Business

Baldanza Café’s Future on Forest Street Unclear; Company Named in Suit

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A sign in a vacant storefront window on Forest Street promoting the return of a popular longtime restaurant has been removed. Officials said at last week’s Fire Commission meeting that inspectors found the signs that had been promoting Baldanza Café “opening soon” at 21 Forest St.—formerly Embody Fitness Gourmet—have been removed. “I am not sure that’s going to happen or not,” Fire Marshal Paul Payne said during the Commission’s Jan. 12 meeting, held via videoconference. “I will do my best to speak with Mr. Baldanza and find out what is going on there,” he said.

Business

Wide Brick Patio Areas Planned for Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee, Tony’s Deli 

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Two of New Canaan’s most popular downtown destinations stand to get increased pedestrian and seating areas out front, under a proposal that’s expected to come before the Planning & Zoning Commission this month. Under an application submitted by a Stamford-based engineering and land surveyor company, the wide area out front of Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee and Tony’s Deli would get brick paver patios similar to the one already installed outside the Pine Street Concessions food hall. “The new brick paved patio expansion is intended to match the existing patio both in material as well as the herringbone paving pattern,” Brian McMahon of Redniss & Mead said in an application filed on behalf of property owner New Canaan Lumber Co. “Due to grade changes between the existing and expanded patio areas, an extension of the granite site steps currently along the building frontage is proposed out to the public sidewalk along Pine Street. The new patio area will include granite border materials and railings that are intended to match existing conditions.”

P&Z is expected to take up the application at its Jan.

Business

‘The Artful Mix’ To Close Elm Street Store, Continue Selling Online

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The Artful Mix, a handcrafted gift shop in the heart downtown New Canaan, is to close its doors Jan. 15. The co-op model store at 134 Elm St. will continue to sell goods through its website, according to a sign posted in the window. Its owner, New Canaan resident Suzanne Nardi, said she looks forward to serving Artful Mix customers in new ways, not only through online sales but also through services such as staging and finding art for people’s homes.

Business

Health Director: New Canaan Woman’s COVID-19 Complaint About Local Restaurant Unfounded

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Municipal health officials said a New Canaan woman’s complaint last month that a restaurant downtown had been violating COVID-19-related rules was determined to be unfounded. According to a complaint that Tucker Murphy lodged with New Canaan’s highest elected official, the White Buffalo bar and restaurant  was “not following the Sector Rules” on the night of Friday, Dec. 11. Murphy phoned First Selectman Kevin Moynihan to say that the popular local business “was overcrowded,” according to email records obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request. 

Health Director Jenn Eielson referred to the complaint in emailing White Buffalo owner Dom Valente on Dec. 14.

Business

Manuela Ramirez Lash & Brow Design Opens Downtown

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Manuela Ramirez had been working in the beauty industry for four years when she opened her first brow and lash business. 

That was in 2017, three years before the onset of COVID-19, and the Mount Kisco, N.Y.-based location thrived. Despite the pandemic, when a hair stylist in New Canaan recently advised Ramirez that she should consider launching a location here in town because residents likely wouldn’t want to travel to Westchester County, the esthetician was open to the idea. “Nothing is going to last forever,” Ramirez told NewCanaanite.com on Sunday afternoon, hours before opening Manuela Ramirez Lash & Brow Design at 17 South Ave. 

“I feel like people need to understand that even though we are going through this crazy time, we can’t forget about doing things that make you feel good. You are still alive. The fact that you cannot see people and not be around family doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep doing things that make you feel good, things you used to do.”

Opened by Ramirez and her mother, Lina, the business is taking bookings online for a wide range of lash and brow services, such as lash tints, treatments and extension removals, and brow lamination, microblading and men’s grooming, as well as waxing, training and bundled packages.