When in Morris, Connecticut, in the fall to visit Topsmead State Forest; in Coventry, Connecticut, in the summer to water ski on Coventry Lake, or in Westbrook, Connecticut, in the spring to visit Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, eat at one of the local seafood restaurants. Numerous restaurants in the state offer seasonal outdoor dining and a wide variety of seafood platters and sandwiches, as well as pasta dishes, steaks, sandwiches and wraps.
Lake View Restaurant's 2,500-square-foot outside deck overlooks Coventry Lake in northeast Connecticut. As of August 2010, the restaurant's lunch and dinner seafood menu selections include fried calamari, baked sea scallops, baked cod fillets and fried shrimp. The restaurant also offers numerous Italian dishes such as chicken Florentine, baked lasagna and veal parmesan; it also offers soups, salads, hamburgers, wraps and house-made pizzas and calzones with fillings such as mushrooms, pepperoni and hamburger. Lake View Restaurant also hosts scheduled live music entertainment on the deck during the warmer months.
Lake View Restaurant
50 Lake Street
Coventry, CT 06238
860-498-0500
coventrylakeview.com
Lenny and Joe's Fish Tale: Westbrook Family Restaurant, in the south-central part of the state, offers alfresco dining in its covered outdoor porch and patio dining areas. The restaurant's numerous lunch and dinner seafood menu items include broiled tilapia, char-broiled swordfish, broiled rock crab meat casserole, fried clam strips and fried Maryland-style crab cakes, as of August 2010. The restaurant also offers fresh clams and oysters on the half-shell, and chilled seafood entree salads such as mixed seafood salad and cocktail shrimp salad. Non-seafood menu items include charbroiled marinated beef tenderloin tips, fried chicken breasts, cheeseburgers and hot dogs.
Lenny and Joe's Fish Tale: Westbrook Family Restaurant
1301 Boston Post Road
Westbrook, CT 06498
860-669-0767
ljfishtale.com
West Shore Seafood, in northwest Connecticut, offers covered patio dining when weather permits. The restaurant opens from April through December, and has a bring-your-own bottle alcohol policy for patrons over age 21, as of August 2010. The restaurant's lunch and dinner seafood menu items include steamed New England soft shell clams, grilled minced salmon sandwiches, fried fish tacos, grilled swordfish and baked haddock. West Shore also offers fried oyster, sole, shrimp and sea scallop baskets, and presents a children's menu with fish sticks, chicken fingers, hot dogs and grilled cheese selections.
West Shore Seafood
449 Bantam Lake Road
Morris, CT 06763
860-567-8000
westshoreseafood.com
