Archive for April, 2011

Greenwich pub serves up Royal Wedding menu

Wednesday, April 27, 2011 by:Maggie Gordon
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Yorkshire pudding at Mackenzie's Monday night

Leave it to the British Empire to invade everything — including my belly.

I’ve been talking about the Royal Wedding ever since Kate Middleton threw on that pretty blue dress in November and announced that William had given her that pretty blue ring, so when one of our editors saw an advertisement for a Royal Wedding Menu, he gave me the heads up. He was probably joking when he said, “Hey Maggie, you should go there for dinner,” but I took it as a serious statement.

So on Monday night, I headed over to Mackenzie’s Grill Room in Greenwich, to try a taste. Their royal menu gave me a peek at how the other half eats. I even learned a thing or two about British food. I mean, did you know that the most popular food in England is actually Chicken Tikka Masala, an Indian dish? The restaurant’s manager, Joanne Gray, filled me in on this:

I have to say, my favorite part of the meal was Princess Kate’s Apple Pear and Candied Pecan Salad, partially because it was (sadly) the only thing on the menu named after Kate, and partially because I have a deep-rooted love of salads that mix greens and fruits. My friend had a hard time choosing between the Coronation Chicken Salad, and the Prince Charles Breaded Mushrooms, which our waitress said was one of the biggest hits, but he ended up going with the chicken salad. His reasoning? He wanted to try to Chicken Tikka Masala, and figured he’d go full-steam ahead with the curry palate.

Princess Kate on the left, Coronation Chicken on the right.

The main entree was a tougher decision for me. But Joanne explained some of the dishes, and I made the choice to go with Camilla’s Traditional Cod, Chips and Mushy Peas. Though I’d had mushy peas once before in London, and remember being less than pleased with their color, texture, and oh yes, taste.

Yeah. That was the biggest piece of cod I’ve had in a very long time. In fact, I’m eating the leftovers as I type this post. Unfortunately for us, we did not have the willpower to squeeze dessert in at the end. I didn’t even have room to order the Pimms & Lemonade Royal Wedding cocktail, which I unfortunately, did not see on the menu until after I had already ordered a glass of Harp. Of course, the menu is running until Sunday, so I guess I do have time to go back…

Camilla's Cod and Chips

Chicken Tikka Masala

A tale of two Colonies: How Colony Grill Fairfield stacks up to Stamford

Monday, April 18, 2011 by:Brett Mickelson
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ABOVE: Plain cheese pie from Colony Grill in Fairfield. Please excuse the crummy cell phone photograph.

COLONY GRILL (FAIRFIELD): 1520 POST ROAD, FAIRFIELD

When I first heard a second location was in the works for Colony Grill, Stamford’s legendary Myrtle Street bar and pizza place (in the most literal sense), I believe my first words to LBC’s own Chris Preovolos were “please tell me this is a joke” followed immediately by “I’ll never go there.” Colony had always struck me as the kind of place that could not and would not be duplicated. Like many a Colony fan, I didn’t want to believe it.

Nearly a year later, curiosity and circumstance conspired to bring me to Colony in Fairfield, and I gave in.

The first thing I noticed was how large the Fairfield location is in comparison to Stamford.  It wasn’t brightly lit (I went after dark), but I imagine it gets a lot more light during the day than Stamford.

At 8 p.m. on a Thursday night, the place was quite busy, so I made my way to the bar and wedged myself into the last available spot. Not one, but two friendly bartenders took attentive care of me (a definite change from the tepid attitude of the busy staff in Stamford). I ordered a plain cheese pie and watched the “highlights” from the Mets’ second loss in one day while I waited.

The pizza was definitely Colony: Thin crust, sauce to the edge, and dappled cheese, but it wasn’t quite up to snuff with the original. My pie was a bit undercooked, making the dough at once rubberier and flakier than the original. To be fair, I only had the one, so I’ll have to return for a second sample. I also didn’t try the hot oil, but I overheard a patron at the bar saying it doesn’t have the same bite in Fairfield as the original.

As I asked for the check, I noticed possibly the biggest difference between the two locations: Colony Grill Fairfield takes credit cards.

