Things to do in New Haven
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Frank Pepe's
New Haven's most famous eatery takes its name from the Italian immigrant who tossed America's first pizza a century ago. You'd best believe they've got the recipe down pat. For the ultimate, order Pepe's signature white pizza topped with garlicky fresh clams.
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Modern Apizza
Lots of locals believe that this place serves up pies as good as, if not better than, Frank Pepe’s and Sally’s – and without the throngs. Despite the name, it’s been tossing dough since 1934.
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Peabody Museum of Natural History
Wannabe paleontologists will be thrilled by the dinosaurs at the Peabody Museum of Natural History.
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New Haven Green
New Haven’s spacious green has been the spiritual center of the city since its Puritan fathers designed it in 1638 as the prospective site for Christ’s Second Coming. Since then it has held the municipal burial grounds – graves were later moved to Grove Street Cemetery – several statehouses and an array of churches, three of which still stand. The 1816 Trinity Church is Episcopal and resembles England’s Gothic York Minster, featuring several Tiffany windows. The Georgian-style 1812 Center Church on the Green (United Church of Christ), a fine New England interpretation of Palladian architecture, harbors many colonial tombstones in its crypt. The 1814 United Churc…
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Grove Street Cemetery
Three blocks north of the green, this cemetery holds the graves of several famous New Havenites behind its grand Egyptian Revival gate, including rubber magnate Charles Goodyear, the telegraph inventor Samuel Morse, lexicographer Noah Webster and cotton-gin inventor Eli Whitney. It was the first chartered cemetery in the country in 1797 and the first to arrange graves by family plots. Around the turn of the century, Yale medical students would sneak in at night to dig up bodies for dissection, but you can simply join the free walking tour at 11am on Saturdays.
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Tomb
The Tomb is not open to the public. This is the home of Yale’s most notorious secret society, the Skull & Bones Club, founded in 1832, and its list of members reads like a ‘who’s who’ of high-powered judges, financiers, politicians, publishers and intelligence officers. Stories of bizarre initiation rites and claims that the Tomb is full of stolen booty like Hitler’s silverware and the skulls of Apache warrior Geronimo and Mexican general Pancho Villa further fuel popular curiosity.
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Union League Café
Here’s an upscale French bistro in the historic Union League building. Expect a menu featuring continental classics like cocotte de joues de veau (organic veal cheeks with sautéed wild mushrooms, $25) along with those of nouvelle cuisine. If your budget won’t stretch to dinner, slip in for a sinful dessert like crêpe soufflé au citron (lemon crepes) washed down with a glass from the exquisite wine list. Date place par excellence.
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Miya’s Sushi
Superlative sushi – probably the best in the state – is prepared in this low-key spot by chef Bun Lai, two-time winner of the Taste of the Nation Award. Sushi appetizers sport alluring names like the Concubine’s Delight (smoked salmon and goats cheese wrapped in tempura eggplant), but the true star is the kaiseki ($30), a truly exceptional prix-fixe meal highlighted by several inventive sashimi arrangements, which must be ordered in advance.
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Yankee Doodle Sandwich & Coffee Shop
The family-run Doodle is a classic ’50s hole-in-the-wall American lunch counter – Formica countertop, chrome and plastic stools, real fountain soda – with prices to match. Despite the name, burgers and breakfast are the draws here. The defunct cigarette machine in the corner is kept around for purely nostalgic reasons – it was installed on the day JFK was shot. When Yale’s not in session, Doodle’s hours are sharply curtailed.
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Yale University
Each year, thousands of high school students make pilgrimages to Yale University, nursing dreams of attending the country's third-oldest university, which boasts such notable alums as Noah Webster, Eli Whitney, Samuel Morse, and Presidents William H Taft, George HW Bush, Bill Clinton and George W Bush. You don't need to share the students' ambitions to take a stroll around the campus, which evokes the university's illustrious history and impact on American life.
