Things to Do in New Haven

New Haven is known for its restaurants, especially the delicious, authentic Thai cuisine and dozens of pizzerias. Visitors can enjoy a broadway play at the Shubert Theater, take in a film festival movie at York Square Cinemas, and walk the old campus of Yale. The Yale bookstore (a Barnes and Noble) has a large selection of books and Yale gifts and a cafe. There are charming neighborhood restaurants and bars near Yale that offer all kinds of atmospheres - from the busy student crowd to the quiet professor-type crowd.

Quick Tips:

New Haven was a bit overwhelming for us at first. Two crowded highways, I-95 and I-91, meet here, and left exits and one-way streets abound. There is some shopping downtown, but the shops tend to be more expensive speciality shops like Anne Taylor. The closest mall is down I-95 South in Milford, about a ten minute drive.

We have enjoyed the dining downtown, and word of mouth has served us well. Chapel Street is home to most of the Thai restaurants and a few hotels. The weekend days are the best time to walk Chapel and people-watch, as well as have a nice lunch. Saturday nights can get a bit...loud, with a lot of car traffic and more interesting characters screeming in the streets. We don't feel as safe then, so we choose to go during the day.

The city is depressingly grey and cold during the winter, with one or two significant snowfalls per year. The summers are mild, with only the occasional day in the 90s.

Best Way To Get Around:

Walking the Yale campus is great, and there are many restaurants, theaters, and stores within walking distance of the campus. But having a car pays off if you would like to explore the rest of New Haven. New Haven, like any city, has every type of neighborhood. Even in the poorest ones (Dixwell Ave and Whalley Ave are examples), I have never had a problem driving through. Basically, driving is recommended beyond the Yale campus and the downtown shopping/theater area. But that is true of most cities.

There is a Yale transit bus that runs all day and hits all of the major Yale spots. Non-students can ride for free most of the time, but will occasionally be asked for .35 if they don't have a student ID. This is a safe and efficient way to get from place to place on campus. New Haven also has an extensive bus system, but I have never used it myself. Parking can be difficult in the downtown area, and most meters only take quarters.

This little Thai place is a great find. It has deep purple carpet and lighter purple wallpaper, and it's best described as "quaint." There are flowers and tea lights on the tables, and the servers are quiet, well-spoken, and quick to please. If you order hot tea, you'll receive Thai tea that has an orange flavor and a thin slice of lemon on the side - excellent!

I've been here twice, and both times I've ordered the Pad Thai. It is a large plate of noodles in excellent sauce and served with sliced nuts, chicken, and sprouts. This dish is so delicious that I can always finish off the entire plate (did I mention that it's large?). My husband had the spicy noodle, which was in a spicy red sauce and was also very good. And two can eat easily for $15 at lunch. It's a nice way to take someone out for lunch without spending a lot of money. And the dishes are very filling. This restaurant was where I first tried Thai cuisine, and I am definitely hooked. Their hours are 11:30AM - 10PM DAILY. On the weekends they are open until 10:30PM.

This bar is a neighborhood delight. It's a bit small, but does have two separate seating areas in addition to the bar. There are several TV sets which show a variety of programs in this dimly lit restaurant. During happy hour there are free snacks and cheap beer. There is a surprisingly large menu with all types of sandwiches, and the burgers are excellent. If you're looking for an inexpensive dinner with a local atmosphere, this is the place. During breaks, Archie Moore's is filled with locals, professors, and older students. During the school year you can expect a mixed crowd. Oh, and the fries here are great! To get here, take Whitney Avenue away from Yale until you hit Willow, and turn right. The bar will be on the right several blocks down.

We have tried several seafood restaurants in the New Haven area, and this one takes the cake. We went during the evening, so we didn't have the delight of seeing the ocean view right outside our window. The waitress was especially nice, but she kept debating on whether or not to check our ID's when we ordered wine. It was really amusing. In the end she didn't, I guess she didn't want to inconvenience us. I ordered the stuffed shrimp, and I have never had stuffed shrimp this good! The filling was smooth and rich and completely delicious. There were only three of the shrimp though, so I was a bit disappointed when they arrived. But they were so good and so large that I could only eat two of them. The wine here was also excellent. My husband ordered a fried seafood platter, and it was piled HIGH with several types of seafood. He said that everything tasted very fresh, so fresh in fact, that he ate too much and hasn't ordered fried seafood since! They also have yummy desserts here. I had one, cannot remember which one, but I just remember loving it and not being able to finish it.

