Hot Tomato’s in Hartford’s Union Station has long been a favorite place for Julia and I. This spring, however, the local landmark closed down, possibly for good.
We kept our ears to the ground for news on a possible reopening and we thrilled when my mother read a brief announcing the return of Hot Tomato’s a few weeks ago. While doing some additional research, I found a blog post about the reopening. One of the comments stuck with me:
I heard that the manager of old hot tomatoes and the staff opened their own restuarant in hartford.. its called salute .. it is same menu as old hot tomatoes.. the chessy bread, pasta by elvis, rose tort, etc.. check it out
Yesterday, Julia and I decided to head to Hartford for dinner with my mom and we faced a choice: Return to Hot Tomato’s or check out Salute.
We opted for the latter, and were thrilled to find the same staff greet us at the door, including managing partner James Cosgrove, who always remembers your name. The rumors were true: Our old favorites were there, under new names, with some new treats to go along with them.
Feeling nostalgic, I had my old favorites: Garlic bread and Pomodoro (née Fresca) followed by lava cake.
The food was as good as I remember, leaving me with little want to return to the new Hot Tomato’s anytime soon. I’ll swing by out of curiosity, but Salute had me at hello.
Note: I didn’t take any photos, not even with my cell phone, which makes this an extremely boring post to read. Rest assured, I will take plenty next time I go. Also, I may or may not be writing this post partially as an excuse to get rid of that horrible generic first post from the fresh WordPress installation.