I guess we're hosed on these gift certificates!....

Sad news on the doorstep.....

25 Center Street Restaurant closes

Record-Journal article about lost gift certificates here

Gimme six, loaded...

Many trips in the early 70's to this great spot from our first house in the west end of Cheshire. We were young 'n buffed; we are currently not young. Reet, wanna go to Blackie's for lunch, today?

Blackie's: A Hot Dog Stand To Relish by Robin Stansbury (Htfd Courant)

I'm not usually a fan of hot dogs, consuming perhaps one a year at a Fourth of July barbecue or Rock Cats baseball game. At least, that was true until my husband introduced me to Blackie's Hot Dog Stand, a funky and fabulous restaurant in Cheshire. Everything works right with these dogs, from the soft buns, the split-top cooking of the Hummel Brothers hot dogs and, of course, that magical spicy relish doled out with a plastic spoon.

The look: It's a hot dog stand (a slightly misleading label because the restaurant has two small octagon-shaped dining rooms), so it doesn't get fancy here. Clearly, Blackie's, which was founded in 1928, isn't a secret, as the crowded parking lot during our lunch visit revealed. Maybe that's why Blackie's went through an extensive renovation last year when — gasp — the eatery was closed for seven weeks to expand the kitchen and storage areas. But the remodeling didn't alter the look of the interior of the two wood-paneled dining rooms or the long counter and stools. Ketchup, mustard and relish is serve-yourself.

The vibe: No fuss. Blackie's is a place where construction workers sit side-by-side with folks in suits, kids and grandparents. On a warm day, the two garage-style doors open to let in the breeze. The food is served on paper plates, or in a box to go.

The eats: It's all basic food at Blackie's. Besides hot dogs, hamburgers and cheeseburgers are also on the menu, but we didn't hear any orders for burgers during our visit. The dogs are so popular that most who were ordering at the counter didn't even use the word "hot dog," instead just calling out the desired number.
"Three."
"Five."
And — this was true during our visit — "Eighteen."
There are no fancy toppings like chili or sauerkraut, only the divine spicy relish, which the owners say is a family secret. The relish is made of peppers, not pickles, but that is as much as the owners will reveal. You can add a drink and a bag of chips to your order, but why bother? Just order another hot dog, instead.

The prices: Dirt cheap. The dogs are $1.75. Hamburgers cost $2, and a small soda is $1. Our party of five ate a giant lunch for just more than $20.

The verdict: Dog-gone good. - blackieshotdogs.com

The Reet says eat here....

Johnny K decided to take me to a special restaurant for my birthday his choice, not mine). We dined at O'Porto Fine Portuguese Restaurant in Hartford, with good friends Keith/Sharon and Vin/Marsha. We started with good wine (I had a diet coke with lemon) followed by great appetizers (my favorite, Camarao Grelhado, grilled shrimp in lemon sauce, was so good that next time I will order that for dinner).

Another good appetizer was their famous Portuguese fried potatoes. (also served as the dinner potatoes); very tasty. The big hit of the night was the Paehla or Paella. Various concoctions were filled with shrimp, clams, mussels, scallops, chicken or whatever and served with SAFFRON rice. The SAFFRON rice was everyone's favorite (but not mine). John order Black Pork, pork chops that were cooked to perfection, unlike the dried out ones I cook. Me, well I had a steak with those famous Portuguese potatoes again because I'm a wimp. My recommedation is if you want a great steak go to Anthony's Jacks. Portguese steak doesn't cut it. Now to the deserts, they were awsome! I had cheesecake with caramel sauce, very good. Keith and Sharon enjoyed an Almond Tarte together, and John and Sharon had Creame Brule together. We all shared, except Vin and Marsha, Marsha enjoyed her Chocolate Mousse and only gave Vin a bite. All in all, it was a great birthday evening with fine dining and good friends. I just don't think I would order steak again. And, too much Saffron rice for me.

O'Porto....

A Paehla For Everyone At O'Porto This Month by KORKY VANN, The Hartford Courant
O'Porto, 2074 Park St., Hartford, 860-233-3184

It's "paehla month" at O'Porto Restaurant in Hartford (paehla is the Portuguese version of paella), and culinary festivities around the event include hot deals for takeout customers. Get your dishes to go, and you'll save cool cash on the eat-in cost. The restaurant offers a number of classic combinations of meat, seafood and vegetables, all built on fragrant saffron rice and all great options for anyone looking to impress dinner guests without going near a stove.

