Still Life, Connecticut Style

Food memories are some of the strongest.  As a lifelong food traveller, I have had the pleasure of enjoying many cuisines and loving most of them.  And yet, the taste of home for me is always one of the most satisfying.  On a recent trip to Connecticut I was able to indulge in two of my favorite baked goods: Portuguese rolls and chocolate chip cookies.  

If you haven't experienced the airy goodness that is a Portuguese roll, I'm sorry and I hope you get to the northeast to try one.  I didn't realize that they were not available to everyone until I moved to California and my queries were met with a puzzled, but pleasant "what?"

Thankfully, the folks at Chaves Bakery in Bridgeport, CT are keeping the tradition alive.  What started out as one family bakery is now a chain of nine stores where you can still hear Portuguese spoken between the staff and customers.  Aside from the rolls and other freshly baked breads, they stock an amazing assortment of traditional Portuguese pastries including pasteis de nata, custard-filled pastry cups.

But really, I'm just there for the rolls.  These pillows of deliciousness are good at any time of day.  In the morning, they are typically slathered with a slab of butter and make the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee.  You can also gild the lily with an egg and ham or bacon, but it's really not necessary.

At lunch, Portuguese rolls make a terrific foil to lunch meats and even messy meatball and chicken parmesan sandwiches.  They soak up sauce, but don't get mushy.  In a pinch, you can freeze them and they toast up beautifully.  Whenever I am in town, I pick up a dozen to take home.

All in all the perfect food.  And for dessert, you can have a bakery chocolate chip cookie.   My formative years were spent in Connecticut and there were many summer days spent on the porch of my grandmother's beauty salon, listening to gossip and watching the world go by.  Aside from the old-fashioned coke machine, with bottles, not cans, the best part of spending the day at the salon was its perfect location across the street from Ann's Bakery.  Ann's is no longer in business, but the legacy of their chocolate chip cookies live on in other bakeries around Bridgeport.

They also made beautiful cakes and pastries, but as a kid, I went for the cookies.  So what was so great or different about them?  The picture tells the story, but I will try to add color.  They are big.  In fact, at Chaves Bakery, home of the Portuguese rolls, you can get the cookies in small (normal size), medium (saucer-sized), and large (salad-plate).   And, they are somehow a little salty and sweet at the same time, but never too sweet. And the dough has a sandy, crumbly texture which is so different from super-buttery, chewy texture of most bakery cookies today.

You can't go home again, but you can make a pilgrimage for your favorite foods.  We still need to talk about hot dogs and lobster rolls.  A post for another day...

Want to Start a Fight? Name Your Favorite Pizza Joint.

Pizza and I have a long-standing love affair.  We have endured our ups and downs, but our relationship can withstand any storm, even the doughy mess that passes for pizza at some unmentionable national chains.  My pizza DNA can be traced to southwestern Connecticut.  Back in the day, there were myriad places from which to choose.  My personal favorite was Jerry's Pizza in a neighborhood called The Hollow, in Bridgeport, CT.  Sausage, mushroom and "scamoats" ruled the day.  It wasn't until I was much older that I learned that scamoats was a regional dialect version of the Italian, scamorza, or smoked mozzarella.  All I knew was the flavor was unlike any other pizza in town.  I also loved the departed original Brick Oven, and the Apizza Center in Fairfield.  These were not fancy places, but the owners were local and still had a bit of Italy in their voices.  When I got older, and had access to a car, we would go to Wooster Street in New Haven to the temple of pizza, Frank Pepe's Pizza Napoletano.

Pepe's is my favorite Connecticut pizza (say what you will Sally's folks) and even though they have opened more convenient branches in Fairfield County, the New Haven location if the first and best.  There's pizza, salad, beer, wine and soft drinks.  And that's enough.  If you do one thing really well, why not just keep doing it.  Novices may be put off by the charred crust, but to me it is crispy, chewy perfection.  All the pizzas are delicious, but for a real treat try the white pizza with clams, bacon and garlic.  If you like clams, you will love it.  The smoky bacon complements the briny clams in a way that brings out the best of both ingredients.  The service can be a tad brusque, but there is usually a line of people waiting to get in, so they try to keep people moving through.  It's an experience everyone should have at least once.

At the southern end of the east coast is a delightful road discovery, Arte Pizza in Fernandina Beach, Florida on Amelia Island.  This little island, about 25 miles north of Jacksonville has a surprising number of good restaurants, but Arte was the biggest surprise of all.  Who expects to find authentic Italians, making real pizza on a tiny island near the Florida-Georgia line?  Arte is better than most of the pizzas I have tried outside of the northeast.  The restaurant itself was tiny when we first visited.  There was a small dining room, a small kitchen and you had to wait for your order outside.  Luckily it's Florida, so it's not cold, although the mosquitos would dine on you as you waited.  Last I was there, a new restaurant was under construction that would expand the dining and waiting areas. All the pizzas are delicious and they also have fresh and creative salads and pasta specials.  We have been known to eat there multiple days during a week's vacation.

And back in the northeast, I found the perfect marriage of pizza, wine and atmosphere at Area Four in Cambridge.   On a bitterly cold evening last winter, I found myself alone for dinner while away for a conference.  I was craving pizza and figured the chances were good that I would find something tasty in Boston.  After a quick cross-reference of my internet sources, I decided on Area Four,  a short walk from my hotel on the MIT campus near Kendall Square.  It was only three blocks, but felt like three miles in the Siberian grade wind that was blowing that night.  Let's just say I was happy to get into the warm, modern space and find the last seat at the bar.  I drank  a glass of generously poured Sangiovese and enjoyed (or maybe inhaled) the sausage and banana pepper pizza.  It was sweet and spicy with an airy, yet chewy crust. The bartenders were engaging and fun to chat with as were the other bar diners.  There's a larger dining room in back, but if there's just two of you, I would really recommend the bar.  I even had a taste of delicious Japanese whisky on the house.

That wraps up this edition of my adventures in pizza, but rest assured there will be more.  Feel free to post any recommendations from your favorite cities.