Travel

Yale and hearty

After decades of decline, Connecticut’s capital of higher learning is getting its second wind. More than just pizza and petty crime, New Haven — that gritty city along Long Island Sound — now has a chic boutique hotel, hip restaurants honored by both the James Beard Foundation and the Food Network, and a landmark art museum fresh off a $135 million expansion.

Economic revitalization of the city’s once woebegone commercial districts is being spearheaded by Project Storefronts, a program for artists and entrepreneurs. Previously vacant lots now host pop-up shops, communal workspaces and events like this month’s International Festival of Arts and Ideas (June 15 to 29), which brings culinary master classes, urban cycling and performances by Aaron Neville and the Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet downtown.

So come with a Metro-North pass and an open mind. New Haven has arrived.

STAY

The Study at Yale (rooms from $209, studyatyale.com) boutique hotel opened in 2008 with chic, vaguely Nordic interiors. Its 124 rooms and suites underwent a light refresh earlier this year and are fitted with Frette linens, framed Michael Marsland photos of the Yale campus and complimentary Wi-Fi. The hotel’s Heirloom restaurant is helmed by a former Nobu chef, and concierges have impressive connections to the university’s arts programs and performances. The recently renovated Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale (from $179, omnihotels.com) has 306 rooms and suites, a whopping 22,000 square feet of event space and the best views of the city at John Davenport’s, a New American restaurant on the 19th floor named after the city’s 17th-century founder.

EAT

The hottest restaurant in town is Caseus (caseusnewhaven.com), a bistro and fromagerie that enjoyed the national spotlight when the Food Network’s “On the Road” named its grilled cheese the best in the US. Don’t miss the retail shop downstairs, which has locally sourced spices alongside all manner of cheeses, curds and whey. Kitchen Zinc (kitchenzinc.com), an offshoot of the more formal Zinc restaurant on Chapel Street, plays upon New Haven’s pizza-making heritage with Neapolitan-style pies topped with seasonal produce and house-made charcuterie. Cult favorite Miya’s Sushi (miyassushi.com) serves potent sake cocktails and experimental Japanese fare created by Bun Lai, a James Beard Award-nominated chef, fisherman, forager and environmental activist. Many of his ingredients are sourced from his privately owned, 100-acre shellfishing grounds near Connecticut’s Thimble Islands.

DRINK

Beloved by elderly barflies and stylish 20-somethings alike, the Anchor (anchornewhaven.com) is a New Haven institution that dates back to the 1940s. It pours no-nonsense cocktails and $3.50 beer specials in a charmingly tatty, mid-century lounge space, complete with circular vinyl booths and a killer jukebox playing everything from Sinatra to Faith No More. Smoke gets in your eyes at the retro Owl Shop (owlshopcigars.com) next door, where patrons puff cigars and sip cocktails from the tobacconist’s 400-square-foot, walk-in humidor. Earlier this year, Caseus’ Jason Sobocinski debuted Ordinary (ordinarynewhaven.com), a bar serving classic American cocktails like Sazeracs and rye Old-Fashioneds, plus craft beers, in the former Richter’s Café spot on Chapel Street. The historic space dates back to 1665 and has hosted everyone from Abraham Lincoln to Babe Ruth. Nearby vegetarian cafe Claire’s Corner Copia (clairescornercopia.com) makes a mean Lithuanian coffee cake and blends fresh fruit and vegetable juices to order.

SEE

Skip the tourist throng on Manhattan’s Museum Mile, and head instead to the delightfully spacious Yale University Art Gallery (artgallery.yale.edu), which has more than 200,000 works from 11 curatorial departments. Last December, the museum completed a 14-year, $135 million expansion. Its 70,000 square feet of exhibition space now links three buildings: the 1953 modernist museum designed by Louis Khan, the 1928 Old Yale Art Gallery and the 1866 Street Hall. Admission is remarkably free for a space featuring masterpieces by Rothko, Picasso, Monet and Basquiat. Museum holdings also include American decorative arts, some 100,000 coins and medals, and an impressive collection of Southeast Asian sculpture.

SHOP

A New Yorker’s dream of affordable, high-quality vintage, English Building Market (englishbuildingmarket.com) hawks housewares like mint-condition 1950s punch bowls, as well as antique jewelry and perfectly faded 1970s denim. At Katahdin Furniture on Whitney Avenue, the knowledgeable staff creates artisanal wooden furniture to order, and sources unusual pieces like hand-spun pillow covers and Indonesian pottery. Neville Wisdom (nevillewisdom.com), a downtown boutique and Project Storefronts success story, sells flirty couture dresses and functions as a working studio, where the Jamaican-born designer will custom-fit purchases on the spot for no extra charge.

THIS MONTH

Established in 1996, the annual 15-day International Festival of Arts and Ideas (artidea.org), attended by nearly 100,000 people from 75 countries, takes place June 15 to 29. More than 80 percent of the programming is free, and offerings include lectures, walking tours, performances and a children’s film festival.