Spring 2017 New Haven Restaurant Week at Tarry Lodge
I love that so many towns hold restaurant weeks twice a year, especially when it's in the spring when the days get longer and your mood elevates with all the sunshine to come! This spring, the 2017 New Haven Restaurant Week returned from Sunday April 2nd through Friday April 7th.
This year over 30 of downtown New Haven's ethnically diverse restaurants featured a two course $17 for lunch and a three course $34 prix fixe menu for dinner.
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| Tarry Lodge 2017 Spring "Restaurant Week" Menu |
Restaurants that participated offered a multi-course, prix fixe menu. For lunch it was an appetizer and an entree and for dinner it typically consisted of an appetizer, entrée and dessert. Great idea for a two course lunch (instead of the usual 3-course lunch) because three courses for lunch can be a bit too much, especially when you have to return for the afternoon work day!
The year we had a pretty hectic week at work so I couldn't break away for an off-campus lunch with work mates, and the cowboy and I couldn't coordinate a night earlier in the week so, Gayle and I decided to get together for a girls night and make reservations for Friday night at Tarry Lodge. This was actually my first time dining at Tarry Lodge, in spite of the fact that both Gayle and I used to baby sit for the Executive Chef, Sam (Samantha) Moore -- AND we had stopped there multiple times for New Haven's Wine Crawl - Flights of Fancy!
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| Tarry Lodge Interior Note: This picture is from a different date - the night we stopped for New Haven Restaurant Week it was PACKED |
It was great going downtown on a Friday night - and I was pleasantly surprised to see A LOT of traffic and busy restaurants - a great sign that our New Haven community is alive and well and booming!
Tarry Lodge serves classic Italian fare and is operated by the Batali / Bastianich group. Yep, that one, consisting of Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, Andy Nusser and Nancy Selzer– the team behind the VERY successful Tarry Lodge Restaurants in Westport CT and Port Chester NY.
Cozy seating, a bit too cozy for me with close seating to maximize square footage, and ambient lighting, the restaurant pays homage to Yale's New Haven roots with a bronze bulldog statue of Handsome Dan, the Yale mascot.
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| Handsome Dan - Yale Bulldog Mascot |
Tarry Lodge offers an impressive wine list and menu that includes house-made pasta, fritti and meats cooked over a grill. The restaurant’s pizza bar is wrapped around an oven crafted by Valoriani, the storied family operation that has constructed ovens outside of Florence since 1890. (Tarry Lodge, 2017, About Us)
We settled in at our table and began to peruse the menu over a deliciously tart Bellini
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| Bellini |
Oh, and the bread! Tarry Lodge serves up some delicious peasant bread with olive oil for dipping.
Now let's move on to our Prix Fixe dining!
First Course: Antipasti at Tarry Lodge New Haven
Gayle went with the Tarry Greens with White Bean Vinaigrette and I selected the Funghi Arancini with Truffle Aioli.
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| Funghi Arancini with Truffle Aioli at Tarry Lodge |
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| Tarry Greens with White Bean Vinaigrette |
Entree Course: Secondi at Tarry Lodge New Haven
For our entree's Gayle selected the Eggplant alla Parmigiana and I went with the Black Fettuccine with Rock Shrimp and Chorizo Sausage.
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| Tarry Lodge Eggplant Parmigiana Black Fettuccine |
Both were equally delicious, the eggplant had just a hint of crispness and the the Fettuccine had a nice heat from the chorizo sausage.
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| Black Fettuccine with Rock Shrimp and Chrorizo Sausage |
Third Course: Dolci
Believe it or not we had room for dessert. Gayle went for the Butterscotch Budino, a custard like rum pudding with a deep butterscotch flavor that hit your taste buds amazingly well and lingered on for a delicious way to end the night! I went with the Olive Oil Soft Serve Ice Cream drizzled with Honey and Candied Pistachios, equally delicious!
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| Tarry Lodge - Desserts Budino Top Left - Soft Serve Bottom Right |
Don't let the sound of Olive Oil soft serve 'scare' you off, it's a delicate rich addition to the soft serve ice cream that actually enhances the vanilla flavor of the dish.
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| Tarry Lodge - Olive Oil Soft Serve |
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Tarry Lodge! Chef Sam was able to come out and say hello for a moment and gifted us with some 'babysitter' biscotti to take home! Thanks Sam!!
Take advantage of the special menus at a restaurant week in your town soon and look for the next restaurant week coming in fall of 2017 to New Haven where you can enjoy similar specials like those we sampled at Tarry Lodge!
Tarry Lodge - New Haven location
278 Park Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Tel: 203 672 0765
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