This Weekend: Hartford Harvest Farmer's Market

How about them tomatoes?

Saturday November 17th 10am-1pm inside the Knox Parks Greenhouse at 75 Laurel St.

Wouldn't you love to be able to do most of your Thanksgiving shopping at one place, all while supporting CT farmers and vendors? Well, Hartford's Farmers' Markets have been working hard to make that wish come true by organizing the 2nd Annual Hartford Harvest Farmers' Market!
Come to this fun and festive market where you'll find potatoes, apples, pumpkins, carrots, greens, eggs, a variety of cheeses, coffee, pies, cupcakes, gelato, beans, rice, and great craft items! A true "one stop shop" for your Thanksgiving dinner!

West Hartford Week: Goldberg's

One might get the impression we aren't fans of West Hartford. One wouldn't be entirely mistaken. With it's lily white population, businesses carefully tailored to liberal upper-middle (and upper) class sensibilities hocking overpriced items no one needs, and outside shopping area that feels as genuine as The Bachelor contestants, West Hartford provides more than enough fodder for even the most amateur of jesters to poke fun at.

An "Irish pub" with gleaming wood an electronic clock counting down to the six month mark of St. Patty's Day? A plate of pork tacos for $22? Hell, at least the inside of The Cheesecake Factory looks like a Temple of Doom Epcot ride. It's all very, very authentic.

The Best I Ever Had......

During the late 90's, Hakaan and Pete Sopersata relentlessly cruised Hartford's in search of the perfect sandwich. From dive to deli to bistro, we found many quality sandwiches, yet we never did find a sandwich that we would crown Best In Hartford. Always a flaw was to be found, too much lettuce, too much sauce, sloppily construction, marginal bread. Always some detail was overlooked.

We never anointed a best sandwich, and while the best bread in the area today can be found at Hartford Baking Company, the best bread we ever had was discovered on this sandwich quest at the long defucnt Salvatore's on Wethersfield Ave.

Hartford's Best Sandwich (& Salad)?

Last week we mentioned Le Petit Chef as one of our favorite spots to grab lunch in Hartford. We've made a handful of visits to Le Petit over the last few months and we can say that it currently holds the title for serving the Best Sandwich In Hartford. Operated by a French gentleman who claims to have "never had McDonald's," Le Petit features an extensive sandwich menu and from our experience you can't go wrong with any. Two of our favorites have been a roast beef with brie and bacon (?!??!?!?) and roast chicken with avocado.

Sad City's Guide To Quick Downtown Lunch

You've just landed a job in downtown Hartford. Most likely you don't live downtown, Possibly you aren't familiar with your eating options at all. You've got one hour before you have to get back to ascending the career ladder, you don't want to waste it and have a crappy lunch, but at the same time, you can't afford to be gone too long lest your boss be checking in. So where do you go? Well head on over to the always handy Sad City Guide section of course. 


Without further ado and not to be confused with our previous Guide To Lunch published in a galaxy far, far away, we present the Sad City Guide To Quick Downtown Lunch!

Sad City Tries A Blood Sausage

Blood sausage is one of those foods that not only has a disgusting name, but it's also gross to look at. To further complicate matters, blood sausage is not only a disgusting title for food, it precisely describes what it is, and the idea of eating a sausage of blood is kind of a turn off. Also if, like us, you have seen the "how blood sausage is made" segment on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations you might be further turned off.

Despite the gross name and appearance, we've heard people rave about the blood sausage and with the Dominican place at El Mercado serving it up, we knew the time to try it had come.

Historical Hartford Farmer's Markets

The original Lucky Taco truck!

We were recently contacted by Dan Gregory who works Hartford Food System and wanted to share some newly unearthed photographs of old Hartford Farmer's Markets with us. Most of these great pics date back to the 1970's and 1980's. Ahhh, the styles, the fashions. Who wouldn't have loved to be coming of age in the 70's and 80's? Well except for that whole lack of iPhones and instantaneous connectivity to almost any information you could possibly want. Still it had to be great to live at a time where you could impress girls by playing Asteroids, cigarettes didn't make you a social pariah, and the Mets were relevant. Just think of the joys and triumphs ahead for 1980's wunderkinds Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, and Mike Tyson.

Burgers Abound

Recently we found ourselves in conversation about grapefruits, a fruit we enjoy, but noted that the grapefruit doesn't seem to enjoy much popularity with the under 60 crowd and remarked that it was not an in fashion food. The discussion then shifted to what foods were in fashion. We came up with bacon, avocados, berries, and burgers. Burgers and hot dogs are often viewed as the quintessential American foods, and while the popularity of the burger has never really waned, the last couple years have seen a burger renaissance with successful restaurants serving up burgers as never before imagined.

Sad City's Guide To West End Pizza

If there is one food in America that appeals to almost everyone across all ages, it's pizza. You'd be hard pressed to find a town, no matter how small, that didn't have at least one pizza place. Pizza also comes in a massive array of types, quality levels, sizes, and, often most importantly, toppings. While Hartford certainly doesn't have the pizza heritage of its sister city New Haven, it can certainly boast of its share of quality pizza joints. Seeing as how trying all of them, or anywhere even close to that would take forever, (not to mention drastic weight gain and the onset of diabetes) Sad City has decided to break down Hartford's pizza options by neighborhood.

Another El Mercado Gem

Last week when we wrote about our travels to Philly and the awesomeness of the Reading Terminal Market, we opined that every city should be so lucky to have such an incredible market. While it has been well documented that Sad City is a huge fan of El Mercado on Park Street, we aren't going to get all Hartford cheerleader silly and claim that El Mercado is anywhere on par with the Reading Terminal Market, but it's adding more great restaurants and is really a great place to get Latino food.