We tried Paelha a Casa (the house version) and immediately make a note to add it to our holiday menu. (Discounted paelha to-go prices remain in effect through the end of the year. The takeout price is $30; the in-restaurant dinner regular price is $46 and $40 during paehla month.) The dish, packed with shrimp, clams, mussels, pieces of chicken and pork, chunks of spicy chouriço sausage and accented with red peppers and green peas, is an instant crowd pleaser.

Other varieties include Paelha Marinheiro, which features scallops and shrimp, Paelha Portuguesa which adds lobster to the mix, and Paelha Vegetariana, (a vegetarian version) with seasonal vegetables. There's a two-person minimum order for any of the paelhas and for an additional per head cost. You can expand your order to feed as many as you like. (If you're looking to feed 15 or more, call a day ahead, otherwise several hours notice will suffice.)

Another great deal is a fixed-price selection featuring appetizer, entree and dessert for $26. For starters, we opt for the Crepes Recheadoes, delicate pancakes stuffed with shrimp in a mild tomato broth, then move on to the Salmão à Sousa, a generous grilled salmon fillet, and finish with what instantly becomes our favorite dessert of the season - Tarta de Amendoa - a sweet pastry base topped with a toffee-like crust of caramelized almonds.

To sweeten the pot for takeout customers O'Porto is offering a $5 gift card good toward your next meal with any takeout order now through Thanksgiving.

The restaurant is open for lunch Tuesday through Friday from noon to 2:30 p.m. Dinner is served from 5 to 10 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Sunday hours are noon to 8 p.m. O'Porto is closed on Monday. Information: www.oportohartford.com.

Finding The Real New England Lobster Roll

Futile But Tasty Quest (AP) - MASHPEE, Mass. -- Leaning back in his bar stool, the retired postmaster shook his head and jabbed a fork toward the pound of lobster and mayonnaise stuck between bread. Deprived of lobster rolls in Arizona, James Maguire III had returned to his native Massachusetts and consumed seven in almost as many days. He found the biggest and best at The Raw Bar in Mashpee.

"There's more lobster in this one than all the rest combined," he said, giddy with delight. New Englanders speak of lobster rolls with a reverence usually reserved for religion. Devoted sects squabble over the delicacy's origins, they quarrel over recipe orthodoxy and they flock to beloved seafood shacks like pilgrims to a shrine. A winding summertime journey from Connecticut to Maine spanned 250 miles, seven lobster rolls and several thousand calories. The search didn't reveal the one, undisputed lobster roll, but it uncovered some good ones.

Here's the truth: A proper New England lobster roll includes meat and bread. Everything else is negotiable. Disputes over the lobster roll outnumber the ingredients in one. Are they properly served drenched in butter or smeared with mayonnaise? Hellman's or horseradish? Lettuce or celery? And why lobster, anyway? "There is that weird irony that lobster is such an expensive ingredient and it's being served in such a pedestrian way," said Rebecca Charles, a Manhattan chef who first encountered lobster rolls while vacationing in Maine as a child.

Charles considers herself a fundamentalist. To her, a true lobster roll is cased in a toasted, Pepperidge Farm hotdog bun. It contains cold lobster chunks coated with Hellman's mayonnaise. She mixes in minced celery, salt and pepper, then adds squeezed lemon juice. Warm bread contrasts with cold meat. - complete article

New eats on Center Street...

New eating places are sprouting up and down Center Street these days. Reet Says Eat aims to try them all.

Tonic out, Popular in

‘Popular’ spot will return to downtown by Harry Kyle, The Southington Citizen

Southington’s Renaissance project was developed to bring a rebirth to the downtown business district, and its redesigned walkways, outdoor dining areas and variety of new restaurants and shops have gone a long way toward fulfilling that goal. But, in a somewhat ironic twist, the newest piece of the revival puzzle has an old connection to the central business district as it existed almost 50 years ago.

The Popular Restaurant was once one of Southington’s favorite watering holes. Located at 71 Center Street, it was started as a nickel-a-beer tavern by Horace Secondo and his wife, Edna, in 1937, and quickly became the favorite gathering place in town. The next two generations of the Secondo family carried on the tradition until 1987, when the family sold the business. It continued in operation under the same name until it was destroyed by a fire in 1991. Now a new branch of the Secondo family has come back to town, and plans to combine the mystique and charm of the old night spot with some new amenities, in the hopes of making the Popular name popular once again. complete article

The Fire Place

We ordered a couple of pies at halftime of the Giants-Eagles game, made additionally difficult because they have no website and telephone number was not available from information. So we needed two trips - one to order, another to pickup. The verdict: crust, the most important element of the pie, was almost mushy; very disappointing. We will give them another shot, but the first impression was thumbs down. Too bad, the reataurant has been nicely renovated.