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Scoozzi Trattoria
At York St, next to the Yale Repertory Theatre, this basement trattoria serves trendy Italian fare with strong New American cuisine accents. The little pizzettes and other appetizers like mussels and calamari sautéed with red grapes are favorites with the before- and after-theater crowd, who combine them with wine by the glass to make a light supper. Weather permitting, there’s outdoor dining in an intimate courtyard. Reservations recommended.
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ZINC
Whenever possible, this trendy bistro’s ingredients hail from local organic sources, but the chef draws inspiration from all over, notably Asia and the Southwest. There’s a constantly changing ‘market menu, ’ but for the most rewarding experience, share several of the small plates for dinner, like the smoked duck nachos or the prosciutto Americano crostini. Reservations recommended.
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Bangkok Gardens
Just off Chapel St, this large, white-linen establishment is the center’s most popular Thai eatery. The Golden Bay appetizer, fried tofu pouches stuffed with shrimp and veggies, is exquisite. At lunch, big plates of pork, beef and chicken with vegetables are inexpensive and best topped off with an order of fried ice cream. Try to get a seat on the sun porch.
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Partner’s Café
An anything-goes crowd packs it into the three floors at Partner’s. There are pool tables, quiet alcoves for conversation, and thumping house music upstairs. M&M Fridays sees male dancers and midnight pizza. Every Sunday is karaoke night and the boys get the run of the place each Tuesday. Happy hour, which knocks $1 off cocktails and beer, is 5pm to 8pm.
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BAR
This club encompasses the Bru Room (New Haven’s first brew pub), the Front Room, the video-oriented BARtropolis Room and various other enclaves. Taken in toto, you’re set for artisinal beer and brick-oven pizza, a free pool table and excellent live music or DJs spinning almost every night of the week. Check the Haven Advocate for specifics.
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Caffé Adulis
This jewel of a place offers Eritrean-Ethiopian cuisine in a sophisticated but unerringly friendly package. One of the many house specialties is the shrimp barka (pan-seared jumbo shrimp with coconut, tomato and dates over basmati rice, $19). The wine list is reason enough to linger late into the evening – the bar is open until 1am.
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Anchor
Sure, you can score the standard pub-grub burgers here, but you’re much better off strolling in later in the evening. The clientele represents a real cross-section of folks. Throw some tunes on the jazz-heavy jukebox, get a drink from the full bar and settle into your black-leather banquette booth. No plastic accepted.
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Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Among the more compelling places to visit at Yale University is the state-of-the-art Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, the world’s largest building devoted to rare books, which includes a 1455 Gutenberg Bible among its 600,000 manuscripts.
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Yale University Art Gallery
America's oldest university art museum, the Yale University Art Gallery, boasts American masterworks by Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper and Jackson Pollock, as well as a superb European collection that includes Vincent van Gogh's The Night Café.
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Louis' Lunch
New Haven's classic hamburger joint invented America's iconic fast food in 1900 and it still broils burgers in the original cast-iron vertical grills. Some things have changed over the century - but you won't find them here. Don't even think of asking for ketchup.
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Claire's Corner Copia
For the best vegetarian food in town, saunter over to this cheerful green restaurant opposite Yale. Claire Criscuolo cooks up her own time-honored recipes using fresh, organic ingredients - everything from thick peasant soups to luscious pastries.
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Amistad Memorial
The 14-foot bronze Amistad Memorial stands in front of City Hall on the spot where 55 kidnapped African slaves who had sought their freedom were imprisoned in 1839 while awaiting one of a series of trails that would ultimately release them.
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168 York St Cafe
This bar-restaurant isn’t too far off its own billing as a gay Cheers. Sunday and Thursday nights will get you $1 domestic beers, while daily happy hours between 4pm and 7pm knock a dollar off all drink prices.
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Chamber Music Society at Yale
This Yale society sponsors concerts from such eminent ensembles as the Guarneri String Quartet at 8pm Tuesday evenings from September through April in the Morse Recital Hall of Sprague Memorial Hall.
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Shubert Theater
New Haven has a first-rate theater scene. Catch a hit before it happens at the venerable Shubert Theater, which has been hosting Broadway musicals on their trial runs since 1914.
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