If you'd like to enjoy the ocean view, try this restaurant for lunch. In the evening, the lights are dimmed and it's a bit romantic, even though some of the regular customers dressed more casual than we did. To get here, take I-95 North from New Haven to exit 51. At the second stop light, turn right and head toward the beach. After 2.5 miles, make a left on Cosey Beach Ave. The restaurant is at the end of the road.

Overall Rating: 7.8

Having recently returned from Italy, we have become pretty tough critics of Italian food in the States. We were pleasantly surprised by Scoozzi's. It is a large restauarant for New Haven, and it was full on Friday night. There were small candles on the tables and modern murals of food on the walls. There were all types of people there, and it was a bit loud for a nice restaurant.

The atmosphere and feel of this trattoria may be American, but the menu is incredibly Italian. They have a very broad selection of wines. Jason had an Italian red, and I had an Italian blush, and both were excellent. The menu is set up just like the Italian ones, and we started off with the salad of the night. It was made of fresh spinach leaves with red lettuce, blue cheese, and a lemon dressing. It was one of the most unique salads I've had, and we both loved it.

Jason's entree was the seafood stew, which wasn't really a stew at all. It was a selection of the largest and freshest seafood we've had in New Haven, stewing in a bit of cheesy tomato sauce. Jason ate it until he could eat no more. I had a very different dish, pork loin chops cooked with cherries. The pork chops were actually tender, very tender. A bite fell off of the bone when I first cut into it. The taste, as I mentioned, was a very creative one, but I enjoyed it. My pork came with potato ravioli that did not taste American at all and was *very* filling.

We decided to sample the desserts even though we were full, and the tiramisu was obviously Scoozzi's own interpretation. It looked like three scoops of ice cream on a plate, and it even had ice cream consistency. It was a bit too sweet for my taste. Jason had chocolate and hazlenut gelati which was encased in a cruchy chocolate shell. He ate every bite, even though he didn't think he could eat any. Overall, we would definitely recommend this restauraunt. We would also recommend trying something that you wouldn't find at the chain restaurants. These dishes are delicious!

Ratings 1-10 (10 is "divine" and 0 is "despicable")
AVERAGE: Food 8, Atmosphere 6.5, Service 9
Jason: Food 8, Atmosphere 6, Service 8
Mary: Food 8, Atmosphere 7, Service 10

Lots of windows and open spaces, a huge stairway with a white banister, and beautiful blue decorative ceilings mark your entrance to Hot Tomatoes. In fact, it was the look of the place that sent me back one day with my husband to try the food.

A great time to try Hot Tomatoes is about 2pm on a weekday. The lunch crowd is gone, and you'll receive personal service with a smile. The atmosphere here is much more spacious than that of many New Haven restaurants, with mirrors, high ceilings and windows that line College Street. Even on the busy street, it was quiet enough inside to feel virtually alone.

Their selection of martinis is mind-boggling. Jason tried the key lime, and I tried one with strawberry and lemonade. Both were delicious, and you'll notice that the cost of $8 each isn't on the menu.

For lunch, I had the panini with applewood bacon and cheese. It was a step above the average sandwich, cooked on thick white bread with a little butter. The side dish of tomato bisque was my favorite part of the meal, and it blended perfectly with the panini. Jason isn't a soup person, so he wasn't overly impressed. But I thought the flavor and spices were just perfect, and the fresh taste of the tomato was the best part.

Jason had the Torte Rose, which is cheese tortellini in a light cream sauce with sausage, mushroom, tomato and spinach. For a sausage fan, this dish is delightful and reminded me of some of the dishes we had in Italy. It wasn't too heavy, so it's just right for lunch or dinner.

We splurged and tried dessert, when we also sampled a couple of different drinks. Jason had a martini with espresso and vanilla, and I had a coffee with Irish cream and Godiva chocolate. Mine was mellow and smooth, while Jason's packed a definite punch. The sugar stick was needed in his! We also tried the Hot Tomatoes Ice Cream Sandwich, which is homemade chocolate brownie surrounding coffee gelato. It's not a dense chocolate dish, which are my favorite, but we enjoyed the flavor and finished it off. When we asked to take home a few leftovers, the waitress gave us an additional side dish to take with us.

