Food Everybody Likes: Would you like dinner with your drink?

I love coffeehouses and wineries. Whenever I'm in a coffeehouse, I get the urge to pontificate about history, politics, religion, philosophy, literature...it's like just smelling the coffee in the air automatically makes one more intellectual. Or trying to be intellectual, anyways! In a winery, looking out at a gorgeous view of the vineyard, I can just relax, take a deep breath, and enjoy the finer things in life.

However, coffeehouses and wineries don't always have incredible food. Here are a couple of places that combine the best of both worlds: amazing food and special drinks. These restaurants are definitely not places where you can just order water with your meal.

Uncorked Wine Bar, West Hartford: http://www.uncorkedct.com/

The food (and drink): This is high cuisine at its finest. For dinner, I had the parmesan encrusted organic French chicken. It was arranged beautifully on the plate, the chicken on top of a delicious polenta and topped with glazed carrots. Around all of it was a gravy-like veloute sauce. The chicken was cooked perfectly, and my favorite part of it was the parmesan skin. I felt like this was a dish you would find on Next Food Network Star or Chopped! Kevin had the roast leg of duck, with haricots vert (fancy small green beans). The wine was paired well with the meals as well. My favorite tasting was a red wine from Italy. I always used to like white wine better than red, but I think that's because I usually have local (CT and Finger Lakes, NY) wines. White wines are more suited for cold regions like these. Trying the Italian red wine, though, made me think that I had just never had a good enough red wine before! Finally, we ended the meal with a decadent dessert: chocolate lava cake. It was like a brownie, but more moist and filled in the middle with molten chocolate sauce--a chocoholic's dream.

The vibe: It was a small, fairly intimate restaurant, with a chic bar area and a sit-down restaurant area. It was modern and "cool," and I was very impressed by the attentive service. This restaurant is definitely a classy addition to West Hartford Center.

The value: Although expensive, we got a great deal from LivingSocial. In addition, most of the wine tastings range from $2-$10 for one oz., so you can try a few different wines at affordable prices.

Go for: A romantic date!


Tisane Euro-Asian Cafe, Hartford: www.mytisane.com/

The food (and drinks): This cafe features a fusion of Asian and European flavors, as well as an extensive and exotic tea and coffee list. They have a variety of flatbreads, burgers, and noodle bowls. I've had their Pad Thai, which is perhaps not as authentic as at a Thai restaurant, but just as tasty. The real stars here, though, are the drinks. They have all kinds of tea, easily organized and classified on their menu: black, white, green, oolong, rooibos, herbal. The tea comes in your own personal teapot and stays warm for your whole meal. My favorite is the spicy masala chai.

The vibe: Very bohemian and artsy.

The value: The tea is a great value, and the meals are less expensive than most regular restaurants in the area but more expensive than usual for cafes. Tisane is part of Taste of Hartford so go this week if you can!

Go for: Meetup with friends or downtime on your own with a good book

In Season: Taste of Hartford

For the next week and a half, from August 1st to August 14th, something very special is going on in Hartford. At 27 participating restaurants, you can get a three course meal (appetizer, main, and dessert) for only $23! The menus are special ones created just for the Taste of Hartford. You can check out most of the menus online. This is an especially good deal if the restaurant is expensive enough that it would normally cost you over $23 for a meal. Fine dining on the cheap!

Here are some of the participating restaurants:

Agave Grill: Mexican

Black Eyed Sally's: BBQ

Costa del Sol: Spanish

Coyote Flaco: Mexican (I've been here)

Feng Asian Bistro: Expensive! Asian Fusion

The Half Door: Irish Pub

O'Porto: Expensive! Portuguese (I really want to go here)

Tisane Euro-Asian Cafe: Great fusion dishes and exotic coffees and teas (I've been here and I will be reviewing it later)

So, who's up for it?

Cuisine: Indian

As with Thai, I didn't try Indian food until I studied abroad in England. Due to Great Britain's colonial past in India, they have some of the best Indian in the world. In fact, the UK's national dish is chicken tikka masala (supposedly invented in Scotland). That says a lot about how amazing Indian food is...or how bad British food is!

Indian has the reputation for being spicy, and it often is. I'll never forget the time in Inverness, Scotland when I ordered chicken vindaloo. The waiter gave me a dubious look and said, "Why don't you try chicken korma instead?" Not being very adventurous at that point, I took his advice. It was still delicious--but one of the milder Indian curries.

Indian cuisine is also incredibly diverse, just as much as American regional cuisines. I don't claim to be an expert, but I do know that Indian dishes use delightful spices of cumin, turmeric, cardamom, chai masala, and many others. Basmati rice is a aromatic alternative to boring, plain brown rice.

There are many wonderful Indian restaurants right here in the States. Here are a few:

Taste of India, West Hartford: http://www.tasteofindiawh.com/index.htm

The food: I love their tikka masala (ginger, garlic, yogurt, tomatoes, and cream). Just the right blend of spices, and not so overpowering that you can't savor the taste. Dishes come with rice but don't forget to order garlic naan (unleavened bread baked in a clay oven) to scoop up that last bit of sauce.

The vibe: A small place, nicely decorated.

The value: Check out their specials! The lunch buffet has a wide variety of offerings and is a reasonable price for the amount of food.

Go for: Family dinner, lunch buffet


Masala, Hartford: http://www.masalafinedining.com/

The food: We went for the lunch buffet, so we tried a bit of everything. It was all good, though I still like Taste of India's buffet better. What sticks out most in my mind was the dessert, kheer (Indian pudding). It was the first time I'd tried it.

The vibe: Very hip, cool, a bit bohemian. It felt much more modern than most Indian restaurants seem to be.

The value: Slightly more expensive since it's in the city, but still much cheaper than most restaurants are.

Go for: Lunch with coworkers


Utsav Indian Cuisine, Vernon: http://www.utsavcuisine.com/ (ignore the garish website, because this restaurant is actually quite good!)

The food: This was the first Indian restaurant I went to in the U.S. Let's just say, I was not prepared for how spicy some of the food would be, particularly my friend's rogan josh (lamb curry)! But it's nice that here you can specify to your waiter how spicy you'd like your dish to be.

The vibe: Well, it was a long time ago, so I'm afraid I don't quite remember! But I have to give a shout-out to the waiters because when I was here with a large group of friends (many who were new to Indian food) they were nice enough to give us free samples of appetizers to try.

The value: Pretty standard prices.

Go for: First time Indian


What are some other good Indian places, either in CT or further afield?