Business

FIRST LOOK: Remodeled Cava Restaurant To Reopen Thursday on Forest Street [PHOTOS]

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One of New Canaan’s most popular restaurants is scheduled to reopen this week after more than one year. Closed for a major remodeling following an upper-story fire in its building last September, Cava Wine Bar & Restaurant will be open for dinner starting Thursday and will open for lunch soon after, said Nube Siguenza, executive chef and owner. “I am so excited,” she told NewCanaanite.com. The newly renovated space at 2 Forest St. now includes a bigger bar, private room and wood-fired grill.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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A large-breed Japanese dog stopped traffic last Wednesday afternoon on Carter Street after getting off his property and making his way to East School. It happened around midday on Jan. 4, when the Animal Control section of the New Canaan Police Department was called to Little Brook Road on a report of a roaming brown dog. The Akita made his way up Clapboard Ridge Road toward Carter, and was spotted trotting down the middle of the street, police said. He wanted nothing to do with an Animal Control officer wielding a snare, so he trotted happily back to his home.

Business

‘Cava’ Italian Restaurant on Forest Street To Reopen Next Spring after Major Remodeling

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Closed for more than three months following an upper-story fire in the downtown New Canaan building that it occupies, Cava Wine Bar & Restaurant is on track for a spring 2017 reopening, officials said. The popular Italian eatery, for 11 years an anchor of New Canaan’s “Restaurant Row” on Forest Street, is undergoing extensive interior demolition now as part of a comprehensive remodeling, according to Executive Chef/Owner Nube Siguenza. She described the planned renovated space as “warm” and “cozy.”

“I want our customers to feel as though they’re coming into their own house,” Siguenza told NewCanaanite.com. “We are going to change the whole restaurant.”

It will continue to create its signature Italian dishes, though the menu also will see some updates, she said. Its brick oven will remain, she said.

News

PHOTOS: Fire at Main Street Commercial Building on Monday Night

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New Canaan firefighters on Monday night put out a blaze that had broken out in the third story of a commercial building at the corner of on Main Street and East Avenue, prompting emergency responders to close the area to motor vehicle traffic. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the fire at 96 Main St., though it appeared to have started in the attic of the prominent downtown building, according to Fire Chief Jack Hennessey. “Sprinklers assisted with putting out the fire,” Hennessey told NewCanaanite.com. “The sprinklers saved the day. It could have been a very, very serious fire.

Business

New Canaan Restaurants Prep for Al Fresco Dining Season

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Despite rainy days forecast for the week ahead, New Canaan received true, prolonged tastes of spring with picture-perfect weather the past two weekends. With Spring at long last arrived in earnest, local restaurateurs such as Henry Rosenbaum of Boulevard 18 began preparation for the resulting demand for outdoor dining. “We are thrilled,” Rosenbaum said on a recent evening at Boulevard 18, also a top-5 most romantic New Canaan restaurants selection. “We had people out on Friday and Saturday night on the patio, which was the sign for spring.”

In addition to the idyllic al fresco dining on Main Street at Boulevard 18, New Canaan’s “Restaurant Row” has several options, including Cava, Tequila Mockingbird and the soon-to-be-reopened Farmer’s Table where chef Robert Ubaldo and partner Lucia Leone are working nonstop to get the former Bistro Bonne Nuit space ready for business. NewCanaanite.com received an impromptu peek at the new Farmer’s Table space, which will feature an open kitchen and rustic design in addition to the sidewalk patio.