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One night in New Haven...


morda

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Okay, to be fair, we'll actually be in New Haven for two nights, but the other night we will dining on mediocre (probably) catered wedding food. After scouring the boards, I'm thinking Sally's Apizza on Friday night and Louis Lunch for burgers on Saturday (I know, don't ask for ketchup, but do they have fries?). Saturday night will be wedding fare. Any suggestions for revisions to this plan? Is there any place you recommend if we don't feel like pizza? And any late-night joints in case we are still hungry Saturday night? We'll be in the Yale area and would like to stick around there...

TIA, morda

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Try Antonio's on Main St in East Haven. Its right off exit 50 on 1 95 About 1 mile straight off the exit. Just over the New haven East haven line......literally if ya go past the KFC ( on that side of the street) ya went too far.

Couldnt go wrong with the other houses on Wooster either.

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If you want creative Spanish food, try Ybiza on High Street off Chapel St.

A close second favorite is Roomba, a Carribean restaurant specializing in fish with terrific cocktails and incredible desserts. While not cheap, both restaurants offer excellent value for the money and outshine many restaurants in northern California, where I'm from. Of course, you can't go wrong with pizza in New Haven, if you only want that. Louis' Lunch was only barely ok in my opinion. If you wanted pizza for dinner and Ybiza is open for lunch, then that would be a good combo.

Enjoy!!!

Roz

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I vote for Pepe's on Wooster Street for your evening meal, simply because it's...well, Pepe's.

Louis' Lunch is overrated IMHO. Nearby and in somewhat the same vein is the Yankee Doodle, near the corner of York & Elm. Try a pig or a double-double and, if you can force yourself, the grilled doughnut.

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Okay, well, since that's 2 no's for Louis Lunch, I'll scratch that off the list. Perhaps we'll do Ybiza instead. Do they do tapas, or just entrees?

I assume Antonio's is Italian? I also saw some recommendations for a place called Consigilio's

kellymonaghan, have you seen the Sally's versus Pepe's discussion? I found it when I searched the board. I may have to just flip a coin in the end (although the white clam pizza sounds to die for!)

morda

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Ybiza does both tapas/appetizers and main courses. I prefer to get 2 appetizers so there is more variety. The food is beautifully composed on the plate plus the flavors are very delicate and delicious. Don't skip dessert.

Roz

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While driving up from NYC once, we stopped at New Haven wondering if we could find an interesting restaurant for lunch and happily we found and tried Ybiza. Ybiza is a beautiful modern interior... a really pretty place with the service being very good. I can't remember exactly what I had but I do know I felt very good after and I loved the dessert of some fizzy bubbly foam of some sort. Rated by Wine Spectator as the best Spanish restaurant in North America... which could be true.

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Agree that Louis' is over-rated. The decor and method of cooking is far better than the result. Another over-rated haunt in a New England college town is Packard's Bar in Northampton. The beer is better than the burgers.

Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage in Harvard Square, Cambridge is the best I have sampled.

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Mahmoud's is a really good Middle Eastern restaurant, they make superb felafel.

I really liked Louis Lunch, btw.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

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Sally's is good, but the wait will be long. As the weather gets warmer, the line gets even longer. I managed to score reservations for 10 people there in on a Saturday night November and we still had to wait about 15-20 minutes for a table. An hour to tow hour wait is normal. You might try to show up early.

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Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage in Harvard Square, Cambridge is the best I have sampled.

I used to go to school in the Boston area and I don't remember being too impressed with Mr. Bartley's. (For some reason I always thought it was Mr and Mrs. Bartley's, but I guess not.) Then again, I only remember eating there once. I think I had a Princess Di burger (on an English muffin). They've probably taken that off the menu now... :hmmm:

morda

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Ibiza has actually been ranked Best Spanish restaurant in the nation by some magazine (can't remember which one--perhaps Esquire?). Anyway, I don't think you would be disappointed.

I personally adore Tre Scalini at the very end of Wooster Street and never have a bad meal. Here's the link. Tre Scalini

Avoid Central Steakhouse.

State Street also has a lot of new restaurants--Trevethan's, My, etc., etc.

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Sally's and Pepe's are in my opinion the two most worthwhile dining destinations in New Haven, so why not go to Sally's for dinner and Pepe's for lunch? Although Sally's is only open for dinner, Pepe's was open for Saturday lunch last time I checked. Since the strengths of the two places are so different, it will hardly be like eating pizza twice. The Pepe's clam pie is sui generis, and you should have your normal pizza combinations at Sally's.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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I really liked Louis Lunch, btw.

One "trick" I've learned with Louis Lunch is that visiting about a half hour before they close for the afternoon (on a weekday) makes things much easier for you--no crowd. In other words, if you have a big early lunch somewhere else and have later dinner reservations, it makes a nice late afternoon snack.

Prime time it's just annoyingly crowded.

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

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Does Sally's still have the photo triptych on the wall? JFK to the left, RFK & Pope John XXIII sowing the seeds of peace to the right, and Frank Sinatra in the middle?

You know the pizza's good when it can overcome a display of that magnitude of distraction.

Theabroma

Sharon Peters aka "theabroma"

The lunatics have overtaken the asylum

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I have one foot in both Louis Lunch camps: I don't think the product is "all that" but I do think it's quite good and the place is an institution one wouldn't want to miss. Given that the wedding food doesn't have the right to very much stomach real estate, you may want to consider Louis Lunch as a snack. That would be number three on my list of New Haven must-visits.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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