Business

‘An Exciting Time of Year’: New Canaan’s Outdoor Dining Season Opens Thursday

By |

The sidewalks of downtown New Canaan will be remade by midday Thursday as the outdoor dining launches on what is forecast to be a sunny afternoon in the upper-60s. Pushed back one month this year to May 1, the launch of the outdoor dining season is a widely anticipated amenity for restaurateurs and visitors to New Canaan’s lively village center. Adam Zakka, principal of Z Hospitality Group—owners of Solé and Blackbird and new food-and-beverage providers for The Playhouse Pub next door—said he was “super-optimistic” about the upcoming season. 

“It was a little bit of a colder winter than usual, so we’re pretty happy to see the warmer weather coming,” Zakka told NewCanaanite.com. “And I think the town embraces local businesses so it’s an exciting time of the year.”

This year’s outdoor dining will be bolstered by the addition of more sidewalk “bumpouts” on Elm Street, including in front of Dunkin, The Playhouse and Dolce. (Because they’ll exempt the town from a state law that forbids parking within 25 feet of a crosswalk, the bumpouts will allow New Canaan to gain back a handful of parking spaces on the south side of Elm Street’s one-way stretch.)

Asked about the new menu at Playhouse Pub, Zakka said “there will be some unique options for The Playhouse, exclusively, that will fit their concept as far as pub food.” Those include “five or seven revolving items that will be more ‘pubbish’ than Italian,” he added.

Business

‘Sportova’ Planned for Former CT Muffin Space on Main Street

By |

A designer and provider of luxury home and commercial gym equipment and is on track to take over the former Connecticut Muffin space downtown, records show. Sportova, which grew out of a predecessor Boston-based home furniture and decor company, is seeking site plan approval at 108 Main St. from the Planning & Zoning Commission. The space has been vacant since Connecticut Muffin closed in December following decades in business. The retail use is allowed under the New Canaan Zoning Regulations—with site plan approval—“and appears similar to other showroom type retail stores the Commission has recently approved within the Retail A Zone,” Town Planner Sarah Carey wrote in her memo to P&Z ahead of its meeting Tuesday night. 

Referring to what is known locally as “the Raymond Building,” she continued: “The applicant is also seeking approval to remove the metal bars currently placed over the building’s second floor windows and would like to paint the newly exposed bricks black.

Business

‘A Part of the Town’: ‘Flour Water Salt Bread’ Opens on East Avenue

By |

The newest business in town, a hugely popular area bakery, opened Thursday. Flour Water Salt Bread, located at 53 East Ave. (next to La Pescaderia), is a fully sourdough American interpretation of a traditional French boulangerie, offering sourdough breads, croissants, bagels, pastries, English muffins and more. The cozy, brightly lit space was hopping with new customers as well as those who’d already discovered the business and baker/owner Robert VanKeuren, who opened his first location in Darien seven years ago. “It’s going great,” VanKeuren told NewCanaanite.com from behind the counter on his first day in business here.

Business

French Café ‘Saisons Sucrées’ Coming to Main Street

By |

A new café is set to open in the heart of downtown New Canaan. Saisons Sucrées, or “Sweet Seasons”—a “pâtisserie and café serving refined and innovative French sweet and savory pastries, bread, sandwiches, chocolates, coffee, and tea—is to open this spring at 84 Main St. The commercial space most recently was an art gallery. “With attentive service in our elegant café setting we aim to give you an experience that feels luxurious and authentically Parisian,” according to the Saisons Sucrées website (here on Instagram and Facebook). It continues: “We are passionate about serving you products made from the highest quality ingredients, including imported French flour and butter, and using the freshest local in-season produce to bring out the brightest flavors.”

The café will soft-open April 21, a company representative said.

Business

‘Crafty Kids’ Planned for Former ‘Against the Grain’ Space on Main Street

By |

Another vacant commercial space on Main Street is in line to get a new tenant. 

Weeks after Carpet Trends announced that it was moving into the former Garelick & Herbs building, a Westport-based company that provides hands-on craft space for kids is looking to open a New Canaan location just a few doors away. Established two years ago, Crafty Kids seeks to “provide a fun space for children to grow their creative and social confidence through process art, hands-on DIY crafts and sensory play” in a “creative, fun and nurturing environment,” according to the company’s website. It’s seeking to open a location in the former Against the Grain space at 91 Main St. (also known to locals as the old Varnum’s Pharmacy location). According to a letter filed with the town as part of an application for site plan approval from the Planning & Zoning Commission, Crafty Kids “is an art business with retail and art studio components that provide a creative and interactive environment for children and adults.”

“We believe Crafty Kids shares many of the same positive attributes of other ‘personal service establishments’ that occupy space on the first floor in New Canaan’s Retail A Zone,” according to the letter, filed by Brock Saxe of Compass.