rbailin

At the other end of your search, in the south end of Hartford, is Costa del Sol, a wonderful traditional Spanish restaurant on 901 Wethersfield Ave, about 1 mile from the Airport Rd exit of I-91 (Exit 27, left on Brainard Rd., left on Airport Rd., go 1/2 mile then left on Wethersfield Ave., 1/2 mile on right). http://www.costadelsolrestaurant.net

Also in Hamden, also very good, is Mickey's Restaurant at the corner of Dixwell and Whitney Avenues, diagonally opposite the old Hamden Town Hall. http://www.mickeysgroup.com Italian/Mediterranean themed cuisine (the chef/owner is Israeli) with novel twists and always the freshest ingredients. And, quite frankly, at a more affordable price point than Luce. Also exit 10 off of I-91, but take the first Exit 1 to Dixwell Ave, and follow it about 1 mile back to the center of Hamden.

Excuse me, but to paraphrase my restaurant critic friend who has addressed this very same issue: "If you have to break your chopsticks apart, then they *are* cheap/low quality!" And rubbing the cheap bamboo surfaces together burnishes them and does make the surfaces somewhat smoother by removing the chaff and splinters. A few seconds is all it takes; you don't have to go overboard with the process. Bob

In French, it would be: à côté

Just a quick note that the Dressing room is closed for about one week (starting Feb 7) due to a burst overhead sprinkler pipe flooding one of the dining rooms. There was only relatively minor damage, but things need to be mopped up.

From today's NY Times: New York City Plans Sharp Limits on Restaurants’ Use of Trans Fats In my opinion, a more insidious law proposal than the foie gras ban in Chicago. What's next? A limit on grams of saturated fat per serving? Or even serving sizes themselves? Bob

If you're willing to pay the steep price, Joseph's Steakhouse in Bridgeport has both strip steaks and porterhouse steaks for purchase to go. If you go, ask for a look in their walk-in cooler where the meat is dry-aged. Joseph's Steakhouse - Food Products Bob

The obvious restaurant choice would be Carpenter and Main, at the corner of Carpenter & Main Sts. in Norwich center. If you have time, get over to Woodstock (about 15 miles west on US 4 from WRJ) and explore the Billings Farm & Museum, and all the shops (esp. the large general store) and restaurants there. This time of year you'll avoid the leaf peepers and the ski crowd. Bob

You shouldn't have any regrets. The featured articles (and the magazine as a whole) are greatly enhanced by the graphics and layout, which provides an overall "feel" that's missing from the online version. In particular, there's a great sidebar in the NYC metro piece that reproduces the Grand Central Oyster Bar ad, showing their positive spin on the negative Grimes review mentioned in the article. Bob

The complete NYC metro list, along with the new July SF Bay area list, can be found at: http://www.slammedmagazine.com/inthisissue...inthisissue.htm ...along with the full-length accompanying (virus-free!) articles for each metro area. Bob