v.IX i.3 - Travel

NEW HAVEN
A Great Place to Live, A Neat Town to Visit

By Babbie De Derian, Travel & Food Editor. Photos: T.S. Monk (top) & Johnny Lang (below) by Dan Hott. Three Chimneys and Dim Sum at Chow by Renny Loisel and Yale Harkness Tower by Thomas B Beninicas, Jr.

New Haven, home to prestigious Yale University is a fun happening city that appears to be one sprawling campus. Add to the mix: a fascinating architectural and political history (George Bush and John Kerry were classmates), a maze of 400 talented artists who live, work and show in the area, a wealth of cultural institutions like the Yale British Museum, The Peabody Museum, The Elm Shakespeare Company and The Yale Repertory Company, an annual calendar of sports, music and culinary eventsÉ plus an impressive roster of boutiques, antique shops, great restaurants, bookstore cafes and jazz clubs.

My recent weekend visit to New Haven, and nearby Long Island Sound shoreline hamlets, was crammed with outdoor and indoor activitiesÉ and VIP seats at the 25th Annual New Haven Jazz Festival. Talent's publisher A. Brooks joined me as we sampled what this area has to offer as a weekend escape from New York City.

Friday

I leave Grand Central on Metro North's 9:07 A.M. train, arriving in New Haven one and a half hours later (very pleasant ride). Renny Loisel, my host from the New Haven Visitors & Convention Bureau meets me at Union Station. First stop, the charming seaside town of Stony Creek, where we board the Sea Mist for a 45 minute boat tour of the 25 inhabited privately owned Thimble Islands. Created by the great glaciers, they range in size up to 17 acres.

From there we head to Branford for my massage at By the Sea Inn & Spa, where Sue is waiting to welcome me with hot stones and strong hands; then cross the road for a late lunch of crisp salads and calamari fra Diablo ( the best I've ever tasted) on the patio of the Assaggio Bistro. I check into the new Scranton Sea Horse B&B on Post Road in Madison, with time for a little window shopping through town, a few winks and a shower before we head back to Branford for the 8:30 seating at Chef Roy Ip's Le Petit CafŽ.

Le Petit CafŽ is a place to celebrate a special occasion with a unique out of the ordinary gourmet dinnerÉ from the clothes pin holding the napkin and silverware to the welcome starters: hot crusty organic bread, home made truffle butter, Province olives and pickled beets. Roy, who is as much a treat as his menu, makes everything himself. The prix-fixe menu changes seasonally, and we choose for appetizers: gazpacho with crab meat and scallop cerviche made with pineapple, cilantro, jalape–o, sweet oranges and extra virgin olive oil. The breast of duck and Chilean Sea bass were exceptional. Roy joins us after his other guests leave, happy to share stories of his childhood in Hong Kong, financial background, and foray into the culinary world. He tells me "good food is the foundation for a restaurant's success," then quotes an Asian saying "follow the rules not the flow." Roy Ip, who runs Le Petit CafŽ with his partner/wife, believes in "making his customers feel like comfortable guests until they get the check."

Saturday

We're off to a breakfast of oysters at the Milford 32nd Annual Oyster Festival, the largest one-day festival in Connecticut. 12 different kinds of oysters from five states are being shucked, and I slurp down my share of the 17,000 that will be consumed that day, preferring the Wellfleet oysters from Rhode Island.

Brooks arrives at noon, and we check into the warm, inviting and elegantly decorated Three Chimney's Inn on Chapel Street in New Haven. Afterwards we join world renown jazz drummer Thelonious Monk, Jr. (performing at tonight's New Haven jazz festival) for lunch. He mesmerizes us with his knowledge of the history of jazz, and his life as the son of the late great Thelonious Monk.

After lunch we view the Machu Picchu exhibit at the Peabody Museum: learning that the Incas believed humans shared the world with the spirits of the landscapeÉ health and prosperity relationships had to be maintained with supernatural forces. Before the concert, we dine at Chow on an assortment of house specialties; my favorite, ribs barbequed in anisette sauce. A heavy rain soaks our clothes but not our spirits as we join a record crowd to hear Thelonious on jazz drumsÉ followed by American blues guitarist and singer, Johnny Lang.

Sunday

Breakfast is included in our stay at The Three Chimney Inn and Dorothy whips up a perfectly fresh and tasty meal.

A leisurely stroll down Chapel Street, gives us a chance to pop in and out of high fashion boutiques, eclectic galleries such as Wave and cozy book cafes. Walking the Yale campus, we discover the first architecturally planned cemetery where Noel Webster and Eli Whitney are buried. An afternoon Jazz Brunch at Scoozi Trattoria & Wine Bar is a mellow ending to a fun packed weekend.

New Haven is a walkable town, but it's also fun to ride the loop on a free electric trolley, stopping to taste America's first hamburger at Louis' Lunch on Crown Street. While The Elm Shakespeare Company was presenting "Much Ado about Nothing", I found New Haven "Much to do about Everything."

For more information go to www.visitnewhaven.com.