New and Notable Restaurants

A little while ago, my husband went to the The Beer Exchange event, and he was nice enough to take note of a few new restaurant that you may want to check out:

- Most excitingly, the artist formerly known as Bennett's Steakhouse is undergoing a magical transformation into Bar Rosso. As you might know, the smart palettes behind Napa & Co. bought out the location and have big plans for its next incarnation. Their promotional materials are modern and sleek with images of truffles, pasta, meats, cheeses and wine. Their website says they will be opening in December 2010, and signals the arrival of a tapas, housemade Italian staples, and 250 wine labels. If you want to be part of the new addition, you click through on the site to learn about employment opportunities.

- Another place that's only a few months old that you may want to explore is Zayna's Metro Cafe. Their website is not yet up and running (but will be at www.zaynasmetrocafe.com), but Yelp includes one rave review. My husband and the Yelp reviewer both describe the owners as very nice brothers. Their menu includes paninis, soups, salads and wraps, and it's conveniently located at 80 Atlantic Street across from The Palace Theatre.

- Looking for local Cuban food? Try Habana Cuban Restaurant at 245 Hope Street. You can learn more about them on their Idine website here. Their menu features enrollados (rolled tortilla sandwiches) and entrees like Cha Cha Chicken ("roasted and served with corn, garlic lime mojo, with spinach and papas fritas") and Plaintain Crusted Chilean Sea Bass ("with moro rice, fried bananas and a mango wine sauce"). You can even get their "Fidel's Capitalist Pig Roast," a suckling pig that feeds at least 10 people and requires 72 hours advance notice to cook!

- I'm still weepy over Duo's departure from the sushi scene, but my husband had good things to say about Matsuri Japanese Fusion (there seems to be something wrong with their website right now, but you can read about them on this link to the Darien Patch). Up the road just a bit (390 Post Rd, Darien), they offer a mean spicy roll and live jazz every Monday night. Nice!

(photo from epSos.de, flickr.com)