New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
STILL NEED TO EAT
NEW HAVEN — Two businesses brought together by social media and a third located around the corner are bringing life to
Court and Orange streets as more restaurants are added to the city’s repertoire. Edible Couture and Vegan Ahava, which began as food trucks, are co-located at 129 Court St., while Crafted by Hand is at 167 Orange St.
Tisha Hudson, the baker and owner of Edible Couture, said she was put in contact with Proeyah Benton of Vegan Ahava after Benton advertised on Facebook to share a space to prepare and store food for her popular food truck parked at College and Elm streets in the heart of Yale University. “We just gelled. Who would think two strangers would come together to open up a business. In the two months that I have known her, she is like family,” Hudson said as the businesses were welcomed to the neighborhood. “I always loved to cook,” Benton said, and was
really doing well at festivals, events and catering for three years. She opened the food truck, aka “the Green Machine,” a year ago November and had a following until the pandemic shut it down for months.
As soon as she reopened, however, Benton said business has been booming at the truck and now at her space on Court Street. She was doing everything herself, but recently brought on Ahniyah Napper to help handle the crush.
The truck operates from 12 to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; the Court Street site opens Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.
Hudson, 46, who had a successful catering business, started running her truck out of Bridgeport three years ago and now wanted to expand her presence into New Haven. She said it was the right move.
“The feedback has been great from the community — just the outpouring of love and support from our neighbors,” Hudson said,
She sells a large variety of cupcakes, including some that are vegan; the top sellers are the strawberry shortcake and banana pudding.
Hudson said she worked as an accountant at different firms, but baking is her true passion. She said since she was a kid, she imaged being an entrepreneur with her own business.
“I’d save up my money and buy Entrepreneur Magazine,” Hudson said when she was 12 years old. “I always knew. I was miserable working for other people. I knew it wasn’t me.”
Benton and her fiancee, Carl “Ed” Plummer, who bought the stripped-down truck and he outfitted it himself with a kitchen powered by a generator; the immigrant couple starting the business from scratch.
Benton grew up in Dimona, Israel, where her parents had immigrated as members of a Black Hebrew Israelite community. It is where she learned all her recipes from the master chefs and home cooks at the vegan-centered village where she drew up.
Her mother continues to share recipes and give her advice from Israel, while the name, Ahava, which means love in Hebrew, is another connection to her family. Plummer is from Jamaica and has worked here as a mechanic, currently at C + C Quality Diagnostics Electronic Center in Hamden. Outside of that, he has orders from three people already and was nailing down another lead at the ribboncutting to outfit trucks for a food business. He is as one-man operation, doing all the electrical, plumbing and carpentry work.
Benton said she is happy to have added another vegan option in New Haven and said her nonvegan customers have given her positive feedback on a number of her recipes, such as the Jackson Five, which includes Mac and Cheese, sweet potatoes, barbecue seitan, kale and cornbread. The Chef Po Style Philly Cheese Steak is another favorite.
Benton is grateful for the training and help she received from ConnCAT, Collab New Haven and City Seed, in addition to startup funds.
Benton and Hudson will have their one-month anniversary on Court Street on Sunday, while Crafted by Hand has been open since July.
Chris Bateman, the chef and owner of Crafted by Hand, has a long history in the restaurant business. This is his first time opening his own business, where he is also easing into expanding catering options.
He was always part of large restaurant operations, and while owning his own business has its own unique stresses, Batemen said he likes the “tradeoff to do my own thing. It is 100 percent all me.” He is open weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. on the weekends.
New Haven has been called a “restaurant mecca” with a large variety of restaurants. Bateman said he is not afraid of the competition.
“Everyone brings something different to the table,” he said. In addition to his regular menu, as a caterer he has a specialty menu where he can meet customers’ needs.
His menu offers all-day breakfast, salads and specialty sandwiches such as short rib grilled cheese, corned beef hash dip and chicken cutlet with marinated eggplant, cherry peppers and pesto mayo, among others. There are also tacos and quesadillas.
Bateman was the sous chef for the Pierre Hotel from 2000-03 in New York City and chef de cuisine for the Four Seasons Resort in Maui from 200306.
In 2006 he joined the