Wallingford has J. Christian’s, great food in a 1920’s bank, walkable downtown, and an authentic tacos place: Rivas.
And, yes, it has a…WalMart…
Well, I do a little bit of drive south and trip down memory lane so Wallingford is fine 
I should visit Mystic Pizza again some time.
When I visited Lawrenceville/Peddie, we drove to Princeton and did a loop around Einstein Drive and pointed out IAS for kids.
I want to do all those special named drives, Inifity Loop and Disc Drive, etc
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We really like TSK Thames Street Kitchen in Newport. It is on the tatty end of Thames. The other goto is the Fifth Element. Newport Creamery is a must do for dessert and EMPIRE for coffee.
Have to get an awful awful- yum! They used to have Newport Creamery shops near Boston when I was a kid but they are gone now. We did go to one in Newport a few years ago.
Exeter has 11 Water Street, a pleasant restaurant at the town center by the riverside, www.11waterstreet.com.
We dropped by their downstairs pub and sampled their bar menu on two snowy occasions. Nearby Portsmouth was the big surprise (okay that’s a half hour away) - looooved that town! We heard Portsmouth has more restaurant seats than residents. The Surf is an excellent seafood house on the harbor, flanked by a string of similar places. The nearby thoroughfares are rife with restaurants, we tried several, all were hits.
Pottstown has an unpretentious café on a corner down near the center of town that serves a great breakfast - freshly made doughnuts and jams, omelets and other goodies. Hill folks will have to help here, I just can’t recall the name of the place but a Hill family owns it.
Lawrenceville has a nice Italian bistro, Vidalia, off the main street, www.vidalia.restaurant.
@Agincourt - Portsmouth is a gem. Absolutely love it.
@TheStig2 Definitely try Jeannine’s Bakery in Montecito for breakfast or Sunday brunch…decadent! Trattoria Mollie in Montecito is wonderful (and a favorite of Oprah’s apparently). I also love The Lark in Santa Barbara. Their sister restaurant The Lucky Penny (right next door, literally) has great wood fired pizza too!
@Msclvr721 Thanks for the suggestions! Have been to Jeannine’s, but will try and get to the others when I visit next month. Yum!
One of the MANY things that I love about Cate is it’s proximity to some really great towns. Carpinteria is a typical SoCal surf town, with plenty of stores, restaurants and an annual Avocado Festival (!) to keep the kids happy. It’s a 7-minute bus ride from campus, and students go all the time. My daughter likes to get an acai bowl from Lucky Llama and then sit on the beach a couple of times a week. The school makes it very easy to get to & from, which is nice. Next closest is Montecito, which has the famous Jeannine’s as well as some nicer (fancier) restaurants and shops. When I’m visiting I tend to focus my efforts here ha ha! Santa Barbara is maybe a 15-20 minute drive from campus and is a great small city. There are lots of cultural attractions there - museums etc. and more “youthful” shopping than Montecito (UCSB is nearby). @Msclvr721 we LOVE The Lark, as well as SuperRica and many others. I look for a new restaurant to try every time I visit. L.A. is anywhere from a 2 to 2 1/2 drive away, and the school organizes museum trips on the weekends in addition to some field trips for specific classes.
So, even if it weren’t for the incredible natural beauty of the area, Cate benefits from having so many terrific off-campus options. There is a nice balance between the beautiful & peaceful mesa setting which feels removed from the world, and the immediate proximity of Carp, Montecito, Santa Barbara, Ojai, Ventura, the Santa Ynez Valley and even Los Angeles. This has been great for my daughter, and needless to say I love to visit as often as possible
Sounds like every town is the best town for parents! For kids, what’s available within walking distance makes a best or a worst town.
Well, DS has not been out of the campus and is not interested in taking shuttle bus to town. He hasn’t spent any money last 5 months so that works for me!
