The Shadow Room
The Shadow Room is the new kid on the block in Middletown. It's open for lunch and dinner, and the menu centers around panini sandwiches that customers create themselves from a long list of ingredients. There are smaller plates too, like pulled pork sliders or roasted red pepper hummus. While the food gets rave reviews, the bigger attraction is the bar. The look is modern and sleek, with lots of glass and subdued blue lighting. At one end of the room, vintage films play along a wall. Martinis are the featured cocktail, but beer is big too, with a big emphasis on micro-brews in a variety of styles. On Tuesday nights, the Shadow Room becomes a gay and lesbian gathering place, but the atmosphere is sophisticated, and everyone is welcome.
The Shadow Room
170 Main St.
Middletown, CT 06457
860-346-6342
Tuscany Grill
The Tuscany Grill on College Street features mezzanine dining overlooking the lounge and first-floor tables. If you choose to eat in the bar to catch what's happening on one of the five screens, you'll find that the pub menu is extensive, with dishes like a black pepper-encrusted tuna carpaccio served with avacodo, roasted corn and red peppers. Panini sandwiches, wraps, pizzas, steaks and pastas round out the pub menu. The regular menu provides plenty of choices as well, including steaks, chops, veal and seafood entrees. The Tuscany Grill offers live entertainment every Friday and Saturday night. Thursday is open mike night in the bar.
Tuscany Grill
120 College St.
Middletown, CT 06457
(860) 346-7096
tuscany-grill.com
Luce
Luce on Washington Street is also Tuscany-inspired, but the mood and the menu are different. Seafood dominates the appetizer menu, which also includes a tempting portobello mushroom and eggplant tart. Luce uses 20 different woods to flavor steaks and chops in its woodchip-burning grill. Steaks, which range in size from a 10-ounce filet mignon to a 34-ounce porterhouse for two, are aged 21 days. The bar offers 18 different beers on tap. While there is a TV in the bar, the emphasis is on conversation. In the summer, diners flock to Luce's flowery sidewalk patio.
Luce Restaurant
98 Washington St.
Middletown, CT 06457
(860) 344-0222
lucect.com
About The Author
Lois Lawrence is an attorney and freelance writer living and working in Stonington, Conn. She has written on many subjects including travel, food, consumerism, relationships, insurance and law. Lawrence earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1976, and a Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law in 1979.
