1. Central Connecticut State University
City: New Britain, CT
Category: Education
Address: 1615 Stanley St.
Description: Accessibility and affordability are the aims of the state’s system of 12 community colleges. The incentives for higher education are well known. Graduates of community colleges earn on average $16,000 more in annual income within the first six months of completion, and over their lifetimes associate’s degree holders earn more than a half million dollars more than high school graduates. Couple these numbers with the fact that many go on to earn bachelor’s degrees at a savings of over $30,000 a year compared to private universities, and the benefits of community college are easy to see. With campuses across the state, flexible class schedules, and over 100 programs, any student can find education within reach. Community colleges offer dynamic campuses, small class size, media-rich classrooms, tutoring, career planning, and financial aid advising.
2. Hospital Of Central Connecticut
City: New Britain, CT
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (860) 224-5011
Address: 100 Grand St.
Description: With campuses in New Britain and at the Bradley Memorial Hospital in Southington (860-276-5000), the Hospital of Central Connecticut employs 3,500 people and benefits the community with quality facilities and a commitment to education and research. Among the 13 specialty centers at HCC you’ll find ones for endocrine and bone health, vascular health, joint and spine health, wound care, and sleep disorders. The All Heart Cardiac Rehabilitation program was the first such program in Connecticut.
3. New Britain Herald
City: New Britain, CT
Category: Media
Telephone: (860) 225-4601
Address: 1 Court St.
Description: The Herald features local news for the New Britain area and offers Polska Edyca, the Polish edition of the paper in print and online. The Central Connecticut Communications Property publishes this paper as well as the Bristol Press, Newington Town Crier, Wethersfield Post, and Rocky Hill Post.
4. Great Taste
City: New Britain, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (860) 827-8988
Address: 597 W. Main St.
Description: Great Taste is one of the highest-ranked Chinese restaurants in the state, with multiregional food and a classy dining room. For almost 20 years owner Kam Kwok has been working to please his customers, and has done so time and time again. The main menu is fairly typical of a Chinese restaurant, with all your favorites, from crispy spring rolls to beef chow mein. But the specials menu is where Great Taste really shines. You can choose from creative items like nutty sea bass, tangerine prawns, and sizzling Mongolian lamb. And their Peking duck. Oh, their Peking duck. It’s like meat candy, the perfect dish to share with loved ones who love Chinese food, or just love food, period.
5. East Side Restaurant
City: New Britain, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (860) 223-1188
Address: 131 Dwight St.
Description: If you haven’t seen the giant billboards advertising East Side, you haven’t been in Connecticut long. It’s been around for 60 years, serving authentic German cuisine. Sure, the waitresses in their Bavarian beer maid outfits are fun, and you might get sick of hearing the “ticky-tocky-ticky-tocky-hoy-hoy-hoy” song that at first made you grin, but guess what? The East Side did not last 60 years because of great lederhosen, they did it by serving great food. The crazy biergarten atmosphere is just a bonus (sit on the actual rooftop biergarten in the summer). Bratwurst, sauerkraut, potato pancakes, paprika schnitzel, red cabbage, smoked pork loin, applesauce, roasted potatoes, goulash, corn fritters . . . all the food is great, and should be washed down with frosty mugs of German beer, which is plentiful. The restaurant is hidden in a residential area away from the main drags, so follow your GPS carefully.
6. Cracovia
City: New Britain, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (860) 223-4443
Address: 60 Broad St.
Description: If you weren’t clued in by the Polish signs on the adjoining stores, you can tell this is a genuine Polish neighborhood restaurant as soon as you walk in and spot the Polish-language newspapers and hear the words from its patrons. However, the menu and waitresses speak perfect English, and can explain some of the more interesting menu items. They have the great Polish food that is part of the American lexicon, too, like onion and potato pierogis and cabbage rolls stuffed full with beef and rice. The soups (like borscht and dill pickle) are huge, and the kielbasas are delicious. Don’t expect the decor to amaze you, but expect it from the food. This is genuine fare in the heart of Polish New Britain.
7. Capitol Lunch
City: New Britain, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (860) 229-8237
Address: 510 Main St.
