Business

Local Restaurants and COVID-19: South End

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For this installment of our daily Q&A with a restaurant owner navigating the COVID-19 emergency, we hear from Nick Martschenko, chef-owner of South End and SE Uncorked. South End is open 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday through Friday, and 12 to 8 p.m. Saturday. (SE Uncorked’s building is closed and the business is operating out of South End on Pine Street.)

We note here that Martschenko created a relief fund to help South End and SE Uncorked employees affected by layoffs. “These funds will be used to help those at SE & UC who will face significant hardship in the weeks and maybe months to come,” he said on a GoFundMe page that is hosting the fundraiser. 

Here’s our exchange. New Canaanite: What has this past week been like for you? 

Nick Martschenko: This week has been a mystery basket filled with many emotions.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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New Canaan Public Schools as of Monday night had 273 kindergarten sign-ups for the fall, compared to 231 at the same time last year, district officials said during this week’s Board of Education meeting. ***

The company hired by the town last summer to address the rat problem behind The Playhouse on Elm Street, Stamford-based Aavon Pest Control Inc., charged New Canaan $145 per month for three months to tend its “rodent safety bait stations” and inspect for “rodent burrowing activity,” according to the agreement. ***

The Rotary Club of New Canaan is now taking applications for its 2019 Grant program. Applications will be taken from registered nonprofit organizations in New Canaan and neighboring areas in two categories only: “Health and Wellness” and “Education and Literacy.” The deadline for applications is April 5, and full details can be found by clicking on “Rotary Grant Application” under the “Club Documents” tab on the left side of the Rotary Club of New Canaan website. ***

Congratulations to New Canaan’s Jaime Sneddon and The Sneddon Team on earning recognition from William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty as the company’s top producing agent and top producing team, based on total closed volume for the year 2018.

Business

‘SE Uncorked’ on Elm Earns High Marks from New Canaan’s Health Inspectors

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SE Uncorked has earned an average score of 94 out of 100 on health inspections since opening two years ago, records show. Occupying a prominent and longtime restaurant space at 15 Elm St., the cozy bar and small-plates eatery from Nick Martschenko has scored as high as 97 on unannounced inspections conducted by sanitarians with the New Canaan Health Department since earning a food permit in 2015, according to a review of the organization’s files at Town Hall. Sanitarians use a state Department of Public Health standard, citing eateries for violations that range in seriousness and corresponding weight from 1 to 4 points. A “failed” inspection is triggered either by one or more 4-point violations or a total score of less than 80 points. Owned by Martschenko, who also is chef and owner at South End on Pine Street, SE Uncorked consistently has earned the equivalent of A’s and A+’s on its inspections (article continues below):

 

The intimate SE Uncorked space on Elm previously had been occupied by Picador.

Business

PHOTOS: 2015 New Canaan Sidewalk Sale

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The 2015 Village Fair & Sidewalk Sale from the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce overcame a bit of rain Saturday morning to draw thousands for deals, family fun, live music and food. Anchored at either end of Elm Street by New Canaan mainstays Walter Stewart’s and Karl Chevrolet, and running for segments of Main and Forest Streets, the 50-year-old New Canaan tradition saw scores of local and nonlocal businesses and organizations alike set up tents in all-pedestrian zones in the heart of the village. NewCanaanite.com launched a Facebook contest, asking locals to don wigs, sunglasses and boas and pull a goofy face. Our three winners are:

Gavin Tong—Gavin and his family win a gift card to Connecticut Sandwich Co. on Pine Street.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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Many New Canaanites by now have seen a rendering of the Midcentury Modern-inspired commercial building that John and Melissa Engel have planned for the lot at 215 Elm St. The architect on the project is Westport-based Frederick William Hoag. Some time after John Engel explained what he had in mind to a University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation professor, a document that included some truly fascinating concepts came in from students (see above). The Maryland architecture program been called the only one in the nation that includes professional Masters programs and related PhD-level studies in planning, preservation and real estate development within the same school. ***

Bill Egan, the newly hired principal of New Canaan High School, has gotten into the spirit of the job very quickly: At his formal introduction at the Board of Education meeting on Monday night, board member Sheri West astutely noted, Egan was sporting a NCHS Rams tie.