Who Knew: Taking the Eight Sandwich Challenge

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‘Who Knew?’ is sponsored by Walter Stewart’s Market. Once upon a time, men dressed like Cary Grant, and sandwiches were what people ate for lunch. From kindergarten classrooms to corporate boardrooms, one could observe people at midday consuming an ingeniously portable combination of ‘bread’ and ‘things.’ There was an order to life, and while I’m not suggesting that correlation is causation, it’s worth noting that, back when we all ate sandwiches, nobody wore Celtics jerseys on airplanes or flossed their teeth on the subway. 



Perhaps it’s a profusion of choice–granted, much of it positive and health-minded—that’s gotten us away from such norms. Kindergarteners, if Instagram is to be believed, now dine on elaborate bento boxes of hand-shelled edamame, hummus, and gluten-free, organic pretzels. Office folks can now Uber Eats an uninspired hexagonal tub from Sweetgreen, undertip the guy in the lobby, and sprint back to volley emails into oblivion. 

It’s also the sandwich’s fault, or at least the modern fast-casual incarnation of the sandwich’s fault, that our ardor for a handheld square of lunchtime bliss has cooled. Have you ever been to a Panera?

Business

Wide Brick Patio Areas Planned for Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee, Tony’s Deli 

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Two of New Canaan’s most popular downtown destinations stand to get increased pedestrian and seating areas out front, under a proposal that’s expected to come before the Planning & Zoning Commission this month. Under an application submitted by a Stamford-based engineering and land surveyor company, the wide area out front of Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee and Tony’s Deli would get brick paver patios similar to the one already installed outside the Pine Street Concessions food hall. “The new brick paved patio expansion is intended to match the existing patio both in material as well as the herringbone paving pattern,” Brian McMahon of Redniss & Mead said in an application filed on behalf of property owner New Canaan Lumber Co. “Due to grade changes between the existing and expanded patio areas, an extension of the granite site steps currently along the building frontage is proposed out to the public sidewalk along Pine Street. The new patio area will include granite border materials and railings that are intended to match existing conditions.”

P&Z is expected to take up the application at its Jan.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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An entity identifying itself as ‘New Canaan Merritt Apartments LLC’ has filed a lawsuit saying a town man has failed to pay rent on a Park Street unit while subletting it out. The defendant lives on Valley Road and he didn’t pay rent in March or April, then failed to clear out of the unit as instructed, according to a complaint filed April 29 in state Superior Court in Norwalk. According to the New England Real Estate Journal, a limited liability company more than three years ago purchased the 4-building, 34-unit Merritt Apartments in New Canaan. New Canaan Merritt Apartments LLC has dissolved, according to records on file with the Connecticut secretary of the state. ***

The Oak Street homeowner who had applied to the Planning & Zoning Commission for approval to rebuild the multi-family structure there has since pulled that application, Planning & Zoning Commission members said at their most recent meeting.

Around Town

New Canaan’s Top-10 Sandwiches

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There is an amazing ratio of sandwiches to people here in New Canaan. So amazing, that a couple of places (most notably the Best Würst and the Forest St. Deli) closed while we compiled this list. It’s important to note that this specific list was relegated to counter service restaurants or delis only. We are well aware of many of the amazing sandwiches that are served at traditional sit-down restaurants here in town.

Around Town

Eye Openers: New Canaan’s Best Breakfast Sandwiches

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It’s often a morning-after “cure-all” and other times simply a meal. Whatever the purpose, the breakfast sandwich has a firmly established niche in the culinary world. In New Canaan, the Deli-Bake is long-gone and we recently lost the Forest Street Deli’s legendary “Big O”. That said, we still have more than a half-dozen eateries featuring some form of breakfast sandwich on their menu. Here is a look at our five favorites:

Apple Cart Food Co. – The Mead Park Breakfast Wrap

With a menu featuring fresh salads, sandwiches and wraps, Emad Aziz’s Mead Park mainstay is a dining destination that transcends the average public park snack bar.