A completely subjective New Haven “best” list

Best breakfast:

• The Pantry (definitively)
• Bella’s (Westville)
• Maison Mathis
• I’d also throw in Donut Crazy

Best brunch: 

• Claire’s Corner Copia (a meat-free restaurant, aka heaven for a vegetarian like me!)
• Atelier Florian – a clear favorite for several categories
• Skip brunch and hit an after-church sort of a diner where you can see a different crowd - The Greek Olive in the La Quinta Inn near IKEA is a standby

Best ice cream:

• Arethusa – they have a farm in Litchfield, but visit their retail store on Chapel St.
• Bill’s Carousel -over a dozen scooped and soft serve flavors, plus floats, sundaes, and froyo.

Best Thai Food: 

• Rice Pot
• Pad Thai (I know it’s a dish but the restaurant is also called Pad Thai) 
• Thai Taste, but they are closed for building renovations. I think they have a truck though.
• Thai Taste - Though they are gone for a while…so none.  There is no Thai left in New Haven…
• York St Noodle House: more pan-asian than thai, but cheap and fast and tasty. 

Best Mexican Food: 

• Mezcal on State St
• Geronimo – they do the making the guac in front of you thing
• Burrito Express food cart by the Whale (get the torta!)
• Best Latin food overall is Rubamba
• The food trucks along Long Wharf, there is no other. 

Best Sushi:

• Miya’s – they use invasive species, including plants, to make some very unusual and delicious sushi. Not your standard sushi but really good!
• Tokyo Sushi II (it’s a drive up I-91, but it’s SO GOOD)
• Sushi Palace (a la carte)
• Sushi on Chapel, where it is always cool, the sushi is always purple, there is always a table for you 

Other cuisine suggestions: 

• Moroccan:the Kasbah Garden Cafe (Moroccan place in West Chapel – approved by someone who lived in Morocco for two years!)
• Greek: Kalimera (love it and it also is highly endorsed and frequented by my Greek friends).
• Chinese: Great Wall
• Fast food: Pita Ziki, Tikkaway (aka the Indian Chipotle)

Best bottomless coffee: Cedarhurst Café

Best new coffeehouse that’s also the closest to the Div school:Fussy Coffee on Winchester Ave. (We might be having a pre-BTFO thing there; stay tuned….)

Best restaurant to take your parents to: 

• Barcelona (dinner)
• Maison Mathis (brunch/lunch)
• L’Orcio
• Union League Café
• Shell & Bones (if they’re fancy/refined palates) or Lenny & Joe’s Fish Tales (if they love buying souvenir t-shirts and prefer more affordable options)
• Portofino
• Caffe Bravo on Orange St – close to YDS campus, especially good for lunch
• Heirloom – located within The Study Hotel (tip: a swank place for your parents to stay, if you have swank parents) on Chapel St. 
• Harvest Wine Bar
• A) If your parents are buying: Near Campus: Tarry Lodge - perfect seating and lighting for long catching up conversations; On State Street: L’Orcio - comfortable old italian coziness and more great staff B) if you’re buying: Yorkside Pizza - Yale flair everywhere and great food at spendable prices

Best date spot (day time):

• Yale Art Gallery and coffee at Atticus
• Arethusa
• Yale University Art Gallery (for the contemplatives) or City Climb (to get your arm workout on!)
• Michelle’s Bakery in West Haven
• homemade picnic in East Rock Park
• Apple cider donuts, knife sharpening, and people watching at the Wooster Square Farmers Market
• a day at the East Haven Beach with a lunch at the Sandpiper restaurant.
• lunch at the Long Wharf Food Trucks

Best date spot (night time):

• Elm City Social
• Ordinary Bar
• Atelier Florian 
• Holy Thursday Mass at St. Thomas More’s (#datingadivvie - LOL because one time in DC I forced some guy to come walk the Labyrinth with me on a first date. I’m not even catholic/anglican/episcopalian and I love that stuff!)
• fish fry at Stowe’s seafood on the beach. 
• traditional: Italian dinner out on Wooster St and then dessert at Libby’s pastry shop
• more devout: drinks and then compline @ Christ Church
• more sexy: stroll down the hill thru campus past the library plazas and on into Ordinary for dark corner drinks 

Best karaoke bar and/or trivia bar: 

• Karaoke Heroes
• Partners Cafe
• Best Video Film and Cultural Center (shameless self-promotion [not by me, but by one of the contributors]: Movie trivia the first night of every month for $5 suggested donation per person with free snacks and prizes to the winning team.)

