Local Restaurants and COVID-19: Elm

In this Q&A with a local restaurateur, we hear from chef Luke Venner of elm restaurant downtown about how the highly touted eatery is coping with restrictions following the COVID-19 emergency. New Canaanite: What has this past week been like for you? 

Chef Luke Venner: Very challenging to say the least. We had to completely change our business model and systems within 24 hours and reassure a nervous staff that we were devising a solution to keep them employed. We also started keeping a body temperature log of everyone that enters the building and a shuttle service to keep our employees away from public transportation. How is you faring business-wise?

Did You Hear … ?

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has established “traumatic asphyxia, mechanical compression accident” as the cause of death for the 71-year-old woman found pinned and non-responsive March 27 beneath a motor vehicle in a South Bald Hill Road driveway. It isn’t clear what happened—an investigation from the New Canaan Police Department’s Accident Reconstruction Unit is ongoing, according to public information officer Lt. Jason Ferraro. ***

The New Canaan Building Department on April 17 issued an after-the-fact permit for a $50,000 renovation of two bathrooms at 246 Park St. Officials noted on the permit that the work “was one without obtaining the necessary permits, this means that all required inspections during construction were not performed.” The contractor on the job was the condominium’s owner, according to building records. ***

Chef Luke Venner of elm restaurant in New Canaan, has received an invitation by the prestigious James Beard Foundation to bring a taste of “Connecticut Spring” to the Historic Beard House on May 14th.