Inside Yale's Harkness Tower

Harkness Tower is a masonry tower at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Part of the Collegiate Gothic Memorial Quadrangle complex completed in 1922, it is named for Charles William Harkness, brother of Yale's largest benefactor, Edward Harkness.

The tower was constructed between 1917 and 1921 as part of the Memorial Quadrangle donated to Yale by Anna M. Harkness in honor of her recently deceased son, Charles William Harkness, an 1883 Yale graduate. When the residential college system was inaugurated in 1933, the tower became part of Branford College.

Harkness Tower is 216 feet (66 m) tall, one foot for each year since Yale's founding at the time it was built. From a square base, it rises in stages to a double stone crown on an octagonal base, and at the top are stone finials. From the street level to the roof, there are 284 steps.

Probably the Best Pork Belly in New Haven

We spent our night at Barcelona Wine Bar to celebrate the 2023 graduation of a friend of mine from Yale School of Management. My favorite here is the pork belly, which reminds me of the best fried belly I had in Korea — yes, Korea has the best pork in my humble view!

We completed the dinner with the sweet, warm, and freshly baked oliver cake. I feel like I need to do some jogging tomorrow. I also learned about a new kind of drink tonight, Arnold Palmer.

What a memorable night in New Haven. I actually never saw so many people in New Haven in a restaurant. All the happy and smiling faces. Once again, congratulations to the Class of 2023!

Barcelona Wine Bar
155 Temple St, New Haven, CT 06510

The Best Bagel in New Haven

New York has its famous Ess-a-Bagel. New Haven has our very own Olmo bagels, voted by customers as the best in Connecticut.

I heard about the bagel shop for a while, which especially got its good reputation among Yale SOM students given its location very close to Yale School of Management — right around the corner of Trumbull and Whitney Ave.

Today I went to try on my own. Wow! I was immediately impressed by its diverse menu. I picked the Osaka-style Okonomiyaki bagel and it also allowed me to add an extra slice of ham — yes, I was hungry. It just tasted so good!

Olmo first opened for more formal and relatively high-end restaurant business in 2018 but the small dining room was not conducive to a global pandemic. The owners quickly pivoted the restaurant into a bagel shop knowing that New Haven, the Elm City, was a bagel desert. And the rest is just history, as people say.

Today the small bagel shop is often ranked by the press as the best bagel place in the Constitution State. And btw, in case unknown, Olmo means Elm Tree and New Haven is known as the Elm City of course.

Olmo Bagels
93 Whitney Ave, New Haven, CT 06510

A Museum Restaurant in New Haven

Have you thought about having a good meal inside a centuries-old museum full of art masterpieces? There’s one restaurant like that in New Haven, the college town for Yale.

Harvest Wine Bar of New Haven is a part of the British Art Centre and its architecture is in fact the last building designed by the internationally acclaimed American Architect Louis I. Kahn, of the 20th century design. The restaurant also has the large space that boasts a large open-air, stone outdoor dining room, surrounded by one of the museum’s greatest treasures.

Do you know the British Art Centre is also the first museum in America that agreed to have a restaurant as part of its facilities?

Food is delicious. I like New England-style mussels for starter or you can get the fresh-cooked broccoli sprouts in an artistic setting for plate. The bonus? Enjoy New Haven’s blue sky and don’t forget to pay a visit to another good museum, the Yale University Art Gallery after your good meal, and that is just right across the street.

Harvest Wine Bar & Restaurant
1104 Chapel St, New Haven, CT 06510

Tai Chi for Bubble Tea

Miss Taiwan bubble tea? New Haven has bubble too.

Taichi is an Asian fusion food restaurant est since 2015. Here you can choose Japanese ramen (beef, chicken, or shrimp) or go for healthy food, like Hawaii-style rice bowl — yes, it looks very colourful and every bowl is unique, pending on your own choices of ingredients, from seaweed, to pineapple, and to the most popular avocado of course.

The restaurant is also full of big and small panda. Want to bring one home? Ask the boss.

I first got to know Taichi when I went to Yale University Theatre for a Chinese drama based on Shanghai-Hong Kong author Eileen Chang’s famous novel, Red Rose and White Rose. Taichi was a sponsor for the students-led performance. Kudos to its efforts to support Yale Asian and Chinese students!

Tai Chi Bubble Tea
200 College St, New Haven, CT 06510