'Tis the Season: Serious Holiday Eats in Middletown

Middletown is chock full of delicious treats this Holiday season. Find out about some of them here!

Posted by WesStuffed, December 10, 2012 at 05:16 pm

If you don’t already love the wintery wondery holidays purely for their magical, mysterious lure, you can’t deny the food. Unless, perhaps, you’re gluten-free and/or vegan and don’t feel included in the Christmas food festivities like gingerbread and roast beast. Well, like Santa never forgets a house, Middletown restaurateurs never forget a diet. No one’s left out in the cold. Whatever you may be looking for special dietary needs or not, Merry Christmas, cause Middletown’s comin’ to town!

First stop, NoRA Cupcake Company. Simply walking into NoRA’s adorable store and seeing the plethora of decorative joy brings on a rush of CHRISTMAS EXCITEMENT. NoRA’s full holiday menu isn’t yet available, but you can still order their Holiday cupcakes on their website! See the Coming Soon menu here. In the meantime, imagine enjoying one of these:

Or think about sitting at a table with your friends or family, admiring the Christmas trees in the windows enclaves...and the best part of that is -- SURPRISE! -- you don’t have to wait, you can go RIGHT NOW!! Just cause the holiday flavors reserved for later doesn’t mean you still can’t experience a NoRA winter holiday cupcake flavor or two (or three or four or...) tomorrow! These, pictured and admired above, are among the pre-holiday flavor-holiday flavors. Sounds good to me. Also, of note, there are these Scottish Shortbread cookies you can take home with you! I’d advise you to, as well, because it’s the best shortbread I’ve ever had. Actually.

HOURS: Mon: Closed
Tues-Thurs: 10AM - 7PM
Fri & Sat: 10AM - 10PM (late night snack!)
Sunday: 10AM - 3PM

Michael’s Deli Butternut. Squash. Soup. Goodness. You know how squash soups usually resemble overly chunky pureed squash with a lil’ bit of cream spilled in it with nutmeg? Sure, that’s good, because you certainly get the flavor you’re looking for: squash. But if you’re looking for squash soup, go here. It’s still got that sure butternut squash taste, but it isn’t just a blatant puree. it has a lot more complexity and flavor that complements the vegatable, such as detail like garlic, honey, and soy sauce. Up for ordering and also available now(!) is some fresh baked pie: in addition to cookies and cookie dough, cheesecake, and coffee cake! Best of all, they’ll deliver!

HOURS: Mon-Fri: 7AM-7PM

Saturday: 10AM-3PM

Froyo World. First and foremost important: They’ve Still Got Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie. And, happy early birthday, they’re keeping it throughout December! Additionally, they’ve still got that remarkably-actually-like-thin-mint-cookie flavor, as well as the new thematically-relevant additions of Gingerbread and Cinnamon Buns. Mmmm. Not to mention:

apple pie filling, and:

Froyo World is also holding a Toys for Tots fundraiser (to Dec. 10th), which will get you 10% off for bringing in a toy! Win-win(-win). Furthermore, if you’ll be around for New Year’s and attending Midnight on Main (or even if not), Froyo World’s got you totally covered. Stop by that night, and they’ll keep shop open for you till you’ve fully enjoyed your first meal of 2013!

HOURS: Mon-Thur: 12PM-10PM

Fri: 12PM- 11PM

Sat: 11AM-12PM

Sun:12PM-10PM

It’s Only Natural:

Did you know that SANTA CAME to Main Street?! I saw him. He was there along with his sleigh (horse rides) in the midst of Christmas lights galore strung all down Main. If you like Christmas, you are sure to want to come down here one Saturday (until the 15th of December) to say hi to Santa and/or if that kind of thing still spooks you out a bit participate in at least one of the many activities of the 27th annual Holiday on Main Street! It’s also a super opportune excuse (#8329) to head down off campus for some treats!

While the streets were busy with families of little children and cherry holiday music flooded Main,I decided to head back down to see what else Middletown had to offer. SO much Christmas spirit.

I stopped by It’s Only Natural first to see what they had for you, and in the spirit of the surprise of Christmas, they’ve yet to release their holiday menu. The suspense i just like Christmas morning! However, unlike Christmas morning, you’re bound to see some holiday offerings up on their specials board until then! You can anticipate everything from desserts to special chef-created dishes, and stop by during Midnight on Main for some food and wine specials to celebrate!

HOURS: Sun-Sat: 11AM-9PM

Next stop, Fusion Bakery and Patisserie! Essentially, it’s like an advent calendar, because you don’t know what treat you’ll find behind that front door every day. Except, this is an extra-special super-special advent calendar, because look:

Everyday you can expect multiple options like those displayed above, as well as: gluten-free tiramisu, flourless chocolate cake, and mini cherry cheesecakes, amongst tons of tons of other things. Also, keep your eyes peeled for some happy holiday drinks, like gingerbread and peppermint lattes..I guess You better just stop in every day to see it all!
(Again, if you’ll be hanging around here, might I suggest ordering a buche de Noel? That’s their special holiday order special. And boy is it special.)

HOURS: Mon-Tues: 8AM-5:30PM

Wed-Sat: 8AM- 6PM

Sun: Closed

Who would ever want ice cream when it’s cold outside?

WE ALL DO BECAUSE IT’S COLD STONE

But anyways and but seriously, when Cold Stone’s Chocolate Peppermint Perfection is Oreos with whipped topping with fudge with Dark Chocolate Peppermint ice cream...yo. You know how creamy-delicious their ice cream is always already. And let me just emphasize because you must note, if you haven’t already, that those are three of the best toppings to ever add to ice cream ever. OREOS. WHIP TOPPING. FUDGE.

Additionally, they’ll make you a cake or be more than happy to have you just come in and pick one up! The Christmas creation is the Holly Jolly Peppermint cake, which is made with red velvet. If you’re more into creating your create-your-own, slash don’t want to commit to a whole cake, I’d still encourage you to try the Dark Chocolate Peppermint component (okay yeah the ice cream flavor) , which is the centerpiece of all of these treats and this holiday season. Mix-in of choice? York Peppermint Patties. Yeah, they have those now.

All in all, YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS HOLIDAY TREATS IN MIDDLETOWN. It’s like missing Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and New Years all on the same day. EVERYONE LOVES HOLIDAY FLAVORS. Make sure that you take lots of adventures into Middletown for food during the next few weeks. Tis the season, as college kids always say “Y.O.L.O.” (you only live once). Go. I promise you won’t regret it.

Happy Holidays, and thanks so, so much for reading WesStuffed. We love you!!!

NoRA Cupcake Company

700 Main Street Middletown, CT 06457

860-788-3150

www.noracupcake.com

Michael’s Deli

83 Broad Street Middletown, CT 06457

860- 788-2650

www.themichaelsdeli.com

Froyo World

386 Main Street, Middletown, CT 06457

860-788-6063