Comerio Restaurant

Comerio Restaurant
(860) 246-0210
158 Park St, Hartford, CT
Open 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM Seven Days a Week

This place has been open for over 30 years. It is right near Hartford Hospital so it is very convinient. They have lots of cheap, delicious Puerto Rican specialties ready to serve. Walk in the door and look in the heated glass case and take your pick. Alcupuria de Yucca (Roast pork in Fried Yucca, Relleno de Papa (meat in a potato ball), Bacalatito (Cod Fritter), Empanadilla, Sorullos de Queso (Cheese in Fried Corn Meal), and other treats in the $1-$2 range. If you are brave try the morcilla (blood sausage), mollejitas (chicken gizzards), chuchifrito (stewed pigs ears). You can also get arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) and lechon asado (roast pork.


Because it it so close to Hartford Hospital, you can call in a food order and pick it up when you clear. I like to call in for maduros (fried green plantain) which takes about ten minutes to make. They have daily meals of the day for $9.50. Usually rice and various meats.

Check out their menu here: Comerio


Bacaulito

Restaurante Salvadoreño

Restaurante Salvadoreño
931 Campbell Avenue
West Haven
(203) 931-7457

Hours
Tue–Thu noon–8:00pm
Fri–Sat 11:00am–10:00pm

If you are down in West Haven on a VA run, when you get to the VA and have dropped your patient off, call 203-31-7457 and have them make you some papusas to go.  They will be ready by the time you have made your stretcher, used the head, and then driven down the hill to Campbell Avenue.  Take a left and it is right there on the right.

Papusas are thin circle of cornmeal with either cheese or meat in the middle.  They are delicious.

Here is what they look like:



They are $1.50 each.  Eat them on your way back to Hartford, but be careful because they will be hot!

EL Tepeyac

El Tepeyac
704 Broad Street
Hartford
(860) 244-0324

Open 7 days a week.

El Tepeyac is a food stall in El Mercado.  It offers excellent, convinient Mexican food.  Some is already prepared, others such as the tacos, take only a few minutes.  Make certain you try some of the Mexican sodas, whiule you are there.  The sugar content is high, but the taste is quite good.  I particuarly like the mango soda.  Recently, I ordered tacos de pastor, which are spiced pork tacos with onions and pinneapple.  3 for $5.  Delicious.

Aqui Me Quedo

Aqui Me Quedo
622 Park Street
Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 522-1717

Aqui Me Quedo is one of the best Spanish restaurants in Hartford. It is great and quick to get food, ranging from pollo con arroz (chicken with rice) to empanadas and alcapurria.

An empanada is a meat filled pastry that is either fried or baked. Traditional Spanish empanadas are filled with beef or chicken. Aqui Me Quedo on Park Street serves pizza empanada (fried) that is quite good and surprisingly light. They call it un pastelillo de pizza.



Alcapurria is a deep fried yucca (a root vegtable sort of like potato), filled with pork.



A pizza empanada and one alcapurria cost me $3.75, As you enter the store, to your left, you will find these treats along with others in a heated glass display.

Sometimes, I just order the roast pork or roast chicken, which is sold by the lb. A half pound of roast pork is about $4.50.

Aqui Me Quedo II

Aqui Me Quedo II
150 Albany Avenue Hartford
 (860) 278-2033

The sister restaurant to the Aqui Me Quedo on Park Street, this one is conviniently located on lower Albany Avenue near Main Street. Very friendly. I go here quite often for the roast pork and yucca.

El Mercado

El Mercado
704 Park St
Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 247-6449

Open Seven Days a Week (until 7 PM, 5PM on Sunday)

If there is one place you visit in town for a Hartford ethnic food experience, it is El Mercado on Park Street. El Mercado means "The Market" in Spanish. El Mercado has a Spanish grocery store and four latin restaurants which are mostly cafeteria style with steam tables of preprepared food.



El Gran Dominicano (Dominican)



El Tepeyac (Mexican)

Antojitos Columbianos (Colombian)

Authentica Sabor Peruviano (Peruvian)

I confess I have only eaten at the Domincan and Columbian stalls so far. For years I ate only at the Dominican because I made friends with the woman who ran it. I had gone to the Dominican Republic twice on medical missions, so when I shared this with the people at the restaurant, we became friends and I always practiced my Spanish when I went there. That restaurant closed when the owner got another job, but it has been replaced by another Dominican stall, and the food is still quite good. My favorite order is roast pork (be sure to ask for a piece of skin), yellow rice, yucca and tostones (friend green plantain).