Best happy hour:

• Barracuda - almost their entire happy hour menu is $5 – food and drinks! Go early, they get crowded fast. 
• Barcelona - 1/2 price wine bottles on Sundays is pretty great.
• 116 Crown – great imaginative cocktails and great variety of non-alcoholic options too. 
• Rudy’s – great beer selection + awesome fries with tons of dipping sauce options
• Mezcal is a fun vibe but I think Mecha Noodle Bar has some good deals if I remember correctly (and they do!)
• Atelier Florian and their $4 Roséon tap
• Three Sheets? The bar where everything is always chill.

Best movie theater:

• Cinemark North Haven
• The Bow Tie theater downtown is a good one if people don’t want to schlep out to North Haven

Best day hike:

• Talcott Mountain State park – visit the museum at the top and bring a picnic, great views! 
• Sleeping Giant – cool little castle thing at the top.
• West Rock
• Have not done them but the view from the top of east rock is worth skipping class for in the spring
• The harder trails of East Rock. You can see four peaks in one hike. 

Best local beach/swimming hole:

• make the drive up to Hammonasset Beach State Park
• Lighthouse Point Park
• Miller Pond
• East Haven Town Beach
• West Haven (or just take the ferry from New London across to Long Island)

Best non-Yale culture in New Haven:

• the New Haven Symphony Orchestra
• Schubert Theatre
• College Street Music Hall
• Elm Shakespeare Company – FREE and performed outside in Edgerton Park. This year’s production is Love’s Labour’s Lost and run Aug 16-Sept 2, Tues – Sun @ 8pm. 
• Sofar Sounds New Haven
• the Pez Museum
• the Westville neighborhood in general 
• Wooster Square (especially their fab Sat farmers market; 9am-1pm from April-Dec)
• Arts & Ideas festival in the summer
• CT Folk Festival in the fall
• Best Video Film and Cultural Center. Lots of weird, obscure cinema, local bands, open mics, and coffee and beer. Plus [shameless self-promotion alert again] the best trivia night in town.  
• I think the areas around Westville are non-Yalie, and feel like there’s a bunch of fun residential culture
• Old Lutheran Church in Humphrey street (and most attendants of any church’s mid-day services)
• The guards of the Yale Art Gallery
• Most hairdressers: the barbers at Y Haircutting near the British Art Museum or the hairdressers at the Nicoll St location of the Hive.

Best vintage shopping:

• EBM (vintage housewares)
• Civvies (vintage clothing and accessories for men and women)
• Dumpster diving on undergrad move-out day.
• Meh. It’s all overpriced.

Best eco-friendly/micro-business store: 10,000 Villages

Breweries/Vineyards:

• Stony Creek Brewery
• East Rock Brewing Co. (opening soon in East Rock!)
• Thimble Islands Brewery (Branford)
• Hopkins Vineyard (there are several that are closer too; check out ctwine.com for the whole list. There’s a lot!)

Best Yale Library study location: 

• L&B Room at Sterling – show up right when they open and nab one of six private study nooks with large round tables, comfortable chairs, bookshelves lining the walls, and old windows opening to the interior courtyard
• Bass Library by the windows
• Law School Library
• Day Missions Reading Room
• Slavic Studies Reading Room (Sterling Library, 4^thfloor)
• The Blue State coffee across from Sterling on Wall St! lol 
• Div stacks underground
• The carrels at Sterling
• The bottom of Bass Library
• The library at St Thomas More (good study space, free coffee and snacks).