Business

‘India’ Restaurant on Main Street Closes

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Just over 18 months after opening, India restaurant on Main Street has closed, its owner said. Chef Prasad Chirnomula said he’s closing the downtown eatery which since April 2016 has served classic Indian cuisine and signature dishes, as well as five other locations due in part to “longer structural income versus debt issues.” He added that the restaurant itself did not fare well enough to support the considerable costs of operating it. “I love the town, I love the people there but if you can look at Main Street alone the whole street looks empty, everything is for lease,”Chirnomula said. “And I think I have been in New Canaan and I have seen the peak and Main Street was nice and busy—parking was always an issue, but I think right now almost no businesses are open on Main Street. There are not enough diners.

Around Town

‘One of My Best Ventures Yet’: Chef Prasad Returns With ‘India’

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Since the closing of Thali last November, Chef Prasad Chirnomula has fielded the same question from loyal fans countless times…“When will you be back?”

The answer to that question can finally be announced with certainty. Following a six-week renovation of the space at 62 Main Street that formerly housed Boulevard 18—right down the street from his old restaurant—Chirnomula is ready to open the doors of his newest venture ‘India’ on Monday, April 4. “I’m super-excited,” Chirnomula told NewCanaanite.com at a special preview party for the restaurant on Sunday. “I love New Canaan. I’ve been here so long and everybody’s knocking on the door, asking ‘when are you opening?’ We did a good job—in six weeks we turned the place around.

Government

New Loading Zone on Main Street To Revert To Regular Parking After Post Office Moves

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Town officials say they’re viewing the creation of a new loading zone on Main Street as temporary, after a commercial property owner there voiced concerns that it could exacerbate a sight line problem. No one disagrees that there’s a need for more loading zones in the area of Main Street at East Avenue, especially now with Gates reopened (there are alsso two new businesses, a pet supplies shop and healthy food store, coming to Forest Street). Truck drivers have habitually (as well as illegally, and dangerously) parked at the very top of East Avenue when making deliveries—a problem that town officials are addressing. But a proposed new loading zone in front of the former Thali restaurant building at 87 Main St. (now for sale, and the restaurant’s owner is opening up a new place, ‘India,’ up the street) could make it even more difficult for motorists pulling out of the alley by the old Varnum’s, according to the commercial property’s owner.

Business

Former Thali Owner To Open ‘India’ Restaurant on Main Street

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Just one day after news broke that Boulevard 18 had closed, the owner of a longtime New Canaan restaurant that shuttered temporarily in November said he will re-open in the space with a new name, brand and menu. Chef Prasad Chirnomula, known to locals for his successful restaurant Thali just down the road, said he will open ‘India’ at 62 Main St. toward the end of March or early April. “I couldn’t be more excited,” Chirnomula told NewCanaanite.com. The new restaurant will feature small plates of “different kinds of Indian food” including many locally sourced, according to Chirnomula.

Around Town

New Loading Zone Planned for Main Street by Former Thali Restaurant Space

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Saying the area directly in front of the former Thali Restaurant on Main Street is the only suitable place for delivery drivers to park their trucks while serving downtown New Canaan businesses, officials plan to install a new loading zone there. The 7 to 11 a.m. loading zone would be coupled with the one directly across Main Street in front of the Post Office, according to Police Capt. John DiFederico. “I was hoping to get onto Forest in the first spot, but Forest Street is so narrow now, plus that first spot has a handicapped space so we would have to have a handicapped spot and it’s just not a suitable place,” DiFederico told members of the Police Commission at their Dec. 15 meeting. The new loading zone comes on the heels of a plan to install “No Parking” signs down the first stretch of East Avenue coming off of Main Street—an area where truckers are accustomed to parking, though it creates sightline and safety problems for motorists and pedestrians as well as concerns for business owners just there.