[JViello]

Originally Posted by mkiv808

I think your choices are solid. Well, except for Waterbury and New Britain, I just couldn't include them on any kind of list. IMO Middletown is much nicer and offers more than either.

I ran out of choices after Hartford for the "large" category. LOL Middletown/Manchester do not fit into that. Waterbury is actually not THAT bad downtown. Wtby has the green, nice archetecture, some decent restaurants, the restored Palace Theater, the UCONN campus. It's actually quite palatable if you don't venture much outside of it.


WATERBURY GREEN (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mushjazzlexima-leakpaalex/4658289484/ - broken link) by RAY RIVERA PHOTOS (http://www.flickr.com/people/mushjazzlexima-leakpaalex/ - broken link), on Flickr

WATERBURY CT (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mushjazzlexima-leakpaalex/4658292628/ - broken link) by RAY RIVERA PHOTOS (http://www.flickr.com/people/mushjazzlexima-leakpaalex/ - broken link), on Flickr

WATERBURY CT (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mushjazzlexima-leakpaalex/4658300324/ - broken link) by RAY RIVERA PHOTOS (http://www.flickr.com/people/mushjazzlexima-leakpaalex/ - broken link), on Flickr

WATERBURY CT (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mushjazzlexima-leakpaalex/4658320040/ - broken link) by RAY RIVERA PHOTOS (http://www.flickr.com/people/mushjazzlexima-leakpaalex/ - broken link), on Flickr

WATERBURY CT (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mushjazzlexima-leakpaalex/4658316266/ - broken link) by RAY RIVERA PHOTOS (http://www.flickr.com/people/mushjazzlexima-leakpaalex/ - broken link), on Flickr

WATERBURY CT (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mushjazzlexima-leakpaalex/4658273202/ - broken link) by RAY RIVERA PHOTOS (http://www.flickr.com/people/mushjazzlexima-leakpaalex/ - broken link), on Flickr

WATERBURY CT (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mushjazzlexima-leakpaalex/4657642883/ - broken link) by RAY RIVERA PHOTOS (http://www.flickr.com/people/mushjazzlexima-leakpaalex/ - broken link), on Flickr

The restored Palace Theater is just amazing!




Main Street Waterbury - Welcome to Main Street

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by lgorfain

For the most part you're right about Splash (plus the service in the summer is amateur nite at the Roxy.) But here are selected items on the menu that are as outstanding as the view: the crackling calamari salad, firecracker springrolls, tuna tartare, swordfish with soba noodles. Forget most everything else.

For lunch --Tavern on Main. With this caveat: the only two items to get at this overpriced pretentious establishment for the seen and be seen are the NE Clam Chowder and a stein of beer. Fast cheap lunch

You might want to give the Dressing Room another try. A new chef, Jon Vaast has revamped the menu last January and it's really improved. Also heard their burger (albeit at 25 bucks) is fantastic.

Also forgot to mention Thali -- ethnic in waspy westport.

My congrats mkiv on a fun, well thought out thread.

Thank you.

We often got Thali for late nights at work as it was the only good Indian in the area, but now that Coromandel has opened in Southport we are set with some of the best Indian in the country! I liked Thali, and it was a bit different tasting from most Indian. My only complaint was that often our take out would have a less-than-appealing film of oil on top.

I actually had the Dressing Room this year. It wasn't bad by any means, but for the money - it didn't seem to deliver. The portions were small and a bit plain tasting. It was fresh, but not terribly interesting. At half the price, I may be singing a different tune.

I hear the new Cafe Manolo isn't bad. Tried that?

I will definitely try the Clam Chowder for lunch at Tavern!

[Stylo]

The Palace Theater IS awesome, I saw Leonard Cohen there a couple years ago and it was excellent. Perfect acoustics too.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by mkiv808

The Palace Theater IS awesome, I saw Leonard Cohen there a couple years ago and it was excellent. Perfect acoustics too.

