New Owner of Gates on Plan for Restaurant: ‘Best of the Old and Best of the New’

The “new” Gates will offer classic and new American food, featuring a wood-fired oven and rotisserie as well as an open kitchen, with the overarching goal of restoring the iconic downtown restaurant to its place as the go-to family destination in New Canaan, the business’s new owner said.

Gates Restaurant in New Canaan on its last night of operation, April 26, 2015. Credit: Terry Dinan

The restaurant will undergo extensive interior renovation through this summer with an eye on opening in early September, though the “basic locations of everything in restaurant are going to remain the same—they’re just going to get updated,” said Jay Luther, a town resident since 2003.

“My objective is to keep it as Gates, it’s a great name—it has a lot of history and lot of awareness—and to contemporize the concept a bit,” Luther said. “Our objective is to create a cool environment that is very welcoming and that is contemporary—the best of the old and best of the new.”

Croissants with strawberry butter at Gates Restaurant in New Canaan on the final day of operation, April 26, 2015. Credit: Terry Dinan

Scores of current and former New Canaanites were reeling with the news last week that Gates, a Forest Street fixture since 1979, had been sold and would close. Owners Billy Auer and Jeb Swift thanked the community for its support as they moved toward their own retirement, and the Gates bar and restaurant were packed on a final night this past Sunday.

Luther, a father of three who has had to travel extensively in his job and sees the Gates refresh, in part, as a chance to be around his family more, was among the crowd at the restaurant that final night.

The Balzano family at Gates Restaurant in New Canaan on the final day of operation, April 26, 2015. Credit: Terry Dinan

“I was there Sunday night with family and my 10-year-old daughter saw someone leaving in tears and she goes, ‘What are you doing to these people?’—and I felt bad but I know our intentions,” Luther said.

“I don’t think that people are going to be unhappy with the change. I know whenever there is change, people get concerned but if anything we are going to try to—not improve the experience, but work on it and tweak it a bit so that it’s a bit more relevant to what is going on today.”

He added: “I have been traveling a lot and not around the family, and this gives me an opportunity to be closer. My kids are in school and with this I will just get to be more with them as they grow up.”

The Main Street entrance to Gates Restaurant in New Canaan on its last night of operation, April 26, 2015. Credit: Terry Dinan

Luther is a partner in a group of highly touted, food-focused Irish pubs—11 locations in the United States and one in Dublin—though the renewed Gates will not follow the Irish pub theme, he said.

It’s too early in the capital work to say just what the “theme” of the restaurant will be, if any, though Luther said the bar and restaurant areas visually will be integrated more than they are now, with a stage in the bar area for live music on Saturday nights.

Part of the interior renovation and demolition work will involve exposing some brick that’s covered up now, Luther said, and plans include featuring local artists’ work on the walls of the bar and restaurant when Gates reopens.

The Last Supper at Gates Restaurant in New Canaan on its last night of operation, April 26, 2015. Credit: Terry Dinan.

In many ways, Luther’s experience of Gates is like many locals’—he has known Auer and Swift for a couple of years as a customer, and his office used to be located above the New Canaan Diner on Forest. A few years ago, he had mentioned the prospect of buying the business from the owners.

“Gates has had a long history,” Luther said. “I used to go in the early ‘80s when I was in college—I’m dating myself—but in the summer, you couldn’t move you know, and it is great institution in town and my objective is to keep it that way and have people be proud of it as a part of the community.”

Part of what’s challenging in launching a new eatery in a restaurant is meeting the goal of truly becoming part of the community where the restaurant is located, he said.

Gates Restaurant in New Canaan on its last night of operation, April 26, 2015. Credit: Terry Dinan

“That is hard when you have locations around the country and you really need to learn about the people in each community and how they are different and what they like, and our objective was to build institutions in each market that people were proud of, professionally run businesses that if a friend came to town you’d want to show them and bring them to this location,” Luther said. “And that’s our same objective here. I know the community. I’ve been around for 12 years and some of my partners have been around longer. We are all about making Gates a longstanding part o the community.”