Recommended by me, of course. Sort of like the LWP version of the Hartford Advocate "Best Of" poll, but a lot more eccentric. They're listed in categories, sort of.

Wild Oats Market
340 N. Main St. • West Hartford, CT 06117 • 860-523-7174
Hours: Mon-Sat, 9a.m.-9p.m., Sun. 8a.m.-8p.m.
My favourite place to grocery shop. Fantastic selection and extremely enjoyable.

Hale's Shad
273 Meadow Rd • Rocky Hill, CT • 860-529-5282
Shad! During shad season only, of course. (You have to call ahead for milt.)

Mill on the River
989 Ellington Rd • South Windsor, CT • 860-289-7929
Fantastic classic escargot and creme brulée. And willow trees.

Pho Boston Restaurant
144 Shield St. • West Hartford, CT • 860-953-8678
Mind-blowing! Vietnamese. Near A Dong. Most of the customers are Asian, so you know it's good. Incredible soups. I also like the tri-colour bean dessert (green jello strips, smushy yellow mung beans, sweet red beans, coconut milk and shaved ice). Don't be scared.

Rein's New York Style Deli
435 Hartford Tpke. • Vernon Rockville, CT • 860-875-1344
Open 7 Days a Week, 7am to Midnight.
Tongue! Smoked fishes! And tons of other cool stuff. Dean loves their vegetarian chili.

Sapporo Japanese Restaurant
1295 Silas Deane Hwy • Wethersfield, CT • 860-721-8477
Small and simple (we call it "The Little") but they have the best sushi. (Non-chewy nori.) We've tried many many other places but always end up loyal. And free bread pudding, if you're lucky!

Klekolo World Coffee
181 Court St. • Middletown, CT. 06457 • 860-343-9444
Open 'till 1am, 7 days a week!
Good coffee; funky atmosphere. I like a single bohemian.

We-Lik-It
Route 97 • Abington, CT
Best ice cream ever. Unusual and changeable homemade flavours. Worth the drive.

Kathy-John's
643 Middle Turnpike • Storrs, CT 06268 • 860-429-0362
Peppermint stick ice cream, coffee mallow, lime soma, best grilled cheese sandwiches, great postcards, rubber stamp (gigantic selection) / paper / neat items shop.

The Hoot
95 Storrs Rd #3 • Willimantic, CT • 860-456-2775
Unique gifts / neat things and cards; I wish they'd move out of the crummy completely-in-decline Eastbook Mall.

Design Forum
902 Farmington Ave • Farmington, CT • 860-677-7568
More unique gifts / neat things, great cards, and wrapping paper. Cool owner.

Jerry's Artarama
1109 New Britain Ave • West Hartford, CT • 860-232-0073
Endless art supplies, pens, postcards, stickers, wrapping paper. Jerry's is the greatest!

Phoenix Record Shop
384 Stillson Rd • Waterbury, CT • 203-756-1617
Notoriously impossible to find. Has tons of great "imports." Boxes of Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys.

Brass City Records
489 Meadow St • Waterbury, CT • 203-574-7805
More so-called imports! You can listen here.

Uptown Consignment
781 Cromwell Ave • Rocky Hill, CT • 860-257-1661
Lots of my clothes come from this place. Superb quality and many excellent finds.

Russell Library
123 Broad Street • Middletown, CT • 860-347-2528
I love this library. And they always have the coolest books on the sale shelf, if they haven't already been snagged by me (50 cents for paperbacks, $1. for hardcovers!).

The Tannenbaum Shoppe at Ursel's Web
140 Washington St • Middletown, CT • 860-344-0041
Exists November-December. The only Christmas ornament shop I've found that meets my standards.

Hill-Stead Museum
35 Mountain Road • Farmington, Connecticut 06032 • 860-677-4787
Very interesting estate / non-museum-esque museum.

The Grapevine
861 Main Street • Willimantic, CT
Used to be a tea and gift and tiramisu and Jamaican beef pattie and Ginger Beer and antique finds and just plain cool shop run by a great lady named Delores. I still miss it.