Here is a photo of roast pork (cerdo asado), yucca and tostones:

Panderia - Pan Del Cielo

 

340 Prospect Ave
Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 233-0170

I love the sandwiches here.  I get El Cielo, which is pork, pastrami and beef on a toasted flatbread for $6.  One sandwich is so big, it would last all day if I could control myself.  The only problem is it takes about 5 minutes to get a sandwich.  Great, easy to access location.  Very friendly people.  I usually try to get a sandwich here early in the morning when my chances of getting called away are slimer.  I did get called out once, and they just kept my sanwich in the bread warmer for me.  Lots of great bakery treats here also.  This place is more expensive than Los Cubanitos, but the portions are bigger.

Oh all the places I eat at in Hartford, this is my favorite place to come when I am off-duty. I bring my daughters here for sandwiches quite frequently.

Los Cubanitos

867 Park Street
Hartford
(860) 247-7844

This is the cheapest place in the city to fill your belly. Start with the sandwiches. Here for $ 2.00 is a pork sandwich. They have a refrigerator full of freshly premade sandwiches, which they quickly reheat in the microwave and then toast with a pull down toasting machine. Takes only a couple minutes. For $2.25 you can get chicken, for $1.50 you can get a Cuban (Ham, cheese and Pork) or a Ham and Cheese.


While there the other day, I got a pork tamale for $1.25. The tamale made of cornmeal and pork comes steaming hot, cooked in a corn stalk. They also have pastries here. There is aways a line of people waiting to get sandwiches, but the line moves fast.



75 cents will get you this Guava filled pastry.

Milagro's Spanish Restaurant

Milagros is a new restaurant at the corner of Albany and Garden. Very convinient to Saint Francis. I don't think the food is as good as Aqui me Quedo, but due to the convience I eat there quite a bit. Very nice people with quick service.

Piolin Peruvian Restaurant

Piolin Restaurant
417 New Britain Avenue
Hartford
(860) 293-1255
Monday to Saturday 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Sunday 9:00 AM - 10:00 PM

They run a lunch special here. For $9 you get an entre, soup and a soda. The food is ready to go in a couple minutes. I got chicken, potatoes and rice, meat soup (noodles, potatos, a big hunk of meat, celery, I think small bits of orange and some other indgrediants) and an Inca Diet Cola. The soup was a full quart. I ate at one in the afternoon, and was not hungry for the rest of the shift. They had a choice of chicken or meat for the main entre. The chicken was cooked in a delicious sauce.

I will definately try this place again.

El Salvador Restaurant

El Salvador Restaurant

514 Burnside Avenue, East Hartford, CT 06108

(860) 528-2442

Stopped here after dropping off a transfer in East Hartford.  I had a tamale that was excellent.  Next time I will try the papusas.  The place advertises as Salvadoran and Mexican Food.

La Casita Del Sabor

La Casita Del Sabor
1405 Park Street
Hartford, CT
(860)920-9560
Open 9A-8P Monday to Saturday
9A - 5 P Sunday

La Casita Del Sabor (The Little House of Flavor) serves Central American cusine. It is located in the parking lot of one of the industrial buildings in Parkville. The only preprepared food is the daily soup special, but depending on the time you go, you may be able to get some of the food such as the tacos quickly.

The people are very friendly and the food is authentic and good.

Julia's Restaurant

Julia's Restaurant
American and Brazilian Food
1631 Park Street
Hartford, CT
(860) 519-5293
6:00 AM - 10:00 PM Everyday

This is a small very interesting restaurant that you could drive by many times without knowing it was there. While they have a full menu, they also have a take-out buffet. It costs $8.50 for a full carton. When I went it, it appeared to be family run with the family possibly living upstairs. The grandmother came down the stairs (with a small child in tow) and served me. She showed me all the entres in the buffet and then shared out for me into a carton what I wanted. The buffet selection is small, but the food is homecooked and tastes it. I got white rice, chicken with yucca, stewed pork, linguine with shrimp, a fried plantain, and some cauliflower salad. It was well worth the price. But if you are interested in less food, I would try the Ben Brasil Buffet which is by the pound. If you want a larger selection try the Brazil Buffet and Pizza Grille, but if you want both a lot of food and a reasonable price, go to Julia's.

It is worth noting their hours. They are open everyday until 10 and also advertise breakfast.

Borinquen Bakery

Borinquen Bakery

296 Arch Street, New Britain, CT

860-826-1019

 This place is just down the road from the hospital on the way back to Hartford.  Very quick and cheap sandwiches.  I got this pork sandwich for $3.50.