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September 30, 2022

Rebound in foot traffic fuels new retail, restaurant openings downtown

Photo | Courtesy of Mary Coursey Owner Walter Vera, with scissors, at the opening of Chacra Peruvian Cuisine & Pisco Bar on Sept. 29, 2022.

“Less and less masks and more and more people.”

That’s what Anthony Giano is seeing outside of his window on Chapel Street, and that’s what he credits for the recent spate of new restaurants opening in the Chapel West Special Services District. Operations manager for Chapel West, Giano said he estimates that foot traffic in the Yale-adjacent business district now equals or exceeds pre-pandemic levels. 

Giano can see for himself the success of one new opening – Ricotta Pizza & Bakery at 1203 Chapel. The new kosher restaurant opened in late summer next door to the Chapel West offices and often draws crowds, Giano said.

Photo | Courtesy of Chapel West
Inside the new Ricotta Pizza & Bakery at 1203 Chapel.

 
“They are very, very, very busy,” Giano said of the new eatery. 

Ricotta, in the former Flour Flours bakery location, features a selection of pizzas, bagel sandwiches, breakfast dishes and hot entrees like eggplant parm and lasagna. All are made in accordance with Jewish dietary laws and are mostly vegetarian.  

Giano said he is also looking forward to the opening a few doors down of Tibetan Kitchen, the reincarnation of a popular Middletown restaurant that is expected to open within days at 1217 Chapel.

Tibetan momo dumplings and an array of noodle soups, stews and curries make up the new restaurant’s menu, which also features an extensive vegetarian selection.

Around the corner on Howe Street, Westville’s popular Pistachio Cafe is opening a new location in the former Devil’s Diet space on the ground floor of the Novella apartment complex. The new Pistachio will occupy two retail units and plans to open in a month or so, Giano said. 

“I’m pretty excited to have some new things opening and to get some new foot traffic through our district,” Giano said. 

Closer to the Green, city officials celebrated the recent opening of Chacra Peruvian Cuisine & Pisco Bar at 152 Temple St. with a ribbon-cutting on Thursday. 

Owner Walter Vera said he is employing 20 people at the new restaurant, which spruced up its exterior thanks to a $31,500 grant through the city’s facade improvement program. 

Formerly general manager of Pacifico on College Street, Vera is bringing Peruvian specialties like ceviche and fried seafood platters to the former location of the Temple Grill. Cocktails featuring Pisco, Peru’s signature grape brandy, have been popular since the opening, staff members said. 

Yale University Properties also celebrated a debut this week, a new retail store on Audubon Street that opened its doors on Wednesday. 

Photo | Courtesy of Yale University Properties
At the opening of MINIPNG on Sept. 28: (From left) Winfield Davis, David DelVecchio, Erin Shanley, Lauren Zucker, owner Eiress Hammond, Cathy Graves, Christine Sherwood, Mayor Justin Elicker, Michael Sherwood and Alder Eli Sabin, with Handsome Dan below.

MINIPNG, at 77 Audubon St., sells clothing, art and accessories designed and curated by young entrepreneur Eiress Hammond.

Hammond’s own pieces are made from locally sourced secondhand clothing and materials and tailored to order. She has experience selling her products at pop-ups in New York and Connecticut. 

“My initial goal when designing a piece is to create something that will be special to the person who buys it,” Hammond said. “They’re the only one in the world with that exact piece.”

Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.
 

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