What's hot at the Lot: Snackle Mouth

Snackle Mouth granola nut clusters @ The Lot in Bloomfield

Struggling doughnut model Katie Scenic 

looks to broaden her horizons

Even in our prime as a blog, we eventually let our feature "What's hot at the Lot" slide. Not because we weren't making purchases at Ocean State Job Lot anymore, but because our purchases had mostly become so mundane and repetitive (much like our grownup jobs, ugh).  Also the Lot has never thanked us or offered us freebees. But our initial attraction to the Lot was always as much about trying new weird snacks as it was about getting slightly to dramatically good deals on household items.

On a recent visit we were drawn to the garish, slightly frightening packaging for Snackle Mouth, a "granola nut clusters" snack from Colorado whose packaging boasts of small time roots ("developed by 3 guys named John") and wholesome ingredients. The scary box (huh-huh) is reason enough to buy it once. The delicious taste, which is like buttery, sweet granola, with less crunch than a cereal but not as chewy as a cookie, keeps bringing us back. We've much enjoyed the Almond Maple Pecan and Almond Berry varieties.

We love the wacky snackle-man illustration, with his dripping gooey complexion, crazy eyes, nutty lesions and jaunty pot leaf Hitler 'stache. But we do fear this might be off-putting to less perverse consumers. We hope it won't keep you from enhancing your life and your diet.

Lunching in Woodbury

Ohhh Woodbury. You are slowly becoming my favorite CT town, and today may have just sealed the deal. With 2 hours to kill betwixt work appts, I wandered Route 6 in search of some entertainment. I headed for one of my fav indie natural food stores, New Morning, but instead pulled into the Good News Cafe to investigate. I hesitated in my car for a few, until the Meat Without Feet truck pulled up, and decided that was a sign to go in.


I've been driving by this place for months, but the timing was just never right until now. The sign is a little confusing, partially why I hadn't ventured in yet. I mean, can I get a cup of coffee to go or what?

I kind of expected to walk into Tisane when I opened the door, and I wasn't too far off. The walls are covered in artwork - paintings, photos, a mural in the bar, some weird sculptures hanging from the ceiling; and there is a case housing some Bridgewater chocolates and other baked items.

I sat at the bar, ogled some guy's martini, and perused the menu. A bit pricey, so I got the vegetarian-soup-of-the-day and some oysters. (I know. Weird.)


The soup was some kind of kale, chickpea concoction that far exceeded my expectations of a veg soup. The oysters were.. yknow.. oysters. I chatted up one of the "regulars" sitting next to me who shared his abundant knowledge of the restaurant, the owner, and other sights to see in CT. Apparently this restaurant is often written up as the best restaurant in CT and is visited by celebs on route to their summer homes. (Swoon? Whatever.) The owner, Carole Peck, has been featured on Martha Stewart several times and just opened another restaurant literally across the parking lot, Zeeburger. Apparently it's the cat's pajamas. (Maybe I would have known any of this if I ever read other blogs?) Coincidentally, we love cheeseburgers this week, and can't wait to check that out. Bob, our new friend at the bar, explained how he helped shape the new burger place with his suggestions of putting syrup in the milkshakes, and cooking the burgers by request, not just guessing. He also suggested Heinz ketchup, but doesnt think Carole will go for it. She makes everything from scratch, no artificial-anything allowed.

Here is Bob's coconut cake. He insisted that it be included:


Well, I still had 45 minutes to kill, so I went for round 2 - an iced cappuccino and a chocolate-peanut butter cookie.


Everything was just delightful. I would definitely come back, however, Zeeburger is next on my Woodbury agenda. Who knew there were amazing restaurants just sitting there on route 6 all this time? Not only is the food amazing, but the staff were friendly and willing to talk Bob and I through our lunches. The bartender, Michael, was both charming and informative. He told me about the Bethel Cinema, which used to be a porn theatre but now plays indie films. And some hiking trails nearby at something called Steep Rock. Looks like we have our work cut out for us in the-middle-of-nowhere, CT. Stay tuned.

