Westport has a new Italian food restaurant, Pane Bene, co-owned by Angelo Capponi and Henry Lopez. The restaurant at 1620 Post Road Road East specializes in seafood and pasta. Capponi said the restaurant “allows people in Westport to stay in Westport and not need to go to Fairfield to dine out.” A resident of Fairfield, Capponi said he emigrated from Italy 23 years ago. Stamford-based Lopez said he relocated from Guatemala to the United States 18 years ago. “It’s the American dream for us,” said Capponi. The space was formerly occupied by Pho Garden, a Vietnamese restaurant which opened in the summer 2010 and closed in March. (See WestportNow March 7, 2011) (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

By James Lomuscio

When Bob LeRose hears about the Westport Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission’s plans to reinvigorate the downtown, making it a vibrant nightspot that can hold its own with Fairfield and South Norwalk, he usually rolls his eyes.
Bob LeRose shows off the rooftop beer garden at his Bobby Q’s restaurant on Westport’s Main Street. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

“We as individual businesses have the first responsibility to make our businesses interesting enough for people to come downtown,” he says. “Now if the P&Z wants to clear the way for a movie theater and other interesting things, great, we’ll take it.”

A P&Z downtown subcommittee has been meeting over the past month to explore ways the commission can be more business friendly in terms of regulations, as well as recommending things that are outside the P&Z’s purview such as street scape and signage.

Still, LeRose, owner of Bobby Q’s on Main Street for the past seven years, says the onus is on the business person. And he feels he’s taken an important first step—the opening a few weeks ago of Bobby Q’s al fresco, rooftop beer garden.

By James Lomuscio

Talk about going green. Plans are afoot to transform a shuttered Westport car dealership into an upscale outdoor center replete with a greenhouse, an array of outdoor furniture, furnishings, plant showrooms, cafe, and myriad products for the organic gardener.
The first Terrain store has been open near Philadelphia since 2008. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Shopterrain.com photo

Urban Outfitters is eyeing the shuttered Curran Cadillac property at 561 Post Road East for its second Terrain store nationally. And Thursday night, attorneys for the company are scheduled to go before the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) for a pre-application.

The plan submitted by Jennifer M. Porter of the New York law firm Gibbons P.C., calls for stripping the auto showroom down to its beams and razing a two-story, dilapidated house on the corner of Post Road East and Crescent Road to garner more parking.

According to the proposal, the new buildings will total 17,108 square feet, less than the current 21,566. Curran Cadillac closed in February 2009 after 40 years in the location. (See WestportNow Feb. 27, 2009)

UPDATE The space at 374 Post Road East, Westport, in the Compo Acres Shopping Center most recently occupied by children’s clothing store Lollipop Guild—which has moved several doors down to combine with Winged Monkey at 384 Post Road East—will house Leftover Luxuries, a consignment shop—at least for the period of June 17-26, according to its website. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com