Tag Archives: Shearwater Organic Coffee Roasters

Roundup: Shearwater, STG Fun Run, MoCA Carnival …

Shearwater Coffee Bar– the Westport outpost of the Fairfield shop, in what was formerly Bertucci’s and, long before that, the Clam Box — closed permanently yesterday.

Word on the street is that it will be replaced by Greenology, a New Canaan vegan spot.

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Staples Tuition Grants helps hundreds of graduates each year.

Now some Staples students want to help too.

The 1st annual Staples Tuition Grants Fun Run — for youngsters in grades 3 through 5 — is set for April 6 (8 to 10 a.m., Paul Lane Field at Staples). Registration is just $25.

All proceeds benefit STG. Last year the organization awarded $407,000 to 116 students, in grants ranging from $1,000 to $7,500.

The morning includes races, a bounce house, face painting, temporary tattoos, a bake sale and raffle.

Medals will be awarded to winners at each age level.

The STG Fun Run is the brainchild of Staples junior Alexis Krenzer. She wanted to do something good and fun for her community, with a theme of “kids helping kids.”

Alexis got Sara Hollard Sports to coordinate the races, and rallied other students to help. Over 30 volunteers will work with the children that day. Others have been involved, for example creating the logo.

Staples cheerleaders will lend their support too, while and SCI mentors — a group encouraging kids to learn about science — lead the bake sale.

Click here to register for the run. Information can be found on Instagram (@stgfunrun).

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Frederic Chiu — Westport’s favorite internationally know pianist — comes “home” to MoCA next Saturday (March 23, 4 p.m.).

He’ll join with funky family-friendly poet David Gonzalez, to give Camille Saint-Saëns’ “The Carnival of the Animals” a new twist.

The Tortoise, The Swan, Wild Horses and the rest of the musical menagerie will be “reborn” with the duo’s performance.

The work includes 14 separate pieces, each  suggesting a particular animal. It often serves as an introduction for young audiences to classical music.

Click here for tickets, and more information.

Frederic Chiu (Photo/Dan Woog)

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Earthplace’s 3rd annual Beer Garden & Tasting is not just for adults.

The Arbor Day “Toast to the Trees” event (April 27, 4 to 6 p.m.) includes sparkling beverages and arts and crafts for kids, and beer tastings for those over 21, along a self-guided trail walk.

Then everyone gathers in the Beer Garden for s’mores, lawn games, food trucks, and beers for purchase.

Click here for tickets, and more information.

 

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Fred Cantor is a man of many interests.

And many talents.

The Staples High School Class of 1971 graduate is an attorney, theatrical producer (“All Good Things”) and short film producer.

The High School That Rocked!” explored the magical years when great bands — The Doors, Yardbirds, Cream, Remains — played at Staples.

Cantor’s latest documentary is “It’s a Hollywood Life!” The half-hour film focuses on longtime Westport resisdent Susan Granger’s 80-plus years connected to the movie business. (Spoiler alert: She started in childhood,  appearing with some of the biggest stars during the Golden Age of Hollywood.)

The Ridgefield Independent Film Festival will screen Cantor’s movie May 18. Immediately after, there’s a Q-and-A with Granger, Keir Dullea, Mia Dillon, and directors, Laurie Valentina Gomez Acosta and Maya Weldon-Lagrimas.

Click here for more information.

Susan Granger on set with Wallace Beery and her father, director Sylvan Simon, in a still from Fred Cantor’s documentary.

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Today’s very cool “Westport … Naturally” photo shows the unnatural shape of Compo Beach sand.

It’s been prepped for the summer months. Soon the trucks and tire treads will be gone. And all will be “natural” again.

(Photo/June Rose Whittaker)

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And finally … here’s a toast to today!

(Speaking of green … “06880” relies on reader support. Please click here to donate to your hyper-local blog. Thank you!)

Mangia! Ignazio’s Opens Monday

The long wait is over.

On Monday, Ignazio’s officially opens for business.

The new pizza place in the old Bertucci’s (and before that, the even older Tanglewoods and Clam Box) features both thin crust and Sicilian pizza, from a wood-fired oven.

Word of mouth already brought in customers. Louis Termini — who owned 7 Luna Pizzas in the Hartford area, and now runs the original (and very popular) Ignazio’s underneath the Brooklyn Bridge — handed out free slices all day today.

One man said, “I hope they’re as good as the hype.”

He wolfed it down. “It is!”

Some folks stopping by today were from Louis’ boyhood neighborhood. One went to high school with him.

“I gave them the Brooklyn treatment,” Louis says. “And they gave it right back to me.”

Ignazio’s shares space with 2 other new arrivals: One River School of Art + Design, and Shearwater Organic Coffee Roasters.

