Wooster Street, New Haven, CT

The wife’s aunt came up to visit from Florida this past week.  She grew up here until she was a teenager and moved south.  Every time she comes up here she has one thing on her mind: New Haven Pizza.  The amount of pizza I ate this past week is some kind of record I’m sure.  Anyone that knows me knows I can’t refuse pizza.  Especially good pizza.

Her last night here we were sitting around the house completely stuffed from the crepes she had made for breakfast when she had an epiphany.  “I’m leaving tomorrow!  Let’s go to Wooster Street!”  So I loosened up my belt and hopped in the car.  A short time later we were staring at the neon white, green, and red sign that marks the beginning of Little Italy in New Haven, CT.  

Our first stop was not the normal Pepe’s or Sally’s.  We were pizza’d out.  We had graduated to calzones, stuffed breads, and pastries.  First stop – Abate’s.  We strutted into the obscure side door of the building and ordered up a spinach and meatball calzone.  It of course came with mozzarella and ricotta.  And 2 sides of sauce.  After ordering the calzone (and being told it would take 20 minutes) we headed next door to Anastasio’s. There we ordered stuffed bread with broccoli and sausage.  We were also offered a bite sized sample of their broccoli pastry rollups, an appetizer on their dining room menu.  It only took a couple of minutes to make and was delicious.  Our last food stop was Libby’s, well known for their Italian ice and pastries.  I was outside moving the car so the wife and aunt went in.  They emerged with two café mochas and a box full of assorted cannolis.  Once all the food and people were packed into the car we raced back home to eat.

This calzone was amazing.  It was, for the most part, a very large pizza sans sauce folded in half like a giant overstuffed baked Italian style empanada.  When we cut into it the spinach was very nicely layered with sliced meatballs, salty cheeses, and a touch of garlic and herbs.  Doused with some marinara sauce it was a complete meal in one dish.  Meat, vegetable, dairy, and breads.  I ate way too much of it (of course) and even helped myself to seconds.  

Anastasio’s makes their stuffed breads to order and you don’t have to order it a day ahead.  When we received it the loaf was hot a fresh right out of the oven.  Upon slicing the bread the innards of broccoli, sausage and cheese were revealed.  I’m not a huge fan of sweet sausage (usually too much fennel for me), but this sausage was not overpowering like most you get in the area.  It was very lean as apparent by the lack of grease dripping out of the bread.  Slight hints of garlic, salt, pepper and a mixture of other seasonings released from the bread filling as I bit into it.  The filling was moist and the bread was crispy on the outside and still doughy on the inside.  

Having gorged myself on the savory, I rested for a few minutes before attacking the sweets.  We had cannolis of every kind.  Regular ricotta filled, coconut, peanut butter, chocolate, and I think one was chocolate mousse.  I knew I would not be able to eat them all, so I sampled a few.  They were all out of this world.  The coconut was the first I tasted with its chocolate dipped shell and shredded coconut mixed into the creamy filling adding texture to the normally smooth inside.  Then I tried the chocolate mousse, and it was just as it sounds.  A cannoli shell filled with decadent chocolate mousse rather than the traditional filling.  Finally, I had to have a bite of the peanut butter.  The filling was smooth and creamy and slightly denser than the plain filling.  You could see that peanut butter had been marbled in but not completely mixed with the ricotta.  The chocolate topped shell with peanut chips put this one over the top.  Although I was completely stuffed, I felt as if I could have devoured the entire box of cannolis.  I would have been sick afterwards, but I’m pretty sure I could have done it.

So, next time your in New Haven be sure to visit Wooster Street.  If you’ve already had the pizza, go for something a little different.  But always finish off with pastries from Libby’s.

Mango's in Branford, CT

Mangos in Branford, CT is a Key West style restaurant.  It is nestled in a little courtyard just off Main Street in the center of town.  My wife and mother took me there for my birthday.  The wife and I love Key West and have been there several times.  I was really excited to be swept away back to the island by the food at this establishment.  Unfortunately, I was disappointed. 

The meal started with drinks (of course).  Sam Adams Octoberfest was sounding good to me.  I read the menu over and over, trying to decide what I wanted.  So many thinks sounds amazing.  I finally settled on the Mangos Burger.  I know it sounds boring, but check this out. 
 

