Sweet Harmony Café [CT]

Lunch here today, had planned to eat outside but too hot. Sat inside next to a father [take care of the kids day] with two young boys. Not too tranquil a meal!

Sandwiches were fine and both had the Pork Tenderloin [oops out of pork so substitute chicken] with gorgonzola on a croissant and tropical chutney if you ask [$8.95]. Worked out well as the chicken was tender and flavorful. One sandwich with very good potato salad and my house salad with Vidalia Onion dressing was great.

Dessert was a shared Cream Puff filled with chocolate mousse and slathered in chocolate truffle sauce [$4.95]

bloginfo: another Groupon
blognote: The service has improved immensely; see earlier review.

May 23, 2011
Lunch today [with a $10 Groupon Coupon] at Sweet Harmony Café in Middletown. Very nice menu in a very kitschy dining room setup. We ate at a round table sitting in overstuffed armchairs. It does have a theme which you can't miss.

Breads and pastries all prepared onsite. The sandwiches were very good: Pork Tenderloin with gorgonzola and chutney and my Italian Coldcut and cheese on a roll. The choices for sides were salad or red potato salad [the cheese tortellini was out]. Good sized portions for an $8.95 sandwich/salad combo. Desserts were the specialty. I had the Chocolate Peanut Butter concoction which was way too sweet for me. The Eclair filled with vanilla mousse was sinful. It was declared 'not as flaky as before'. Desserts $5.95 each.

Service on the other hand was very spotty. The person in charge needs to train the staff. One waiter was very efficient while the other was way out of his league. He wanted to put the dessert dishes on top of the dirty sandwich dishes. I told him no, please bus the table first. It was like he was never told to do that. With a little finesse this could be a real starter. Will return and give it another chance.

"rememberable' tastes...

a terrific blend of capicola, pepperoni, salami and provolone...

New England Emporium [CT]

Had a nice lunch today here at the New England Emporium with another groupon, another meal, another bargain, another deal. One Curry Craze [$7.95] Curried chicken salad with mango chutney & dried cranberries, lettuce & tomato in a garlic herb wrap and my Emporium Cutlet [$7.95] Chicken cutlet, provolone, lettuce, tomato, roasted peppers, basil mayo on a hard roll. Both came with a bag of chips and were delicious; one homemade lemonade and a coffee. Neither of us had to pay anything [coupon: $5 for $10 of food].

January 28, 2010

Is there any room for another restaurant on Main Street in Middletown? Well, this one is a keeper! Ate late lunch here today at the New England Emporium Eatery and Marketplace @Main Street Market.

Ordered one of the three daily sandwich specials and lucked out. One special was already gone and mine was erased from the board just after getting it. It was about 2:45 though. Order at the counter but don't get into line right away until you have read the exhaustive menu offerings. Wow what a choice: sandwiches, crepes, salads, soups, sweets and so on.

I had the Grilled Baked Ham, Gouda and mustard on cranberry bread. This came with a bag of chips. Also had a bottle of Mango Moonshine from a Vermont bottlery [that's a word, right?]. Was using a Groupon [$10 worth of food for $5] so added a cup of Vanilla Gelato to get it over $10. Had to take the gelato home as the sandwich was huge and rich.

bloginfo: NEEmporium is where ION had its market right in the front of the building. Check out their website here.

blognote: nice people, clean, orderly, civilized and free wifi

'rememberable' tastes...

just plain fresh chicken on the grill

Lenny and Joe's Fish Tale

Dinner tonight at Lenny and Joe's in Madison. What a night, what a crowd! Lined up with all the others and put our orders in. One Soft Shell Crab, one Lobster Salad and my Scallop Dinner [$15.50]. It came with good crinkle fries and excellent coleslaw. Had an unsweetened iced tea [$1.99]. A real nice meal with good friends on a beautiful summer evening; what could be better than that.

blognote: I really prefer this location to the other which is all table service. The picnic tables and the carousel make it a real fun family stop.

Michael Jordan's Steakhouse

Anniversary dinner [not mine] last night at Michael Jordan's Steakhouse at Mohegan Sun Casino. Good meal but someone needs to rewrite the menu. Thanks to our server, Robert, we were able to make some good choices.

The three of us had an excellent table which was in a semi-private setting with a window on the 'gambler's walking by' world. Lighting was nice, service was good but the music sort of sucked. We got around the music with a nightful of great conversation.

