L'Orcio - New Haven, CT

This is probably the fastest review ever written (in relation to the time I left the restaurant, which was approximately 30 minutes ago)  I just couldn't resist.  There are so many things I want to comment on.  Okay so to start, my cousin, Gerry, gave us a gift certificate to this restaurant for our wedding.  He knows how much I love eating out and recommended this restaurant to us for a romantic evening.  We figured our anniversary would be a perfect occasion to do so.  I have been sick these past few weeks so we ended up celebrating our anniversary tonight (January 2nd).  We weren't sure how busy the place would be so we made reservations, as we usually do.  The reservations were for 6:15 p.m.  We arrived fairly quick and looked around the area for a parking space.  L'Orcio is an Italian restaurant located on State Street in New Haven.  The parking was a bit ridiculous, which is one of the few reasons why I only venture to New Haven sporadically.  There were no spaces on State Street in front of the restaurant, or across the street.  We went down a few of the pain in the ass side streets that only go one way to find another spot.  We were coming up Pearl Street when we saw a few open spaces on the street.  Now there were plenty of literal spots on State Street but all of those spots had signs that said "No Parking" or something along those lines.  On Pearl Street, however, we did not see such signs.  As we parked and started to get out, a sketchy hobo-type man walked by the car.  I told DJ to wait a second and pretended to look at something in my purse.  As the man crossed in front of our car we made direct eye contact, which kind of freaked me out but then I thought I might need to identify this man's face later on so take note.  He was white male.  I would say about 5'10" with blue eyes and a very long beard,  His hair was brown but his facial hair had a reddish tint to it.  I was thinking about holding DJ's hand after we stepped out of the car but then I remembered a scene from that movie- I believe it was called "Crash" and it had some stars in it.  I think Sandra Bullock and maybe Ludacris?  There was a scene with those two people and Sandra Bullock latches on to her husband's arm and Ludacris says something about race and how she saw two black guys and grabs on to her man and then they proceed to jump Sandra Bullock and her man.  So even though this guy wasn't black, I was like I'm not going to look like he scares me and I'm just going to walk out of this car like I own the place.  I do and there were no problems.... see me at the end of my review.

We walked into the restaurant which was in a building that looked like one of those typical New Haven homes.  There was a stoop, a front door with a foyer.  The waitress took our name and we were seated up stairs.  Like I said, it was just like you were in a home.  We walked up the stairs and were seated at a table for 2.  There really was no need for our reservation.  When we walked up stairs there was one other table for 2 and there was another group of 4 to 6 people, with one of those people wearing a Yale baseball cap.  The room was nice.  Very intimate, dark, and still had festive decorations.  We started off with drinks- I had a Prosecco and DJ had a Moretti.  (Italian beer)  It was very quiet in the restaurant and it was very easy to overhear the conversations around us.  Let me just say, I hated that Yale group.  It was so cliche.  There we were in a quaint New Haven restaurant with dim lighting, and this group of possibly parents with their Yale-attending son and his girlfriend talking about (no lie) vegans, the Michael Brown trial, and overturning the death penalty.  I was like what the hell is this? Who talks about this kind of stuff over dinner?  People who think they're better than everyone else but then try to act like they're so liberal and caring for everyone else.  Give me a break.  I was sickened by them.  So the menu is not too large and everything was separate.  I wasn't sure how I should order.  Should I get an app?  Should I order a salad?  Because it seemed as though nothing came with a salad.  They did not have any soups otherwise I would have certainly tried one.  They also had side dishes that you could order on the side.  I just wasn't sure so I ordered my main course and called it a day.  

I had the lamb.  Out of this world delicious!   It said that it was prepared in a white wine sauce.  I've never had lamb cooked that way and really wanted to try it, and I'm happy I did.  It was divine.  You were give two pieces of lamb on the bone which is equal to 4 chops.  So good but not quite enough food.  I never know with lamb.  I need to write in to "Ask Ina" to find out the proper etiquette for eating lamb in public.  There is so much of that delicious and juicy meat left on those bones that I don't think you're supposed to just pick up gnaw on.  I think you should be able to because that clean bone serves as a perfect little handle.  I'm not going to lie.  I did gnaw a little.  I wanted to disgust my vegan crowd from Yale.  I ordered the lamb medium-rare and man was it cooked to perfection.  I could've eaten 5 more chops.  It came with roasted potatoes (also very good) and Brussels sprouts with a balsamic reduction.  The sprouts were okay.  They have kind of have an odd taste.  I have tried to cook them before and thought that I was cooking them wrong because all of the celebrity chefs talk up Brussels sprouts, but this outing at L'Orcio confirmed that I have been cooking them correctly.  I guess I'm just not much of a fan.  The plating wasn't fancy or pretty.  Your meat was there along with a scoop of potatoes and a scoop of sprouts.  It looked very "rustic."  I liked my meal but could've gone for more lamb.  DJ had chicken .  I forget what it was officially called but it was basically chicken Florentine.  Egg battered chicken cooked with lemon, white wine and spinach.  He liked his.  I thought that too was a bit skimpy.  His was served with nothing other than the spinach.  Next time I will definitely get an appetizer or at least a salad.