There was the burger (obviously) topped with fresh avocado slices, cheddar cheese, fried onions strings, and jalapeno barbeque sauce.  Before I even got to taste my food, disaster strikes!  We all got our meals; I cut my burger in half for the picture and all I see is red.  As in, UNDERCOOKED meat.  The wife’s was undercooked as well.  Everyone else got chicken or vegetarian meals.  So I ask the waitress if they can cook me another burger because this one was too rare.  She fully agreed with me and took it back to the kitchen.  (Side note: This restaurant has a small open kitchen and I was within earshot of the chef.)  I hear the chef yell something about the Mango burger and a few minutes later I have my dinner in front of me.  I was amazed at how little time it took to fire up another burger.  So, again I cut my dinner in half for the picture and I’m amazed to see my burger is already cut in half.  They scraped the topping off my burger, threw it back on the grill, then put fresh toppings on and a new roll and sent it back out to me. 
 

Now, if I was truly a professional, I would not have stood for this.  I would have complained to the waitress, demanded to speak with the chef and/or the manager, and I would not have eaten that dish OR paid for it.  However, I was with my family, it was my birthday, and they were already eating.  Instead of making a scene I choked down my now overcooked twice grilled burger with “fresh” toppings.  At least they didn’t spit in it…I hope. 

The avocado was indeed fresh as I could tell from the bright green/yellow color and its creamy texture.  The flavor was totally lost under the sharp flavor of the barbeque sauce.  The sauce was tangy but did not have any hint of jalapeno and actually tasted like it was off the shelf; not made in house.  The onions were very thinly sliced onion rings which added a nice texture to the meal.  And the cheese was just plain old orange cheddar.  My side was fries which were fresh looking (skins still on) and tasted like they were twice fried.  First they were par fried, then fried again to crisp them up when someone ordered them.  

I have eaten at this restaurant before and I had enjoyed it.  I’m not sure if they changed chefs or just stopped caring about the food they serve.  Either way, I will not be rushing back to Mangos anytime soon.

Eli's on the Hill

Eli’s on the Hill is a new restaurant in Branford, CT and is the sister restaurant of Eli’s on Whitney in Hamden.  When I first walked in my attention was drawn to the bar area.  The bar was large and surrounded by bistro tables and stools.  There were more LCD televisions than I could count both on the inside and outside of the soffit above the bar.  At first I thought this was going to be another typical sports bar wanna-be.  Once we were seated I glanced at the menu.  The choices were astounding.  The appetizers seemed to be your typical pub variety, but the dinner choices ranged from burgers to gourmet pasta dishes and more.  

We started with the loaded nachos.  A heaping pile of tortilla chips topped with cheese, tomatoes, beef chili, scallions and jalapenos.  The cheese was thoroughly melted and the chips were crispy and not too salty.  The chili seemed to be made in house, but I’m sure the chips were not.  I do have to mention that this appetizer took a long time to come out.  However, the restaurant it new and I will chalk that up to the staff still getting used their new digs.  My pint glass was kept full which in turn kept me a bit happier.

My main course was the Chicken Eli, listed on the menu as chicken breasts marinated in a light white wine sauce accompanied by cherry peppers, sweet bell peppers and potato hearts.  When it arrived, I was amazed at the size of the portion.  I ended up getting three meals out of it.  There were four large pieces of chicken breast swimming in the mix of peppers and white wine sauce.  The potato hearts were russet potatoes shaved down a smaller size and sliced in half.  The entire dish was overcooked but the flavor was all there.  The potatoes fell apart, the peppers were soggy with absolutely no crunch and the chick was a bit dry.  On the other hand the sauce was nicely assembled with just the right amount of hot cherry peppers and sweet bell peppers.  I enjoyed the kick that the cherry peppers added throughout the entire dish.  Then there was the garlic.  I’m Italian and I love garlic.  With the amount of garlic that was in this dish it should have been listed in as one of the main ingredients.  Large half cloves of garlic appeared on almost ever fork full I ate.  After the first few enjoyable bites, the garlic started to overpower the flavor of the pepper wine sauce and the dish quickly turned to garlic chicken in a white wine sauce.

The menu options all sounded good and there are several other dishes that I would like to try.  Most likely I will return to Eli’s on the Hill and try a different menu option.  Hopefully by then the cooks are used to the new menu, the wait staff is a bit more trained, and they run out of garlic.