This food blog is a record of my dining adventures, which means it’s apt to land at Mickey’s Restaurant & Bar in Hamden now and then. This hometown restaurant is a personal favorite and was praised effusively in our review of 3/18/08, due to its combination of neighborhood camaraderie, attentive service and high-quality food.
My wife and I came to Mickey’s on a date, arriving on the relatively late end of the evening.
We had hardly been seated and I had just gotten my beloved Canon EOS 10 out on the bench beside me, when it seemed to take a suicide leap for the floor. Glass shattered, and I was forced to remove my main lens and attach my wide angle lens, which doesn’t work especially well with the camera’s built-in flash. Hopefully, the damage will be limited to the outer filters without having compromised the catastrophically expensive main lens. I managed to get useable photos with the wide angle lens (with the help of more photo editing afterward than normal). Since I was using the wide angle, I was able to take a more unusual shot like the following one, which illustrates that many diners opt for Mickey’s patio seating, even after dark.
It’s rare that I dine outside when evaluating a restaurant. I figure that it’s challenge enough to ask a restaurant staff to control its interior environment, but outside one may experience everything from chilly temperatures to strong gusts of wind to pesky insects to vehicle exhaust to honking horns to emergency sirens. Shot late in the meal, this is the kind of serenity I prefer.
Mickey’s diverse wine list always includes some good, affordable offerings. When I’m on my own dime, that’s terribly important to me. Our 2006 Casa Castillo, Jumilla, Spain was a big Monastrell, weighing in at 14% alcohol. Here you see Katie, one of my favorite Mickey’s waitresses, bearing our bottle of wine and large goblets. She never looked more beautiful.
Slices of warm, crusty bread and triangles of good hotel butter soon followed.
Having been out of the country the last three years, my wife’s exposure to Mickey’s has only been recent, but it has already become one of her favorite restaurants and Mickey Josephs one of her favorite chefs. Observe her cute look of anticipation as our first food arrived.
Josephs uses very attractive plates when they won’t detract from the beauty of the food itself. So here you see his beef carpaccio, pink petals of thinly sliced raw filet mignon topped with baby arugula in a truffle vinaigrette and big shavings of Reggiano Parmigiano.
Those plate colors would not have enhanced the appearance of the next dish, which was artistic enough on its own merits. It took lettuce leaf origami to fashion the Boston Bibb lettuce bowl that contained this crab salad.
A special regularly offered during spring and summer, this salad included jumbo lump crabmeat, mango, avocado, cherry tomato and red onion in a raspberry-Dijon vinaigrette, a sublime mélange of ingredients.
I pay real attention to Mickey’s specials, because they’re usually beauties. In particular, watch out for any fish or hanger steak specials. On this occasion, we were doubly in luck. Two large pieces of panko-encrusted black cod with lemon-oregano French fries breathed new life into the fish-and-chips paradigm. The greaseless crunchy crust and the silky moist flakes of fish were absolute perfection. A chimichurri sauce was an unusual, but successful, pairing with the fish.
A chimichurri sauce might have been more likely accompaniment to our hanger steak, but the meat was so beautifully marinated and so perfectly cooked that any added flavor would have been superfluous, even distracting. A wealth of tasty sautéed mushroom and truffled mashed potato rounded out a wonderful entrée.
We finished with what are, in my opinion, Mickey’s best two desserts. A satisfying coconut crème brûlée was freed from its cooking vessel and mounted atop a pineapple carpaccio with strawberry slices and a scoop of coconut sorbet.
Just as gratifying was a molten chocolate soufflé laced with Grand Marnier and accompanied with a wild berry sorbet and sliced strawberry.
Although the kitchen staff is very competent, one of the things I like about the restaurant is that nine out of ten times, Mickey will have handled one’s food himself. Although he’s a sociable guy, he’s not one of those chefs who leaves all the cooking to his staff. I tend not to trust chefs whose jackets are too clean.
Mickey’s ambiance, service and food would be worth a substantial drive, but when it’s located near one’s home, as it is mine, it’s simply irresistible.
Mickey’s Restaurant & Bar, 2323 Whitney Avenue, Hamden, 203-288-4700