#Middlebury #Restaurants
By TERRENCE MCAULIFFE
“Savor the flavor” a Middlebury Restaurant Tour, is set for Sunday, October 11, through Sunday, October 25. At press time, 12 of Middlebury’s 23 restaurants and delis had signed up for the event. Participants are Cavallo’s Deli, Four Corners Market, Le Bobadel Gourmet Market, Leo’s Restaurant, Maples Restaurant, Meet Me Here Restaurant and Bar, Middlebury’s Best Yogurt, Middlebury Pizza, Nature’s Goods Market, Pies and Pub, Senor Panchos of Middlebury and Vyne Restaurant.
Some locations will offer a prix fixe menu, others may offer discounts or special items. The tour has both a website, middleburyrestauranttour.com, and a Facebook page, facebook.com/middleburyrestauranttour, where the names and menus of participating restaurants are listed under fine dining, family-style, deli, or desserts. The restaurants also will be listed on the Connecticut Restaurant Week website.
The Restaurant Tour was organized by members of the Celebrate Middlebury Committee after this year’s event was canceled due to Covid-19 restrictions. Committee member Terry Smith told the Economic Development Commission (EDC) at its August meeting, “We need to do something for the restaurants, such as a restaurant week, heavily promoted in all media.”
After discussion on how to proceed, EDC members recommended the restaurant week promotion continue as a follow-on activity for Celebrate Middlebury volunteers, because those volunteers knew the restaurants and were in the best position to generate publicity. As with Celebrate Middlebury, the restaurant promotion would receive no town funding and would need to utilize social media and volunteer hours to generate awareness throughout the community.
Committee member Curt Bosco, Middlebury’s Zoning Enforcement Officer, said the town had taken a proactive approach from the very beginning to partner with rather than punish the local food service providers during the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown. He said the governor’s executive orders to reopen restaurants allowed a great deal of local discretion, making it possible for zoning and building officials and the fire marshal’s office to help get safety protocols in place well in advance of opening day. He said the restaurants worked hard to conform to the restrictions and offer outdoor and indoor dining.
Almost all of Middlebury’s 23 restaurants have reopened following the Covid-19 shutdown, but two have changed hands. 8-Fifty Wood Fired Pizza at 489 Middlebury Road was taken over by Anthony Dibona of Watertown along with three partners. The new owners are doubling the restaurant size, expanding into space previously occupied by Froyo Yogurt.
L Restaurant at 199 Park Road Extension did not survive the pandemic and closed after 11 years. It was owned by Linda Sirica, a chef at the former Emmanuel’s who took over the restaurant and named it “L” as a play on her first name. In its place will be an Italian-American restaurant, “Aldo’s of Italy,” a name familiar to those who remember Waterbury restaurants of the past. It is co-owned by Frank Loga, owner of the popular Bella’Gio Ristorante & Pizzeria in Cheshire, and chef Gregory Salinas.
Terrence McAuliffe is chair of the Middlebury Economic Development Commission.
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