I agree. It is so overlooked. Most people just don't know how nice it is. Jay

[JViello]

Originally Posted by mkiv808

The Palace Theater IS awesome, I saw Leonard Cohen there a couple years ago and it was excellent. Perfect acoustics too.

Originally Posted by JayCT

I agree. It is so overlooked. Most people just don't know how nice it is. Jay

Exactly. That's why I posted pictures. Most people have no idea just how good of a job was done to restore that place, and just how well it was designed to begin with.

With Waterbury, it's a shame the city is what it is because unlike so many cities in CT (and the country) it's kept just about all of it's buildings from the turn of the 20th century on. If that city was ever gentrified, it would be a gem!

I remember my grandmother telling stories of how downtown Wtby, back in the day was one of THE places to go in CT for a night out or a day of shopping. I can recall as a boy going to Howland Hughes with my grandmother - a multi story department store downtown reminiscent of Macy's in New York with a real live elevator attendant and the accordian style gate.

Actually Hartford as well is a shadow of what it once was when main street used to be PACKED on the weekends for G-Fox, Brownthompson, Sage-Allen etc etc.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by JViello

I would say

1. Small rural towns IE Litchfield
2. Small cities IE Stonington, Essex etc
3. Medium cities IE West Hartford, Fairfield etc
4. Large cities IE New Haven, Hartford, Stamford.

Top 5 in each category for me is

1. Litchfield, Kent, West Cornwall, East Haddam, Colchester
2. Essex, Chester, Stonington, Mystic, Bethel
3. West Hartford, New Canaan, Fairfield, Milford, Wallingford
4. New Haven, Stamford, Hartford, Waterbury, New Britain

Much better way of doing it.

I would say:

1. Kent, Litchfield
2. Essex, Chester, Mystic, New Milford
3. West Hartford, Middletown, Westport, Milford, Wallingford
4. New Haven, Stamford, Danbury

[JViello]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Much better way of doing it.

I would say:

1. Kent, Litchfield
2. Essex, Chester, Mystic, New Milford
3. West Hartford, Middletown, Westport, Milford, Wallingford
4. New Haven, Stamford, Danbury

New Milford was right there for me as well. Danbury, I just couldn't seem to find where to fit it. It's not quite a Stamford, but larger than say Middletown. I actually should have put it in place of New Britain.

[UconnHusky1]

This thread is somewhat comical. According to someone Greenwich does not make the list because it's too "gritty", but incredibly Waterbury & New Britain does according to someone else....haha.

Reminds me when Money Magazine placed Bristol, CT in their "best places to live" list.

[kidyankee764]

Let me explain myself...

Downtown Greenwich has suffered in beauty. Storefronts aren't at their finest, many buildings need a fresh coat of paint,, neighborhoods surrounding Greenwich Avenue aren't the nicest (a few I'd actually call rundown). Crime downtown is becoming a relatively big issue (robberies and burglaries). Downtown can't even come close to "Rodeo Drive". That would be in either Palm Beach or St. Armands Circle in Longboat Key. Not Greenwich.

[jax12479]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Let me explain myself...

Downtown Greenwich has suffered in beauty. Storefronts aren't at their finest, many buildings need a fresh coat of paint,, neighborhoods surrounding Greenwich Avenue aren't the nicest (a few I'd actually call rundown). Crime downtown is becoming a relatively big issue (robberies and burglaries). Downtown can't even come close to "Rodeo Drive". That would be in either Palm Beach or St. Armands Circle in Longboat Key. Not Greenwich.

I'm not sure how familiar you actually are with Greenwich, or how much time you spend there, but this post seems very strange to me -- almost like nitpicking to find something negative to say. There are some old buildings on Park Ave that could use a fresh coat of paint too, but that doesn't exactly make the entire Upper East Side 'gritty.'

Greenwich Ave is not Rodeo Dr, but to put it in the same sentence as the downtowns of Wallingford and Danbury is laughable.