Farm to Street... specifically, Broad St.

We'd been hearing rumors that the chefs from Middletown's It's Only Natural were going to start a vegan food truck business, but didn't have any details- until I came into work on Thursday, to find this friendly note from a thoughtful coworker:

















The Billings Forge Farmer's Market is a nice place to enjoy your lunch break on a Thursday. Besides selling produce, bread and cheese from local farms, vendors also sell artisan soaps and other handmade goods, cargo bikes, and there is usually some kind of live music going on. I got a cup of organic fair trade coffee from Bean and Leaf before going to check out the GMonkey Truck.



























Oh, such options! I had run into a scenic pal who recommended the black bean burger, and yet another scenic pal who had nice things to say about the spicy peanut noodles and the smoothies. I was interested in the chili, but decided to get the burger instead.













Ok, friendly suggestion? More burger, less bread. Maybe even less bread, and a few GMonkey fries (those are the sweet potato fries that are so delicious at ION). A few bites in, I realized it would be in my best interest to take the top pieces of bread off and actually enjoy the flavor of chipotle and pesto, which is what I was going for. The black bean patty was quite tasty, but for $7, eh... I wound up throwing that bread away.

Anyway, the GMonkey truck will be at Billings Forge every Thursday, and that is good. They also have a regular gig in Durham, and possibly Bushnell Park. Check out their calendar on facebook, and if you beg them hard enough, maybe you can get tasty organic vegan truck food where you live.

Midweek Magic @ Bespoke

Wednesday, April 27: An Evening at Bespoke Ideat Village Fundraiser @ Bespoke, New Haven

Ideat Village, some kind of fun event-throwing artistic collective with a cute name, is just one more reason for us to have Scenic Envy for New Haven, and their fundraiser happening midweek at Bespoke sounds fun and delicious. It's a little out of the Scenic budget range, alas, but we expect that some of you may have well-paid jobs and might be willing to shell out for good cause and a good time. Bespoke is a fancy, "sutainable" joint, so we're sure their twist on a menu promising "TV dinners" and homemade ice cream will actually be creative and amazing. And some of the Scenics' favorite New Haven performers, including hilarious burlesque gal Dot Mitzvah and drag queen Robin Banks will be performing, so there is nothing about this that won't be awesome, except maybe your wine spritzer hangover in your cubicle (you work in a cubicle, right?) Thursday morning. A very limited number of tickets are being sold, so if you're interested, get right on this!

Cuvee: We totally want to live there

We recently mentioned our interest in checking out Cuvee's 50% off everything happy hour, after noticing a sign for it during a boozy Saturday night there. So, when a friend suggested a Tuesday happy hour meetup, we decided to take Cuvee for a spin and see if it was as awesome as we thought it would be.

It was.




















Now, the drinks and food at Cuvee are definitely overpriced, but not outrageously so. When you consider the loungey, swanky atmosphere, plush couch seating, and the air of sexiness, their prices are about what you'd expect. Its certainly not the first time we've overpaid for food and drink simply because we like the place. But two hours of getting everything for half off makes it so much more fun and easy to sample items from the huge booze menu, and interesting small plates of food.

We decided to jump right in with some martinis made with low calorie vodka- pink lemonade for Jackie Scenic and straight up for Laura Fitz. Everyone knows that "low calorie" usually equals "fucking awful", but we actually couldn't taste any difference... probably because vodka doesn't taste very good to begin with.























We made our way around the menu, taking full advantage of that discount. A lot of the cocktails we tasted were on the sweet side, but we did really like the Glacial Pear. For food, we tried their tuna tartar, hummus, ricotta and fig jam crostini, and our friends went with some sushi. Everything was simple and tasty and we enjoyed it, but honestly, we might have been a little drunk. We didn't go for the Sexy Donuts this time around, but were excited to see a couple down the bar eating them.

Justin the bartender was friendly and attentive, and more importantly, extremely tolerant of our antics over the course of four hours. It was such a good time that we decided that we'd like to go there every day, and perhaps even move in. There are lots of comfy couches to sleep on and enough room for everybody. See you from 5-7pm!

