New Haven Restaurant Week, Day 5B—Pacifico

For my late dinner on Day 5 of New Haven Restaurant Week, I visited Pacifico, a Nuevo Latino seafood restaurant located on the northwest corner of College and Crown Streets.

I have known chef-owner Rafael Palomino and business partner Mo Gad for several years, and during that time I have written about three of their restaurants in Fairfield and Westchester Counties. Their most recent venture was to turn Palomino into Greenwich Tavern (which I have not yet visited in its current form).

My dinner companion was the exquisite Amy Torbert, art historian and equestrian.

Amy was very patient while I abandoned her long enough to photograph the restaurant’s interior. The second floor was devoted entirely to seating,

while the first floor housed multiple functions. The bar was located there,

as was some of the seating

and the open kitchen,

There was even a sale display of Palomino’s cookbooks and jars of his popular sun-dried tomato chimichurri sauce.

By the time I returned to Amy, a bowl of that same chimichurri

and slices of crusty bread

had gained her attention.

The next thing to capture our attention was Pacifico’s Restaurant Week menu. From five appetizer choices, we selected the Maryland crab cake with sautéed jumbo lump crabmeat and a mango-jícama slaw,

as well as a lobster-and-avocado quesadilla with a chipotle crème fraîche aïoli.

From five entrée choices, we picked a seafood “paella” topped with sofrito and teeming with shrimp, clams, mussels, sea scallops and chorizo,

as well as a skirt steak in a saffron-lime-Mojito sauce with black beans and a Chino-Latino stir-fried rice with sweet plantain and lobster. Whew!

From three dessert choices, Amy and I ordered a delicious Colombian semi-sweet chocolate cake

and an irresistible dulce de leche cheesecake with caramel sauce.

Good food, a good setting, good company. Dining at Pacifico could be habit-forming, especially the mojitos and caipirinhas. Remember, this could be you!

Pacifico, 220 College Street, New Haven, 203-772-4002