be surprised by your devoted spouse and asked to pack an overnight bag and go off into downtown New Haven for a day and night and morning of revelry.”
This last was the position in which I found myself in November 2018, when I officially turned too old to welcome spontaneity.
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Thomas Breen |
Oct 31, 2019 8:09 am
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Sandra’s at its current location on Congress Avenue.
Zoning commissioners Wednesday night signed off on the planned expansion in the Hill of a popular soul food restaurant. They granted parking relief for a planned 44-unit apartment complex in Dwight. And they approved a new resident-run cafe in a planned affordable housing complex in West River.
No one could resist the floral and botanical metaphors Wednesday afternoon as 50 celebrants marked the opening of a new Dixwell eatery that combines fresh pizza (even for breakfast) with job-training and community-development efforts.