Fancy groceries in Hartford

Hartford has been atwitter for some time now about the prospect of groceries downtown. Ah, Downtown Hartford, where they forgot to put residents and necessities. Well, there's nothing like making up for lost time. We didn't know quite what to expect. From the way "everyone" talked about the "need" for a "real grocery store" in Hartford, we pictured something a little more practical. So the reality of The Market at Hartford 21 proved to be a delightful, whimsical surprise for three out of four Scenics enjoying a lazy Sunday together. 

After an initial WTF moment over the cereal bar.

But fine, OK, this is sort of a practical idea - people working in Hartford might want something boring for breakfast, and it's a nod to the American tendency to aspire to such an air of carefree and casual that to take the "trouble" to bring identical ordinary cereal from home would be unthinkable. 

Moving on. We were wowed by thing after thing. Like the fresh pasta bar.

And the homemade gelato, with appalling flavors like Bacon and Bloody Mary. The staff were friendly and invited us to try a sample. The bacon flavor was less disgusting than it sounds, but we'll stick to the less adventurous varieties on return visits.

The prepared foods looked fancy and delicious and put Whole Foods to shame (not that that's such a stress - ugh, Whole Foods prepared foods...). We drooled over pork shanks and crab cakes and forbidden rice.

Good thing we didn't visit this joint hungry. We wouldn't have been able to resist peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes or the array of Nassau chocolates and candy. Or sushi and appetizers by Ginza. Or quail eggs and elitist CT soda.

We were impressed by tasteful displays like this one (Grandma's CT soaps smell amazing!):

And displayed our usual poor taste around the whole dead pig and some phallic vegetables (we were too tired for pointing today, but we got a friend to stand in):

Today's visit on full stomachs and empty wallets was all gawking, no buying. But we all agree that The Market is a welcome addition to Hartford and we'd totally eat there.

Bad Baba Ghanouj at Shish

A few months ago, I procured some of those discounted gift certificates from restaurant.com (they sell $25 gift cards for $2 all the time; totally worth checking out). When we were looking for something to do on Thursday night, Laura Fitzscenic and stand-in Scenic Dayna wound up cashing one in at Shish Ultra Lounge in West Hartford. Ultra!

Now, we only knew two pieces of information about Shish before entering; that its some kind of jammin night club on the weekends where this kind of thing goes on:












and, that they have a dress code.

Tailored Casual Attire Only
Dress or Designer Footwear
No Sport Style Head wear

(We left our visors in the car.)

First of all, this place looks cool. There are two rooms, with lots of leather sectionals and other comfy seating, interesting looking light fixtures, a large dance floor (are you imagining this ok? Because we totally slacked on taking pictures.); they did a great job of making an inviting space where you would totally want to have a sick party. Guerrilla Queer Bar, anyone?

Our waiter brought over the list of "signature" cocktails, and proudly claimed that they had all been "invented by people who work at Shish and could not be found anywhere else". Um, we find it a little hard to believe that they can take credit for the combination of dark rum and ginger beer, aka Dark and Stormy, aka Dark and Scenic. We decided to not point this out and just go with a Cucumber Martini (good) and a Miami Vice (too sweet).

The food menu was small and generally uninteresting, so we decided to just go with some hummus and baba ghanouj. We enjoyed the lemony hummus, but the baba ghanouj? It had a familiar flavor that I just couldn't place, but Dayna was able to identify it immediately:
















We sent it back immediately and ordered a small pizza as a replacement. Imagine our surprise when we received the bill and noticed the $9.00 charge for the uneaten baba ghanouj. We could have bought some actual cigarettes with that money! When we questioned our waiter, he explained that the owner generally doesn't allow charges to be removed from the bill for any reason. What? Not that we have a habit of sending food back in restaurants, but sometimes it has to happen, and this policy is totally out of bounds.

With some persistence, we got it removed. You don't go to Shish for the food, is what we were told by friends later on that evening, and we back that statement. I guess you go there to drink and dance. I don't know if this Scenic will ever be interested in experiencing that aspect of Shish on a Saturday night, but who knows.... stranger things have happened.

