Restaurants in West Hartford

Sanremo Bakery conquers appetites with traditional Italian dishes and pastries. The family-owned business opens at 7 a.m. every day of the week, powering up morning customers with its breakfast pizza composed of eggs, home fries, bacon, and cheddar. Chefs prepare more than 10 other specialty pizzas for lunch and dinner, as well as pasta trays of lasagna, eggplant parmigiana, and ravioli that are large enough to feed 15–25 people or one Italian lumberjack.

The ingredient-smiths at Masala Indian & Thai Cuisine construct an extensive menu of noodles, curries, and vegetarian specialties that blend Indian and Thai culinary staples. A clay oven fires flavored naan breads, as well as lamb, chicken, and seafood dishes augmented with piquant indian spices. Chefs prepare vegetarian options to appease meat-free maws, and a swath of Thai dishes combines rice noodles with meat, tofu, or veggies. Plates of fiery delicacies rest atop royal-blue tablecloths, surrounded by wood-lined walls and posters of famous curries autographed by the spices themselves.

The smells of sizzling Indian and Chinese dishes mingle as they waft out from Masala Wok's kitchen. Inside, naan rises in tandoori ovens, and meat, poultry, and seafood simmer in saucepans of curries, stir-fries, and rice dishes. Chefs eschew trans fats in favour of canola oil, and fine Asian spices help minimize the use of sodium to craft healthier dishes. During midday, a lunch buffet of eclectic menu items stretches across the dining room beneath Asian artwork and walls the deep red of a fire truck wandering out of the wrong restroom.

Mirch Masala's dishes of chicken and lamb kabobs, fluffy naan loaves, and creamy paneer honor the ancient flavors of the Indian subcontinent. Savory tomato sauce and dustings of ginger and cumin coat chickpeas, lamb, and poultry, while mango lassi and tamarind chutney add touches of sweetness to meals. Like the series of pneumatic tubes that ran under the Silk Road, the selection of Indo-Chinese dishes unite the produce and customs of India and China, fashioning inventive feasts such as ginger-cooked chili chicken entangled by hearty lo-mein noodles.

Owner Randy Price curates a creative menu of New Haven–style "apizza" in more than 30 styles. His team crafts fresh dough daily using unbleached flour, creates sauce from handpicked Italian and Chilean tomatoes, and sprinkles pies with cheese from home-schooled cows. The famous Challenger—a 22-inch pizza stuffed with a mélange of vegetables and meats that weigh in at nearly 10 pounds—presents the hungriest visitors with a challenge to conquer the hot wheel in an hour or less, a feat that has earned a place on the Travel Channel's Man Vs. Food roster of surmounted food battles.

The audience goes wild for Chef Jesus "Suso" Seoane as he deftly dances the handle of a sharp butcher knife between his fingers. As if drawn by magnet, the blade finds a large red pepper and flays it down the center in one fluid stroke. When Jesus isn't flaunting his knife skills on the Telemundo cooking show Cocinando con Suso, he's hard at work perfecting an authentic menu of Spanish and Latin-American dishes at his restaurant, Suso Latino Basket.

The word suso sprawls across his eatery's wall, a painted chef's hat jauntily hanging off the o. Just past the marble-tiled bar, tables populate with steaming specialties such as puerto rican pork pernil, peruvian sautéed pastas, cuban sandwiches, and spanish paella, which overflows with more seafood than Poseidon's bank vault.