1. Connecticut Parent
City: Branford, CT
Category: Media
Telephone: (203) 483-1700
Address: 420 E. Main St., Ste. 18
Description: Connecticut Parent is distributed to more than 1,250 locations, including libraries, public schools, doctors’ offices, and child-care centers. It contains a directory of child-care facilities, including preschool and Montessori schools as well as independent schools. Resources include articles about pertinent educational topics, activity calendars, and a travel, health, and enrichment directory that lists dance, sports, language, theater, and special needs programs.
2. Darbar
City: Branford, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (203) 481-8994
Address: 1070 Main St.
Description: The most popular Indian restaurant in New Haven County is out here in the village of Branford. The naan bread is great, the yogurt lassi drinks are great, the biryanis, the vindaloos, everything is great. Like most Indian restaurants, Darbar has multiple selections for vegetarians, and the chef/owner is from Nepal, so the menu has a few great specialties from that mountainous land. They also experiment with dishes like mirch pakora, jalapeño peppers dipped in lentil batter. Get one of the dinner specialties, really a reasonably priced feast, which comes in either vegetarian or non-vegetarian options. If you get the chance, come for the Fri to Sun lunch buffet; it’s a great bargain for some of the best Indian food in the state.
3. Le Petit Cafe
City: Branford, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (203) 483-9791
Address: 225 Montowese St.
Insider Pick:
Description: Right off the green in Branford is Le Petit Cafe, a charming French cafe–style restaurant. Chef Roy Ip creates four-course prix-fixe menus that change weekly and are always extraordinary and well worth $48.50 per person. Open Wed through Sun, reservations are recommended and weekend seatings are at 6 and 8:30 p.m. Duck leg confit (or some variation thereof) is usually one of the appetizer choices, as are the little wonders of the crustacean world and French cooking—escargot. Enjoy the second course of fresh salad with vinaigrette while you finish off fresh bread with truffle butter. Provençal-style rack of lamb, Angus steak au poivre, Chilean sea bass, or duck breast with toasted almonds and sautéed haricots verts (green beans) are examples of third-course entrees. Save room for crème brûlée or chocolate hazelnut fondant. The chef selects the proper wine from the wine list, so you’ll be sure to have the perfect match for your meal.
4. Lenny’S Indian Head Inn
City: Branford, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (203) 488-1500
Address: 205 S. Montowese St.
Description: Located in the less-traveled Indian Neck section of Branford, this shoreline favorite sports a patio with weathered tables and an outdoor bar overlooking a reedy salt marsh where egrets hunt and ospreys nest. Inside are wooden booths packed with families under the old, cracked 1950s sign. This surprisingly roomy restaurant has a huge, classic, seaside shack menu that includes daily seasonal specials. Lenny’s eschews the partisan bickering and offers both kinds of lobster roll: hot with butter and cold with mayo. The soft-shell crabs are tasty without even tartar sauce, and the cherrystone clams are fantastic: Suck them down like oysters. Their famous Shore Dinner includes chowder, cherrystones, sweet corn, lobster, steamers, and watermelon, and though it depends on the market price of lobsters, it is well worth your time. Just be sure to bring an appetite.
5. Thimble Islands Cruises
City: Branford, CT
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (203) 488-8905
Description: As early as the 1840s, the Thimbles became a summer resort for the rich, but by the 1920s they had mostly left. There are 30-some islands (plus a huge number of rocks and reefs visible at low tide), 25 of which are inhabited in the summer, some with 1-room cabins and one by a 27-room mansion. These two cruises, equally good, are available to take you through these fascinating islands. The Volsunga IV is a 40-foot vessel that takes 49 passengers, and Captain Bob tells great stories. The Sea Mist II is 45 feet long and takes 46 people, and also takes chartered seal and bird watches in groups of 10 or more. Everyone loves these tours, and if you travel to the coast of New Haven County, you should take one.
6. Stony Creek Kayak
City: Branford, CT
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (203) 481-6401
Address: 327 Leetes Island Rd.
Description: Stony Creek is a fascinating little fishing village that will have you thinking you stepped into a book of long ago, complete with lobstermen and oyster boats. It is also a great place to launch a kayak into Long Island Sound. Christopher Huage offers instruction to beginners and longer tours to those who already know how. You can also reserve tours of the Connecticut River and other destinations, but this is his home base. You will kayak out among the Thimble Islands, truly one of Connecticut’s most fascinating areas. Some are mere tidal rocks, and others sport mansions and summer homes historically owned by people such as president William Taft and entertainer Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton of Bridgeport). You’ll also see cormorants and egrets, ospreys and oystercatchers. This is an area of Connecticut you shouldn’t miss, and kayaking is the best way to see it.