Exploring our options at Ichiban

One evening after a recent Bikram session, DH and I were on the prowl, looking for some hot soup. We never thought we'd see the day, but we were feeling all Pho'd out! DH confessed that he had been experimenting with other soups, but he was willing to share. We headed to Ichiban in Hartford. Ichiban has been one of my favorite spots for a lunch special lately (though my lunch specialing days are mercifully over, thanks to employment) - their BBQ short ribs bento box is off the hook. But I hadn't really explored the Korean side of the menu before.


Kimchee Geegae caught my eye, 'cause Jackie and I had enjoyed some kimchee stuff at York Street Noodle House on our last date. It's a spicy stew with kimchee (cabbage) and pork. But that's just the beginning! There's all this other great stuff in there, like straw mushrooms and some sort of fishball and a grand array of garnish dishes on the side (like pickled octopus - with pickles!), and it's served in a metal catering type dish over real live fire. This is all really impressive, but we don't recommend impressing a date with this meal, at least not a first date. Go for something less gassy. Sorry to get you all aroused and then bring you down with that gross little piece of reality, but we like to think of this blog as a public service and would be remiss if we didn't warn you. Fortunately the Scenics have all been unseemly around each other for years...


DH was so hungry after having don two Bikram sessions that particular day, he was in the clean plate club. I really enjoyed my first time, but it was so big I had to bring half home, which was subsequently yoinked by Mommy Scenic, who also dug it. Reliving that dinner via that post got me all droolie. I will require a revisit. SOON.

Tune in, Tokyo

Tokyo Sushi, the new sushi joint on Farmington Ave in West Hartford, has quickly become one of our favorite area dining establishments. That's the place that opened in the former home of Kingswood Market back in September, practically across the street from Butterfly.

While driving by, you can see a large sign that reads "Sushi Bar" and "Cocktail Lounge", but once you actually approach the door, a neon posterboard sign reads "Temporarily BYOB". Well, that is just fine with us, especially with the friendly and helpful guys in Harvest Wine & Spirits next door. Have you been there? They have a great selection of wines and a "beer cave", and we just heard that they also host beer and wine tastings. Sign us up!

The next thing you will probably notice at Tokyo is this amazing chandellier in the foyer. At first, we thought we might have been feeling the effects of working closely with an industrial strength adhesive during hours of making SuperScenic eyewear in a poorly ventilated area- but no, those crystals contain lightbulbs that actually change colors! Lovely.


















Recently, Scenic telepathy must have been in effect as Katie and DH showed up mere minutes after I did, without any planning. Crazy, right?!? To accommodate our now larger party, our seating got moved to the private room located just beyond the monster fish tank.


















Katie has a fondness for the King Salmon Roll; I always go for the Spicy Twin. These are both on the special menu posted by the sushi bar, with other fancy rolls we have tasted and liked. DH went with some spicy tuna rolls and octupus sushi; we all had a round of miso soup and shared an edamame appetizer. The portions are generous, and the fish is ridiculously smooth and fresh tasting. Also appreciated: brown rice upon request.

















Tokyo will also make you a special roll to your liking if you tell them what your favorite types of fish are. We totally don't know Ty Hong, but apparently he is a guy from West Hartford that goes there all the time and had a roll named after him (we ate it, its good). We'd like to someday see a Scenic Roll up on that menu!

Its refreshing to find good sushi in West Hartford with free parking, reasonable prices, and BYOB. Color us impressed.

PSA: Cheap Eats via Restaurant.com

Our friend Hartford Foodie recently tipped us off to restaurant.com, and their sale of local gift cards for less than face value. The site is searchable by zip code, and I found plenty of places I had totally heard of and not heard of. I happened to click the link when they were offering an 80% off coupon code, and grabbed up $150 worth of gift cards for $15.50! Sometime in the future, we will be dining on the cheap at spots such as New Haven's Istanbul Cafe, the douchestrict's own Tavern Downtown, and the dining area of our favorite karaoke shitshow, Butterfly.