Description: Operating since 1929, this place has served hungry Hartford lunchtime diners for generations. The menu is not large, with cheeseburgers, onion rings, fries, and the Cappie Dogs. These hot dogs are good, but what made this place famous was, appropriately, the Cappie’s Famous Sauce, an unidentifiable brown sauce they coat them with. It’s a meat-based sauce, surely, with a hint of clove, but other than that, it is a secret. However, you can get it to go by the pint. If you have the tools, why not break it down and try to figure it out? Or just enjoy it on all your hot dogs (and everything else) at home.
8. Avery’S Soda
City: New Britain, CT
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (860) 224-0830
Address: 520 Corbin Ave.
Description: Since 1904 this company has been making soda for connoisseurs, handcrafting low-volume flavors, sort of a microbrewed soda. They use pure cane sugar, and the effect on, say, their sarsaparilla is extraordinary. You can stop by the factory to buy the sodas and more in their little shop, and the machine is right there in the store to watch. The place doesn’t really look like a retail shop at first, but just head in through the center door. They also have interesting “sodagusting flavors” like Kitty Piddle (actually very tasty pineapple and orange). The kids, especially overgrown teenage ones, love them. Avery’s also makes special batches for other Connecticut businesses, like Sunset Meadow Vineyards.
9. Podlasie Meat Market
City: New Britain, CT
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (860) 224-8467
Address: 188 High St.
Description: A deli and market has to be pretty special to make it into this guide, and this one fits the bill. Podlasie is for all your Polish yearnings, from drinks to chocolates. Don’t miss the dense black bread and the selection of meats that you simply won’t find in a regular supermarket. Expect to do some pointing and nodding at items behind the counter; often the workers and the patrons do not speak English. And make sure to stop at the other stores and markets in this wonderful little section of town. Once, these enclaves were the rule, not the exception, and though we all know that certain ethnicities live in certain sections of towns, it is not often brought home with this clarity.
10. New Britain Museum Of American Art
City: New Britain, CT
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (860) 229-0257
Address: 56 Lexington St.
Insider Pick:
Description: This 1903 museum is the oldest in the country dedicated to our national art. Paintings by Mary Cassatt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Andrew Wyeth, Albert Bierstadt, George Bellows, Isamu Noguchi, and John Singer Sargent are the backbone of this muscular collection. There are some nationally famous Connecticut artists like Childe Hassam and Sol LeWitt as well. The Arts of Life in America murals by Thomas Hart Benton are spectacular, with details that you have to really pay attention to. Sometimes people ignore this museum in favor of Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum, and it is baffling why. Perhaps American art is not taken seriously enough by Americans. Don’t forget to stroll the park behind the museum; it was designed by Central Park architect and Hartford native Frederick Law Olmsted.
11. Ragged Mountain
City: New Britain, CT
Category: Tours & Attractions
Description: At the confluence of Southington, Hartford, New Britain, and Meriden, Ragged Mountain is still wild partly because of the reservoirs below it and partly through the work of various groups interested in its preservation. More of a cliff-sided plateau than a mountain, it has a number of trails, including a figure eight of loops that takes you along the border of the plateau (about 10 miles). This is also one of Connecticut’s premier rock-climbing sites (perhaps the best), and you will always find climbers roped up on the south- and west-facing crags along the Metacomet Trail. You’ll want to park at the intersection of Sheldon Road and Moore Hill Road for that activity, rather than walk all the way in. For an interesting short hike, instead of taking the blue-blazed trail, take the old dirt road straight up the hill from the parking lot at West Lane. Along this you’ll find some rusted old cars and trucks, abandoned here decades ago, like the remnants of some lost age.
12. New Britain Rock Cats
City: New Britain, CT
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (860) 224-8383
Address: 230 John Karbonic Way
Description: This AA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins competes in the Eastern League. The stadium has a covered concourse from which stairs come up into the split-level seating areas. There are skyboxes and general seating, along with a picnic area along the right field line. On the left field line, a kids’ play area is installed for those too young to sit through an entire baseball game. There’s an outdoor grill and bar near the third base seating area, with an open patio, and vendors downstairs. Don’t worry, if you run down to get a hot dog, you won’t miss a play, since there are closed-circuit televisions at every concession stand. And be sure to bring a glove. Balls always end up flying into the stands.