If you take a walk down Dixwell Avenue, you’ll find Dope N Delicious, a hole-in-the-wall spot with dark-tinted windows and an unassuming exterior. But it’s the giant sign reading “Dope N Delicious: Discover a new level of taste” that draws us in. Motivational quotes from Tiger Woods and Lebron James only add to the discordant, grungy charm of the two-table dining room. The front-of-house here is more waiting room than dining area, with a giant flatscreen showing a YouTube playlist of deafeningly loud Meek Mill music videos. Gleaming gold coasters sit at each table and a giant menu QR code is taped high in front of a window to the kitchen where you place your order. Dope N Delicious is known for its “Steak N Cheese Eggrolls,” which we learn are already sold out. Instead, we get a chopped cheese sandwich and an order of chicken over rice, “Gramps Meal” style.
Peering into the window reveals an organized kitchen full of cooks juggling hotel pans and sheet trays. A cook grabs a shiny steel wok and gets it preheating for our order. We sit down in front of a giant TV at a table with chairs a bit too short to comfortably sit in.. Several groups come in, place an order, and walk out, presumably to wait elsewhere. They all know their order; no need to scan a code.
The kitchen passes our food through their window. With the order clad in clamshell foam and white plastic bag, it’s hard not to feel like we’re being ushered out of the space. No matter. Standing at the table we dig into the chopped cheese. The chopped cheese is a bodega staple, a hamburger patty smashed flat on a griddle before being diced up with cheese until it forms a greasy, homogeneous combination and lands on a bun with griddled peppers, onions, lettuce, and tomato. Dope N Delicious takes it to another level, letting the chopped burger bits cook until they are encased in a deeply caramelized, crispy crust. With all the obsession over smash-burgers in the culinary zeitgeist, the chopped cheese is a wonderful balance of crispy-cheesy-meaty while rejecting the form of a burger.
A car pulls up outside and the cooks spring into action, carrying out large aluminum catering boxes full of steaming food and packing them into the trunk. Afterwards, the kitchen seems to take a collective breath and we turn towards our “Gramps Meal.” On the menu, the description for the “Gramps Meal” lists every sauce imaginable: lemon pepper, BBQ, honey BBQ, cajun, “buffal,” and more. The “Gramps Meal” is true to its description. The rice is cooked with a little bit of every sauce, producing an impossible flavor that is both comforting and off-putting. The chicken is crispy, and the plate is accompanied by a large purple edible flower.
The “Gramps Meal” is in many ways representative of Dope N Delicious, sometimes unusual, but still hearty, flavorful, and beloved by the surrounding community. At its heart, it is a neighborhood gathering place with no shortage of food that tastes like a home-cooked meal.
Dope N Delicious is located at 300 Dixwell Ave, New Haven CT.
Hours: 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday. 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday. 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.
Recommended Dishes: Chopped Cheese Sandwich, Gramps Meal, Steak N Cheese Egg rolls. $15-20 per person.