Restaurant.com is currently offering another 80% off deal that is good through January 31st. When you enter the word MEAL at checkout, you can get $25 gift cards for $2 (in Connecticut and everywhere else, too). Sweet! As Rachel pointed out, many of these gift cards have a minimum purchase of about $5 or $10 dollars over their value, but since they are practically free- BFD.

Bon Appetit, from your Best Blogger candidates (how are those votes coming along?)

Gay Times and Happy Hours at Koji

Its a fact: downtown Hartford is not known for being a popular Scenic destination. We don't call it the douchestrict for nothing.

However, we have and will face difficult parking and the risk of encountering "bro" culture for a good cause. Our interests in film festivals, queer events, late night falafel, sexy bands and wacky parades have gotten us out there. The area also offers a variety of happy hours that range from tolerable to awesome.

One of my favorite happy hours is at Koji on Asylum Street. Koji fancies itself as a "Yakitori and Sake bar" that serves grilled veggies and meats on a stick for a dollar or two apiece, with a spicy orange mystery sauce (delicious), and carries an impressively large variety of top-shelf sake. I don't know anything about that expensive sake, but feel free to buy us a round if you see us!

Happy hour goes from 4-7, so you don't even need to rush out of work to take advantage of the half price appetizers and $5 saketinis. There is usually one flatscreen tv playing some sort of kitschy Japanese monster film, and one playing 80s music videos. On a few, smaller screens, there are photo slideshows of what appears to be a drunk Saturday night crowd, with an air of downtown douchiness. We will pass on that scene.

On Sundays, Koji hosts an "Alternative Night", which is like, some kind of weird code name for Gay Night. You can expect a Dj, sexy dancing, drink specials, and gaeity- you know, the usual. Dave the handsome bartender also clued us in to a girls night and gay karaoke being added to the mix, along with a Fag Hag Ball- fun!































Their postponed-due-to-snow-Christmas party (or XXXMas Party, as they call it) may be worth checking out this Sunday, especially for those of us don't have to work on Monday. There is no cover, but dropping $20 will get you open bar from 9-11. So, depending on how fast you can drink sake bombs and scorpion bowls, it may just work out.

Koji Alternative Night has a facebook page here.

Just keep eating

We're gonna be a little short on hot nightlife to recommend around here this week. You know: holidaze. Stuff is closed. People are expected to be actively Christian and/or spending time with their families. But if you're childless and godless like the Scenics, this week is just another week, only colder and darker. And broker after reluctantly going along with that gift-buying ritual. We'll certainly inform you if we do hear about any action, but in the meantime we'll just recommend one of our favorite Xtian holiday (or any day) activities: Asian cuisine!

I've written before of a compulsion I feel to eat noodles with chopsticks. Maybe it's just because I'm so good at it and need to validated about something. In order to satisfy this need, these past few weeks I've indulged at a couple of new-to-me venues: New Haven's York Street Noodle House and West Hartford's Vietnam Restaurant.


A couple weeks ago I was ready to stay in for the night when nobody was available to go see drag queens with me, but I fearlessly dragged myself off the couch at the last minute - not going to let other bums ruin my night, damn it! So I headed out solo and past my usual dinner hour, and arrived in New Haven hungry and looking for a good place to eat quickly, cheaply and not too pathetically by myself. Luckily, York Street Noodle House is just next door to the bar I was headed to and happens to be casual, fast and reasonably priced. Their menu is actually pretty diverse, but is mostly variations on a big bowl of noodle soup, with pan-Asian influences. I had a bowl of coconut curry chicken soup and a Thai style ice tea, which were just great and ready in minutes and totaled under ten bucks. I'm definitely looking forward to a return visit - maybe next week before the GWAR concert? I do wish there was such a noodle house closer to headquarters.

