Business

SNEAK PEEK: ‘Waffle Cabin’ To Open Saturday at Pine Street Concessions

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A widely anticipated new dessert option is coming to New Canaan, as Waffle Cabin is slated to open this weekend at Pine Street Concessions. 

The hot Belgian sugar waffle shop, already known to scores of New Canaanites from the annual Holiday Stroll and area ski mountains, launches at 12 p.m. Saturday with its new counter at the Pine Street food hall. 

“I am so excited,” owner Corey Londoner said. “This has been a long time coming. It is a little surreal that it is finally here and I can’t wait to share these waffles with everyone.”

News that Waffle Cabin would set up a permanent location here created plenty of buzz when Londoner announced her plans in December. With the custom-built counter in place, Waffle Cabin rounds out the offerings at Pine Street Concessions, which also features the wood-fired favorite ‘Dante’s Pizza,’ ’Miyuki,’ an Asian noodle shop with an assortment of snacks and ‘Greens On The Go,’ a California-inspired eatery featuring fresh salads, nutrient-rich grain bowls and artisanal toasts. Set against the parking lot-facing eastern window-wall of the space, Waffle Cabin’s attractive wooden counter helps square off the Concessions’ interior without taking away from its roomy feel, clear outdoor views or ample seating. 

Parts of the Waffle Cabin setup are not yet in place, such as its menu board, signs and all-important waffle irons, which arrive Thursday, Londoner said. 

Even so, a sign spotlighting several flavors of SoCo Creamery handcrafted ice creams (chocolate chip, vanilla, mint chip, coffee, dirty chocolate, cinnamon, cookies ’n cream and salted caramel) as well as sorbets (raspberry and mango) could be seen behind the counter. 

“The new counter came out amazing and it fits into Pine Street Concessions perfectly,” Londoner said. “There have been a bunch of hiccups with it but in the end it was worth all the effort.”

Londoner already has joined the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, whose executive director, Tucker Murphy, said she’s looking forward to this weekend.

Business

‘The Best Things That Anyone Could Ever Taste’: Waffle Cabin Coming To Pine Street 

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Corey Londoner had no idea when she started looking one year ago for a place to open a hot Belgian sugar waffle shop that a dream location awaited just one town away, on Pine Street in New Canaan. The Ridgefield resident had already owned one successful franchise business (a cycling studio) and, after tasting Waffle Cabin’s Liege waffles with pearl sugar on ski trips with her young family, she decided to open one herself. Two months ago, the day after a prospective location in Ridgefield fell through, Londoner heard about the available space at Pine Street Concessions in New Canaan. 

She knew immediately it was the right spot. 

“I can’t be more excited,” the mom of two told NewCanaanite.com. “It really just fell into place so perfectly. It seemed to be meant to be.”

In New Canaan, Londoner also has a leg up in that locals for the past several years have tasted Waffle Cabin waffles during the Holiday Stroll, at a pop-up space in front of the Playhouse.

Business

Chocolate Truffles, Baked Goods, Candy and More: ‘The Carbon Chocolate Workshop’ To Open Thursday on Pine Street

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Drew Salko’s lifelong love for cooking really started paying off when he went to college. Studying finance at Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Southport native began baking and serving ice cream for friends stressed about homework and finals, even brewing his own wine and beer. As a senior, he started making chocolate. “I just got a small chocolate grinder for my apartment and began making different single-origin chocolate and figuring out which cacao beans I liked, from Madagascar or Venezuela,” Salko recalled on a recent afternoon. On Thursday, Salko will open The Carbon Chocolate Workshop on Pine Street at Pine Street Concessions—the first time his fledgling enterprise, launched 18 months ago, will have a permanent location.

Business

Wood-Fired Pizza Place, Japanese Noodle Shop, Fresh Salads and More: Pine Street Concessions Opens Wednesday

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Miyuki and Dante Mirafiore, Culinary Institute of America-trained chefs who have been married three years, long have dreamed of opening up their own eateries. They’ve worked in kitchens in New York City, Connecticut and California, including a recent stint at Alice Waters’ landmark Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Some months ago, the Mirafiores received a call about a place they’d never heard of—New Canaan—and a unique model for delivering high-quality food that they’d never considered. “I love that it’s not a restaurant,” Dante Mirafiore said as he stood at the counter in front of his wood-fired pizza oven at Pine Street Concessions, grating Scamorza—an Italian cow’s milk cheese—into a bowl for his special New York-style pie. “It’s what you want to make it as a customer.

Business

‘We Found Great Chefs’: Noodle Shop, Wood-Fired Italian Food Provider and California-Inspired Organic Eatery To Open at ‘Pine Street Concessions’ This Spring

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Three eateries are slated to open this spring in the newly built gourmet food hall that’s taken shape on Pine Street over the past year, officials say. Featuring a brick-paved curbside plaza out front and communal seating inside, the widely anticipated Pine Street Concessions will serve as a showcase for three artisanal chefs—each with his or her own retail counter space and kitchen—serving classic wood-fired oven pizza and Italian foods, noodles and Asian street food snacks, and California-inspired fresh salads, grain bowls and other organic fare, according to owner Peter Lane of NCLC. Lane said he’s been deliberate in searching for the right businesses to open at 75 Pine St., offering foods that are unique in New Canaan, organic and locally sourced when possible and will appeal to families with young kids as well as adults seeking a casual spot to dine out (beer and wine will be available). “We feel great that we found great chefs,” he said Tuesday morning from the spacious floor inside the steel-framed structure, naturally lit with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the street and a 20-space parking lot. When Pine Street Concessions opens, the plaza out front will be all-pedestrian, closed within planters and bollards as per the Planning & Zoning Commission’s approval two years ago and featuring picnic tables for diners.