the half door's 10th anniversary is today

the half door

do stop by if you're in the greater hartford area. it's a low country boil AND a bbq. i'm vegan BUT i will tell you everyone was raving about the chow AND i brought my pops home some ribs and my car actually smelled GOOD (i'm not even kidding).

anyway, you will not see me tonight. if you know me you know i keep odd hours. i did my time there earlier. DO GO. music, food, beverages and of course eddie and erin behind the bar

sunflower blogging

at the half door

as i have mentioned, only ONE made it through this year but it's a HUGE one. bigger than i've ever grown

my sunflower

is HUGE still no bloom yet. it's there, but it will be a week or two before it actually opens. only ONE sunflower made it this year but it's the biggest one i've EVER seen. i planted seeds from the sunflowers i grew last year (also record breakers). i grow them at the half door

from the half door (where else???)

the bastard son of seamus el gordo

3 green eggs scrambled with diced tomato, diced red onion, diced chicken sausage, bacon & black olives. served over chipotle homefries, ina fried tortilla bowl, then topped with cheese sauce (and cooked in bacon fat)

(note: the one with the hole in the tortilla shell is actually a vegetarian version - NO NOT FOR ME, i'm vegan you silly!)

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.

flowers

and a bee and a ladybug

from the half door

the seamus el gordo

the

Seamus El Gordo by matt and andy (this one eaten by brian and photographed lovingly by a rose is a rose)

the half door

3 eggs scrambled, cheddar cheese, red onion, rasher bacon, and banger sausage wrapped in a flour tortilla, then deep fried. Topped with spicy hollandaise and served over corned beef hash.

reminder: tomorrow is the hartford st patrick's day parade

the half door will be open at 8:00 am with a limited brunch menu (full brunch menu commences at their usual weekend brunch open time of 11:00 am). so stop on down BEFORE, AFTER OR DURING the parade!

i did MY part yesterday

my friends and i doing our part on valentine's day for a consortium of pub-going, loose and forward women
cashy, lk, maria, juan, ty, andy, tim
the facebook group

the pink chaddi campaign blog

of course this was at the half door

as i live and breathe

it's juan mar-teen in a tie!

i NEVER thought i'd see the day

(at the the half door)

i don't care if you're sick of them

i'm NOT.


my sunflowers at the half door

the big one bloomed!

they're all bloomed. the biggest one is over 11'. it's amazing. the seeds i used were hart's mammoth


0h and if you're headed to the half door, wait until friday evening. they're closed a couple of days for renovations. new floor, new tile, new bar sinks, new paint (i'm painting here and there, but i didn't start yet) and a new beer cooler (which of course YOU can't see). do stop by and at the least say hola to the sunflowers before they go away

sunflower blogging

brian measured the biggest one (brian is at a minium 6'2"). it's 11 FEET TALL. that's one big sunflower

the half door

see, i TOLD you they had flowers!

i like the composition of these. especially the one that is REALLY blue and REALLY green. the contrast is good

the half door

live sunflower blogging

still NOT bloomed but the flowers are absolutely formed and ready to burst
the half door

you would think matt would have told me

he was on TV!!! we spent all day monday together in northampton! well i think this is a few months old as it turns out. however, i still didn't know about it!


the half door was on channel 3 yesterday morning too. i missed it. i think andy was on doing the green eggs and ham.

update on the sunflowers

they have to be 8 or 9 feet tall. they are the biggest i have ever grown. UNFORTUNATELY THEY STILL HAVE NOT FLOWERED. it's killing me!

amy on the left and kristina on the right (sorry about the sun's position and lousy photos)

the sunflowers have to be 8 feet tall

the flowers are formed, NOT bloomed yet. patience patience

(you can't tell how big they are, BUT THEY ARE BIG)

amy, eddie and their lil' henry