Fire Place heats up Center Street By Robert C. Pollack, Record-Journal staff

SOUTHINGTON — A new, upscale pizza restaurant called The Fire Place is coming to Center Street in May, if the Zoning Board of Appeals approves a pending application for a liquor license. Frank LaRosa and John Pucci, both of Southington, are spending $120,000 to renovate the storefront at 44 Center St. — former home of Apple Annie's — with an eye to opening the new restaurant in mid-May. LaRosa said the 2,400-square-foot restaurant, which will serve both lunch and dinner, will offer pizzas of every description, including shrimp and chicken. - complete article

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...that's Renaldo's

Reet Says Eat many times over the years at Renaldo's Apizza & Pasta, where a smiling Renaldo always greets our pickup orders with a Hello, Rita. The restaurant recently received a favorable review in the Hartford Courant, which said, in part:

A dozen booths make up the simple restaurant that even on a Sunday night was hopping with patrons picking up to-go orders, and others settling in for a meal. "It doesn't look like much from the outside. It's not the Waldorf Astoria, but we have good food and decent prices," explains owner Christopher Quiroga, a former corrections officer who purchased the place from Renaldo Riccitelli about six years ago.

"Renaldo still works here and he gave me the recipes along with the place when I bought it," explained Quiroga. "We don't give out the recipes, but nearly everything we do here is from scratch." I could tell. The sauce was sweet, obviously from good products, fresh herbs and hours of simmering. Breads, including the grinder rolls, were crisp on the outside and light on the inside, indicative of homemade. - complete review

Located at 378 N. Main St., Southington, CT 860-621-6005

Emilio's for Reet's birthday (yeah, it's open)

Dimly lit, tables close together, Italian music coming from the speakers....and an owner who appears at your table to play the ACCORDIAN for you! I'm a sucker for atmosphere. WE dined out for Reet's birthday; yes, WE, the waitress included herself in our party when asking if WE were ready to order. Annoying, but well-meaning. And WE liked the reincarnation of Giovanni's very much. Jonathan claimed his lasagna was not the equal of Pagliacci's, but good. My Something-All-Emilio was a seafood mixture with spinach and a white wine sauce over linguini. Very nice. (Bonus! If you get just the right seat, you can peer across the street into Blockbuster to pick out your after-dinner flick.)

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Coming soon: Italian-style food in the old tradition By Jesse D. Smolin, Record-Journal staff

SOUTHINGTON — Emilio Gutic can feel the warmth of candles flickering on the tables, he can hear soft Italian music playing from the speakers, he can taste his homemade food as he eats with his guests and he can see his father, Mario, burst in from the kitchen to play a sonata on his accordion at Emilio's Italian Ristorante. - complete article

History's A Favorite At The Bristol Diner - Customers Eat Up Displays

by Jonathan Shugarts, Courant Staff Writer

BRISTOL -- Gary Wyrebek likes to tell a story about James Levins, who came into his diner one day. As Levins sat eating his lunch, he recognized the picture of Rochelle Oliver, Miss Bristol from 1963, that was on display above the seat in one of the booths. Wyrebek said Levins called him over to the table.

"What made you want to put this up here?" Wyrebek remembers Levins asking. "Her hair reminds me of my mother," Wyrebek responded. Levins said, "That's my wife, and I haven't seen that photo in 40 years." - complete review

Restaurant visit: Tonic

I want to like this place hidden halfway down Center Street, but it is the successor to a number of breakfast spots (Coach's, Joe's, Uncle Tony's) and, unfortunately, some ghosts remain. Originally billed as a seafood restaurant in the planning stages, the spot is now all over the place in style and cuisine. The bar (pictured here) is nicely done; high tables at the front allow you to look out onto the Center Street activity. And the rebel eyesore appliance store, Gladchuk's, has closed!!!!!

The problem is three-fold:

1. The facade is DREADFUL, not even an attempt to upgrade the tired storefront look, 
2. The main dinning area (as it is referred to on the website) is bland beyond belief; I'm all for understatement, but this is depressing, 
3. The food is....forgettable. An inexperienced server asked our 60th birthday boy how his Mahi-Mahi special was, and upon hearing that it was fine (a lie, it was mediocre), proceeded to gush that it was a new thing for the chef (he had been working on it for a month) and that Gene was the first one to have it. Wonderfully reassuring!

Suggestion: Go for drinks, appetizers and a ballgame and sit at the open front end. Hey, isn't that Johnny Gumbo walking down Center????