Wednesday, March 28, 2012 Update - Cafe Oo La La

Who remembers last August when a 92 year old guy drove into Cafe Oo La La? Remember the exciting investigative report by yours truly? Well, it looks like they installed a safety barrier to prevent the cars in the handicapped spaces from ending up inside the restaurant. Stellar work, Stamford. I'm proud.

-HH

Tuesday, August 30, 2011 Outdoor Dining and Safety - Common Sense? Not so much.

About two weeks ago we had a pretty bad "accident" in Stamford - a 92 year old guy drove his car into a cafe injuring 10 people. However, I hesitate to call it an accident as it could have been totally avoided.

Never mind the guy is 92 years old, never mind the food ain't that good. I'm going out on a limb here and declaring this an avoidable situation - a FORESEEABLE situation. There's a handicapped parking space pointed right at the glass front cafe!

Common sense ain't so common.

Today I took my ass on an in-depth investigatory walk around town, studying some of the outdoor dining options and their relative safety. I am not an expert, I just have an IQ.

Here's one of downtown's newest hot spots (also reviewed by OmNomCT) Zaza Gastrobar.

As you can see, the customers are somewhat shielded by the heavy duty planters. They seem to be somewhat sturdy, but I bet they can easily be knocked over if a car were to jump the curb on Broad Street. Cars travel at quite a clip in Stamford, with little respect for pedestrians. But I have to give them props for not having any parking spaces pointed towards the diners.

Around the corner I found numerous outdoor eateries. The poor bastards eating at Butterfield 8 have zero protection from the cars pointed towards them. But, I never see anyone eating there anyway, so the odds are in safety's favor.

Diners at Chez Jean-Pierre are right out in the sidewalk and across the street at Capriccio Cafe and Lucky's Burgers the customers are somewhat protected from cars shooting out from Spring Street, but they're mostly left out in the open.

Now I understand the importance of outdoor dining in Stamford. I remember when it wasn't allowed, and I do think it's great for whatever "culture" we have here in Lower Fairfield County. But it's time for a little common sense in the planning and zoning of these eateries. It's good business. You don't want your customers getting injured at your establishment and Stamford doesn't need the negative publicity that stems from the news coverage.

Thn!k about it - I mean, think about it.

-HH

Saturday, June 11, 2011 Greek Festival Nostalgia

I've been going to the Greek Festival on Newfield Road in Stamford since I was a kid. I remember getting dropped off in 5th or 6th grade for a day of sno cones, cotton candy and rides, rides, rides. I can't remember exactly when I had my first souvlaki, but my order hasn't changed much over the years. In the beginning I got chicken souvlaki, just tomatoes. Now that I have my lovely allergy to conventional chicken I go with the pork, but still, just tomatoes.

This years pork nostalgia wrapped in foil was missing a bit of the seasoning that I've come to expect over the last couple DECADES! OMG - how did I get this old? But it was still DDelicious. I got some real burnt up crunchy bits in mine that were yummy surprises, and the bread is still out of this world. I wish I knew where they got it, even without that extra dash of seasoned salt they brought me back to the years my friend Cathy and I would be sitting on the steps munching on souvlaki, pining over Joey Belladonna and Alex Skolnick (from Anthrax and Testament, if for some reason you don't know).

If you have never been to the festival you have two more days, today and tomorrow (Saturday June, 11 and Sunday June, 12). They have dogs and burgers for the unadventurous, souvlaki and gyros outside in a tent and then even more Greek food inside in the AC. Plus Greek baked goods! I've been known to bring home a baklava or two. This year I stuck to the fair faves of kettle corn and a caramel apple. Both were decent, nothing spectacular, but I finished them both so they couldn't have been too bad. Mister Softee was also there with a huge line! I wanted me some vanilla with chocolate sprinkles, but it seems I'll have to get that another day.

The layout of the fair isn't so great this year - not a lot of room. And who knew there were so many teens and tweens in Stamford? And why are they all so tan? Aren't they in school all day? But there are some great rides and such that you'll love to watch. We watched one kid on the Euro-Bungee...OMG, I wish I had my video camera. Plump little Latino boy, cute as all fuck, all strapped into the bungee. Every time the ride operator started to raise him up his face would get all screwy with fear. We watched for a few minutes, sharing this awesome comedic moment with the ride operator who kept smiling at us as we smiled back - the kid and his mom oblivious to our enjoyment. We should have paid the 7 bucks, it was worth it. Of course the mom was of no help to the kid, just standing there with the camera - I wanted to encourage him, but who knew if he spoke English, or if that's even considered proper anymore...can you talk to kids without going to jail?

All in all it was a great evening. We ate, played some games, won a wolf for our rabbit and escaped before every teenager in lower Fairfield County was dropped off for an evening of fun. There really were a ton of people there. Parking was tricky - you can park at Davenport, St. Cecilia's or that other church on the corner of Newfield and Weed Ave.

The people running the fair were all super nice - a rarity in Stamford. If it wasn't for the Greek thing and the Orthodox thing I might want to join that group of people.

Definitely check it out! Enjoy!

-HH