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July 29, 2021

Dining in downtown New Haven: 5 trends to watch

PHOTOS | LIESE KLEIN Andres Cordido (left) and his brother Alejandro opened Somos restaurant on Orange Street to highlight Venezuelan specialties like arepa corn pancakes and spiced beef.
By Liese Klein

Fresh faces. New offerings from old favorites. New ways of preparing, ordering and enjoying food.

Downtown New Haven’s dining scene, always in flux, has shifted again as fall 2021 approaches. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken out a few favorites but brought in some new flavors and concepts.

“I have no doubt that our restaurants will continue not only to adapt but lead the way as we move forward,” said Bruno Baggetta, marketing and communications director of downtown promoter Market New Haven. “I think that we’ve proven that no matter what happens, New Haven restaurants are resilient.”

Talking to downtown restaurateurs, Baggetta is hearing about customers’ appreciation for outdoor dining options and the ongoing focus on local, seasonal ingredients and menus. Some adaptations to pandemic restrictions have caught on with diners and will likely continue, he said.

“I think there’s a lot of trends continuing, whether it’s takeout — which was more of a pivot than a trend — plant-based foods, streamlined menus, eco-conscious packaging,” Baggetta said.

Adaptations old and new can be seen at the heart of downtown at the intersection of Chapel and College streets, where veteran vegetarian eatery Claire's Corner Copia has extended its dining area to the street.

Metal barricades with the Claire's logo set off a section of the sidewalk for comfy chairs, and wooden planters chock-full of flowers and greenery set off part of the roadway for pedestrians. Inside, a stylish wooden bar now allows for stand-up eating or waiting for to-go orders.

The Claire’s menu still centers around vegetarian comfort food but has expanded steadily to include more vegan options like soy milk french toast, tempeh bacon and vegan s’mores whoopie pies.

In another pivot, plant-based favorite Caribbean Style at 89 George St. now offers its vegan cuisine for curbside pickup from Wednesday through Saturday, with specialties like jerk tofu, rice and peas and stewed eggplant.

Every downtown restaurant has evolved and adapted to changing times, Baggetta said.

“When you have so much talent in one city you can really achieve anything,” he said.

Here are five dining trends you may encounter as you lunch, brunch, snack or splurge this fall in downtown.

Brunch, anyone?

For the first time in its 27-year history, upscale French brasserie Union League Cafe started offering brunch this year to serve the growing crowd of diners spending their weekends downtown.

“Sundays during the day, the downtown is huge,” said Christina FitzGerald, Union League co-owner, noting that the public parking lot behind the restaurant fills up early on Sundays. “There’s definitely a lot more traffic.”

Union League’s stylish back patio fills up every Sunday with patrons enjoying eggs Benedict or raw bar items like oysters and ossetra caviar, along with classic French specialties like croque monsieur, duck confit or omelette aux morilles with morel mushrooms.

Brunch downtown is catching on: The Shops at Yale website lists options around campus including Pacifico, Harvest Wine Bar and Restaurant, Heirloom, South Bay and Sherkaan Indian Street Food, located off Broadway adjacent to the Yale campus.

Union League’s brunch has become so popular that the restaurant has to limit reservations due to staffing constraints, FitzGerald said.

“People are so happy to be out,” she said.

Fresh flavors and new options

New Haven diners love arepas, those savory South American corn cakes served by the dozens daily from food trucks and eateries across town. But did you know that Venezuelan arepas are the best?

That’s the joking assertion of Andres Cordido, who opened new eatery Somos on Orange Street with his brother Alejandro last summer in the thick of the pandemic. Thanks to online ordering and third-party delivery services like Uber Eats, Somos has been thriving, Andres Cordido said.

“It’s going great, a lot better than expected,” he said.

At Somos, the arepas are made from unsweetened corn flour, then customized.

“We cut them open and stuff them like a sandwich,” Cordido said. “You can build your own.”

Options for inside include Venezuelan specialties like carne mechada spiced beef, guasacaca avocado and cilantro salsa and queso de mano, a soft white cheese.

