3 days of Connecticut Roadfood..... Day 1

Hi! Took a bus from my AC area to NYC, then a train to Stamford.
July 20th-22nd, 2008
Roadfooder "Doggydaddy" (Mark) met me at the Stamford train station.
He lives in Waterbury, CT
We ended up spending 10 hours together "Roadfooding" in his car.
DAY 1: STAMFORD to NEW HAVEN
First stop, COLONY GRILL, Stamford, CT

COLONY GRILL pizza

They are known for their "HOT OIL" pizza!



Next stop, SWANKY FRANKS, Norwalk, CT

I ordered the dogs in the middle and back left. (one fried, and one grilled) Marks is the chili dog in the back right. Although MOST Connecticut joints use the HUMMEL brand, (which I came to realize is the "State Hot Dog of Connecticut"!!!), Swanky Franks uses BOARS HEAD brand. It's a BEEF/PORK mixture. I just had a few bites of each, as I really like the taste of all beef hot dogs much better.

Mark is getting ready to squirt a little KETCHUP on his hot dog!
(NOT!!!!) He is just goofing off for the camera. He's a true hot dog guy who does NOT like ketchup on his dogs.
SWANKY FRANKS, Norwalk, Ct

I just loved their homemade mustard relish, which is on the left...
Since I'm not a big fan of pork hot dogs, Mark was more than willing to help me finish my dogs!! (it felt good to have a "helper"; this way I'm not wasting food as much as I usually do)

Here's a special map I made of the Connecticut Roadfood circle I traveled on. It was a 3 day trip.

Day 1 I spent mostly with Mark in his car. I rented a car in the evening (Day 1) in New Haven , 10 pm.
Day 2 and Day 3 I am on my own in my rental car
MUCH MORE COMING of DAY 1 (etc).... please come back!!!

Wow - I need a hot oil treatment!

Oh, this will be fun.

What exactly is a hot oil pizza? The one pictured looks great; how did it taste?

Keep on Truckin to Rhode Island!

quote:

Originally posted by signman


What exactly is a hot oil pizza? The one pictured looks great; how did it taste?

I had been wondering a bit myself, as Mark told me "The first thing we'll go for is a hot oil pizza"..
Apparently it's just a pizza that they finish off by pouring some hot oil over the top after it comes out of the oven.
After all this, we somehow forgot to tell the food server "with hot oil"...($1.50 extra), so she brought out the small pitcher of hot oil, and said it's the same thing if we do it ourself.
Actually the pizza was so juicy as it was, it really did'nt need much oil help. But I did try it both ways.

Mark described the pizza best, by saying "It's a great bar pizza".
I liked it, but not as much as the New Haven pizza I was about to experience later!!!

now this is roadfoodin'

quote:

Originally posted by pmrkr2

now this is roadfoodin'

Thanks, pmrkr2!
Much more good stuff to come! (plus Day 1 and Day 2)

I agree true roadfooding! A quest for the holy...(holy what I do not know, yet, can't wait for the next instalment!!) Thanks Ellen!!

Hot oil pizza sounds like a taste sensation I'd like to try...once....or twice....or...

I like the roadmap illustration for the roadfood roadtour.

Did you like the pizza?

Ellen - Howard beat me to the question...thanks for the answer. I had not heard of that type of pizza before either. I would generally classify myself as a topping guy...the more, the merrier.

Last night, we got pre-made dough from our local Italian store and made pizzas and grilled them. I love the char taste. We do the veggies first on the grill, sauasge in a skillet and then assemble per your individual taste. We found rectangles approximately 4 by 6 inch work best...matches our biggest spatula/flipper thing. I had pepperoni, suasage, ham, roasted red peppers, carmelized onions, roasted hot peppers and two kinds of cheese. We were out of broccoli, spinach and mushrooms. Oops, did have fresh basil from the garden on it.

Keep up the great work...I always love your reports...great pictures and a love of trying new things!

Ellen. As a RF'r you make us all proud.

I have a question that I'm sure to regret BUT..."hot oil", is it hot as in temp, spice, or both????

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty246

I have a question that I'm sure to regret BUT..."hot oil", is it hot as in temp, spice, or both????

Good question; in this case it just meant the temperature...

