By James Lomuscio
Westport restaurateurs are cheering the Representative Town Meeting’s (RTM) approval Tuesday of an ordinance allowing restaurants to serve liquor two extra hours on Sundays before federal holidays.
The owner of Viva Zapata in Saugatuck said he was pleased with the extended hours on Sundays before federal holidays. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
In fact, Bob O’Mahony, owner of Viva Zapata in Saugatuck, said the legislative body gave restaurateurs more than they had originally asked for when he first approached RTM member Matthew Mandell with the proposal.
“We were talking to Matt, and we really weren’t asking for too much,” O’Mahony said. “Originally, we were asking for the Sunday before Memorial Day, Labor Day and the Fourth of July weekend. But at the RTM meeting two weeks ago, they said let’s do it for all federal holidays, and we got more than we bargained for.”
The approval, which would allow town restaurants to stay open until 1 a.m. on such Sundays (the state allows 1 a.m. on all Sundays), is just another example “of how the town is pro-business now” when it comes to restaurants, O’Mahony said.
Over the past two years, in a push to revitalize the downtown and Saugatuck, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has done away with the 1,500-foot distance requirement between restaurants serving alcohol, reduced its parking requirement for restaurants by 20 percent and made it easier to set up outdoor dining.
The result has been a flood of new restaurants. In the past year, Westport has seen the opening, among others, of Tarry Lodge, owned by celebrity chef Mario Batali, and The Whelk in Saugatuck, the Spotted Horse downtown, Shake Shack near the Fairfield border and Terrain’s restaurant on Post Road East. And now, there are nearly a dozen on the horizon.
The recent restaurant boom has been so strong, whether it has been new ones at new locations or outdoor bump outs, such as one at Acqua and La Villa downtown, that Richard Lowenstein, one of the two dissenters in the extended hours vote, asked, “Are restaurants the new banks?”
P&Z Director Laurence Bradley acknowledged that restaurateurs are flocking to Westport or expanding at unprecedented rates.
“In two weeks we’re going to see six applications from six different restaurants,” he said.
Tonight the P&Z will hear a site plan application from developers of the old National Hall site to open a mid-Eastern restaurant named Safita at the old Vigilant firehouse at 6 Wilton Road. Moja, a Brazilian-sushi restaurant has an application to open at 12 Wilton Road behind Safita, and there is a proposal pending for another restaurant at 20 Wilton Road next to the Save the Children headquarters, Bradley said.
In addition, tonight the P&Z will hear an application from Positano’s near Compo Beach to expand with outdoor seating on a patio built illegally 10 years ago, and from the waterfront River House on Riverside with an application for an outdoor patio tent not be considered part of its coverage.
“Then next week we’ll hear an application for a restaurant at Playhouse Square and for a wine bar, Saugatuck Grain & Grape at Railroad Place,” Bradley said.
Meanwhile, he said Panera Bread, which is moving next to HomeGoods on Post Road East, is set to go before the Architectural Review Board next week, “and there are plans to have a restaurant at the old Post Office, though they have not yet come in formally,” Bradley said.
The same is true about a restaurant poised to go in the basement of the Old Town Hall owned by Bob Haroun of SIR Development and talk of a restaurant with entertainment at the old Jasmine’s restaurant in Saugatuck.
Then there are the new restaurants taking up space at closed ones, such as 323 which has a permit to open at the old Bogey’s site, and Aux Deliclies, replete with outdoor dining, opened last week at the former old Arcudi’s restaurant.
Bridge Square in the Saugatuck area includes a new Indian restaurant and an Asian bistro.
“I think at some point you just get saturated,” said O’Mahony, who has owned Viva Zapata for 19 years and worked there 29. “But the exposure we get from people coming into town to go Tarry Lodge or the Welk is good.
” I’ve always been a proponent of the more the merrier, and years ago we had we had what we called the Saugatuck shuffle, going to one place for drinks, one for dinner and one for dessert,” he added.
George O’Connel, who owns The Spotted Horse with partners Tom Febbraio, Kevin McHugh and Peter Menonna, echoed, “My thought in the restaurant business is the more the merrier.”
“It makes us raise the bar for ourselves,” he said, adding that he would eventually like to see all Sunday hours extended to 1 a.m. as they are for his Fairfield restaurant, Grey Goose.
Massimo Tullio, co-owner with Bill Taibe of The Whelk, which opened late January at Saugatuck Center, said he welcomes all of the competition “because it makes (Westport) a destination point.”
“We’re sort of late to the game,” said Tullio, who previously owned Fat Cat Pie Company in Norwalk, about Westport.
“We’re definitely catching up, and the more businesses the better. We’re definitely busy, with a good mix, and definitely a lot of out-of-towners on weekends, from as far as Westchester and Ridgefield.
“They’re doing a great job,” he added about the town’s efforts to revitalize by making it easier for restaurants to do business.
About the recent approval for extended hours on certain Sundays, Tullio said, “That’s fine, but I’m closed on Sundays and Mondays, so I really don’t care.”
Restaurants are unique for the most part and set a tone and vibrance that we can call our own. Helping them flourish obviously aids the owners, but also us, the residents, who get to stay close, gather with our friends and eat great food.
Just to let you know, the Slice of Saugatuck Festival will be back and will occur on Saturday September 15th. What better way to celebrate and exprience this wonderful section of town. And as noted in the article you’ll get to check out no less than three new restaurants with more coming.
Come walk the slice. See you there.
When I encouraged my colleagues on the P&Z Commission to amend the regulations to eliminate the 1500 foot rule separating restaurants with patron bars, the expansion of restaurant choices and locations described in this article is just what we envisioned and wanted. We had no idea where they would open and who they would be, however we knew that restauranteurs with vision and landlords with attractive locations would figure it out. The added competition “raises the bar” as Mr. O’Connel said. The increased variety of restaurant choices is good for those who live in Westport and for those who visit our town.
These new businesses add jobs directly and thru their suppliers and contractors. I commend the RTM for allowing the expanded hours. When the P&Z works on applications for businesses, they should have regs that “zone to succeed”. I wish all of these enterpreneurs well.
There is no doubt the 1500 foot rule change allowed for more restaurants. Mr. Press I believe was the commissioner who spotted this one. It was an out dated rule installed when Westport, from what I have been told, was the wild west for drinking in the late 70s.
As also noted in the article 3 restaurants will be coming in as part of the change at the Inn at National Hall. While the loss of the beautiful hotel is regettable and many of us fought to keep it, the RTM’s overturn of the P&Z encouraged the property owner to offer more than just an office to compensate. In addition to the eateries there will be an incubator retail location to foster foot traffic and non chain retail.