Our plates were cleared and the waitress brought us another round of cocktails.  I was a little perturbed that she had a runner bring us our food.  The place was basically dead and there were only two of us, yet you needed a runner to bring out our food?  Before she brought us our second round of drinks she cleaned off the table linens with a sort of squeegee device, which I liked.  She brought us over the dessert menu and by this time some more people came in.  A couple came in and sat in the back.  The man was a loud talker and unfortunately, I could hear all the lines he was trying to use to sweep this girl home with him.  Then two ladies came in and then 4 older people on a double date.  One of the young ladies was using the light on her cell phone to read the menu.  Ridiculous!  I have horrible night vision but I mean come on!  You're in  a restaurant with dim lighting.  The menu was still clearly visible.  I was amazed by this woman an began taking notes from that point on.  I told DJ to look in to buying me a little pad and clicky pen that I can bring with me to these restaurants as I review them.  I felt like Ego from "Ratatouille."   The oldies behind me said something about how they had never eaten upstairs before.  So that answered my question as to whether or not there are tables downstairs.  I guess there are.  Perhaps there was a large party down there tonight.

We ordered our dessert and the waitress offered to hold off on putting in our desserts until we finished our cocktails.  That was a nice touch.  The lights oddly kept flickering. We finished our drinks and then our desserts were brought to us.  I'm usually not a dessert person but because I was still a little hungry, I ordered one.  I had the chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.  It was okay.  The chocolate was very rich.  It was more of a grown-up chocolate cake made with more cocoa powder and bittersweet chocolate.  It would've been fine if the cake had been warm but it wasn't.  It was ice cold.  DJ had the Charlotte cake, which was a chocolate mousse cake with amaretto lady fingers.  He said he would give it a 6.5 out of 10 possible points.  We paid for our meal and then left.

On our way back to the car we notice something under DJ's wiper.  What was it?  A ticket of course!  That punk hobo must have called the cops!  Now there were no signs in this area which is why we parked there and the part that makes me really mad is if he lived in the building near there and knew we were parking in a reserved spot, why didn't he just say hey guys you can't park there unless you have a sticker or whatever.  He was just like the guy in the movie Crash.  I tried to act like I wasn't intimidated by his appearance and gave him the benefit of the doubt but he ended up just being an asshole anyway which is why people continue to make judgments based on your appearance.  Which I'm sure he also did as well.  I bet he saw us and figured we were two little rich Connecticut snobs and wanted to stick us one.  Well that's not the case.   I know it was that guy because as I said, there were no signs in the area, none of the other cars had tickets nor did they have permits to park there, and with all of the crime in New Haven, we are going to get a parking ticket for parking in a spot for an hour!?  I really hate this world some times.  There are times you bite your tongue because you don't want to be a jerk, you don't want to be insensitive, you want to be understanding and then have to sit in discomfort but then on the other hand there are times when people just have to straight up ruin your night.  Maybe they could be a little sensitive, understanding, and a bit nicer.  Maybe they shouldn't pass judgement.  Furious that we have to pay this ticket!

So I want to say that this restaurant was quite tasty.  Thank you, Gerry, for treating us to a delicious meal, lovely cocktails, dessert and cappuccino!  I loved my lamb.  It was probably the best lamb I ever had.  If you choose to try this restaurant I advise you to get an appetizer or order a salad with your meal.  I would skip out on the dessert.  I, on the other hand, probably will not go back there in the foreseeable future due to the lack of parking and my personal hate for New Haven.  I was hoping that this restaurant would change my opinion but not tonight my friends, not tonight.  If you know New Haven, live in New Haven, or know where to park on State Street then you'll love it.  If you do not frequent New Haven, go somewhere else or let someone else take care of the driving.  If you can order from this place on Silverspooon - do it.  I'm just so mad about this ticket that I can't think straight.  That jerk smoking his joint with his ugly beard and ratty hat.  I'm going to put a Sophia Petrillo Sicilian curse on him.  May he never eat good meal, may his beard get caught in his zipper every time he puts his jacket on, and may his socks always fall down in his shoes! ** 

Until my next bite!


**This review was written out of rage.  The restaurant was very good but that jerk who lives in the building on Pearl Street ruined my night!  I apologize for offending anyone with my rhetoric, including Gerry Giaimo who graciously gave us this gift certificate.