We'll be returning to this restaurant for the atmosphere, service, and the delicious food.

There are four Thai restaurants in this area of New Haven, and Thai Taste is our long-time favorite. We often walk down the steps below street level into this unique atmosphere for the best Thai noodles around. The staff is noticeably quiet, but friendly, and we've never had to wait very long for a table.

For the perfect dining experience, start out with the Thai sampler and order a Thai iced tea. The tea is a special blend and includes cream and loads of sugar, but it's delicious! The best main courses here are the noodles, and we have tried them all. If you don't like spicy dishes, try the Pad Thai. The thin noodles have a scrumptious consistency, and the peanut sauce is just a little sweet. For a spicier meal, try the Spicy Noodle or the Drunken Noodle. Jason and I both order the Drunken Noodle the most, basically for the thick rice noodles that are cooked in a chili sauce that you'll find nowhere else. We've tried to duplicate it using every "Drunkard's Noodles" recipe on the internet and we haven't come close. For dessert, there is a great selection of ice cream, including fried vanilla, ginger, coconut, and pistachio.

If you're in New Haven, you've just go to try Thai Taste. It is, by far, the restaurant we've most frequented in the last six years, and we've taken every friend and family member who's visited.

We saw the play "Art" here, which was touring after it had been on Broadway. We had balcony seats, almost nosebleed seats, but we could hear and see everything perfectly. The acoustics were great. The theater itself is very nice, the seats comfortable, and the attendants friendly and helpful. Definitely see what's playing here when you are in town. Each season they offer a variety of shows, from concerts to musicals, operas, and plays. And you may catch a great Broadway show like we did. We took my mother as a surprise gift, and it worked out really well.

We had a very bad experience at this theater. They were showing a Shakespearian play. I cannot even remember the name of the play, I've tried to block it out. Anyway, they had modernized Shakespeare's work. The actors were in modern-day situations but were using Shakepeare's script. They also added a lot to the play, including complete nudity, actual male urination on the stage, and sex acts. We left after about ten minutes. We tried to give the play a chance, but after seeing all of the above in ten minutes, we chose to leave. We were not alone, either. We encountered another couple leaving in the stairwell who said, "We hope that you can somehow have a good evening after THAT."

I would recommend that those interested in seeing a play here check out the nature of the play first. I am sure that they do some excellent shows, but ours was a waste of a lot of money.

This theater is unique, because it runs movies that most theaters pass over. They are more "artsy" films, films that have won awards in film festivals all over the world. We have enjoyed every movie that we've seen here. They even have movie descriptions and recommendations on their answering machine. This is a theater with a personal touch. You get the feeling that the owner hand-picks the movies. Oh, and admission here is cheaper than at the other theaters in town, and there is free coffee in the lobby.

This is a great coffee bar. You'll find students here, some slaving over their school work, others relaxing with friends and coffee. They have live performances on the weekends, usually a singer with a guitar. The desserts here are excellent, and there is quite a selection. It's just a fun place to see all kinds of people and to enjoy the company of friends. It does get crowded and loud sometimes, but if you're with a group, that just adds to the fun.

This video store is AMAZING! If you are in New Haven and want to rent movies, this is THE place to go. They have a huge selection of foreign and specialty films. And the people who work there actually have recommendation stickers that they place on the movies that they enjoyed. It's the perfect way to get someone's opinion on a movie before you rent it. The staff is also very friendly, and they know movies. You don't find any of these features at most video stores. There are also DVDs, video games, and audio books to rent, as well as CDs and specialty chocolates to purchase.

This aquarium is well-known in Connecticut, so I was a little surprised at the limited number of exhibits. The only creatures that were in outdoor displays were the beautiful beluga whales, sea lions, and penguins. The rest of the sea life were indoors in smaller aquariums - small fish, jellyfish, and turtles. There were a couple of feeding and educational shows that we missed, because we arrived later in the afternoon. It only took us about an hour to see everything here.

Shortly after our visit to this aquarium, I went to Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, SC. I was shocked that they charged about the same fee and had much more to see. We traveled through a glass cave with great whites over our heads and saw massive aquariums full of incredibly colorful fish. That experience seemed much more worth the money. But as far as aquariums in Connecticut, Mystic is the place to go.

Visit their website for more information.