plan b at one way fare

UPDATE (click link to the right for pictures) - july 13 2007 : opening july 13 2007

i never stop talking about the half door. i even have a permanent link in my sidebar. i love that joint. there is only one day a year i wouldn't even consider going in. that's st patrick's day. WAY too crowded for me. as of yesterday, i just added another day (i've been through the day multiple times, it just slips my mind). it's the uconn law school end of the year (the last tests) day. i believe it's always on a friday but i could be wrong there. they crowd the half door. most are inconsiderate, RUDE, obnoxious, ill mannered asses. i look at them and shake my head. if this is who we have becomming our lawyers and politicians we're in a more sorry state than ever i imagined. i'd tell some stories but i don't want to involve any innocents. so now, it's TWO days of the year to stay away.



al and shawn own the half door. they also own tisane a block and half down farmington avenue. the food is good but it's just too TRENDY for me in there. the latest venture is plan b on park road in west hartford. they (al and shaw did LOTS of the work themselves mind you along with k c the chef) worked very hard to get that in the shape they wanted it. if you had ever been to the old cypress arms you'd never recognize it now. i like the food and i'm friends with some of the staff. i just don't like to hang there either BECAUSE IT'S TRENDY.



now shawn and al have bought the old one way fare in simsbury (i knew the previous owner paula THAT'S PAULA the courant article called her paul. i worked with her for many years). they're again doing a lot of the work themselves. i've not stopped down yet but i plan on doing so before they open. i want to see what they've done. they take pride in their establishments.



i remember how i felt when i first walked in the half door. i felt at home. the MOST impressive part? i remembered HOW CLEAN the bathroom was. it's a small bar, it's an OLD bar but it was CLEAN. that means the world to me. shawn can't ever just sit. he's washing windows or straightening something or my favorite, he mops a portion of the floor. i've rarely ever seen him NOT do it if he's in the half door. the day of their christmas party (way AFTER christmas mind you) we all met there on a sunday afternoon to drive over to dinner at peppercorn's grill downtown (once again thanks shawn and jen and al). we were ALL dressed up. what does shawn do while we're waiting to leave? gets out a mop and starts doing the floor!

anyway, here's some words from the courant

New Owners Offer Blended Plan B

By LORETTA WALDMAN, Courant Staff Writer

SIMSBURY -- Creating a new restaurant in what used to be One-Way Fare is a lot like turning a church into a house. Anyone attempting either project knows they are treading on sacred ground. And so it is with that sense of reverence that Shawn Skehan and Al Gamble are approaching the transformation of a beloved eatery that, after 32 years, had become an institution in town. The two restaurateurs - owners of Hartford's Half Door and Tisane and Plan B in West Hartford - say their latest venture will be modeled after Plan B but will feature elements of the old One-Way Fare that folks know and love. Even the name of the new restaurant - Plan B at One-Way Fare - melds the two. "We're walking a fine line between the modern and old," Skehan explained. "We want to see if we can blend the two and have some fun with it." The new restaurant is slated to open in early June. Skehan and Gamble have been hard at work re-creating the interior of the old Pennsylvania Rail Road depot, which was first turned into a restaurant in 1976.....................

yet another stupid

connecticut (alleged) criminal

Conn. Woman Tried To Rob Bank In Limo

The Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Evonne D. Maurice apparently wanted to get away in style.The Connecticut woman pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to trying to rob a bank at a drive-up window while traveling in a hired limousine.The attempted robbery occurred Dec. 1, 2005, at a Citizens Bank branch in Cranston. Prosecutors said Maurice, 22, had a limousine take her to the bank, told the driver she needed to withdraw cash to pay for the ride, then walked up to the window and handed the teller an envelope with a note demanding money and saying there were two bombs in the bank.The teller triggered an alarm, and Maurice got back in the limo and was driven away. The driver was unaware of the robbery attempt, prosecutors said...................

is anyone else getting two phone bills

from at&t? i thought it was just me, but it's my pops as well. one is nowhere near being due, AND i just got another one (NO overdue amounts on mine OR his)

just asking..........

(and yeah yeah, i'll call. i can feel my heart palpitating already)

only one more step

the governor has to approve it and it PASSES!
House approves bill on helping pets in family violence cases

(Hartford-AP)_A bill that would protect pets in family violence cases has cleared the state House of Representatives and now moves to Governor Rell for final approval. The proposed law would allow a judge to issue protective and restraining orders for animals owned or kept by victims of domestic violence, stalking and harassment. North Stonington Representative Diana Urban told fellow lawmakers about an abused woman who went to a safe house to escape her abuser. While she was there, the abuser cut off the ears of the woman's dog and mailed them to her family...............

YOU elected him

now you have to live with not only him, BUT his choices as well. i can live with him fundraising for a republican MORE than i can live with him sending our men and women into an unjust, illegal AND immoral war

Lieberman Helps Collect Cash for Collins

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) is never going to win any popularity contests among his party's liberal base -- a fact he seems decidedly unconcerned about despite his 2006 Democratic primary loss to Ned Lamont.
Not only has Lieberman endorsed Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine.) -- one of Democrats' biggest targets in the 2008 cycle -- but he's planning to co-host a fundraiser for her on June 21 in Washington, D.C..............

there HAS to be a better way

this sub human (who had claimed his wife was killed in iraq) pleaded guilty to assaulting a 13 year old girl. he most likely will get PROBATION for THAT offense (he got actual time for the lie about his wife being killed in iraq). i understand not wanting the girl to testify because it will cause her pain. i really DO understand that. but to let this piece of steamin' you know what slide is just NOT right. we have to come up with a BETTER way to protect our children yet punish the guilty

Man who claimed wife died in Iraq pleads to sex assault

WATERBURY, Conn. --A 46-year-old man, already serving time for telling police that his wife had died in Iraq, has pleaded guilty to charges that he sexually abused a 13-year-old girl.
Edward Valentin had faced sexual assault charges, but under a deal with prosecutors, pleaded guilty Friday to risk of injury to a minor. He is expected to be sentence to probation.
Assistant State's Attorney Gail Hardy said she agreed to the deal because she believed that testifying during the trial would have been detrimental to the mental health of the girl, who is now 17.
"The victim was actually happy she doesn't have to go through the exercise of testifying," Hardy said. "But she was willing to do it if she needed to."
Valentin is currently serving an 87-day sentence for fabricating a story in 2004 that his then-wife, U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Betsy Heelan, had been killed in Iraq.
Valentin received national attention in February 2004 when he claimed he received a phone call from the U.S. Department of Defense informing him that his wife had been among 101 soldiers killed in an explosion in Baghdad.
After it became clear the Army did not call him, Valentin claimed to be the victim of a cruel hoax. He later admitted he made up the story and said it was because he thought it would get his wife home.
Prosecutors said he made up the story because he was wanted to date a woman who had told him she did not want to get involved with a married man..............