Brandishing a big, beautiful bar, with dishes like foie gras and beef tongue on the menu, and serving patrons their food on vintage china, SoNo’s soon to be new restaurant, The Spread, is far from what you would call stuffy. Owners Chris Hickey, Christopher Rasile, Shawn Longyear, and Andrey Cortes are intent on a hip, fun, relaxed scene at their new digs.
“This is exceptional dining without the pretense,” Hickey said. “The Spread is for fun people to enjoy fantastic food, put your elbows up on the table and just have fun.”
The Spread will have a “no doubt about it” great bar with an inventive cocktail created by each of the partners/bartenders. The bar will also have a variety of wines and a few craft beers on draft like a seasonal Brooklyn and brown ale from The Shed in Vermont. Worth a mention for beer geeks is the custom made trough behind the bar to keep the brews ice cold. The guys at The Spread claim, “We’ll have the coldest beer around.”
As for that “fantastic food” mentioned earlier, The Spread’s kitchen will be run by Executive Chef Arik Bensimon, formerly of Stamford’s Napa & Co., and the menu will be organic and all about using local ingredients whenever possible.
While diners will surely enjoy the food and drinks, the space’s design is not to be overlooked and even includes a live garden on the dining room wall. The tables and some of the wall art is made from refinished barn doors from Bethlehem and that huge bar that you will find yourself at is reclaimed wood from a mill in Wilton. Keeping it local, even with the décor.
Excited yet? Can’t wait? Don’t fret. The Spread opens on Tuesday, October 23 and will attempt to make good on what Hickey believes could be something great. “SoNo is the ideal location for style,” he said. “We’re all familiar with the area and felt SoNo was lacking a place like this and we want to inject some life into the scene here.”
Your new hangout awaits.
The Spread
70 North Main Street
South Norwalk, CT 06854
(203) 939-1111
Photo Credit: Damion Patrignelli