Overall, the Fairfield location is definitely a worthy addition to the downtown landscape, especially with the tangy allure of neighboring Pinkberry for dessert, but I’ll take the original location by a nose.

Finally, I get a taste of a Gordon Ramsay makeover

Sunday, April 10, 2011 by:Lee Steele
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When Chef Gordon Ramsay’s “Kitchen Nightmares” came to my neighborhood to reconstruct Cafe Tavolini (now viewable here), I was filled with hope. I had been a steady customer since it opened, and I could sense its decline.

What a disappointment that the restaurant folded soon after the episode wrapped.Tragic for the owners, of course, but a big letdown for the neighborhood as well. Black Rock could have used the boost, and I was looking forward to their promising new menu.

I had never watched “Nightmares” until I learned that their cameras were coming to town, and now I find myself watching every week. Those cameras were also trained on another struggling eatery about two hours up the road — DownCity in Providence. This episode had a much happier ending.

I was in Providence this weekend for the Society of Professional Journalists‘ conference, and when I had a little free time, I found myself checking out the place.

The restaurant is obviously proud of their association with Ramsay, even if the show didn’t always cast them in a flattering light. An autographed portrait of the famed chef hangs in the front window. And it appears Ramsay’s reworked dishes are still on the bill of fare.

The Bridgeport boy in me had to try the calamari. It’s a popular dish close to home, and it often resembles DownCity’s previous incarnation. Ramsay gave it a “salty spicy” coating, a peppery mix with lots of cornmeal. The dipping sauce is a surprise — a retro green goddess sauce, basically herb-infused Caesar dressing that’s hard to find these days. I loved it. Paired with a glass of wine, it was a nice light lunch enjoyed at the bar.

The wait staff comprised the same people I saw on the program. I even spied the owner counting receipts, looking very businesslike and engaged.

I’ll look forward to returning to DownCity next time I’m in the neighborhood. But for now, I’m happy that I got to sample just one Gordon Ramsay dish — the type I was hoping to enjoy back home.

Lee Steele is Hearst Connecticut design editor and blogs here about art and culture.

Garelick and Herbs: New Canaan’s Best Salad

Friday, April 1, 2011 by:Maggie Gordon
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Mixin' up my spinach salad

As someone who grew up on a grass-fed beef farm, I tend to enjoy a big, bulky burger for lunch, but even a crazy carnivore needs a good salad every once in a while. Enter Garelick & Herbs.

This little eatery, located on Main Street in New Canaan, is the go-to spot for a make-your-own salad option. For $7.95, G&H whips up your choice of spinach, mixed greens or romaine lettuce with five toppings, and a variety of dressings. Today I chose the spinach salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, chicken, feta cheese with a fat-free balsamic vinaigrette. That’s pretty much a standard order for me, but you can toss in oranges, olives, peas, mushrooms, ham, beets, and well… a lot of other stuff … depending on what your palate’s crying for.

I first stumbled upon the eatery about a year and a half ago when I worked as a reporter at the New Canaan News, and could walk over a few times a week. In the seven months since I came over to the Advocate, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time moaning about the fact that Stamford doesn’t really have a salad spot that stacks up to my Main Street fave — except one:

The chopped salad bar at Fairway is a great lunch stop. The other day, they mixed me a spinach, bacon, strawberry, goat cheese, avocado, tomato salad of comparable size to the New Canaan salad, for about a buck cheaper. But as much as I fawn over their salads, the mix-ins aren’t consistently available (they’ve been out of avocado two of the four times I’ve wandered through the line there). Plus sometimes I just don’t feel like eating in a supermarket.

Whoops.Of course, G&H has its down sides too. I couldn’t walk out of there today without negating my salad with the purchase of two jumbo cookies for dessert tonight (if I can keep my hand out of the paper bag until then). So yeah, if you’re heading in there with a calorie count in mind, you might want to zoom past the check out line and dessert displays as quickly as possible, and avoid the use of peripheral vision at all times. And if you do end up giving in, I suggest the M&M cookie. Although the chocolate-dipped pretzels looked pretty good too…