“We also ordered the buffalo calamari and Brussels sprouts both of which were incredible.” “Went to the soft opening tonight and was very impressed.” “The good news is it is open and the food retains most of the good qualities it has at the Bloomfield location.” "We came in when this place first opened and it was terrible. But hubby kept hearing how great it was, that they worked out the kinks. He finally convinced me to give it another shot last night and I'm…" "Went here for the first time on a very hot Saturday afternoon. Sat at the bar and asked the bartender if he had a watermelon martini. He said no but let me see what I could whip you up and he…" "The hotel we were staying at said they had the best italian in the area, so we decided to check it out. Luckily our hotel wasn't lying. The atmosphere was relaxing which paired well with their waitstaff who…" "I stopped in for an easy dinner on a Saturday night with my husband and 21 mo old daughter, and we loved it.

Perhaps there are some consistency issues while it's still early days b/c there seem to be…"The Eastport home of John and Andrea Lattizori may have originated in the mid-1930s as a Sears Roebuck kit house, but it is anything but cookie-cutter in its character or decor.Until this century, the house had not undergone any renovation work. "The house had only cold running water," said John. "It was heated by coal. Ashes were routinely dumped in the backyard."He tells an incredible story. In the 1990s, a neighbor installed a fire detection alarm as a favor to the owners. The wife cleaned out the cast iron, pot bellied stove and, unknown to her, dropped some still-burning ash on a chair. It caught fire and began smoking. Its noisy, insistent shrieking irritated the wife, who, elsewhere in the house, was not aware of the fire."She went next door to the neighbor and demanded he remove the alarm right away. It was too loud," said John. "Realizing what had happened, the neighbor ran into the house and put the fire out."

During their complete renovation of the house, the Lattizoris discovered portions of the still-charred kitchen floorboards. To memorialize the incident, John preserved one of the partially burnt boards in the flooring. He also preserved a one-inch hole in a floorboard where the cold water pipe was originally threaded.The floorboards are just two of the home's many intriguing details that will be on view during the 9th annual Eastport Home & Garden Tour on June 8. chandelier restaurant jupilleThe Lattizori residence is one of the seven houses that will be displayed on the highly anticipated tour.chandelier cake kaley cuocoThe couple's renovations turned up other surprises, too. chandeliers obstacle pas cherIn rebuilding the front steps, a bed of oyster shells was found underneath.

John also found a stone Indian arrowhead in their backyard. Stripping walls to the studs, they discovered markings on the wood framing indicating their home was a kit house. An original deed also turned up: on July, 15, 1936 the property was valued at $10.A previous owner, a nephew of the woman who dropped the glowing coals, had started gutting the house, but eventually abandoned the project and sold the property to the Lattizoris in 2004.Andrea is a 1st grade teacher at Youths Benefit Elementary School in Hartford County. John is a sales director of Hammond Home Services, a division of Richard Hammond Builders. Richard Hammond, his partner, is the son of artist Nancy Hammond.Between them, the Lattizori couple has three children: MacKenzie Barkley, 19, a freshman and lacrosse player at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania; and Jack Lattazori, 7. "Tiny" is the family's 45-pound Dober-Mutt.John and Andrea met at a wedding in 2003 at a private waterfront house on the Severn River. Andrea was working with friends who own a catering business.

Accompanied by friends, John arrived on his boat. He noticed Andrea, went over and chatted with her. When the group went downtown after the wedding, John asked Andrea to join them.Over their bed hang three paintings of what happened next in their courtship: two show the site of their engagement and honeymoon on Windsor Beach in Bermuda, a third depicts a favorite getaway spot in St. Kitts, an island in the West Indies.The neighborhood where the Lattizoris purchased their home was not new to John: eight years earlier he rented - and renovated - a home directly across the street.Architect Fred Sieracki designed the plans for the interior renovations and exterior additions without expanding beyond the original footprint. By removing closets, the main floor was opened up. Instead of three walled-off rooms, it is now one open space. Though they loved its uniqueness, a separate entrance into the main stairwell was removed. A bathroom was installed where the secondary stair steps had been.John did some of the renovation work himself.

Upstairs, he removed all the floorboards and stacked them downstairs. The walls were stripped and reconfigured. He installed a subfloor, then reinstalled the old floorboards.Great care was taken to preserve and clean the sash, frames and glass in the windows on the front of the house. The wooden porch columns on the front are also original.Disliking the sight of the mechanics of today's window blinds, John created headers for nearly every window that cleverly conceal the blinds when they are pulled up. An almost invisible brass knob on the left side of each header controls the angle of the blinds.On the second floor, from two windows fore and aft, the dormer roof line was extended the width of the house and now features six windows on each side.On the rear of the house, the small open porch - really a sheltered stoop - was also extended the width of the house and screens were added. An open air porch was built on top, accessed by sliding glass doors on the second floor.The Lattizoris have decorated the downstairs rear porch with natural wicker furniture plumped with tropic print cushions and pillows.

The house was insulated and sheathed with new siding. New gutters and downspouts were added.Under the new front porch roof, John curved the varnished natural wood beadboard to subtly suggest the hull of a sailing vessel. Upon entering the Lattizori house, one of the first eye-catching details were the treads on the wooden staircase - they were painted a nautical blue. Nearly the same shade as the front door. The bold blue color turns up in several rooms in the house, sometimes accompanied by a vivid shade of red.Turning around, we ogled the line of six glistening fishing rods and reels displayed in a stand next to the door. Seven more are clustered on the opposite side of the door in another stand. A collection of lacrosse sticks are placed in a blue earthenware pot next to the staircase.The walls in this room, and throughout the house, displayed framed prints by Nancy Hammond and several other local artists.Stretched across a cross beam between the living room and dining area, John has hung a reproduction of an airplane propeller.