Doody's - North Branford, CT

I'm a little late with this post but I still want to get it in.  On the day after Christmas, I got together with Judy and Catherine.  I wish that more could have joined us but three members out of the core is still pretty good, and everyone knows I need to get my quality time in with Catt before she heads back up to Boston.  (I'm hoping to head up there soon and add a Boston edition to my bites...)  I picked up the girls and since I was already out in that portion of the state, we decided to go somewhere relatively close by.  We were considering Supreme Seafood but they were closed so our next option was Doody's.  It's located right on Route 80 and just kind of pops up out of nowhere.  We parked on the side and walked in through the back door.  The back door leads into the bar/lounge portion of the restaurant.  We chose to sit in the "restaurant" portion which is located at the front of the building.  The lounge looked okay, but it was noticeably darker and I just wasn't in the mood to sit in those high, long booths that places have in bars.  We were told that we could sit wherever we would like.  There were quite a few people there but there were plenty of available spots.

We sat down at a table that was kind of in the middle of the room.  There were two larger parties sitting at two large tables near the side of the room.  Judy informed us that the room we were sitting in used to be a dance floor and continuation of the bar back in the day.  You could see the wood floor where the dance floor used to be.  The waiter was okay.  Nice but a little too much in your face.  We all had a nice gingie to drink.  I want to comment that there was no actual host stand.  They had the menus piled up on a little table and the hosts were sitting at a regular restaurant table cleaning the menus.  A few things I'd like to point out- 1. They should have a host stand.  The menus looked messy where they were and looked out of place.  2. The hosts looked like random people playing around with the menus and 3. I applaud the fact that they were cleaning down the menus.  I've read that the dirtiest thing you touch in a restaurant is the menu.  I've never seen a restaurant cleaning their menus.  I think it's a great thing because next time you go to a restaurant, take a look at the menu.  I guarantee the pages will stick together due to syrup, or there will be a blob of ketchup or the back, or it might just be greasy.  Knowing that Doody's cleans their menus makes me feel like some things are going right in this world.

Moving on to what we ate...  We had considered getting some apps but after days of ridiculously overeating we thought we should just slightly overeat.  To start, I ordered a cup of New England clam chowder (creamy).  It was DELICIOUS!  I enjoy NE clam chowder but I believe I've posted before that I prefer Rhode Island (clear broth) because of the general taste, sometimes the NE can be too thick, and I can suffer from some lactose issues.  This chowder from Doody's was fan-tas-tic!  It tasted like Chuck's Steakhouse.  The real and original Chuck's Steakhouse.  It wasn't too thick, there were plenty of chunks of clams and potatoes, and it just tasted good.  It was nice and hot and just hit the spot.  I do have to mention about the busgirl.  I was eating my soup and I just put my spoon down for a moment so I could tell Judy and Catt an animated story and the girl just grabbed my soup bowl and then said, "Are you all set?"  So  I am surprised that I actually said something because some times I just let people say whatever without a rebuttal.  But I said, "uh no, actually, I'm not."  There were only about two more bites but hey- I wanted them!  And she should have asked me before just taking the bowl, not to mention that I had my elbows up on the table while I was talking and the bowl was in between them.  I just thought it was rude of her to just reach in there and try to grab my bowl.

For dinner we all decided to order something very different from what we had been eating.  Christmas Eve is filled with fish, macaroni, veggies, cake, cookies and then on Christmas day I made lasagna and eggplant parm, so I needed some meat.  Judy and I both had the steak teriyaki wrap which consisted of tender thin sliced of banger steak tossed in a light teriyaki sauce and wrapped with american cheese, lettuce, tomato, cheese, grilled onions, mushrooms and peppers. The steak was very tender and was cut in slices. It was not like a thin sandwich steak but it wasn't like a big hunk of meat. It reminded me of smaller slices from like a London broil. It was very good. It is served with your choice of regular or waffle fries or sweet potato for a little bit extra. Judy and I both had the waffle. Catt ordered the steak and cheese sandwich which read, tender thin slices of sirloin steak, topped with your choice of melted cheese, lettuce and tomato mushrooms and onions. Catt's steak and cheese was very large. It was served on a sub roll. She only ate half and saved the other for a rainy day in Boston. We all liked and were pleased with our meals. After we were really finished, the waiter showed us the dessert menu, which looked pretty good but they were out of all the tempting desserts. Catt and I just got a coffee so we could chat a little more but no more food. It wasn't too expensive and we had a nice way to end our Christmas season with each other. In that area, there aren't too many restaurants so I was happy that Doody's was there. It's not the best place I've ever eaten but certainly not the worst. It was a nice spot where we could re-hash our holiday events. Not too busy and the food was good. I'm not thrilled with their waitstaff but then again this is more of a pub and not a fine dining establishment. They were young and it was the day after Christmas so I'll let it slide. Overall, Doody's is a good place that I will definitely go to again, especially with my core due to its location. DJ and I plan to go out for our anniversary so I will be back to post with a new bite in the near future. We were also given a lovely amount of restaurant gift certificates for Christmas so I look forward to having new topics! Until my next bite...