Business

French Bakery and Café Planned for Burtis Avenue

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A new French bakery and café is planned for Burtis Avenue in New Canaan. La Parisienne is “coming soon” to 5 Burtis Ave., according to a sign in the window of the commercial space, the former home of Green & Tonic (now on Forest Street). It’s unclear when the business’s owners plan to open. They could not immediately be reached for comment. La Parisienne already has a location in Larchmont, N.Y. According to its website, the bakery sells sandwiches, salads, panini, breads, pastries, full-size cakes and tarts.

Business

New Coffee Shop Planned for Burtis Avenue

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A new coffee shop is planned for downtown New Canaan. The town Building Department on Jan. 19 received an application for about $40,000 of interior demolition work at 20 Burtis Ave. “Convert existing salon to a coffee shop,” the application said. “Interior walls and new finishes.

Business

‘We’re Excited To Be Here’: Best Pizza Shop Opens on Main Street

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John Parlatore and his young family were among the first wave of New Yorkers to make the move out of the city when COVID hit in March of 2020. 

“My sister lived up here for about four years and we’d come up and visit her all the time,” Parlatore said on a recent evening at Best Pizza Shop at 62 Main St. “We liked the area but never thought we’d move from the city. Our daughter was going to school and we had restaurants there. When the city said on Saturday by Monday we were closing, we just saw it as a preview of things to come of mismanagement and we were right.”
Parlatore—who owned several eateries in Queens—slowly shut down each establishment, including his Italian restaurant that had been operating since 2013 and a pizzeria that had opened in early 2020 with the intention of reopening in Fairfield County. 

Serendipity intervened for Parlatore when Vicolo’s closed after nearly three decades on Main Street, leaving New Canaan without a go-to destination for family birthday parties and postgame youth and high school sports celebrations. 
“We heard about what Vicolo’s was,” Parlatore told NewCanaanite.com. “I hadn’t been there but I heard that through the years that it was a gathering place for people and that families ate here.

Business

Tobacco Shop on South Avenue Closes After One Year

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A tobacco shop whose opening one year ago had stirred some opposition in New Canaan appears to have closed. The commercial space at 13 South Ave.—home of L&A Cigars and Tobacco since last January—is vacant, its cigar humidor sealed off and its shelves of ashtrays, cutters, lighters, humidor boxes, pipes, hookahs, chewing tobacco, cigarettes and vapes removed. It wasn’t clear why the store closed. Its owner could not immediately be reached for comment. The closing is not related to an apparent joint local and state police operation on Nov.

Business

After 10 Years on Pine Street, CT Sandwich Co. To Close This Weekend

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A popular, gourmet sandwich shop on Pine Street is set to close its doors after 10 years in business, according to its workers. CT Sandwich Co., which opened on Pine Street in October 2013 and established itself as a go-to favorite for many teens, families and professionals in New Canaan, will close after Saturday, its workers said. It wasn’t immediately clear why the eatery is closing, whether the business has been sold or whether the closing is temporary or permanent—its talented chef-owner, Eugene Chun, could not immediately be reached for comment. Best known for its Sweet & Spicy sandwich (roasted chicken, bacon, cheddar, blackberry jam with side of spicy mayo), green fresh-made juice (kale, green apple, pineapple, spinach, ginger) and banana pudding—a faithful recreation of the Magnolia Bakery classic—CT Sandwich Co. offered an affordable option at a great location, near the train station and Mead Park.