City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1157 Chapel St.
City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Address: 116 Crown St.
City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Address: 964 Chapel Street
City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Address: 76 Orange St.
5. Kudeta
City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (203) 562-8844
Address: 27 Temple St.
Description: Pronounced coup d’etat (if that helps), this restaurant below the Temple Street garage across from the Criterion Cinemas is high-quality Asian fusion in an unusual location. Inside you’ll find a dark, neon-lit atmosphere that immediately relaxes and chills you out after a long day at work or in the car. The hot and sour seafood soup in amazing, and the tamarind shrimp is so good you’ll never want to order anything else. However, what many people do here is order a large number of small plates for the table, an Asian tapas, if you will, and have small bites of just about everything. Kudeta has takeout, too, unusual for a restaurant of this caliber, and it is reasonably priced. The crab rangoons you’ll get are a few (okay, many) steps above the ones at the local Chinese takeout.
City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Address: 68 Howe St.
City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Address: 166 York St.
City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Address: 93 Whitney Ave.
9. Union League Cafe
City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (203) 562-4299
Address: 1032 Chapel St.
Description: Located in an 1860 brownstone building home to, yes, the Union League, this romantic French restaurant has a rich wood interior and fireplace. They serve “country French” cuisine, which means all the favorites from confit de canard to escargot. However, the Union League has recently changed hands and chefs, and everyone agrees it is more casual and with even better-tasting food these days. They now feature polished brasserie cooking that follows the seasons, like wild mushroom ravioli and seared New England cod. There’s a smaller and less expensive club menu during the week. This was once the site of the home of Roger Sherman, the only man to sign all three founding documents of the US.
10. Ashley’S Ice Cream
City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (203) 776-7744
Address: 280 York St.
Description: Founded in 1979 and named for an amazing Frisbee-catching whippet named Ashley, this ice-cream shop in New Haven never uses artificial colors or flavors, whipping cream fresh in the store every day. Countless Yale students, celebrities, and visiting presidents have come to Ashley’s to eat. Flavors vary from traditional, such as espresso bean and strawberry, to interesting creations like Nutella chip, and red, white, and blueberry. Try the Grape-Nuts ice cream, with a sweet cream base and Grape-Nuts cereal, a New England tradition. They bake their own waffle cones and make their own hot fudge as well. There are also shops in Hamden, Guilford, Branford, and Madison.
City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1104 Chapel St.
12. Pacifico
City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (203) 772-4002
Address: 220 College St.
Description: This could just as easily go under seafood, but the Nuevo Latino cuisine at this 2-story restaurant at the corner of College and Crown stands out more than the oceanic origins of much of its menu. Dishes like caramelized salmon and seafood paella are always winners. They have a number of tapas (who doesn’t these days?), and many people come here just for those and one of the excellent margaritas or a pitcher of sangria. Pacifico also features a prix-fixe lunch menu that is a bargain if you’re in New Haven during the day. For dessert, try the Colombian chocolate cake. This is high-end Latin American dining, not a chain Mexican restaurant, so don’t expect a giant plate of tacos or chimichangas for under $10. Elevate your taste and find out what everyone is raving about.
13. Soul De Cuba
City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (203) 498-2822
Address: 283 Crown St.
Description: This small restaurant at the corner of Crown and York makes authentic Cuban cuisine, mixed with some other Latin American dishes. The fricasse de pollo is done in their own special way, and the alligator ceviche is amazing. The mojos (spicy sauces) are all perfect examples of slow craft cooking. Get the soul sampler appetizer so you can try a number of their tasty small dishes. They also have “modern” or contemporary dishes like their own Soul de Cuba chicken dish and a surprising black bean chili. Oh, and try the mojitos, which are easily the best in the city. You should make a reservation here, because seating is limited and it is always packed with hungry diners.
City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Address: 266 College St.
City: New Haven, CT
Category: Restaurants
Address: 245 Crown St.