I dine out so much and I take so many photographs that there just aren’t enough hours in the day to post every story that I should. So this week I paid a Taste of Hartford visit to Max Downtown, but I supplemented it with unused photos from a prior Taste of Hartford visit that were going to waste.
This summer’s edition of the Taste of Hartford runs from August 1st through 14th. The price for a three-course, prix-fixe dinner has risen from an almost unbeatable $20 to a still very appealing $23 (with a few restaurants still holding to the old price). Consult letsgoarts.org for further details, including a list of participating restaurants and their menus.
During Tastes Of Hartford past, Max Downtown has always been exemplary in providing a prix-fixe menu of enticing items served in generous portions. The restaurant’s ownership understands the importance of putting its best foot forward during the Taste of Hartford. After all, Restaurant Week guests are likely to fall into one of three categories: faithful customers who can’t resist any excuse to visit the restaurant, occasional customers who could use reminding about how wonderful the restaurant is, or potential converts visiting the restaurant for the first time. The canny restaurateur recognizes the importance of treating each of these types of customers well.
I visited Max Downtown on a Tuesday, and of course it was packed. I limited myself to taking photographs of our food and our waiter, planning to utilize photographs from that prior Taste of Hartford visit. Thus, be forewarned that these photographs depict different time periods, but I will make it clear which photographs depict current Taste of Hartford menu offerings.
Since there was a bit of construction in front of Max Downtown, these older photographs will better convey how its exterior normally appears.
As for the interior, it seemed just about as busy in 2011 as it did in these older photographs.
Every room was full,
even the bar area.
I still remember this handsome pair from a couple of years ago.
But returning to the present, we received great care from our server, who was a real character.
He brought us sourdough rolls
and a square of butter dressed with extra virgin olive oil and pink Hawaiian sea salt.
For his appetizer, my companion ordered the Rosedale Farms sweet corn bisque with chive oil. Delicious!
I enjoyed a lovely Tuscan salad with roasted garlic, cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, fresh Mozzarella and polenta croutons.
An amusing aside: Back when Rusty Scupper presided over New Haven Harbor, my wife and I used to share a very similar salad there for the occasional lunch, but the person who made out the menu was evidently confused and named it a Tucson Salad. I would picture that with corn, black beans, chilies, lime juice, tortilla chips and the like.
For the second course, my companion ordered Block Island swordfish with a basil purée and panzanella salad.
So many people I know dislike swordfish because they’ve experienced the mealy texture of swordfish served well past its prime. A visit to Max Downtown during the Taste of Hartford would convince them that swordfish is one of the greatest fish in the ocean. Still, I wasn’t exactly pitiable as I devoured a huge grilled pork chop in a whole grain mustard jus with haricots verts and cornbread sausage stuffing.
For dessert, my predictable companion insisted on crème brûlée, which came garnished with biscotti,
while I exclaimed over a refreshing fresh berry shortcake parfait.
This would normally conclude my restaurant visit, but now I’m going to run without description the food photographs from that prior visit to illustrate how consistently enticing and generous Max Downtown’s Taste of Hartford offerings are.
Max Downtown, 185 Asylum Street, Hartford, 860-522-2530
www.maxrestaurantgroup.com