Advertiser: Paul Fredrick MenStyle
Contact: Renee Crawford at
Paradysz-Matera
Phone: 763.647.5142
after moving to America more than a
century ago, that was gone. It was now
a highway underpass.
We also discovered artifacts of Bridgeport’s glory days that had not merely
survived but were thriving. Dragone
Motors, across from Taqueria La Michoacana, was crowded with pre-World War II
automobiles: Lancias, Chryslers, even a
rare, built-in-Bridgeport Trumbull—all
shiny, functional, and for sale (to buyers
from as far away as Italy and China).
We weren’t about to invest, but the
employees—one of whom was a past
president of the Bridgeport Historical
Society—happily gave us a free tour.
And over on the western edge of town,
where Bridgeport shades into Fairfield,
was St. Anne’s, a strollable stretch of waterfront lined with million-dollar homes,
and Black Rock, a well-to-do neighborhood of bistros and antiques stores (along
with an Indian grocery, a Mexican pastry
shop and Helados Vasquez, a sleek new
Italian gelateria). In these areas, Bridgeport’s troubles seemed like history.
Not that the restaurants are guar-
E: rcrawford@paradyszmatera.com
On Sale: 1/1
anteed success. When my father and
I finally followed the alluring aroma
into McGhie’s, we found a friendly and
inviting place, with CNN on a big flat-screen TV and no shortage of customers,
employees and passersby eager to chat.
But as we waited for our takeout, the
young prep cook, Steven Smith , told us
business was tough. No one goes out in
Bridgeport, he says: New Haven gets all
the restaurant and nightlife action.
“We’re just trying to open up,” he
says, by starting karaoke nights and
trying to appeal to everyone, not just
people with Jamaican roots. If his juicy,
herbaceous jerk chicken is any measure,
McGhie’s will make it.
By the end of the weekend, Dad
and I had eaten more than we thought
possible, and were recovering from the
massive influx of calories with some
good Scotch at my parents’ house in
northeastern Connecticut.
“Well, you accomplished one thing
this weekend,” my father said. “I no
longer hate Bridgeport.”
Faint praise, right? But what he didn’t
add—and which I think is probably true—
is that he actually likes it now. As do I. As
will you.
Arrive 11/25/08 8:27 AM Page 1
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