PHOTOS: South Avenue Butcher Opens in Downtown New Canaan

After many months of planning and a full renovation, the widely anticipated South Avenue Butcher shop has opened for business in downtown New Canaan. Brainchild of three Ireland-born friends who now reside in Darien, the new shop features a wide selection of beef, pork and veal cuts, as well as sweet and hot Italian sausages, bratwurst and bacon-and-cheddar sausage. “We’ve felt warmly welcomed in New Canaan and we’re very excited to open and start serving this community,” Alan Griffin, who opened the shop with friends Dermot Flynn and James Farrell, told NewCanaanite.com from the cozy space at 17 South Ave. on Monday afternoon. The trio developed the concept of South Avenue Butcher during a nostalgic chat at a bar—asked which bar, Flynn said with a smile, “We tend to float around”—and what they created is a direct nod to a shared farming heritage of rural hometowns in the south of Ireland.