Author Archives: Kate Aitken

Portofino feels like a neighborhood restaurant without any trace of characteristic local flavor. It doesn’t quite have the hearty Italian-American zest of Wooster Square, but it’s more sophisticated than a typical family eatery and not quite as schmancy as some other New Haven gems (including its sleek neighbor, Dolci). Instead of capturing a sense of »

“You’re not the exception — you’re the rule.” That’s the blunt insight Justin Long shares with an endearingly idealistic Ginnifer Goodwin in “He’s Just Not That Into You,” the much-anticipated film adaptation of the bestselling self-help book by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tucillo. Forget your sister’s friend’s roommate’s cousin who went out with a guy »

Dolci likes its chocolate dark — and its decor darker. Nestled between walls painted the deepest shade of Bordeaux red, intimate candlelit tables provide the only source of light in the back room of this swanky new State Street bistro. Of course, that makes it difficult to read the long black menus printed in tiny »

Clark’s is your mother’s diner, if your mother lived in Middle America circa 1950. Located on Whitney Avenue, Clark’s Pizza and Restaurant unabashedly styles itself after the stereotypical American diners of a bygone era. Photos of classic ’50s icons such as Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Elvis line the wall. The soda fountain offers up »

In the interest of full disclosure, I should probably admit that I’m a Bond girl. Not an actual Bond girl, of course — hey, I can dream — but a girl raised on the original Bond films. I can name all the movies in chronological order, I know Halle Berry doesn’t hold a candle to »

While most of her classmates prepared for freshman year by buying used textbooks and stocking up at Bed Bath & Beyond, Dorothy Finnigan ’10 traveled the world as a street performer. After deferring her matriculation at Yale, Finnigan made her way from Germany to Japan in 2002 by living off her earnings as a street-side »

Coming back to campus means a return to familiarity, whether welcome or tedious: A G-Heav sandwich run can still soar into the double digits; SAE still serves beer warm; and it’s as though Toad’s never closed. But underneath the roars of the 6 a.m. jackhammers, New Haven’s restaurant scene has quietly made some changes. Sabor »

There are no fortune cookies in China. I spent a bewildered 10 minutes at the conclusion of my first meal in Beijing waiting for that little piece of wisdom enshrined in crunchy deliciousness, only to be informed that the cultural legacy of the fortune cookie does not extend past Ivy Noodle. Initially I sat crestfallen, »

Simply put, Bespoke might be the best restaurant in New Haven. The only comparable eateries — in terms of both price and quality — are Ibiza, the High Street restaurant specializing in Spanish-inspired food, or Roomba, the Nueva Latina restaurant owned by the same family that brings you Bespoke. But while most Elm City restaurants »

When asked if he had ever partied at Harvard, Howard Locker ’07 could only say he tried. He remembers watching his macho Harvard friends pop open their Mike’s Hard Lemonades and chug them with glee, and his disbelief that this passed for a Cantab party. It was the 2004 Game weekend, and students sat around »

In his first — and one hopes, last — publication entitled “Denial and Deception,” author Alan Kennedy-Shaffer ’06 tackles the relationship between presidential rhetoric and public opinion with an extended analysis of the Bush administration’s case for the invasion of Iraq. A gratuitously published expansion on his senior essay, the book is divided into three »

Shakespeare may have observed that “one man in his time plays many parts,” but playing every part the bard wrote in only 90 minutes is an novel and noble challenge. In “The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged),” a cast of three daring actors dare to do the unthinkable: not only do they condense all »