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Despite the pandemic headwinds, new restaurants continue to open in Westport.
Don Memo, Walrus Alley, Manna Toast, Hudson Malone, Outpost Pizza and Basso have all opened their doors, despite restrictions on dining.
Yesterday, Capuli joined them.
Like its predecessors in the Post Road East space opposite Bank of America — Westport Pizzeria, and before that Joe’s Pizza and S&M Pizza — it will serve pies.
But the cuisine is called California-Mediterranean fusion, featuring “a variety of fresh ingredients, low in saturated fats, whole grains, seasonal vegetables, lean meats and seafood.”
They plan on primarily takeout meals at the start. Call 203-557-9340, or email capuli.westport@gmail.com for more information.
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The pandemic has also affected Suzuki Music Schools. But their classical music education and performance schedule has simply moved from Colonial Green to cyberspace.
The popular children’s “Pillow Concert” series returns January 24, and continues through spring. Family-friendly concerts give children a chance to be up close and personal with performers beyond the front row (and they’re encouraged to bring pillows to create seats at the artists’ feet).
Online master classes and interactive workshops will be conducted by widely acclaimed artists like violinists Rachel Barton Pine and Regina Carter. They’re open to audit for non-students for the first time (for a small suggested donation to the school).
The 4th annual Connecticut Guitar Festival returns March 5-7. It goes global virtually this year, featuring international artists. Attendees can tune check out Suzuki Schools’ social media pages every week leading up to the festival for discussions famed guitarists about how they’ve performed during the pandemic.
For more information on Suzuki Music Schools, click here.
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To celebrate Martin Luther King Day, the Westport Public Art Collections announced a series of small rotating exhibitions. They’re part of a larger initiative to support nondiscrimination in the arts.
The first — opening at Town Hall on February 1 — explores longtime Westporter Tracy Sugarman’s civil rights activities during the Freedom Summer of 1964 in Mississippi.
The artist-reporter wrote, “I was determined to bring back real images of real people and real places so everyone could see American apartheid for what it really was.”
Tracy Sugarman died in 2013, at 91. To learn more about him, click here.
“July and 100 Degrees in the Shade at the Sanctified Church for Freedom School Kids, Ruleville”
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Colin Livingston writes:
“Has anyone ever mentioned the overflow Post Road traffic at the Starbucks drive-thru?
“I can’t tell you how many time I’ve driven by and thought it’s an accident in the making. I snapped this the other day leaving the Bank of America ATM next door. I could barely see the approaching traffic.
“I’ve got nothing against Starbucks. I just don’t want to see anyone get hurt.”
Colin, the topic has been addressed before. This has been going on for months — ever since the pandemic began.
I am stupefied that anyone would sit in a car for so long at any drive-thru. It’s particularly mind-boggling because there is a perfectly good Starbucks a mile or so down the road, at Stop & Shop. The biggest line I’ve ever seen there is one person.
You could drive, park, get your coffee, drink it — and do all your grocery shopping — in the time you’d spend on that Post Road Line.
Of course, it would mean getting out of your car …
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And finally … Phil Spector — the influential record producer who went from creating the famous Wall of Sound to prison for the murder of a woman in his home — died Saturday, of complications from COVID. He was 81.
