Villa Lulu, South Bay
New Haven Restaurant Week
New Haven
March 18, 2026
It’s that gastronomically glorious time of the year again; New Haven Restaurant Weeklasts until March 28. So, as if I needed any excuse, I gathered the girls for a night of sampling cocktails at some of the participating restaurants. Middle-of-the-week drinking is always a little thrilling, am I right?
Rita Landelius and Deja R. are girls after my own heart – our liquor of choice is the fun girl, tequila. However, I warned them that the night’s mission was to mix it up and see what these spots have to offer.
The first location was Villa Lulu, a contemporary Italian restaurant that boasts of having a “modern cocktail culture.” It seems that we missed our favorite time – happy hour – but Villa Lulu’s typical cocktail list did not disappoint. It featured an even 10 drinks: classic Italian cocktails or Italian twists on classic cocktails.
Although tequila is my girl, I will drink vodka in an espresso martini, so I was excited to see their espresso martini, called the “Affogato Martini.” Affogato means drowned in Italian and in the drink refers to the scoop of gelato “drowned” in espresso. The martini came with a ball of vanilla gelato plopped in the center in place of Bailey’s. The sweet gelato was a smooth accompaniment to the slightly bitter coffee-chocolatey aftertaste of the drink. I felt like a big kid in the bar as I drained my glass of gelato.
Deja’s drink, “White Fig Cosmopolitan,” was the most intriguing to me because it contained Figenza vodka, a fig vodka, which I’ve never tasted. It also had the refreshing look of a summer drink with its pale green color. I regret not asking for a sip. Or maybe I don’t, because Deja said the lime in the drink overshadowed everything. She couldn’t even taste the raspberry, a tart flavor that typically doesn’t go missed in any drink. She said the Cosmopolitan was strong but could have been stronger. Later, I did hear a faint, “I’m feeling it now” and a request for water.
Rita ordered the “Italian Margarita,” which is funny because her real name is Margarita. She said something about the drink tasted very familiar – that familiar taste was amaretto. “This shit was so sweet. How did we drink this?” she said with a laugh, reminiscing on the universal experience of drinking amaretto sours as undergrads. She winced as she continued to sip the drink as the saccharine almond liqueur couldn’t overpower the strength of the tequila. “Chile, I don’t know if I’ma finish this.” Spoiler alert: she didn’t.
I clearly ordered the best drink of the bunch because my friends vowed to come back to Villa Lulu just to try it.
The next stop was Mediterranean restaurant South Bay. Their website, too, brags of craft cocktails that are “refreshing and delicious.” They had specialty cocktails for Restaurant Week – a “Winter Old Fashioned, “Snow Margarita,” and a “Cinnamon Basil Old Fashioned.” I can’t do whiskey, and I’m over the snow, so I opted for their regular menu’s extensive cocktail list. My friends followed suit.
I ordered the “Pear Lavendar Mezcalita” because I’m a sucker for that smoky spirit. The taste of pear and lavender was perfectly balanced, with a hint of lime. The drink was pretty strong, but the taste of alcohol was never overbearing. The “Mezcalita” was so delicious that I sipped and sipped until I could hear the ice cubes grinding against one another.
Deja’s drink was the “V.I.P.” Its presentation made her feel like one; the blue drink glowed in a long glass. “I really like this tall glass,” exclaimed Deja. “I can’t get over it.” Life’s pleasures can truly be found in the little things. She loved the drink’s flavor, too. It was a blend of pineapple infused vodka, Malibu, pineapple juice and blue curacao, with a bit of dehydrated pineapple floating in the mix. “I’m really feeling this drink,” she declared.
“Soulful Spice” caught Rita’s fancy and kept it: “I’ve never had a drink before that’s sweet and savory!” She loved that the drink’s taste was mango forward, with a mango chile rum, Aperol, mango puree, lime juice, agave, and a dehydrated slice of mango on the rim.
In the end, South Bay won the girls over, but I left still thinking about my “Affogato Martini”…
Some of those drinks will be seeing our faces again.