Which means that complex now includes 3 of the most important things that make our town go: Art. Coffee. And pizza.

Ignazio’s pizza in Brooklyn, courtesy of TripAdvisor.

(Hat tip: Cara Zimon)

New Pizza Place Rising In Old Bertucci’s

If you’ve been waiting for Ignazio’s — the new pizza place in the old Bertucci’s — to open…

… you’ll have to wait a little longer.

The build-out is taking a while. Owner Louis Termini hopes for September.

Meanwhile, here’s the antipasto.

Termini — a Brooklyn native — says he opened the first oven-fired oven in the Hartford area, in 1990. Luna Pizza soon expanded to 7 locations in Hartford County.

He returned to his native borough when he found a great location underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

There was one problem: It was around the corner from the legendary Grimaldi’s.

No problem! Ignazio’s — named after his father — has been a huge hit.

So Termini is not fazed by coming into a town that has more than its share of excellent Italian restaurants.

It’s a town he knows well. On drives between Brooklyn and Hartford, he stopped here often for lunch.

“I enjoy eating out,” he says. “I think I tried every place in Westport.”

Termini grew up on the water. In February he rented a house on Saugatuck Shores. He loved sitting in his grandmother’s rocking chair on the heated porch.

This summer, he’s enjoying it even more.

A realtor friend from the Bronx helped find the Bertucci’s site. “He’s Jewish, I’m Italian,” Termini says. “But we have the same childhood memories.”

There’s another New York connection: the Westport landlord knows the Brooklyn restaurant well. His sister lives around the corner from it.

Termini learned pizza-making from his mother and grandmother. He tweaked their recipes, so his pies are “a little different” than the standard neighborhood pizzerias of his youth.

He is proud of his fresh mozzarella. And he uses the same olive oils, cheeses, plum tomatoes and sauces he grew up with.

The doors are open. But Ignazio’s is still a few weeks away from welcoming customers.

Yet Termini is more than just a pizzeria owner. He’s also an artist. He got into the restaurant business after his first child was born — because, he says, of the type of artist he was: “starving.”

So he’s pleased to share Ignazio’s space with One River Art + Design. Shearwater — the popular Fairfield coffee bar, where Termini gets his java — will be there too.

Termini will offer both thin crust and Sicilian pizza from his wood-fired oven. Of course he’ll serve other dishes, like calzones — “and a few surprises we don’t have in Brooklyn.”

He’s discovered Connecticut Farm Fresh Express, which delivers produce. He’s looking for a good Connecticut beer to serve too.

Termini definitely knows the territory. The other day, he had dinner at the new Meatball Shop. He enjoyed it.

Of course, he notes, “there’s room for more than one meatball in town.”

New Coffee Spot Brewing At Old Bertucci’s

Westport is blessed with many things.

We have art and artists. We have pizzerias and coffee shops up the wazoo.

But we don’t have a “coffee bar” — a place that serves ultra-premium, USDA organic-certified roasts.

That changes soon.

Shearwater Organic Coffee Roasters — currently killing it in Fairfield — will open its 2nd location. The site is the long-empty Bertucci’s building, on Post Road East by Long Lots Road.

Shearwater will share the space with (of course) One River School of Art + Design, and Ignazio’s Pizza.

Owner Ed Freedman’s company started 6 years ago in Trumbull, as a small batch roaster. They supply stores like Whole Foods and Fresh Market, and restaurants including Jesup Hall, The Whelk and Kawa Ni.

Two years ago they opened in the Brick Walk. Freedman says that customers — many from Westport, attracted by the bright space, knowledgeable baristas and (of course) great coffee — urged him to open here.

As in Fairfield, the new Shearwater will feature drinks like espresso and cold brew, along with small plates and salads.

“It will be warm, inviting and friendly — a place for everyone from millennials to retirees to enjoy great coffee,” Freedman promises.

A rendering of the interior of Westport’s Shearwater, by architect Amber Freedman.

He is proud of his “top-notch” customer service. In Fairfield, he says, baristas “really welcome people. They engage them, and help them select the right drink.”

Freedman believes that many people “tolerate” Starbucks coffee. “They add all kinds of flavors and sugars. That’s not us.”

Floor to ceiling windows and high ceilings will help make Shearwater a “real destination.” Freedman’s daughter Amber — an architect in Boston — designed both his coffee bars.

The Westport spot will be a destination in part because of its location near the Sherwood Island Connector, Freedman says.

He hopes to open in July. Ignazio’s hopes to open next month. River One’s grand opening is June 15-16.

There is still space for one tenant in the building.

Maybe a bank or nail spa?