Eugene Chun fell in love with cooking, and especially casual food, as a college student pursuing an economics degree at Holy Cross.
A 2007 Wilton High School graduate who’d spent plenty of his childhood in New Canaan, since his parents owned the still-operating Sanda’s Cleaners over on East Avenue, Chun took his bachelor’s degree in May 2011 and enrolled at the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan six months later.
Eugene Chun, owner of CT Sandwich Co. on Pine Street in New Canaan. Credit: Michael Dinan
“I did it because I really wanted to learn the French system, because the French system is what most restaurants use, whether they’re a Mexican place or a French bistro,” Chun said on a recent afternoon from a stool overlooking Pine Street at Connecticut Sandwich Co., the eatery he opened in October.
“They use a similar system in how each person works at a station, how it’s organized and how you work. Iwanted to somehow create a casual food scene, a casual sandwich shop that still fits into the system, where it could still be executed the same way.”
He did.
CT Sandwich Co. on Pine Street opened in late October 2013. It does a brisk business for families, teens and professionals in New Canaan. Credit: Michael Dinan
A popular breakfast and lunch destination for kid, families and high schoolers, Connecticut Sandwich Co. offers traditional sandwich fare with a sophisticated twist (as well as hugely popular organic juices).
For Chun, the restaurant—which he owns with his whole family and operates largely himself with a friendly staff in front—is the realization of a vision that continues to come into focus.
After culinary school, Chun moved to Washington, D.C. and worked in a sandwich shop where all ingredients were fresh, with meats prepared on-site and finished products internationally influenced (each sandwich there was named after a different city of the world).
CT Sandwich Co. on Pine Street in New Canaan. Credit: Michael Dinan
“So that’s where I got ideas for this place and learned to push the boundaries for a sandwich, bring in international ingredients and bring it in and make it fit in a daily sandwich shop,” Chun said.
Asked about his vision for the restaurant, Chun said his priority is giving customers freshly prepared and freshly cooked ingredients—to have the ingredients shine.
As a business, Chun said, he’s learned a lot in seven or eight months about what New Canaanites want and like.
“Now we’re thinking about things other than sandwiches and stuff like that,” he said. “We’d like to bring in some trends from the city as soon as they hit there, and keep Connecticut up with the scene.”