Tag Archives: Matsu Sushi

Roundup: Flowers, Food, Farm, More


It doesn’t get more neighborly than this.

In the middle of Greens Farms, on Prospect Road, Melissa and John Ceriale spent 20 years creating an 8-acre oasis. Gardens, trees, bushes and walking paths fill their property.

“Prospect Gardens” is one of the most beautiful spots in town. Most of us admire it — but only from the road.

Yesterday the couple invited all their neighbors over. Most came — including First Selectman Jim Marpe and his wife Mary Ellen.

Treats included apples from the orchard, cider and donuts. Every kid took a pumpkin home.

There was an observation bee hive, and honey tasting.

David Brant of the Aspetuck Land Trust spoke with Greens Farms residents about their Green Corridor project.

Debra Kandrak pitched her daffodil planting plan.

It was a socially distanced, supremely relaxing afternoon. Many neighbors said they’d driven, walked or run by the property for years. Now they know what’s happening behind the fence.

This spring, the Ceriales will add more beauty to their land. Owners of an adjacent house are moving. The Ceriales bought the property, and will take it down.

The former owners’ daughter and her husband were there today. They planted a patch of daffodils, to bloom long after their home is gone.

Neighborhood kids enjoy apples by the Prospect Road gardens.


The “best Mediterranean cuisine” is coming to Westport.

At least, that’s what the sign says at the former Matsu Sushi, across from Jesup Green.

I’m not sure if the name of the new place is “Restaurant Apply Now,” or that’s just the email address. Details to follow.

(Photo/Sal Liccione)


The other day, a house was demolished on Compo Parkway:

However, it’s not just any house. A neighbor thinks it was the original barn for the onion fields on the street, back in the farming days.

At any rate, it’s now just one more Westport memory:

(Photos/Tracy Porosoff)


When Q104.3’s iHeartDaily blog interviewed Nile Rogers, the headline was: “Why He’s Writing More Than Ever.”

It’s an interesting look at the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer. And it includes his description of writing collaboratively with a partner in Los Angeles, while Nile is “basically living inside a box” in Westport.

Click here for those insights — and much more. (Hat tip: Johanna Rossi)

Nile Rodgers


More music news:

Daniel Tashian — the Nashville-based, Grammy-winning producer/songwriter/ musician, and son of Staples High School graduates Barry (who played with The Remains, Flying Burrito Brothers and Emmy Lou Harris) and Holly Tashian (a country star with Barry as a duo) — has a new, intriguing collaboration.

Daniel is working with Burt Bacharach. Yes, he’s still writing and performing, at 92 years old. They recently released a number of songs under the name “Blue Umbrella.” Click the YouTube video below, and enjoy. (Hat tip: Jim Honeycutt)

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And finally … Cardi B turns 28 today. I like it!

Sayonara, Matsu Sushi

Alert “06880” reader Molly Alger writes:

We had dinner at Matsu Sushi tonight, as we do every few weeks. We were devastated to learn that this was their last night in business after 17 years.

Here is a photo of the owner’s wife (middle), and the exquisite tray they gave us. They tried to give us serving dishes and other things as well. I am so sorry to see this great restaurant close. 😢😢😢

Behind the scenes at Matsu Sushi. (Photo/Molly Alger)

Sushi Strike

Lunchtime at Matsu Sushi looked a bit different today:

A group of employees picketed the downtown restaurant.

They handed passersby a list of grievances. Among them:

  • No minimum wage or overtime, even for working more than 65 hours a week or 36-hour shifts
  • “Deposits” collected for work, and not refunded
  • Retaliatory firing.

Matsu Sushi manager Maggie Lin said of the picketers, “They are partners. Co-owners. I don’t know what else to say.”

She did not explain why they would be picketing their fellow owners.

(New) Notable Trees: The Sequel

For years, Westporters wondered what’s up with the very unsightly sawed-off telephone polls planted in concrete on the Jesup Green median across from Matsu Sushi:

(Photo/Google Street View)

(Photo/Google Street View)

Turns out, about 30 years ago a public works director got angry about garbage trucks backing over the median strip to get to the restaurant and business dumpsters.

