Connecticut Magazine recently rounded up the Best Diners in CT. Here's the list...
What makes a diner a diner? Is it stainless steel? A counter and stools? A building that’s been manufactured in a different location? Breakfast service 24 hours a day? To some devotees of the classic American diner, it is all of these things, and more. We’ve elected to be a bit more inclusive in our requirements. For us, a diner must offer typical American fare at reasonable prices in a comfortable setting, and perhaps most importantly, serve breakfast during all hours of operation. So get ready to hit the road to check out our picks for the best diners in Connecticut. Whether it’s the stellar food, the glistening metal, the glowing neon or the community feel, all have something to offer.
Of the many immigrant groups that have shaped the state of Connecticut throughout the decades and centuries, the Polish have been among the most prominent. (And not just in New Britain!) On Main Street in Ansonia, across the street from the Europol Deli (where you can take home a full Polish dinner) is Eddy’s Bake Shop, where one can find one of the state’s most popular versions of the Polish delicacy, paczki (pronounced PUNCH-key). Resembling a doughnut, the paczki is traditionally stuffed with a filling, such as a jam or custard. So beloved in Ansonia and the Naugatuck Valley is Eddy’s paczki, that every February the bakery hosts a paczki-eating contest, in which contestants have five minutes to eat as many as possible.
Get ready to bite into the restaurants judged the best of the best in Connecticut by our “experts,” who range from veteran restaurant critics and food writers to contemporary bloggers who track the trends as well as the hottest, newest places. Joined by some food-savvy Connecticut Magazine editors, it’s a group for which dining is a passion—and dining at the best places is an art that takes constantly having a collective finger on the pulse of the Connecticut dining scene. Together, our Readers’ Choice and Experts’ Picks provide a comprehensive view of the state’s tastiest places to eat well.
College students and twenty-somethings everywhere have long sung the praise of ramen (a Japanese wheat noodle dish). Grab-and-go noodle houses specializing in pho, (a Vietnamese rice noodle soup) have been popular here in Connecticut for some time. However, the love of noodle houses seems to have intensified as a by-product in recent years—along with food trucks, craft beer and facial hair—of the hipster revolution. Kawa Ni in Westport, which specializes in various ramen dishes, opened its doors last year and Mecha Noodle Bar in Fairfield recently announced plans to open a second location in South Norwalk.
The news seems to just get better and better for Connecticut beer lovers.
As of this month, growler sales are legal in Connecticut at bars and restaurants. Growlers—64-ounce or 32-ounce (half growler) jugs that are filled with draft beer—have long been a popular take home option at Connecticut breweries (when filled properly without excess air, growlers preserve the draft flavor of a beer). However, until now, in Connecticut the only place to get growler fills has been at breweries.
Though a clear boon to beer enthusiasts, the law change raises some complex questions for elite beer bars about pricing (if they charge $7 or $9 a pint for premium craft beer, how much would a growler fill cost?), quality control (an improperly filled growler does not keep beer fresh long at all) and staffing (can they afford to have an employee filling growlers on a crowded Friday or Saturday night?). As a result of these and other questions, Connecticut beer bars seem split on whether or not to proceed with growler fills.
Coalhouse Pizza in Stamford just opened a new craft beer and bourbon bar at its current space. Originally the plan was to have 72 beers on tap but when news of growler sales being legalized hit, owner Gerard Robertson upped it to 85 tap lines.
Olea's condomiz / Photo: Jen Kaufman, Connecticut Magazine
Many in the New Haven area mourned the closing of Ibiza last spring.The restaurant has been reimagined by former Ibiza chef Manual Romero who is now the owner and chef, reviving this modern Spanish tapas mecca for the city once again.
Our friends at Connecticut Magazine recently visited, giving it an excellent rating, and here's why:
When Ibiza in New Haven closed last spring, Connecticut lost a culinary treasure. Located on High Street, steps away from two famous art museums, it was itself a work of art, showcasing the best of modern Spanish cuisine in the state and on the East Coast. Busy, buzzy, frequently bustling, with a mile-long list of intriguing tapas and a devoutly loyal customer base, it vanished suddenly, as if it had never been. Rumors flew. Diners mourned. But within six months, the spirit of Ibiza rose like a phoenix in the same location but in a glamorous new guise, re-imagined and rechristened, Olea.
Whether or not April is the cruelest month as poet T.S. Eliot so famously wrote, February is definitely one of the coldest and most forbidding months in New England. Folks tend to hibernate amid winter’s wrath— but we say, “Be brave and go out to enjoy wonderful dinners at Connecticut’s fabulous restaurants.” Are we crazy? Nope. We just know how many hotspots are literally hot— make that comfortably cozy — because they offer true, luxurious fireside dining.
From Rhode Island to Oregon, and North Dakota to Texas, Jane and Michael Stern have been everywhere and they’ve tried everything. On March 26, they're even going to try letting community college students take a crack at some classic roadfood recipes, for a good cause (details below).
Their 36-year journey to find the best “roadfood” in the country has taken them to best tiny diners and local haunts, many of them easily overlooked if not pointed out. And that was the goal from the beginning; to show other travelers where the best food is, no matter how humble the location may be.
The culinary students at Gateway Community College in New Haven are going to try their hands at some classic “roadfood” recipes at the school’s next “Chefs of Our Kitchen” (C.O.O.K.) event on March 26, and Jane and Michael will be on hand to talk about their adventures and sign books.
The event begins at 6 p.m.in Gateway's Cafe Vincenzo. Tickets cost $95, with the proceeds going toward funding scholarships for Gateway students and providing professional development opportunities for the college’s faculty and staff.