Location, location, location. Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA or effectively D.C. As parents it is actually easier for us to fly from NH to D.C. than it would have been to drive to some MA/CT BS’s. Campus is 10 mins from DCA (Reagan), tons of great restaurants to eat at, Old Town Alexandria and Georgetown are quaint and bustling, especially in the Spring, plenty of lodging choices, and so much to see around D.C. EHS is a gated castle in the middle of suburbia. When your on “The Holy Hill” you forget that you are in the middle of a major metro area. For DD and DS, the location provides so many experiential learning opportunities through the school’s Washington Program, not to mention the ability to leave campus and explore/eat with friends on weekends. Since eating is one of my favorite pastimes, my fav food haunts are:
Sunday brunch at Carlyle in Arlington. Their Blue Crab Fritters should be outlawed. https://www.greatamericanrestaurants.com/carlyle
Sushi at Asian Bistro in Old Town Alexandria
http://asiabistrova.com/
http://abistro.com
Italian at Landini Bros, both in Old Town Alexandria.
http://landinibrothers.com
Pizza at RedRocks Neapolitan Bistro
http://www.redrocksot.com/home
Gourmet hamburger at The Holy Cow in Del Ray section of Alexandria
http://www.holycowdelray.com
For my CC friends who enjoy a good draft beer - Blue Jacket Brewery in D.C.
http://bluejacketdc.com
https://www.facebook.com/bluejacketdc
I’ll leave the Karaoke bars off the list for now. B-)
Yes, we combined Episcopal/Mercersburg visit with D.C. tour. Loved doing the Mall, Smithsonians, and the Spy Museum. We ate at the Old Ebbit Grill as I could not walk a step more.
I am glad to hear that your DD is enjoying Cate and thriving there!
Did you try some restaurants in Los Olivos?
It takes about an hour from Carpinteria via US-101 and there is this little town of Los Olivos.
As in the movie “Sideways”, the town and its vicinity are very famous for HQ pinot wines and nice restaurants such as Los Olivos Cafe and HItching Post (Buellton near Santa Ynez Valley). They became a bit spoiled and pricey due to the movie exposure but still worth trying. My daughter went to college in SB and I miss those towns.
With a car, the difference between a best town and a worst town is driving 10 miles or 30 miles to reach a favorite restaurant of yours. However, there are more “worst towns” for kids than “best town” as so many of them are in the middle of nowhere.
@i70sband I wish you posted this one day earlier… We just came back from EHS visit. I would contribute to your list Georgetown Cupcake, georgetowncupcake.com
Si, si La Super Rica!
We are pretty serious foodies.
The White Hart Inn in Salisbury, CT is a great place to stay and has excellent food. (near Hotchkiss and Salisbury).
The area is pretty but very rural.
I think the best location is Lawrenceville, 5 min from downtown Princeton (via shuttle) which is charming and has so much to offer. Favorite restaurant in Princeton is Agricole.
I think Wallingford is a bit run down and sad, but on the plus side it practically envelops the campus and the kids like the fact that the town is considered part of the campus. Haven’t tried J Christian’s.
The town of Groton is not as rural as Salisbury, it is more suburban/rural. Love the decor and setting at Gibbet Hill Grill, but IMHO the food was good, not great.
Exeter has some great antique shopping but I think the restaurant scene is better in nearby Portsmouth, eg Moxy, Black Trumpet, etc
Having traveled to all games for my kids, home and away, here are a few casual dining spots I’ll recommend:
Groton, MA (Groton and Concord Academy): Filho’s Cucina http://www.filhoscucina.com/home.asp
Being very well versed in the coastal NH dining scene around Philips Exeter, I suggest trying:
In Portsmouth: Lexie’s Joint, Flatbread, and Street (especially for brunch)
http://peaceloveburgers.com/location/lexies-joint/
http://www.flatbreadcompany.com/FlatbreadPortsmouth2010.html
http://www.streetfood360.com/
At Rye Beach: Petey’s Seafood http://www.peteys.com/
In Hampton Falls: Farm Bistro @ Applecrest Orchards http://farmbistro.com/
Concord, NH (SPS):
O’s Steakhouse
The Barley House (good burgers)
This is a great thread; thank you! I agree Wallingford is not a quintessentially charming NE town. However, at least the townspeople like Choaties! And you can’t beat the Half Moon Cafe. A stone’s throw from Choate and EVERYTHING there is excellent-- at great prices as well 