On Chapel Street, in New Haven, Connecticut, opposite the Old Campus: from the time of glaciation, cultivated by the Quinnipiac; in 1614, charted by a Dutch explorer; in 1638, colonized by the Puritans; throughout the American Revolution, home of the signer, Roger Sherman, his second wife Rebecca Prescott-Sherman, their fifteen children, and the family store; in 1860, industrialist Gaius Fenn Warner's Italianate villa, by Henry Austin; in 1880, Marshal Peter R. Carll's Opera House; in 1884, the Republican League; in 1887, the Hyperion; in 1903, the Union League addition, by Richard Williams; in 1926, the Roger Sherman Theater; beginning in 1976, a tradition of French fine dining, that continues today. While the Roger Sherman house is no longer standing, it holds up all right.
"A little Jean-Michel, Jacques, Robin, Jean-Pierre. The meal, it is delicious. But at this point, it doesn’t matter. Robin, another out-of-place American woman who fell headfirst into a French enclave, said it herself: 'You’re only as successful as the people working around you.'"
"A painting of a pheasant hangs above the coat closet. The molded ceiling, large glass windows and red-veined marble exemplify traditional refinement. Even the structure of the Union League Cafe reinforces the aura of tradition that defines the New Haven landmark. Carved above the fireplace is an inscription reading, 'This club house stands on the… Continue reading ‘Tradition’ lives on at Union League, by Rachel Engler
"The prices may have been slashed in half, but the new Union League Café, which replaces New Haven's former Robert Henry's restaurant on Chapel street, has lost none of its pomp, splendor and old boy mystique. Admittedly my dinner companions and I, misled by the word café, might have arrived a little under-dressed. When we… Continue reading Union League Café Serves Up Elegant Fare, by Rebecca Howland
"I first recall being introduced to Jacques Pépin in late 1992. He came for dinner at the elegant Robert Henry’s restaurant in New Haven, where I was maître d’. Robert Henry’s was from a bygone era, owned by the matriarch Jo McKenzie; a white glove establishment with porcelain-dome service and very haute French cuisine that… Continue reading The creative genius of Jacques Pépin, by Robert Rabine