I love discovering places that get very little fanfare, are the heart and soul of the owner(s), and absolutely kill it. Papa’s Pizza in Milford is one of those places and is the epitome of a hole in the wall on the side of the road that deserves recognition for some killer pizza.
The original Papa’s Pizza is located closer to Walnut Beach versus downtown Milford (where Papa’s Pizza II is located), and I was getting a little nervous as the soccer ball at the end of the purple line on Waze was quickly approaching, and there was no sign of Papa’s. On my right there was a bakery, a breakfast joint and a parking lot. As I slowed to a crawl and stared into the lot (my apologies again to the people in the car behind me), the far section of the white building had two red words above a small window, “Papa’s Pizza.”
Chefs that have a bustling restaurant never take a full month off. For Luke Venner, “vacation” wasn’t pina coladas in the Caribbean, nor was it one of his fishing or hunting excursions. Instead, he was mostly in New Canaan, at Elm, remixing popular dishes, creating new ones, and reimagining and renovating the entire dining room. Don’t freak out. Your beloved Double-Double was unharmed in the process. But the dining room? Transformed. And it’s something that Venner—who’s in his 10th season as Elm’s executive chef and co-owner—has been meaning to tackle for quite a while. Talk to him about it and you can tell he’s feeling refreshed about all of it.
At No Mames, there are also no rules. The modern Mexican cantina by DORO Restaurant Group, which opened in Wethersfield April 30, is intended to be a fun escape with fresh flavors and beachy Tulum vibes.
No Mames (a Mexican slang phrase for “no way,” says executive chef and partner Ryan Van Grouw) opened this week on the Silas Deane Highway, in a shopping plaza between a Marshall’s and a pet supply store. Van Grouw says he wants guests to come in and “be blown away by the experience.”
“They’ll come in here after [shopping], not even realizing that we’re here, coming in to get tacos, and the next thing you know, they won’t know what hit them,” he said. “They walk in, the place is beautiful…everything is done with purpose, everything is done for a reason.”
The 120-seat restaurant’s decor is inspired by restaurants in coastal Tulum, with high ceilings and a breezy feel. A semi-open kitchen gives diners a glance at the work behind the scenes, as cooks press fresh tortillas, grill peppers and tend to a slowly rotating trompo, or vertical rotisserie, cooking a stack of marinated pork to be shaved for al pastor tacos.