He planted poles. We’ve been stuck with the eyesore ever since.

Our long Jesup Road nightmare is over.

As part of Westport’s beautification process, Public Works is sprucing up the median. They’re adding soil, and planting trees. Tree warden Bruce Lindsay is supervising the tree work.

Jesup Green median

Sure, there are lots of plans for re-imagining Jesup Green.

But change comes slowly to Westport. By the time we’re ready to reconfigure the area, there may be an outcry to save the median trees.

Because, of course, they’ll have “always” been there.

BMX Man

Everyone’s seen him.  He races up and down the Post Road, popping wheelies, performing bunny hops and nose picks and other BMX-style tricks he may even have invented himself.

Alert “06880” reader Miggs Burroughs caught him roaring past Matsu Sushi the other day, and sent this photo to us.

He’s hard to pin down — he doesn’t stop for much, including traffic lights — but he’s really good.

And very intriguing.

If you know anything about this guy — who he is, where he’s from, what he does when he’s off his bike, whether he’s trying to impress us or scare the hell out of us — hit “Comments.”

An entire town wants to know.

Eat, Drink, See A Play

Several years ago, when the Westport Country Playhouse was being renovated, nearby restaurants saw drops of up to 2/3 in business.

The Dressing Room sits in the shadow of the Playhouse. Other partner restaurants are not far away.

This summer, many of those restaurants — the ones still around, anyway — will show their appreciation for the Playhouse in a tangible way.  Seven have signed on as “partners” for the 2011 season.  Playhouse subscribers receive discounts of up to 20%, when presenting a ticket or stub on the day of that performance.

The 7 partners include The Dressing Room, La Villa, Manolo, Matsu Sushi, Rizzuto’s, Tavern on Main and Thali.

It’s a win-win-win.  Participating restaurants get their logos displayed in Playhouse promotional materials (and complimentary tickets).  The Playhouse gets to support — and gets support from — local businesses.

And theater-goers get great, discounted meals at a diverse mix of restaurants.  It’s a nice reminder that Fairfield hasn’t stolen all our culinary thunder.

Yet.

(Click here for full restaurant descriptions and discounts.)

A Sushi Tip

Discrimination is alive and well in Westport.

And apparently, it’s legal.

Matsu Sushi — one of Staples students’ favorite restaurants — tacks a tip onto the checks of teenagers.

Some of theirs, anyway.

Without telling them ahead of time.

Isaac Stein described the practice in yesterday’s student newspaper, Inklings.

“In the event that there is a group of teenagers at a table, the server and I will usually make the decision to add a 15 percent tip to their bill at the end of the meal,” the manager — who requested anonymity — told Isaac.

However, Staples senior Morgan Garrison was hit with a surprise 20 percent gratuity.

The manager told Isaac that the tip is “not applied to regular customers, or teenagers that the restaurant knows are going to leave an appropriate tip.”

Morgan called her tip “baffling, especially because we had waited for our food for close to an hour.”

The Matsu Sushi manager claims that before the policy was enacted, 30 to 40 percent of teenagers “would just walk out without tipping at all.”  Staples student Izzy Spada counters, “I was chased out the door of the restaurant for tipping somewhere between 13 and 15 percent.”

Some restaurants note their tipping policy on the menu.  Bobby Q’s, for example, says that parties of 8 or more will have 18 percent added to their bill.

Though Matsu Sushi seems applies its policy randomly — to only some teenagers — and does not disclose it beforehand, it may still be okay.

According to Isaac, lawyers for the website justanswer.com say that because no law prohibits discrimination based on age, the policy is “technically legal.”

(Federal Title VII, and Connecticut law, bar discrimination against anyone 40 or older.)

However, the lawyers say, it “appears to be very bad business.”

Indeed.

Though Matsu Sushi is popular with Staples students, it’s hardly the only restaurant in town.  It’s not even the only sushi spot.

Education takes many forms.  Staples students can learn a very good lesson — and teach one to restaurant owners — by eating summer rolls at a place that doesn’t try to roll them.