Interior demolition of the former Gates is in full swing and the New Canaan mainstay’s new owners say it’s on track to reopen mid-fall with an updated look, layout and menu.
New Canaanites Jay Luther and Paul Tully, partners in the venture whereby Gates was purchased in April with an eye on reopening with the same name, say locals are excited about planned changes that include a new food bar in the main dining room that looks into an open kitchen with a wood-fired oven, smoker and wood-fired grill.
A crew works on the interior demolition of the bar area at Gates. A reopening under the same name and new ownership is planned for mid-fall. Credit: Michael Dinan
“We are almost as excited as they are to get this open and to reestablish Gates as a go-to place in New Canaan, appealing to a broad base of people,” Tully said on Friday morning, hammer in hand as he joined demolition workers in removing sheetrock to expose the industrial brick inside the restaurant.
“Families. Couples. Groups of friends. Guys who want to watch the football game on Monday night. The institution that has been here for a long time, we want to bring it back to New Canaan.”
With a contemporary twist, Gates will serve family-friendly classic American and some international cuisine, Luther said.
A crew works on the interior demolition of the bar area at Gates. A reopening under the same name and new ownership is planned for mid-fall. Credit: Michael Dinan
Gates will serve “what people want to eat in America,” Luther said. An executive chef has not yet been hired.
The restaurant will preserve its two entrances on Main and Forest Streets, as well as its connecting doors to Tequila Mockingbird, they said. The iconic Gates on Forest Street will remain, though they’ll be repaired and stripped to an original gold leaf, with new “more inviting and more functional” glass doors with a metal base, Luther said. Entering from Forest, patrons will experience an entirely updated welcome area and new hostess counter, and the linen closet/island that once stood opposite the bathrooms will be removed entirely, opening up the dining room floor to wider views throughout the space.
A wrap-around food bar looking into the exposed kitchen will stand roughly where the raised dining room section is now—“the idea is to have it very interactive,” Luther said—and the dining area itself will be more visible to the bar (which also is getting a major overhaul).
“One of the things we felt was that the area is too separated,” Luther said, referring to the dining and bar rooms. “We wanted to bring the energy from the bar to the restaurant, and back-and-forth.”
The structural wall that separates them will remain, though a walkway and open “window” between the areas will be carved out.
The restaurant likely will sit 125 to 150 people, with 16 stools at the food bar and 16 more at the main bar (which exists in the same place it always has). The bar is being redone, and a raised area just inside the stairs down from the Main Street entrance will be converted into a stage for live music on Saturday nights, Luther said, with related installment of sound and lighting systems.
The booths in the bar area are being removed and they’ll be replaced by high-top seating. Gates will offer 12 craft beers on draft and the kegs themselves will be tapped and stowed in a large, multi-story refrigerator/cooler to the side of the bar that patrons can see into.
Ripping away the sheetrock that covers nearly every wall in the old restaurant, Luther and Tully found brick, and they’ll retain some of that as a feature of the new Gates’ décor.
“We are excited to get this thing open mid-fall and the excitement that people have for the project is fantastic,” Luther said.
Gates had been owned and operated by Billy Auer and Jeb Swift since 1979. In a farewell note to customers, the pair said, in part: “We feel good about passing on such an important part of our lives to a locally based group who understands and really cares about the role Gates plays in the community.” Here are some photos from its last night of operation under the original owners.