Angela Baldanza

New Canaan Restaurants: Summer Theatre Partnership Helped Business

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The owners of local restaurants that partnered with a theater group that performed in downtown New Canaan through July said the effect on business was largely positive. Angela Baldanza, co-owner of and chef at Baldanza Café, described the restaurant’s partnership with the Summer Theatre of New Canaan as “a very positive experience.” She said that many diners had come into the restaurant to take advantage of a special fixed-price menu, and that she “would do it again.” Asked whether the theater’s impact was noticeably different from previous years, when it had been located further away from the downtown area, Baldanza said “definitely.”

Previously located in Waveny, STONC on Sunday finished its final show on New Canaan Library’s property. The organization partnered this year with a number of local restaurants, which offered special deals for theatergoers.

Business

‘A Very Stressful and Exhausting Year’: Roger Sherman Remakes Itself with New Plans for Interior and Business

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The Roger Sherman Inn has been a landmark in New Canaan since its construction in the 18th Century. Following public debate over its planned sale and redevelopment in December of 2016—an effort that eventually stalled—the business’s owners have seen locals rally behind the restaurant and inn during the past 18 months. Now, owner Nes Jaffre said, she’s focused on breathing new life into the business, with a new and popular chef already hired and $160,000 in renovations planned for this year. “We’re changing all of this,” Jaffre told NewCanaanite.com on a recent morning from the inn’s dining room. “We’re changing the look of this nice, but old and tired antique inn.”

Plans include $160,000 in interior renovations.

Around Town

‘We Are Supporting Each Other’: New Canaan Merchants Keep Business in Town

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When walking down Elm Street on a sunny Saturday afternoon, it is more than likely that one will hear a couple visitors from New York City or beyond lament that New Canaan seems to be ripped from an episode of “Gilmore Girls.” Indeed, this town offers many of the same surface qualities as the fictional Star’s Hollow, with a beautiful downtown and quirky residents and business owners. The similarities go deeper, however; on the show, it is not uncommon to see Luke, the owner of the local diner, cross the street to buy supplies from Doosey’s Market. It’s a perfect illustration of local charm; these two small businesses support each other while also contributing to the integrity of the town. If it seems too good to be happening in real life, it’s not, and businesses right here in New Canaan are using the same model.

Government

Owner, Would-Be Developer of Roger Sherman at Odds Over Inn’s Future

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Though he has filed the necessary paperwork to appeal the Planning & Zoning Commission’s decision to deny a redevelopment plan for the Roger Sherman Inn, builder Andrew Glazer is in no position to do so, the property and business owner said. According to Nes Jaffre, Glazer had been contract purchaser of the property under an agreement that ended Feb. 28. “We do not have any contract with Andy and he has no business at all doing anything regarding this property,” she told NewCanaanite.com. “I am spending all my efforts and time building this business, and really this has got to stop.”

Meanwhile, Glazer in an Op-Ed published in NewCanaanite.com, conceded that he needs the Jaffres’ support to pursue an appeal in earnest.