Garlic Bread

Started with Garlic Bread [$9] but this was not just garlic bread. It was a logjam pile of garlicky toasted  ciabatta sitting in a pool of melted Maytag blue cheese and topped with more crumbles of cheese. The server called it a fondue which it really was not. Anyway it was delicious and dipping the bread into the cheese was a wonderful experience but eating it was even better. Another app was the Crab Cake [$19] and this was not a crab cake either. This was a huge disc of lump crab sitting in a pool of spicy remoulade with microgreens atop. This too was fantastic; mislabeled but delicious.

Crab Cake

Two Roasted Beet Salads [$9] were as advertised beet salads. They were very nicely put together and tasty with cubed dark red beets on the bottom topped with a pink beet 'sandwich' of goat cheese along with assorted greens, smoked almonds and a truffle-honey vinaigrette.

Roasted Beet Salad

We all ordered steaks [it is a steak house!] and performed the 'cirque du soleil' flying steak trick. Two orders of Delmonico Steak [$39 each], one medium and one medium well. These had a balsamic-ginger jus.  I ordered the 12 oz New York Strip [$39] medium rare. This had the MJ Rub and a Worcestershire glaze. The server recited their version of cooking degrees so as to assure the correct redness of the meat. My NY Strip was okay; perfectly cut and an excellent grade of beef, just didn't excite me. One of the diners of the Delmonico steak was not enthused by the saucing SO unbeknownst to anyone else the two steaks flew across the table and landed on opposite plates. Both diners were now very happy. Mine would have been even better medium rare but the medium was fine. The glass of Macmurray Pinot Noir [$13] certainly helped the meal along.

New York Strip

We ordered two side dishes: Lobster Mashed Potatoes [$12] and Mushrooms and Onions [$10]. The potatoes were a little dry with a lot of lobster meat and taste. The mushrooms and onions were mushrooms and onions!

Brownie Cheesecake

For dessert [yes, we had room (not!)] the special of the evening was a Brownie Cheesecake [$8] and who could resist that, not me! It was creamy with big chunks of brownie in the center and absolutely delicious. Two Cappuccinos [$5 each] ended the meal.

blognote: If I return to this steak house I will order the steaks bare naked.

CVOC Farmers' Market

Three Sisters Farm

Visited the Three Sisters Farm today at the Farmers' Market. Nice selection of CT Grown Honey and other All Natural Products. The mosquito repellent looks awesome; will probably lament the fact that I didn't buy some next time I am attacked. A warm welcome to Berruti's Farmstand from Glastonbury. Their produce looked great.

June 29, 2011

free samples!

Berruti's Farm

Finally my pictures of Yummy Hummy came out. They will be at the market on the first and second weeks of the month. Catch them!!!






June 8, 2011

Yummy Hummy

Went back for my second visit to the CVOC Farmers' Market today. A few more stalls were spread out on the hill. I got my organic eggs from Killam and Bassette Farmstead. They look super and can't wait to get that breakfast going. Visited Yummy Hummy and tasted the Pico de Gallo; it was delicious. I heard also that the Red Pepper Hummus was a great spread. Dondero Orchards had some good looking bread but I still have some of the Four Cheese Bread from last week [and it does make very good toast!].

Dondero Orchards

Killam&Bassette Farmstead

June 1, 2011

The Covenant Village of Cromwell's Farmers' Market started yesterday. It will be held every Wednesday from 3:00 to 6:00 until October 26th. I bought Four Cheese bread from Dondero Orchards LLC and Guacamole from Yummy Hummy. The bread is good but will be better toasted. The guacamole was great with quite a cilantro kick.

bloginfo: The market is held on the hill between CVOC and The Children's Home. It is well marked and there is a lot of parking.

blognote: Aside from prepared food, there were vegetables, plants, herbs, jewelry and info booths.

Piolin Jr Restaurant [CT]

On a rainy afternoon after a French movie we ended up at the Peruvian restaurant, Piolyn Jr. This might have something to do with the fact that I had a GrouponCoupon [$10 for $20 in food] and a coupon from the Hartford Courant for a free order of Yuca Frita [$4 value].

Ceviche Mixto

Aside from the roasted corn, bread and super dip there were two entrées: Chaufa de Mariscos [fried rice with seafood] [$11.99 for an enormous portion] and my Ceviche Mixto [lemon juice marinated seafood].

Everything was fresh and delicious and the service was great.

bloginfo: Located at 380 Main Street in East Hartford
blognote: Pyolin Jr. is the brother of Piolin in Hartford. Have eaten there also.