Good to go

Asylum Café has a sophisticated new look but much of the same Red Plate menu

By Korky Vann

Courant staff writer
February 18, 2008

Good to go
(Credit: Dave Moran)
If you're heading to the XL Center for a basketball game and looking for a quick bite, you can't do much better than take-out from this newly refurbished spot right across the street. Formerly the Red Plate, the Asylum Café has a sophisticated new look but much of the same menu of soups, salads, sandwiches, pizzas and entrees.

Salads are no afterthought here. The menu features a number of interesting choices, such as a mix of peppery arugula, chicken, apples, onions, goat cheese and diced tomatoes or a classic Cobb with smoked bacon, chopped hard-boiled eggs, avocado, cheese and tomatoes with a honey mustard dressing. A spicy fried calamari is tossed with hot cherry peppers in a garlic butter sauce and beef carpaccio with shaved beef tenderloin on a bed of greens drizzled with olive oil and lemon and fresh Parmesan.

Soups, which change daily, are terrific. On a cold and windy night we try the empanada — a thick tomato-based soup with chunks of spicy sausage and potato — and the subtly-seasoned but comforting mushroom barley. When it comes to pizza, you can't beat the stir fry pie with so many veggies you can pass it off as health food and the lasagna pie with meatballs, ricotta and fresh parsley. To place or pick up to go orders, head back to the counter at the rear of the dining room, where you can grab a slice and a cup of soup to travel.

The Asylum Café is open Sunday from 4 to 11 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to midnight and Saturday, noon to midnight.

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