6 Best Restaurants in New Haven, Mystic, and the Coast, Connecticut

There's no need to take a transatlantic flight to Spain when you can feast on authentic Spanish cuisine right here in New Haven. There are "large plate" entrées and salads on the menu, but the tapas are the best bet—rich, tasty, and full of flavor.

Started as a fish market in 1983 by a young couple with a baby on the way, Flanders has grown into a popular restaurant and bar with awards for its seafood—especially the lobster roll—and appearances in local media and national TV. The Market's 40-year history landed it a spot in the Connecticut Restaurant Association "Hospitality Hall Of Fame," and locals come for the raw bar, seafood platter and sandwiches, brunch, and "Cappy Hour" specials.

This isn't your typical hotel restaurant: Occupying half of The Study at Yale hotel lobby, this contemporary American eatery has a casually refined decor. The seasonal menu emphasizes the freshest locally sourced ingredients, with highlights like a warm local ricotta appetizer with thyme and truffle on a crostini, lamb cavatelli pasta, and Connecticut grass-fed beef burger.

Nana's is a pizzeria, restaurant, and bakery, all in one, and ingredients and preparation are chosen with local farms in mind. Coffee and breakfast (local egg sandwiches, chilaquiles, mushroom toast) start the day, sandwiches and small plates begin the lunch hour, with locally raised rotisserie chicken, and sourdough pizza leavened with koji (a byproduct of locally produced soy sauce) available after 11 am.

In the Oyster Club's rustic, barnlike dining room, start your meal with a selection of oysters and clams from the raw bar or a cup of the raved-about quahog clam chowder—New England (creamy) or Rhode Island (clear) style—before moving along to either fresh-from-the-sea surf or prime turf for your entrée. In summer, the open-air Treehouse offers another lively spot to enjoy a casual meal or a drink—weather permitting. Oyster Club is a three-time winner for best restaurant, east region, at the Connecticut Restaurant Association Awards.

Located on the ground floor of The Whaler's Inn, Shipwright's Daughter immediately rose to statewide recognition for delicious, tremendously creative fare sourced from local farms and the crisp, clear waters where eastern Long Island Sound meets the Atlantic Ocean. Expect daily specials where the catch of the day was actually just caught, plus pasta, imaginative meat and vegetable dishes, and breakfast daily. Chef David Standridge was recently named Best Chef in the northeast by the prestigious James Beard Awards, so reservations are recommended, although drop-ins may often find comfortable seats at the bar.