i'm old enough to know who ned coll is

and this rather shocked me.................

i will say, my friends own the half door, plan b and of course tisane

i don't go to tisane if i can help it. EXCELLENT food, but i just hang elsewhere.

i don't know jack. i can't speak for him. what i CAN do it tell you i hang in the area. i CAN tell you it does have people who panhandle. i CAN tell you i learned my lesson after giving peeps money a LONG time ago (it's spent on drugs or drink.. no ifs ands or buts. not a doubt. it IS. i know that for a fact). i know all the businesses in the area, NOT JUST TISANE ask the panhandlers to move on. i personally know them ALL. (i do). I NOW ASK THEM TO MOVE ON (my favorite was the time several winters ago, gary (my personal favorite) came up to me (on a very snowy sunday AFTERNOON), opened his coat and asked me if i wanted to buy frozen meat (I'M VEGAN MY PEEPS). now come on. even if one was a carnivore would you buy frozen MEAT from someone who had rows of it stashed in their coat?????????????

anyway, my point being, the businesses around the west end are sometimes bothered by the garys and the delores' (my personal favorite crack ho in the ENTIRE universe. no, i'm not being insensitive. no, i'm not being un-pc. i am being HONEST. delores would walk up to me and say, 'a rose is a rose, you look BEAUTIFUL' wait 3 beats then say, 'do you have $20.00'?. yes, it's true). i gave her some 20s to begin with. then i insisted upon going into the bodega with her to BUY SOME FOOD (and yes, she did buy food when i went with her. unfortunately delores is no longer in the hood. i do hope she's ok. i LIKE her. there were times she was locked up and she came back to the hood looking healthier than i've ever seen her. she's been gone t0o long this time. keep your fingers crossed for her).


not that ned isn't allowed in tisane, but WTF???????????? it's rather like seeing him in black and blue square. just some place you'd NOT expect him (or ME) to be


Activist Ned Coll Arrested After Tiff At Tisane

By DAVID OWENS
HARTFORD — - Ned Coll, the activist and sometime presidential candidate, was arrested about 11 p.m. Tuesday after getting into a dispute with the manager of Tisane, a Farmington Avenue restaurant.

Police said Coll was a patron at Tisane when a panhandler who frequents the area walked by. Coll gave the woman some money, then began to speak with her.

The manager of Tisane asked the woman to move along, police said. Coll became upset with the manager, and the situation escalated to the point that restaurant staff called police.

Coll, 69, who lives in Hartford's West End and has a home in Barkhamsted, was charged with second-degree breach of peace and first-degree criminal trespass. He was released on a written promise to appear in court today in Hartford.

Coll said Tuesday afternoon that the woman approached him.

"This lady came up to me, and she was poor, and I helped her," Coll said. "This guy cuts in and says 'don't give her any money.' That's where I got ticked. It's not his business if I'm helping somebody."

Coll, who founded an anti-poverty agency called the Revitalization Corps, said restaurant staff then attacked.....................

you know i hang at plan b every once in a while

my REAL home is the half door their FIRST and BEST place (in my most humble opinion. i like it cause it's not chuck full of id-jit hipster* west hartford folk**)


Helen Ubiñas points out something rather ickky about the new restaurant next to plan b tavern in west hartford. to be honest i never really noticed the fence and i've never been inside taqueria tavern either. i smoke so i've seen the lovely cactus shaped ashtray at the taqueria (left over from the last joint). never ever noticed the fence though.



An Of(fence)ive Image, Intended Or Not
There were a good number of people eating outside Taqueria Tavern and the adjoining Plan B restaurant the other day, but no one seemed to pay much attention to the fence with metallic strips between the two eateries.

A reader had tipped me off about some curious decor at the new Mexican restaurant on Park Road in West Hartford, and suggested I go take a look.

So, I grabbed one of my more measured colleagues and while we waited for our food at an outside table we debated whether the fence was as offensive as the reader had said.

Could be a cattle fence, he reasoned.

Could be.

Or some rustic Tex-Mex take-off?

Maybe.

Or just some cheesy addition to go with the equally cheesy cigarette receptacle shaped like a cactus. Also a possibility.

But then I asked our waitress what the fence represented.

The liquor commission mandates a division between eateries, she said, while grabbing the check.

Oh, if only she had stopped there.

But she didn't. It's supposed to represent the border fence, she continued. Inside, she told us with cringing enthusiasm, they even have a sign, one side pointing to the U.S., the other to Mexico.........................

*hipster is my new favorite word
**i am west hartford folk but i am NOT a hipster nor am i trying to be one. i DO NOT own an suv. i do NOT own a designer dog. i do NOT need to see or be seen. i am NOT pretentious.

congratulations to plan b tavern

for winning golden local best burger award
we stopped in yesterday afternoon prior to seeing cake. had NO idea they were going to be celebrating with free burgers and the like. i was there early so i sat at the bar awhile with jon (one hell of a bartender. you can find him at plan b monday, tuesday, thursday and friday afternoons and the half door for saturday brunches, then sat outside (they put a tent up) when my friends joined me. had a little bit too much to drink (ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - but i wasn't driving) but all turned out well.

shawn and al, congrats!

some sad west hartford news

a little gem.

by the way, i like park road a kazillion times MORE than the center (where i refuse to go unless it's an emergency. now that sit-n-knit has moved to bloomfield, there is rarely a reason to go.

park road has TONS of restaurants (one of my favorites is india oven but there really ARE a ton (i can't forget plan b either).

lane and lenge one of THE best florists out there moved to park road a few months back. lovely new store. check it out!

West Hartford's Park Road Playhouse Closing Sunday
by HILDA MUÑOZ
WEST HARTFORD - The Park Road Playhouse, a nonprofit theater company, will close Sunday, more than eight years after it opened.

"I put my arms out to people who worked at the theater and all the audiences because it was a wonderful ride," said Howie Hirsch, founder and artistic director.

"Bedroom Farce" will be the 50th and final play. Hirsch, who blames the suffering economy for the closure, said he will be on the lookout for a more affordable space.

Hirsch and his wife, Linda, founded the playhouse in 2001. In more prosperous years, they specialized in solid, serious productions like "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." Lately, they've been putting on a lot of comedies.......

plan b's nicole wins!

for her bloody mary. congrats! (to al, shawn and kc as well)

as i said a couple of posts ago, they have THE BEST bella burger i have EVER had

(but their first baby, the half door will ALWAYS be my favorite

Bloody Mary Wins Bartenders Battle

MaryEllen Fillo JAVA

It was a tough job, but someone had to do it:Judge the first Mix Master competition, one of the events Tuesday at the Connecticut Restaurant and Lodging show at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford.So Java - along with WFSB, Channel 3, morning anchor Mike Hydeck and Alistair Highet from the Hartford Advocate - staggered, um, stepped up, to sample and savor an array of libations prepared by five area bartenders who prepared their best in hopes of capturing the prized silver trophy.................

...................................In the end, it was not about the trendy, but rather the tried-and-true.For it was Bloody Mary, prepared by Plan B bartender Nicole Pappa, that captured the judge's taste buds as the winning entry."This is a drink I would go back to the bar for," said Highet, who complimented the fresh horseradish and crisp celery that made the potion just perfect..............

picture: NICOLE PAPPA toasts her victory in the Mix Master contest with judges Mike Hydeck, left, and Alistair Highet. (MARYELLEN FILLO)