Vietnam Restaurant wasn't entirely new to me, but I've only eaten there once before and I've eaten at my other two favorite Vietnamese joints about a zillion times each, so it may as well have been. Regrettably though, I must relay that Vietnam won't be unseating Pho Boston or Pho 206 in my heart any time soon. I got my usual (for scientific objectivity) - iced coffee, egg rolls and pho. The iced coffee was served impressively - in a glass topped with an individual filtering device and a side cup of ice. This looked cool, but the result of pouring a fresh brewed serving of hot coffee over ice was (as you'd expect) watered down coffee, which, in spite of a generous blob of condensed milk, lacked the flavor and sweetness I'm used to in my Asian iced coffees. Boo. The soup had issues as well. There was just a hint of liquorice, almost more a smell than a taste - but nevertheless, enough to make each bite a little unpleasant. Sadness. On the plus side, my partner-in-overeating and I decided to try an additional appetizer, fried wantons, where were very tasty and served with a delicious sauce (not sure what it was but it tasted like the plum sauce you get with moo shoo dishes at Chinese). I also especially liked the pot of thick hot sauce included with the condiments on the table.

In The Thai Room

We've developed certain Scenic weekend rituals. Like after a admirable morning of self-denial and physical discipline (breakfast-skipping and Bikram yoga) - not to mention the week-long virtue and industriousness we've exhibited by attending our jobs and generally not killing anyone or breaking stuff - we like to reward ourselves with the indulgence of an exotic meal out. Saturday afternoon, DH and I were both jonesing for pho (a favorite dish around here) and attempted to eat at our current favorite pho joint, West Hartford's Pho Boston. Well, Pho Boston was packed and there were people actually waiting to be seated (this place is often moderately jumping, but we've never seen a wait before). So we decided to try something new (to us) in the same plaza - The Thai Room - previously recommended to me by my frequent blog-tivity partner, SuperLula.


At The Thai Room, I was able to satisfy some of the physical cravings I had hoped to work out over at PhoBo - rich, sweet Asian-style iced coffee and the pleasurable act of eating noodles with chopsticks. The iced coffee was artistic perfection. Observe gorgeous Guiness-esque head and drizzly patterns! We each had a bowl of tom ka gai soup to start. The chicken in this soup left something to be desired in terms of texture and flavor (it was a little dry and bland) but the spicy coconut broth and vegetables were great. I had pad thai (just needed noodles, damn it), which was generously peanutted and came in a portion large enough for two leftover revisits over the course of the weekend. DH had ginger chicken, which was impressively gingered - with substantial, crispy spears of ginger and a zingy broth.


We were pleased with our meal and are excited to add The Thai Room to our restaurant repertoire. And on the even brighter side, we're still looking forward to making up for lost eating with another pho outing - soon!

Hookers for Hole in the Wall

Friday, November 19: The Not-So-Snooty Beer, Wine & Cheese Tasting Adventure @ the New England Air Museum, Windsor Locks

The Scenics have a history of endorsing Hooker Brewery (which we hope they'll acknowledge one day in form of promotional beer when we need it). We've enjoyed their semi-monthly Friday night tasting events, and pushed their beers on our exciting semi-famous friends. So this benefit for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp (Saint Paul Newman's camp for very sick kids) sounds like an unusually meaningful way to enjoy your Hookers - and much more (wine, cheese, munchies, dessert, coffee). Also "self-satisfaction," probably.

Having worked at camps for kids sick and well (including the cancer camp, Rising Sun), this Scenic can attest to the value of the experience and organizations like Hole in the Wall. And while we're being unusually wholesome and generous around here, this Adventure will cap off a day of family-friendly events at the museum, which might be totally worth checking out if you've never been or, say, have a "family." Are multiple partners "family"? Is two "multiple"?

Proud Flesh and Pizza

Friday, November 5: The Proud Flesh @ Bohemian Pizza, Litchfield

Proud flesh and pizza? Hmmm... that actually sounds pretty disgusting, if we were really referring to that overgrowth of granular tissue that can be an undesirable consequence of wound healing. But we're not. The Proud Flesh is a CT band that plays a tasty brand of roots/Americana, very much in the vein of some of the other area bands we've been mentioning lately, like Elison Jackson and Sidewalk Dave. And yes, it turns out these guys are all personally (or personnel-ly) connected.

