Business

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

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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.

Around Town

‘Something Small Can Create Something Bigger’: New Canaan Duo Launches Food Waste Recovery Program

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Mariana Ferreria, a recent New Canaan High School graduate who earned a bachelor’s degree this year from Boston College, had been looking last winter for “a side passion project” before going to Spain later this summer as a Fullbright scholar. Ferreira approached Robin Bates Mason of Planet New Canaan, who connected her with 2022 NCHS graduate izzy Kaufman. Kaufman had already launched a composting program at Greenology, where she worked. “I had Izzy explain what she did at Greenology and I was like, ‘That’s crazy because I was thinking of doing the exact same thing for other restaurants in town,’ ” Ferreira recalled. “So we decided it was perfect partnership and from there we started designing what ‘NC FWRD’ is now.”
Short for “New Canaan Food Waste Recovery & Diversion,” NC FWRD is pilot program designed to fully fund and support restaurants that are interested in diverting their food waste.

Business

Local Businesses and COVID-19: Rosie

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For today’s Q&A with a local business owner navigating the COVID-19 emergency and safety-related restrictions, we hear from Rose Bonura of Rosie, the popular eatery on Elm Street that’s doing a brisk business in dinner pickups. Here’s our exchange. 

How are you all doing there? We are hanging in with curbside delivery and everyone is healthy, thank God. We are taking temperatures when people [staff] walk in, and everybody has to wash their hands. And so far, everybody is good.