I'm a freelance food writer in the Hartford area. While Connecticut is indeed the Land of Steady Habits, it boasts some surprisingly delicious eats.
@meleyna I was only really allowed to redeem them if my dad took us to Pizza Hut. My mom haaaaated Pizza Hut (most pizza in general) so she made him do the dirty work.
Will, I loved every word of your lede, because I too grew up in Massachusetts in the 80s and we split our time between Pizza Hut and Papa Gino's. Did you by any chance have the Book-It program in your school? My mother used to practically discourage me from reading, because I'd earn enough free Pizza Hut coupons to eat there for a year.
Not illegal, but difficult - my husband just returned from a business trip to Southern California and brought home two very carefully packed In-n-Out burgers in his luggage. Thanks to an insulated lunch bag, Ziplocs of hotel ice and the cold of the cargo bin, they made it home to Connecticut in one piece and reheated pretty damn well.
It's Worcester (Woosta) not War-chest-er :) welcome Meredith!
I noticed on the website menu that Denny's described the sundae as having "maple-flavored syrup." Hey, at least they're honest. Did it taste like an imitation syrup?
Echoing all the central/western Massachusetts comments above. Most agree that "western Massachusetts" begins once you cross into the 413 area code territory.
@ratbuddy and @John, for what it's worth, Mulberry Street advertises itself as New York style.
and VanessaN is right - the pizza goes fast because the crust is so thin.
This is in my hometown and about five minutes from where I went to college. The chicken pesto pie is fabulous, as is (surprisingly) the chicken Caesar salad pie.
Mushrooms. shudder.
This is phenomenal. I'm a New Englander, so In-n-Out is an elusive treat. I've been to California a handful of times in the past six or seven years, and In-n-Out is ALWAYS my first stop upon deplaning. Thanks for all your research.
@John Wozniak: Wow. That was uncalled for.
Hooray! CT is lucky to have such crazy-passionate foodies.
@JimmyDuck: I'm not positive but I'm guessing it wasn't put on the pizza raw. The steak was definitely medium (but not tough.)
Yes. YES. Hallelujah to this entire article. I'm a dining blogger for a local newspaper and I spend many hours on restaurant sites. My biggest pet peeves are Flash and PDFs, though website music is pretty awful.
A site done entirely in Flash is rendered utterly useless on a smartphone unless you have a Droid, as a previous commenter mentioned. If I can't access your site on my ancient BlackBerry, chances are I am not going to patronize your establishment. PDFs - same deal. Particularly if the file is over 1 MB.
Those same kind of frustrating formats spill into pitches and press releases from restaurants and their reps, too. I once got a 2MB POWER POINT presentation from a restaurant's marketing person.
Leeanne Griffin hasn't written a post yet.
Regulars at Harry's Bishops Corner know there are two menus: the traditional, year-round one, and the list of rotating specialty pizzas meant to reflect the changing seasons. In summer, that usually means something with fresh local tomatoes. Cold-weather pies are robust, with hearty toppings and bold flavor combinations to cut through the miserable chill. More
+1 for the Whalom Park reference, says this Worcester kid. Whaaaaalom Park...for a whale of a time!