This week, the NCAA Tournament comes to Hartford. The XL Center will be hosting games on Thursday and Saturday, so the luminaries of college basketball will be descending on our fair city.
Now, you may have heard that Hartford is lame, and that the only places to eat are Capital Grille and a decent Italian place, and I am here to tell you that Hartford is low key a great food city. I know what you’re thinking, people who work in Bristol have all shit-talked Hartford to death, so it can’t actually be any good, right? Wrong. Let me give you the low down.
In addition to Capital Grille, Hartford is also home to the Max restaurants, including the classy af Max Downtown (across the street from the XL, get the baked Alaska) and Trumbull Kitchen (great happy hour, Asian-inspired snacks and according to our slack the greatest buffalo chicken wrap in the history of time). There’s also the Russell where you can get Caribbean food on Pratt Street. City Steam is where to head for local beer (Hello Naughty Nurse!) and bar food. There’s Italian food at Salute and semi-upscale American at Dish. And Mexican? Head on over to Agave for some tequila and guacamole. Bin228 is a great wine bar with delicious Italian small plates. And let’s not forget Porron & Pina, the restaurant and bar (respectively) at the Goodwin. Chef Tyler Anderson (yeah, the Top Chef guy!) and his team execute delicious Spanish-inspired food, and also they have a ham bar? This is real. Pina is a coffee shop during the day with amazing, unique donuts, and by night a trendy cocktail bar, all leather seats and dark wood. All of these places are within a block of the XL.
But friends, you can venture beyond the block surrounding that hulking mass of squandered State funds. Wander across Bushnell park over to Capital Ave and visit the very cool Republic at the Linden. New American food and signature cocktails, including boozy milkshakes (I had the maple bourbon milkshake last week and it was awesome) in a hip atmosphere (can you say hip? Probably not, but they have chandeliers in birdcages so they’re very cool is what I’m saying).
Just around the corner from Republic is Peppercorns, another classic Italian restaurant. See, here in Connecticut we actually have outstanding Italian food. Surprised? Don’t be. Connecticut has the second highest percentage of Italian Americans in the country, a hair behind Rhode Island, and the highest percentage of Auriemmas. If you’re looking for an old-school, white tablecloth Italian meal, visit Carbones on Franklin Avenue, and then stop in at the best Italian bakery around, Mozzicato’s, the St. Joseph’s Day zeppoles are ready and waiting.
Probably my favorite Hartford restaurant is Firebox, serving locally-sourced cuisine and supporting the Billings Forge Community Works project, which helps to combat unemployment in the city by training residents to work in restaurants. The steak frites in the tavern and the duck in the dining room are personal favorites.
And let’s not forget the bbq from our friends at Bear’s Smokehouse on Front Street, the only non-UConn place you can score Dairy Bar ice cream, aka the greatest ice cream in all the lands. Burnt ends and brisket and pulled pork, oh my! You can also get their delicious smoked meats atop pizza from the Blind Pig, and wrapped up in a taco at Chango Rosa (at Union Station).
If you’re in the mood for some seriously impressive cocktails, visit Little River Restoratives on Capital Ave in Frog Hollow. They’ve got cocktails, punches, possets, and grogs, which is just a way to say “cocktails, but cooler.” You’ll feel like you could be in any cool American city because oh wait you are.
In addition to City Steam, Hartford is also home to a few breweries. Hog River is a family-run craft brewery with a tap room on Park Street in Parkville. Bloomfield’s Thomas Hooker Brewery has an awesome taproom in Colt Park, and Hanging Hills Brewery has their tap room on Ledyard Street.
If you want to venture a little farther away from downtown, try Tisane’s in the West End. Euro-Asian food (it’s really good) and the LGBTQ-friendliest energy in the city. Also in the neighborhood is The Half Door, a nice little gastro pub with all the fancy bar foods you could want.
And I won’t leave out the much-maligned North End. You can score soul food at Hot Pots (locals may know their Fishy Tales food truck from Bushnell Park lunches) or visit one of Scott’s Jamaican Bakery’s three locations for the best damn beef patties on the mainland.
And that’s just Hartford proper! I could send you to Plainville for the greatest wings of all time at J. Timothy’s, or recommend a train ride to New Haven for a Wooster Street pilgrimage. I could tell you to visit Craig’s Kitchen for soul food in my neighborhood of Rockville, or Lucky Taco on Main Street in Manchester. But you’re already going to have too many places to visit on your short sojourn to Connecticut’s Capitol City. Hopefully, a few of you will leave here with a better idea of what it has to offer.
