Andreev Enjoys Tastes Of New Haven

© Steve Blazo/Pilot Pen TennisRussian Igor Andreev serves Indian cuisine at the New Haven Food and Wine Festival.

After securing a quarter-final berth at Pilot Pen Tennis, an ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in New Haven, Igor Andreev, the No. 8 seed this week, tasted some of the cuisine that New Haven has to offer by attending the New Haven Food and Wine Festival held on site Wednesday.

Twenty of the finest New Haven restaurants served up high quality food, with Andreev meeting with different chefs before jumping behind the counter of Thali, a local Indian restaurant, to prepare a tasty Indian dish for hungry patrons.

“It’s nice to be able to have some of the restaurants in New Haven come to the tournament and showcase the food that they have on offer. Most of the time we end up eating lunch and dinner on-site, so it’s nice to be able to have the opportunity to eat some really nice food,” said Andreev.

“Also, the tournament has a passport program that allows us to eat for free around the town and I have eaten at some of them including Union League Cafe and Miso. It’s a fun idea and I think a lot of the guys are happy that they are able to eat away from the site for free and enjoy the good food in New Haven.”

Participating in the festival are some of New Haven’s finest establishments including 116 Crown (Cocktails, Wine/Small Plates Lounge), Barcelona (Spanish Wine Bar), Basta Trattoria (Southern Italian Cuisine), Bentara (Spicy Malaysian Cuisine), Bespoke (Modern American Cuisine), Caseus (Fromagerie Bistro), Central Steakhouse (American Steakhouse/Seafood), Claire’s Corner Copia (Vegetarian Cuisine), Foster’s (Modern American Cuisine), Geronimo (Southwestern Cuisine), Ibiza (Creative Spanish Cuisine), John Davenport’s (Contemporary Cuisine), Miso (Contemporary Japanese Cuisine), Pacifico (Nuevo Latino Cuisine), Sabor (Nuevo Latino Cuisine), Thali (Regional Indian Cuisine), Thali Too (Indian/Vegetarian Cuisine), Union League Café (Parisian Style Brasserie) and Zinc (Modern American Food).

All the restaurants participating in the Food and Wine Festival are also participants in the Mayor’s Passport to Downtown Dining, a program that allows the ATP World Tour and Sony Ericsson WTA players with the opportunity to eat for free during the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven.