By Alexandra Martinkova
In the midst of hot summer weather, a group of 17 people from all over the city walked a mile across Fair Haven Saturday afternoon for Arts & Ideas’ Grand Avenue Gastronomy Tour.
Led by neighborhood stalwart Lee Cruz, the tour filled attendees’ plates with chicken tacos, guacamole, pork bellies, ceviche, fried rice, and a deeper appreciation of the neighborhood’s culinary delights.
Cruz, the director of strategic partnerships for the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and a volunteer tour guide with the festival, has been leading these tours for around a decade. He has been offering other tours around New Haven for the past 26 years. He lives in Fair Haven, just off Grand Avenue
“I was raised in New York City, so I only have two walking speeds, fast and faster,” he joked when people struggled to keep up with his pace in the beginning.
A ticket for the tour cost $63. The tour included five stops over the course of three hours.
Tacos At Salsa's
The first stop was Salsa’s Authentic Mexican Food Restaurant, a family-run establishment at 99 Grand Ave. that has been around for 17 years.
While everyone found a place to sit down, Cruz introduced the owner, Juana Ramirez, and her daughter. The building, which Ramirez bought in 2018, includes a restaurant area and a bar area for customers.
The buffet that they prepared for the tour guests Saturday offered chicken tacos and quesadillas, as well as a vegetarian option of potato tacos and a side of vegetable rice, plus chips, sour cream and guacamole for everyone to take as much as they wanted.
The tacos were crunchy with warm meat inside. After dipping them in the sour cream, I realized I could’ve spent the whole tour at that one restaurant and been happy. The tacos paired perfectly with a side of the well-flavored vegetable rice.
Another standout at Salsa’s was the “Rice drink” — resembling a flavored milk, it tasted sweet like honey and the cinnamon added just enough of a spicy kick.
Ramirez encouraged tour attendees to pack some food to go. Cruz joked that they should start telling people to show up with extra bags to the tour.
Pork Bellies At J&J
The pork bellies were definitely my favorite pick. Juicy and crunchy, I couldn’t get enough of the flavorful meat. The potato salad and rice didn’t stand out on their own, but once I mixed them, they worked well together. It was impossible to eat all of it but everyone tried their best. I could barely fit everything I wanted to try onto the plate. Trays of food found their way onto a large table the owners prepared for the tour, consisting of chicken, pork, fried plantains, fried rice, potato and macaroni salads and pork bellies. Even though the lack of air conditioning made the space was slightly stuffy, the food made up for it. Once everyone finished eating at Salsa’s, the tour continued down to J&J Restaurant, a Dominican restaurant at 244 Grand Ave.
More Fried Rice At El Coqui
The third stop, two hours in, was El Coqui, a Chinese-owned Puerto Rican restaurant at 286 Grand Ave. Once again, it was a point-and-choose restaurant and the last stop before the tour turned to the other side of the road and back up towards Fair Haven Heights.
This place offered a variety of food, but there were some repeats from J&J, like the pork bellies or the fried rice — though I personally preferred this one.
Cruz made everyone try Malta — a lightly carbonated, non-alcoholic malt beverage that strongly resembles dark beer. As someone who is not a beer fan, I did not particularly enjoy it.
Mango-Pineapple Smoothie At Cositas Deliciosas
My absolute favorite stop of the tour was Cositas Deliciosas, located at 271 Grand Ave. There’s no indoor seating at all here, ever since the pandemic. On Saturday, this spot offered smoothies and fruit cups for the tour.
The second the owner Cecilia placed a cup full of strawberries and cream topped with walnuts in front of me, I was hooked. Everything they served was made with fresh, juicy, delicious fruit and I had to get a second cup of that sweet treat.
They also provided us with a sample of their mango-pineapple smoothie, which might be my new favorite combination, and a cup of mixed fruits with yogurt and granola that would make a fantastic summer breakfast.
Genuinely incredible. I will definitely be ordering more from them, as thankfully the restaurant works with both Door Dash and Uber Eats.
Pisco At La Molienda
The final stop of the food tour took the group to a Peruvian restaurant, La Molienda, at 113 Grand Ave. Located in a place that used to be an Italian restaurant, the furniture and decor of the inside of the restaurant still held that vibe.
Three hours and four restaurants in to the tour, everyone was pretty full at this point. And yet they still brought out more, including ceviche and fried rice, as well as a jug of pisco sour — a Peruvian national alcoholic drink made with brandy, lime juice, egg whites and simple syrup.
Even though I did not think I could eat anything more at this point, I still got two plates of the fried rice. It was packed with flavor and seasoning and just too good to pass up.
Since it was the last stop, the group could stay and hang out for however long they wanted.
Even though I probably ate enough that I didn’t need to for the rest of the weekend, every place that Cruz showed us was worth the hype.
“Just because the tour ends here,” he concluded, “the good restaurants don’t.”
