Taino
Smokehouse opened recently on South Main Street, and I'd driven
by the sign dozens of times thinking that a tobacco warehouse mart
had opened up there. I was searching online for information about the
new Krust Pizza restaurant
that I'd spotted on Main Street, when I stumbled on a local food blog
called Foodasaurus that
had a review of Krust and one about Taino Smokehouse too. That is how
I discovered Taino Smokehouse is a restaurant serving smoked meats
and barbeque, and not a cigarette discount store. I immediately
ordered takeout, selecting a wide range of menu items for me and my
spouse to try out.
When
I went to pick up the food, I told the server how, since the
restaurant can't really be seen from the street at all, just the sign
can, I'd been surprised to learn this was a restaurant and not a
tobacco outlet and she said, “Everybody says that. But we have word
of mouth.” Well, you do have word of mouth, (and word of blogs),
but you also have a sign, and while I'm no marketing expert, I have
deduced that the sign was placed there to inform the public about
your establishment. But based on my experience and your admission, it
falls short. Three little letters added onto the sign might be just
the thing to attract more diners. (Hint: B-B-Q). End of that
lecture, and back to the food.
While
my husband thought the pulled pork was delicious, and Foodasaurus
wrote that “Taino
is among the best BBQ in CT”, I liked it but I wasn't as completely
thrilled. To be fair, this isn't my favorite type of food and no
matter how great a piece of meat is, I'm never going to be one to
rave about it. Here are my impressions for whatever they're worth,
and don't just listen to me – check them out on Yelp where they
have many lengthy reviews of high praise.
I
thought that the pork was moist and sweet. My brisket had a really
nice “crust” that tasted like it had been made pastrami-style
with coriander seeds, but the meat was on the dry, chewy side. The
sauce that came with it was deliciously tangy but there was barely
any of it. The cole slaw was fresh but too wet for my taste and
nothing special. The corn bread muffins had a delicious taste but
were crisply burnt around the edges and pretty dry. I still ate them
both, so that is a testament to the great taste. The collard greens
were cooked very well and with quite a bit of meat fat, which was
tasty, but not so healthy, which is usually my goal when eating
greens. The macaroni and cheese was delicious in a way that was
reminiscent of childhood more than of high quality cheese, because it
tasted like a jar of Cheez Whiz mixed in with cooked elbow noodles.
It was creamy and salty in a kind of good way, but two small bites
were enough for me. My husband had no problem with eating the rest of
it. The noodles were cooked really well and weren't mushy. Overall,
Taino Smokehouse is definitely worth trying out. I've since heard
they have very good burgers there too, so I'll be back to check that
out. They have about eight or so tables inside so you can dine in
with wait service. It's right next to Ace Hardware.
As
for Krust, our conclusion was that we'd go back to have a drink at
the bar and that might lead to pizza eating, but we'd continue to
prefer Mondo or even
Jerry's or Illiano's for our strong pizza-as-comfort-food cravings.
Krust had only been open for a few days when we visited, so may have
been ironing out the kinks. We'll try the pizza again, it's not that
it wasn't tasty. It was just very thick and bready, surprisingly so
for wood fired oven pizza. The toppings were delicious but scarce.
The tomato sauce was great but I couldn't get a mouthful of it. There
just wasn't enough, probably the balance that keeps the crust from
getting soggy is a very tricky thing. We had a mushroom pizza, and
the mushrooms were intensely earthy and delicious, and even permeated
the whole pizza, but even so there could have been more. A couple of
the slices had one mushroom, a couple had two, and a few had none at
all. Krust is not just a pizza restaurant, it's also a bourbon bar.
Another area where I'm not the best person to give a full review. I
didn't partake of any alcohol there, but my husband had the New
Orleans classic Sazerac and said it was excellent and just as good as
the ones he's had in it's city of origin. Hence our plan to visit the
bar again in the future.
A
few other new restaurants have opened in Middletown relatively
recently, none of which I have tried yet. Any Eye readers out there
who want to take a shot at writing a review, we'd be happy to post your critiques and musings. The places I'm thinking of are Stella D'Oro Italian
restaurant in Metro Square, Michael's Deli on Broad Street, and
Michael's Restaurant on Main Street. Or tell us about any meal you've
had around town.
