Highlights: Tacos, duh. Middletown has a fantastic dining scene, and Iguana Ranas plays a nice role - you can easily come in a do a full meal of tacos, tortas, taquitos, and mango soda, but it’s just as easy to stop by for a snack and a drink on the cheap. For tacos they have all the classics, including chorizo, al pastor (with pineapple, nice) and my favorite, tongue. Doused with lime, onion, and cilantro, the tacos are inexpensive, filling, and packed with flavor.
Amazing strawberries from Lyman Orchards got me so excited I could only take blurry pictures, I suppose. Here in Connecticut strawberry season is just heating up, so if you like to pick ‘em yourself, or you’re lazy like me and you just want a basket-full without all the work, several sources around Southern New England can get you covered this weekend.
Luckily if there are strawberries out, there’s probably rhubarb, too. My mouth has been watering over Dorie Greenspan’s Roasted Rhubarb, which looks simple and delicious. Could make an easy dessert this evening for those of us heading out to the local market today.
Of course, those devilish supermarkets know it’s berry season, too, so even if these blueberries I used for Mark Bittman’s No-Bake Blueberry Cheesecake Bars were not grown locally, they were at least cheap and on sale. The whole thing comes together in minutes, and given the hot and steamy weather lately it’s a relief to not turn on the oven.
Although not about food, per se, this article in the Hartford Courant retraces some of the fallout from the closing of the much beloved Rosco’s Big Dog in downtown Hartford. A good read for anyone who owns their own business, but perhaps an encouraging sign for Connecticut hot dog fans; any media exposure for owner Ron Reisner may keep our hopes up for a new incarnation of Rosco’s in the future.
Not particular to New England or even the Northeast, but my beloved (Washington D.C. based) Five Guys recently got the sort of nation-wide exposure money cannot buy after a recent visit by President Obama. Luckily the chain has been spreading like wildfire throughout the country, if you’re reading from New England check out your nearest location.
The same can’t be said for still-stubbornly regional In-N-Out, so damn Tom Hanks on The Tonight Show for rubbing our noses in the fact that we here in the New England tundra still have to take sojourns out to California, Nevada, Utah, or Arizona to get our In-N-Out fix.
I am almost hesitant to link to stories like this, because let’s face it, any single writer claiming a list of the top 25 pizza places in the country might be an interesting read, but it’s also a good way to stir up controversy, anger, disssent, and, oh yeah - page views and magazine sales.
Indeed, trying to read or scan the whole piece online requires an insufferable amount of click click clicking so to peruse the full list first head on over to Slice.
I don’t have much commentary to add, other than the original Pepe’s in New Haven (#12) serves the best pizza I’ve ever had, and the branch in Manchster serves as a nice proxy. For New Haven fans I also very much like Modern, and I wish I could say I like Sally’s (#6) but I can never get in. The wait in line on a typical day would be insufferable at Sally’s but if you’re not a regular, or have a connection, it seems you’ll also stand in line while further suffering the indignity of watching those-in-the-know slipping in and getting tables long before you even get a whiff of pizza aroma.
The list does make a guide for my next pizza travels - Mario Batali’s Tarry Lodge (#11) has been on my radar since it opened and it sounds like Bob and Timmy’s (#5) may merit another trip over to Providence.