The opening track of The Proud Flesh's Tiny Picture Frames, "Lord don't let me," gives a full-on hoedown first impression, but the next several tracks are much more stripped down, melancholic and haunting (just the way we like it), bringing to mind national acts we enjoy, like Murder by Death and Bright Eyes, or The Snake The Cross The Crown, who most of you have never heard of, but should have. Check out Tiny Picture Frames at bandcamp... and if you don't dig the busy first song, skip ahead to the glorious gloom and doom of "Gold Leaf and Bone" or "Three Sheets," because wallowing in it is more your thing (it's totally our thing).

This Friday - date night? - you have an opportunity to check out this great band AND eat some of the fanciest, most delicious pizza (and salads, and beers, etc.) in all of CT at Litchfield's Bohemian Pizza, which we've blogged about previously. Revisit our memorable meal, complete with food porn pictures.

Return of the donuts: Avon Cider Mill & more

As I was walking in to Bikram yesterday I overheard a hot tip about indie donuts in Avon: apple cider donuts and fritters at the Avon Cider Mill (actually from the Bakery Boys carnie food stand outside). I just had to jump on that conversation and got into a thing with the yoga instructor about where to get the best donuts in CT, and we all had a laugh about the irony of how when we're not doing Bikram we're stuffing our faces with donuts and piling bacon on our veggie burgers.

So after class I roped Mommy Scenic into going on a field trip with me. Much to our chagrin, they were actually out of donuts, but there were fritters to be had, and I'm pretty sure those are just the same do' in a different format. We shared a half dozen. They were crispy on the outside and moist and delicious on the inside.


Tis the season for apple cider donuts. This was actually not my first this week. My favorite fine food truck, Rocket (Torrington), is offering an apple cider donut now. Their donut is not entirely donut-like in texture, but is nevertheless totally tasty, served hot and fresh, and assured to be made from the best available ingredients. Incidentally, Team Rocket said they were inspired by our donut blogging! That is awesome.

As previously noted, we understand that one of our favorite donut stops, Luke's, makes pumpkin donuts on a strictly seasonal basis. We'll be checking in with them asap.

S&Man (We totally know everyone, basically)

Friday, Oct. 8: S&Man @ The Silk City Flick Fest, Hartford



We're movers and shakers here at CT Scenic. We totally live here, sure, and we try and let you know what's going on, but we also totally go important places (like NYC) and no one can escape our succubus claws. Friday night I traveled to Brooklyn to preview S&Man, one of the films that will be playing at this weekend's Silk City Flick Fest here in Hartford (10 p.m., Young Studios, we already told you to come out for this shit, this is great).

S&Man (pronounced "Sandman" not "S & M man," btw) is a horror documentary, or more accurately a film within a documentary if that makes any sense by writer/director JT Petty, and just so happens to prominently feature interview footage with my would-be soulmate, independent horror/comedy/porn auteur and metal zine legend Bill Zebub. So we're talking like no degrees of separation here. So when I heard the film was screening at a kitschy Brooklyn theater (reRun) that serves booze and culinary delights like popcorn with your choice of various butters, duck fat or bacon fat, I was like so there. Seriously, click the link, read their menu. It's food porn for fatties.


S&Man was probably a little more special to me than it might be to you, what with my personal connection to one of the main subjects, and due to the fact that it also featured footage from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, a painfully graphic sexually violent film that provided the entertainment for one of my most meaningful and memorable "dates" in high school... ah, sweet nostalgia (also: RIP, friend, see this is sad and deeply personal shit for me, OK). But it might be special for anyone who: enjoys indie or mainstream horror, has an interest in academic critical studies of horror, is a fan of Bill Zebub, enjoys underground or DIY film making. Petty's film is hardly comprehensive or conclusive on the subject, but definitely touches on some provocative subject matter, and throws some perverse drama into the mix just for fun.

