🔒Changing Tastes: Restaurants adapt to evolving palates and growing downtowns

Crave, Ansonia’s popular fusion restaurant at 102 Main St., stayed open and busy during the pandemic by expanding its takeout business and banking on the popularity of its paella, empanadas and other Latin-inflected fare.

But with restrictions and lockdowns waning, owner Libby Meissner made a bold move earlier this year: Changing her restaurant’s concept, name, menu and decor. She said she made the switch to reflect both evolving tastes and an evolving Naugatuck Valley.

“When Crave opened up 15 years ago, we were the only Latin restaurant in the Valley,” Meissner said. “Now, there’s a lot of Latin restaurants in the Valley. I just don’t like to be one of many.”

The new restaurant is called Uptown Bar and Eatery, reflecting both its urban vibe, the neighborhood’s moniker and the former designation of Ansonia as “Uptown Derby.” Warm colors and Latin decor have been replaced with black walls hung with stylized paintings and a lit neon sign reading “I licked it, so it’s mine.”

Uptown’s menu includes both Latin fusion favorites like tres leches cake and a host of new Asian-inspired items like BangBang shrimp, chicken tikka masala and ramen noodles. More traditional eaters can choose between a range of meats and sides as part of the menu’s “butcher board” selection. The eclectic menu is even home to poutine, a French-Canadian combo of french fries, cheese curds and gravy.

Meissner said she loves Latin fusion cuisine, but adds, “It’s run its course and it’s time to move on and do something different. … Food-wise, I like to go to a restaurant that has a lot to offer all different palates.”

Change in the Valley

Crave’s transformation echoes the ongoing transformation of Ansonia, whose old-school Main Street was long-packed with vacancies. When Crave opened in 2007, it was the only restaurant on that stretch of Main and one of only a handful in the entire city.

Now, just a bit uptown on Main, Bangkok Room offers Thai food, Copper City Bar & Grill serves up pub grub and Massimino’s Pizzeria dishes up a full menu of Italian fare behind a renovated facade. Once-sleepy Ansonia is now also home to Relish Wine Bar & Grill, Koi Asian Fusion and a host of Latin eateries drawing from cuisines ranging from Mexican and Peruvian to Puerto Rican.

What’s driven that diversity is the city’s growth and demographic evolution, with more change on tap as new apartment complexes come online in coming months seeking renters priced out of Fairfield County.

With nearly 300 new apartments expected in the immediate downtown, Ansonia officials last year decided to make East Main Street one-way to allow for additional parking. Anticipating a boost in street traffic, a new ice cream shop is also planned for Main, and there is talk that the city’s first coffee shop in decades is in the works.

Craft-beer destinations the Dew Drop Inn, BAD SONS Brewery and the The Hops Company in neighboring Derby add to the youth appeal of the area, Meissner adds.

Just across the street from Uptown, the new Bella Vista apartment advertises on a banner out front that it has begun leasing, with the goal of attracting young professionals to the neighborhood, which is near the Metro North train station. Rent for one-bedrooms starts at $1,300 a month with about 100 units coming online.

“These are beautiful apartments in a very old building with exposed brick walls, completely redone, which is going to bring a lot of new people and young people into the area,” Meissner said. “And so we’re doing what we need to do to cater to them.”

Downtown diversity

In New Haven, the restaurant scene is both getting more diverse and doubling down on tried-and-true favorites like Italian cuisine, said Bruno Baggetta, marketing director for downtown association Market New Haven. With the pandemic waning and weather warming, business has improved at many eateries and long-delayed plans for new concepts are nearing fruition, he added.

“As we look ahead to outdoor dining, I think folks are going to want to get out and be outside and have some really good food,” Baggetta said. “There’s a lot of opportunity out there.”

New restaurants announced recently include:

• Philly’s Taste of Philadelphia was set to start dishing up cheesesteaks on May 1, at 1008 Chapel St., a few doors down from Claire’s Corner Copia vegetarian restaurant.

• Downtown’s first Peruvian restaurant, Chacra, is planned for the former Temple Grill spot at 152 Temple St.

• The former home of Box 63 American Bar & Grill at 338 Elm is slated to open as a new outpost of The Place 2B, a Hartford-based “Millennial food concept” offering all-day brunch.

As for dining trends, Baggetta sees a new crop of Asian food concepts including Oh K-Dog’s Korean hot dogs and new boba tea purveyors joining the city’s full range of offerings from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and India. The city’s growing Middle Eastern community has also opened more new restaurants in recent years, including lauded dessert spot Pistachio Cafe at 911 Whalley Ave.

But classics like pizza and Italian food are also going strong, with a new Italian spot planned for the former Cask Republic location on Temple and a fresh eatery in the works at the former Tony and Lucille’s at 150 Wooster St.

Yale University Properties, which owns many of the buildings housing restaurants downtown, continues to seek new concepts for the area as foot traffic recovers, said David DelVecchio, director of real estate asset management.

“We are actively working with new potential tenants,” DelVecchio said. “New Haven has a very diverse culinary market already, but we are always open to new suggestions.”

Like Ansonia, New Haven’s restaurant scene is adapting to an influx of new residents drawn to the growing ed-med sectors and multiple new apartment complexes.

“We continue to grow, we continue to welcome new folks to the fabric of downtown,” Baggetta said. “The skyline has changed. The landscape has changed. … I think we’re starting to wake up downtown. So, I’m really excited for the summer.”