Here's more of DAY 1 :
South Norwalk has been transformed into a hip part of town..
JEFFS CUISINE, South Norwalk ("SONO")

Why does there seem to always be these Subway places marring my pics?
We just can't escape these Subway stores marring the beautiful "ma-pa" restaurant landscape!! (I only went in there to buy the soda)

It was cafeteria style, and the fried chicken was tender inside, but the skin suffered from the "sitting around" effect... would have been much better if it was hot and juicy. (the skin could have been crispier tasting)
Mark "helped" me again, as I gave him part of my chicken.
Jeffs was just a place we stumbled upon, not on our "schedule".
Half the fun for me is the unexpected sights.

hip South Norwalk

Former location of JJ Donovans (supposedly real good burgers)
Now it's a Bulldogs restaurant

We "inspected" the Burger Bar, but did'nt partake

Next stop STEW LEONARDS, a big supermarket known for their own homemade dairy products, and a huge hot foods/prepared foods section.
They even had a spot where they were making homemade potato chips
NORWALK, CT (there are also 2 other locations, in Danbury and Yonkers

Mark and I each take our turn ringing the COW-BELL!
inside STEW LEONARDS, Norwalk, CT

Mark looks espescially thrilled to be ringing the bell, huh?!?
(he's like "Why is Ellen making me pose for this picture?!?"

Plenty of fresh ground meat to pick from

I bought some homemade choc. chip ice cream, fried chicken, and cream cheese poppers. Sat at the picnic tables outside, where the Stew Leonards snack bar is. Mark was pretty stuffed, but he managed to help me out a little with the ice cream, anyway!

Around 7 pm, Mark took me to the New Haven airport where I was going to rent my car. After I got my car rented, and got situated, we just used one car to explore downtown New Haven.
Our final stop of the day 9:30 pm, Sunday,
SALLY'S PIZZA, New Haven, CT



The verdict was that I LOVED New Haven pizza!!! (much more than I expected to, BURNT crust and all! (it all just blended in together SO well!!!!) (like a good toasted cheese crisp taste) YUM!


Mark took me back to my rental car around 10:30 pm, and I checked into the Holiday Inn in North Haven. ($65 plus tax, thru priceline.com

-end of DAY 1 --
please come back for DAY 2 and 3 reports!

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty246

I have a question that I'm sure to regret BUT..."hot oil", is it hot as in temp, spice, or both????

Thanks Ellen. I was thinking that if it was "hot" as in say red pepper flake infused I would really enjoy that, but if it's just temp I would probably do without it. That speck of I guess sauce? on the bottle kinda through me off.

South Norwalk hip? My, how things have changed.

Roadfood Goddess Ellen,

Enjoying the pictures; especially the hot dog ones. Hope there are more to come. Connecticut is one of the finest states in the country for hot dogs. And Roadfood in general.

Nice report, and I have to add that you sure get to meet a lot of good looking men!

quote:

Originally posted by Greymo

Nice report, and I have to add that you sure get to meet a lot of good looking men!

And Clover!

Very glad you liked the New Haven pizza.

We'll need you to help defend us when a picture is posted and folks who never had the pleasure start berating it ...

Great start as usual Ellen. I've had the Colony Grill Hot Oil pizza one time, like you did with the oil on the side. The pizza was great, but my impression is that pizza in general is oily enough, and doesn't need added oil. After one slice that way we finished the rest without adding it.

Looking forward to days 2 and 3 as I'm planning a similar trip from NJ in the fall. Your maps look like my maps. Half the fun is planning these things. (Well, maybe not half the fun, but some of the fun anyway). ---Ken

quote:

Originally posted by wheregreggeats.com

Very glad you liked the New Haven pizza.
We'll need you to help defend us when a picture is posted and folks who never had the pleasure start berating it ...

I'm just glad I gave that New Haven pizza a shot, cause I liked it way more than I thought I would. (their burnt crust somehow just fits in nice)

The Colony Pizza was good, but just did'nt do that much for me, not compared to the New Haven pizza, anyway. New Haven pizza got me much mor excited.

quote:

Originally posted by John Fox

Roadfood Goddess Ellen,

Enjoying the pictures; especially the hot dog ones. Hope there are more to come. Connecticut is one of the finest states in the country for hot dogs. And Roadfood in general.

John, I've got more HOT DOGS for you!! Please come back for Day 2 and Day 3 Trip Reports!

quote:

Originally posted by Greymo

Nice report, and I have to add that you sure get to meet a lot of good looking men!

Seems to go with the territory...
Roadfood guys are "real men" !!

Ellen, you write a really nice Roadfood report!

I am glad you got to see Stew Leonard's. After we moved here, it was one place I took my parents, and they were facinated. About the only thing you missed was coffee an, which would have taken a little bit of a detour, but not much. Glad you liked our state. I hope you got some ice cream in, other than Stew's.

Ellen:

While you're in the area, you ought to see if you can find a place that does linguica pizza (sorry, I don't know CT well enough). It is heaven-sent. If all else fails the local markets will have linguica near their hot dogs and you can take some home. Good with all sorts of things...and all by itself!

Ellen that New Haven pizza looked damn close to perfect for me...love that burnt,crusty crust!!!!!