THE FEED: New Year, New Foods!

Is healthier eating on your list of resolutions for 2024? CT Food Girly wants to help you stay on track without sacrificing the fun and convenience of dining out! Each Tuesday, Kevin and Jenna talk about all things food in Connecticut with Alex from CT Food Girly. Today she's sharing the best local spots that offer healthy meal options, and the restaurants we should check out if we want to expand our culinary pallets this year. Check out Alex's picks below:

Fresh Greens & Proteins, located in Hamden, offers healthy options, like make-your-own wraps, salads, bowls, and smoothies. It’s a great spot to fuel up, it's fast, casual, and definitely a healthy alternative to the Hamden area and the surrounding towns. I ordered the Burrito Bowl, which comes with brown rice, black beans, shredded cheddar, tortilla strips, lettuce, pico de gallo, corn salsa, avocado, and chipotle mayo. I am full for hours after and it tastes so good. If you’re headed for a hike on Sleeping Giant, this is a great spot for lunch too, it’s right by Quinnipiac, so I know it’s a student favorite.

In Wallingford (and also in Middlebury), there is BMuse Cafe, which offers delicious salads, sandwiches, soups and more. They have a bunch of vegetarian and vegan friendly options as well. This is another spot where you can make-your-own, and the options are always fresh and delicious. Since I work in Wallingford, I’m here a lot and I always order the Tuscan Style Grille Chicken, which is a wrap with herb marinated chicken breast, sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, baby field greens and pesto mayo. It is to die for.

Also in Wallingford is the Eatery. I was just introduced to this new spot in town and I can’t get enough. The Eatery offers classic sandwiches and signature specials, they have boxed salads and bowls too. This is a great spot if you need a quick and filling breakfast in the morning, it is served all day. I have been ordering their “BCB” sandwich, which is grilled chicken, applewood smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, chipotle aioli and buffalo sauce. Their fresh ciabatta is out of this world.

In New Haven, there is Claire’s Corner Copia, which has been there longer than I can remember. It is a fully vegetarian restaurant that has been serving New Haven since 1975. This is the place you go if you want organic, sustainable, vegan and gluten-free dishes. Claire’s offers a huge breakfast menu, but also has a delicious lunch menu as well. There are tasty soups, sandwiches, wraps, grinders, and fresh salads too. There is a whole mexican entree portion of the menu as well, Claire’s makes their own refried organic pinto beans, guac and salsa.

Eating More Diverse Foods:

Trying something new There is Laskara’s Restaurant in Wallingford, which is a Greek and Mediterranean restaurant. I really want to try their lamb gyro and spanakopita (span-a-ko-pit-a), which is a savory spinach pie. Theirs has dill, spinach, scallions, feta cheese and it’s wrapped in a flakey phyllo dough.

In Southington, there is a Polish restaurant, called PolishPlate, that I really need to check out. They are serving fresh pierogies, filled with potato and cheese, mushroom and sauerkraut, blueberry and strawberry. I even saw that they created a pierogi taco a couple years ago at this restaurant and it's made up of cheese and potato perigo taco shell with sauerkraut, kielbasa, bacon, sauteed onions and green onion.

In West Hartford, there is Zaytoon’s Bistro, which is a Lebanese and Moroccan restaurant. I saw photos of their amazing spicy hummus, lamb shank, chicken kabob and more. I think this would be a great spot to try out some new flavors and try something new in 2024.

Lastly, there is Ola, which has two locations, one in Orange and one in Wallingford. They pride themselves on their delicious latin cuisine. Serving a wide range of tapas appetizers, that all look delicious on their website may I add, and bright and colorful entrees that looked packed with flavor. This would be a nice spot for a date night if you both wanted to try some smaller portions of a new cuisine in the new year.

Image Credit: Getty Images