A truly modern restaurant, Somos also offers tofu sofrito as a protein along with vegan cheese made from chickpeas. You can also get your arepas in a bowl with rice or salad.

Another new restaurant that does much of its business through online ordering is Haven Hot Chicken on Whitney Avenue, a rousing success with lines forming outside many evenings for its spicy chicken “tendies” and southern-style sides.

Dining outside

You’d never know these days that the corner of Orange and Crown streets in Ninth Square was once home to a very slow traffic light where cars sat for what seemed like hours. Now that end of Orange is blocked off and home to a spacious outdoor dining area, aptly christened “Orange Street Promenade.”

Customers of restaurants including Life Bowls, Pho Thai, Somos, Skappo and Skappo Merkato market can enjoy the space, which gets lively in the evening with salsa classes and other events.

But the showpiece of outdoor dining in 2021 New Haven has to be the transformation of College Street between Chapel and Crown with a block-long stretch of outdoor seating.

Each restaurant on the block has its own distinctive area — from the cozy groupings outside of Claire’s Corner Copia to the stylish patterned chairs and bold red ashtrays on the tables outside of the Anchor cigar bar.

Dining options range from upscale seafood at Pacifico and South Bay on one end to Elm City Social’s cocktails and B-natural Kitchen’s innovative grain bowls mid-block. Best of all, the scent of fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies wafts the length of the street from Insomnia Cookies.

Less is more

Call it the (relatively) senior shuffle: That moment you have to stuff the bills back into your wallet and root around for a card when the barista says “sorry, we’re cashless.”

More and more cafes and restaurants downtown are holding on to “contactless” transactions even as other pandemic-era restrictions disappear. That means you’ll be using a card for purchases as small as a cup of coffee or a single pastry.

Those small transactions at trendy coffee shops also often involve Square registers that display tips of 20% or more prominently on the screen so you are more likely to tap. Your barista gets more than some spare coins and you pay a bit more, so be ready for some sticker shock.

You’ll also be seeing less of other items downtown lately, like plastic straws, disposable cutlery and non-compostable packaging. Be prepared once again for that special frustration of a paper straw collapsing just as you finish up a cold drink.

More is more

It’s long been frighteningly easy to edge into the triple digits on a bill eating out in New Haven with so many tempting options and upscale eateries.

But quadruple digits? Yes, $1,000 for two. Plus tax. And it's BYOB.

That eye-popping total comes courtesy of local celebrity chef Bun Lai, who announced his “Miya’s Sustainable Sushi Masterclass” in July at $500 per person. For that price you get to “forage, harvest, and cook, all day and night with me,” Lai said on Facebook.

Your experience includes “weeds, invasive species, pestilent species, sustainable seafood, and wisdom,” the announcement said. “Come hungry, leave enlightened.” The class was scheduled to be held in Woodbridge on July 31 and camping was available for overnight guests.

Although he closed Miya’s at the end of last year, Lai continues to make headlines, most recently a May feature in the New York Times. The emergence of Brood X cicadas, early summer’s celebrity insect, offered Lai an opportunity to promote foraging and sustainability along with his innovative cuisine.

“[Lai] shaped sushi rice into a pizza and showered it with mozzarella and Parmesan. Just before it was done baking, he covered the top with cicadas, which provided a pepperoni-like crunch,” according to the Times story.

Other, smaller-scale splurges are on tap for evenings downtown, including artisanal ice cream at Arethusa on Chapel Street for $3.75 per scoop of sour cherry with chocolate chunks. Venture to Milkcraft on Crown Street to pay $5.95 for a regular-sized cup of a mashup flavor like PB&J roasted banana.

A decadent option after a foraging feast could be a stop at the Devil's Diet dessert bar on Howe Street, next-door to Miya’s shuttered brick-and-mortar restaurant. The layered treats incorporate ingredients like sesame paste, macha and fine chocolate — they also serve an indulgent brunch.

Diners outside Pacifico on College Street enjoy an al fresco dining area decorated with overflowing planters.

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