This little nomad came all the way Home for the Holidays. And while home for me is New York, one of my best friends and travel buddies lives in Connecticut, so I spent some time visiting with him and some of our old favorite food haunts as well as trying a few new ones!
We spent the majority of the time in Southern Connecticut (see What I Ate In…Stamford, CT & What I ate in… Fairfield County, CT), but occasionally we head to the Connecticut/Massachussetts border. Every time we do, we make sure to hit his favorite spots (yeah, yeah, OK, so technically a couple of these are in Southern Massachusetts which is not CT, but it’s close).
We usually go for a long trail run in the morning to get a good calorie deficit going so we can follow the following regime:
- Fried Mozzarella from Roma Restaurant in Southwick, MA
- Ice Cream from The Summer House in Southwick, MA
- Dinner at Salute in Hartford
Fried Mozzarella from Roma Restaurant
What’s better than fried mozzarella sticks? A fried mozzarella slab. Roma Restaurant makes a mean pizza too, but we try to keep it “light” by splitting this and having their house salads to keep room for dessert from The Summer House and dinner at Salute.
Ice Cream from The Summer House
Right across the street from Roma, make sure to leave some room for some ice cream from The Summer House. Although, to be fair – they have great American diner food of their own – think burgers, hot dogs, curly fries, etc. But I’m always lured in to the call of fried, melty cheese and just have room for a little post-lunch dessert.
Dinner at Salute
Salute is a positively lovely little Italian place in Stamford. My friend always goes with the Caesar Salad and the Pomodoro Pasta. I love their Butternut Squash Salad and for my main, I usually vacillate between the Penne a la Vodka and the Spasta Pesto (julienned vegetables served over spaghetti squash with pesto & tomato sauce). Oh wait, I haven’t even mentioned the garlic cheese bread. Oooooh, the garlic cheese bread.
Salute also features an incredible dessert menu which is NOT to be missed. They usually have a few seasonal specials which are worth checking out (such as a special flavored creme brulee or the apple tart pictured above), but the chocolate molten Lava Cake is always worth checking out. (Insider Tip: order it with the Graham Central gelato for a real treat.)
Planning a visit to Northern Connecticut? Give one of these places a try and let me know what you think!