While most of our dining at El Mercado has been at the Mexican restaurant with the occasional stop at the Dominican restaurant, we had noticed that El Mercado has added a Peruvian and Columbian restaurant. This weekend we tried out the fairly new Peruvian restaurant Autentico Sabor Peruano (Authentic Peruvian Flavor). It's an impressive and varied menu but one item in particular made our decision a no-brainer; ceviche.

Sad City Travels: Philly; Helen Ubinas Edition

Yes please!

A few weeks ago we visited Philadelphia. Just a few days later Sad City friend and former Hartford Courant  columnist Helen Ubinas announced that she had relocated and was working in Philadelphia. Over the weekend Helen announced that she was making her first visit to our favorite part of Philly, the Reading Street Terminal Market. In our experience this is hands down, the best food market we have ever visited.

Sad City Visits A Russian Bazaar

Who doesn't need some nicely decorated wooden eggs?

Anytime we hear the word "bazaar" we are in. It just seems to add an aura of mystery and excitement that "swap meet" or "flea market" just don't convey. Bazaar just seems so exotic, even more so when it's a Russian Bazaar. So when we saw signs for the Russian Bazaar at a church on Scarborough Street, we knew it was a no-brainer Sad City visit.

The Joy Of

First we know; soda is really, really bad for you. Yet at the same time a nice cold Coca-Cola can taste really, really good. Sadly the older one gets, the more "bad for you" stuff has to be given up. Steak becomes chicken, salami becomes turkey, soda becomes unsweetened ice tea and cigarettes are just completely out the window. Yet living in Hartford, we have found a loophole to our no soda edict; the wonderful Mexican Coca-Cola.

Hartford Food Guy Reviews: Trinity Restaurant

The Hartford Food Guy reviews Trinity Restaurant, which by all accounts seems like a real Sad City type of place.  Super bonus points for the retro Enjoy Sprite sign.

When I blogged about Pho Boston, a reader suggested that I try the Trinity Restaurant on Zion Street. I put it on my HFG to do list, but I never got around to it, probably because Mrs. HFG and I left for London 3 weeks later and things got crazy when we got back.

A couple of weeks ago, however, a friend told me that he and his girlfriend had been there for dinner and loved it. No doubt seeking to latch on to the rising fame and fortune of the HFG (:p) he offered to go back with me so I could check it out.

Peta Hates KFC

On Sunday afternoon we noticed someone on the street with a sign, always an indication that we need to stop and find out what is going on.  The issue of the day was KFC, or more accurately, KFC's suppliers treatment of chickens.  During the brief chat with this animal activist we were given a couple brochures featuring celebrities as diverse as Pamela Anderson and Paul McCartney speaking out against KFC's suppliers treatment of chickens. In all honesty, we were just surprised to find out that KFC actually uses real chickens.

The Hartford Food Guy: Salute

The Hartford Food Guy returns to review Salute, a fine restaurant located at 100 Trumbull St. in downtown. 


Salute is an unusual restaurant. It is neither an old-school Italian restaurant like Carbone's or Francesco's in the South End, nor is it a more modern Italian restaurantlike Spris or Peppercorn's Downtown. It certainly doesn't have the old-school feel, nor does it have on the menu most of the classic dishes you'd associate with traditional Italian-American cooking. It also doesn't have the ultra-chic vibe or the cutting-edge cuisine you'd associate with the newer breed of Italian restaurants.

Hartford Food Guy Reviews: Woody's

We've written about our fondness for Woody's before in our Sad City Lunch Guide, but with baseball Opening Day (and a snowstorm) upon us we thought it would be appropriate to have the Hartford Food Guy give us a real in depth review of Hartford's favorite hot dog spot.

On another Opening Day note, Mr. Trophy, a Hartford business for 50 years has agreed to sponsor with two trophies the Sad City Fantasy Baseball Championship which features Councilman Cotto, Chion Wolf, CT Law Blogger's Ryan, J.Mac from HPSU, Jumper, and Hakaan playing against Sad City readers for the title.

With games slated to start at 1, Woody's might be a great place to grab a dog and see the first pitch today.

Hartford Business: La Fonda Restaurant

While cruising the South End and looking for an adventurous lunch spot a few we came upon and decided on La Fonda, a Colombian restaurant located at 269 Franklin Ave. Our criteria for picking La Fonda were simple; we hadn't been there and there was an open parking spot right outside. As soon as we walked inside we were pleasantly surprised at how nice the place was and how it was busy even though it was about 2PM on a Sunday afternoon.

Tamarind Bar & Grill

The Hartford Food Guy returns with a review of Tamarind Bar & Grill. 


We are lucky to have more than one good Thai restaurant in the area from which we can choose. That said, and with no disrespect to the East West Grill on New Park Ave in Elmwood (which is really, really good), my wife and I are partial to Tamarind Grill on Pratt Street in Downtown. In fact, this review is long overdue because my wife and I go there a lot (and we also get delivery from there pretty regularly) and we have had many, many delicious meals.

The Polytechnic On20

The Hartford Food Guy returns with a review of a The Polytechnic On20; perhaps Hartford's fanciest restaurant.

We can't say we have been there and probably the only way we are going to be getting in the door is to apply for a dishwashing job (which at the rate things are going one of us might be doing in the near future) so we really can't throw our two cents in on this one. We'll let the Hartford Food Guy take it over from here.