A Taste Of Hartford Visit To Burger Baby

Running from Monday, January 23rd to Sunday, February 5th, the Taste of Hartford is in the midst of its winter 2012 edition. This is genuine cause for celebration—and participation! The organizers of Taste of Hartford never seem to forget that the primary goal of a restaurant week is not to maximize immediate profit but to drive new traffic into restaurants that may be converted into repeat customers.

So many restaurant “weeks” exclude Saturdays—this one includes two of them. So many restaurant weeks enlist only a handful of participants—this one has two dozen. So many restaurant weeks allow their prices to get out of hand—after a brief flirtation with $23, this one has held the line at $20.12. So many restaurant weeks let participating restaurants offer pretty much whatever they want—this one holds the line at a three-course meal. So many restaurant weeks only manage to sign up restaurants of peripheral importance, but this one includes almost all of Hartford’s heavy hitters. Although the words “restaurant week” aren’t in its name, the Taste of Hartford is the best restaurant week Connecticut has to offer.

I can’t cover restaurant weeks wall to wall, as I once did. The Food Network has a new series called “Fat Chef” about chefs who are eating themselves to death, and I don’t want to be in the sequel, “Fat Critic.” But I still like to use restaurant weeks the way members of the public should—as an opportunity to try new places or a chance to return to forgotten favorites.

And thus, the first Friday of the Winter 2012 edition of the Taste of Hartford found me looking for a parking space in front of Burger Baby,

the new restaurant occupying Mayor Mike’s former digs. I had no luck there, but I found a space right in front of Hot Tomato’s (also participating), from which it was a short walk back past Black-Eyed Sally’s (also participating).

We received an enthusiastic greeting from host Chad,

who took us to our table. We were welcomed by our waiter, Mark,

and checked upon by New York-bound manager Allyson

and Hartford-bound manager Michael.

We got to meet owner David Squillante,

but highly regarded director of operations Michael Moreau wasn’t there at the time so I caught up with him by phone.

Here are some photographs that reveal how the interior has changed since the place was Mayor Mike’s Bistro, beginning with the bar area.

We were given the regular menu (remember, you can enlarge photos by clicking upon them),

the beer and wine list,

and the Taste of Hartford menu.

We ordered everything on Burger Baby’s Taste of Hartford menu. We shared a vanilla milk shake with our appetizers and entrées.

Our first starter was a refreshing Boston Bibb salad,

our second a lovely butternut squash bisque with cinnamon cream and minted julienne apple,

and our third an incredible pan-seared scallop served over slow-roasted Berkshire pork belly with parsnip purée and cider reduction.

Pretty sophisticated cooking for a burger joint (which, of course, is the point of the upscale burger trend)!

All of the entrée choices, naturally, were burgers, each served with organic Bibb lettuce and marinated tomato on a grilled, egg-washed brioche bun. Bringing our burgers out to us was food runner Danielle.

We began by trying the housemade veggie burger, made from a black bean, sweet potato and quinoa patty with avocado, bean sprouts and tahini spread, which may not have held its shape perfectly but was simply the best veggie burger I ever had in my life.

We followed with the housemade turkey burger, which came with balsamic onions and black pepper aïoli and was simply the best turkey burger I ever had in my life.

We finished with the Burger Baby classic burger, a wonderful eight-ounce blend of hand-formed Angus, porterhouse and chuck steak served with house sauce that takes a position among the best burgers in this burger-rich state that we live in.

All of the burgers were served with housemade fries and Parmesan foam.

We finished off this incredible introduction to Burger Baby with two desserts: an apple cobbler with brown butter caramelized apples, vanilla ice cream and molasses streusel topping

and a brownie sundae with housemade warm chocolate brownie, vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and caramel.

Naturally, we were eager to meet the chef, Matt Hauschild, shown here with Michael.

Matt apparently served with Cavey’s in Manchester for a number of years, which went far in explaining the level of sophistication we found in the cooking.

I end with a tour of the computer-generated art that decorates Burger Baby’s walls.