My third Taste of Hartford visit found me at The Half Door on Sisson Avenue.
Ensconced in a comfortable, slightly raised booth, my companion Martha
and I looked out over an oasis of warmth and conviviality.
That warmth emanated equally from gracious general manager Spiro Koulouris
and our sweet waitress, Ally.
I wandered around The Half Door before our food arrived, noting details like this pithy Irish saying,
a superior list of draught beers,
specials that would make good beers highly affordable (am I the only one to notice that the cost of drinking beer has been going through the roof lately?),
autographed photos of well-known Irish bands,
and a couple of heavy-duty saws,
which reminded me of a silly riddle from my elementary school days, which I’ll adapt for this occasion. If you were trapped in The Half Door and it was empty except for a mirror and a table and completely lacked doors or windows or other forms of egress, how would you escape? See riddle answer at end of article.
But I had serious eating and drinking to do, and not necessarily in that order. With our appetizers, I enjoyed a Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted Ale, which as one who once lived in the Scotstoun section of Glasgow seemed fortuitous.
We devoured all three appetizers that were offered, including beautifully seared scallops with kalamata olive in a bacon dressing,
a Swiss cheese and onion quiche with a warm mustard vinaigrette,
and huge lamb meatballs in a sage tomato sauce.
We also tried all three entrées. We had delicious seared salmon with shiitake mushroom and scallion over a potato cake,
hearty pan-fried chicken with biscuit and gravy,
and a steak and kidney pie with a lovely, flaky crust.
I accompanied the fish with Helles Lagerbier, the chicken with Chimay Tripel (White) and the meat pie with Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery Pale Ale.
And, of course, we tried all three desserts. These included a Bailey’s cheesecake with raspberry sauce,
a maple pecan crème brûlée,
and my favorite, a cheese and jam platter that included Manchego, Taleggio and Midnight Moon cheeses served with toast points and sour cherry jam, onion marmalade, and fig and ginger jam.
With the desserts, I savored a high-alcohol 2007 J.W. Lees Harvest Ale.
Thanks to chef Matthew Backe, everything we tried was delightful. And The Half Door is to be commended for offering plenty of choice with its appetizers, entrees and desserts. The Taste of Hartford is supposed to be just that—a chance for the public to taste the capabilities of each participating restaurant. Couples like this very cute one
are apt to want to try as many items as possible, not be forced to order the exact same items. Kudos to The Half Door and all of the other Hartford restaurants that are doing this right!
Riddle Answer: Look in the mirror. See what you saw. Saw what you see. Saw the table in half. Half and half makes a hole. Go out the hole. I told you it was silly.
The Half Door, 270 Sisson Avenue, Hartford, 860-232-7827