In Brooklyn, Petty hung around for a little Q&A with the audience. But to be honest, the audience members just weren't that perceptive, and I had had a few drinks, so I just kind of took over and dominated the "discussion" with some great observations about how Let the Right One In is like the best movie ever, and Petty graciously shut up and agreed. I hope that session was as good for him as it was for me! Whatever, we're like BFFs now. Now we totally know him.


I said my piece at the Brooklyn Q&A, so I promise to STFU this Friday, and encourage you to come out, ask better questions, support this festival, and meet Petty here in Hartford. We're working hard to get Bill Zebub here for the show as well. You can help, if you just close your eyes, clap your hands and say I do believe in fairies...

New Hartford's Collinsville Baking Co.

In case you haven't figured it out, we'll pretty much do whatever people tell us to do. Julia told us to go to Rocket. And Rocket told us to go to Collinsville Baking Co. And we were driving right past it anyway on our way through New Hartford (Pine Meadow area). Yes, the name is tricky. There seems to be a lot of Collinsville in New Hartford.

In addition to providing great buns and bread to locals like Rocket, the shop has a lunch menu of deli basics and salads and offers catering. We had just eaten lunch, as you know, so our interests lay elsewhere. Cynthia got a loaf of olive rosemary bread. I was mysteriously drawn to the dessert case. How good do these pumpkin squares look?


I'm a freak about PB & Chocolate so I bought one of these brick sized delights.


I know, I know, you're wondering how I keep my girlish figure eating all these cheeseburgers and giant dessert bars. Well, now that you bring it up - in a word: bulemia. Just kidding! I couldn't bring it up if I wanted to. But maybe you've heard about our fitness tag. We're totally fit here.

Go Team Rocket!

Well, after a morning of surgery (assisting, not receiving!) and an afternoon of shopping, Cynthia and I had worked up an appetite, and before we left Brazen Betties, Julia was all "Have you tried Rocket yet?!" I've heard all about this "Fine Street Food" truck on Facebook and been tantalized by their menu postings, but no, we hadn't tried them yet. Well, Julia made a call to make sure the truck was in it's usual position (outside Oddo's - they also do shifts at UConn in Torrington and Torrington's Saturday farmers market). She told them famous, hungry bloggers were coming, and not to take off. Get it, take off?

Haha. Well, they weren't going anywhere, but we appreciate the VIP treatment. Rocket is all about quality and has a simple menu of comfort-oriented food with sophisticated embellishments - like grilled cheese with gruyere on hearty local bread. They buy local as much as possible and boast some appealing NOs: no high-fructose corn syrup, no trans fats, no hormones, no antibiotics. Cynthia had the fancy grilled cheese. I had a green chile cheeseburger. ("naturally raised angus beef, rocket-roasted green chile sauce, monterrey jack and colby cheese on Collinsveill Baking Company roll.") We were enamored. We each had an Avery soda - another local!


We got all chatty with the proprietors of course. We were impressed with the bread, and they gave us a rap about how they didn't want to go cheap or chintzy with anything. We so admire that. They told us we should totally go visit Collinsville Baking Co. (which is actually in New Hartford). [Spoiler: we totally went there!]

Szechuan Shack

Last night after the excellent Real Ride adventure I caught up with a band (and a restaurant) I have inexcusably neglected. I mean, WTF, I totally know them and totally live here. Well, after all that biking around Hartford, we were feeling energized and hungry, and I knew that Shack was playing at Szechuan Tokyo in West Hartford. Shack is led by trumpeter/composer Stephen Haynes, along with drummer Andy Chatfield, guitarist Kevin O'Neil, and bassist Adam Kubota. I don't really know anything about their kind of music, but I know they are very good at it, and my dinner companion was sufficiently wowed. I said something to Adam about not knowing anything about jazz and he said something about how 'we didn't really get into jazz tonight that was like freakout stuff.' Whatever! Apparently, it's complicated.

Szechuan Tokyo has been providing the West Hartford community with Asian fusion dining and live jazz for years, and I'm excited to list them as another spot where late night dining is possible (we ordered dinner at 10:30 p.m.). Though they seem to have a bit of a sadistic streak; our waiter recommended this hot pepper torture dish to my friend: