"People love the history," Ben Zirolli told CT Insider in September. He was explaining why the restaurant he co-owns at 1 Glen Hill Road in Sandy Hook brought back the building's old name. The quote also describes most of Newtown's dining news this year. The biggest openings of 2026 went into rooms where people in town have already eaten, picked up bagels or ordered a burger. Each one went to a new operator, often with the previous chapter still showing.
The next new restaurant site is somewhere else. It's a former wire factory on Church Hill Road, and the town had to change its zoning before a restaurant could go there.
Sandy Hook got its old name back
For 13 years the building at 1 Glen Hill Road was Foundry Kitchen & Tavern. The Foundry announced its last service for Sunday, March 29, 2026. The room didn't stay empty for long. By early August, the News-Times reported that Towne Hall Hospitality's food-service plan for a Red Brick Tavern had been approved. Only the health inspector's final walk-through was left. Red Brick Tavern opened in September, with Zirolli and John Gazzola as co-owners.
The name goes back further than the Foundry. Zirolli told CT Insider that the building was once The Red Brick Store, a general store selling dry goods and groceries. Local lore says Marilyn Monroe shopped there. The tavern took the old name back and kept parts of the bar. It also pours a drink based on the vintage champagne cocktail named for Monroe and Arthur Miller, who lived in nearby Roxbury.
The menu is New England comfort food: fish and chips, clam chowder and lobster rolls, plus a black-truffle mafaldine. Of all this year's handoffs, Red Brick is the clearest example. A building known for one restaurant went back to an earlier identity instead of starting over.
South Main Street, two handoffs and a rebuild
The same thing happened on South Main Street. At two addresses, a known room went to a new operator. At the third, the owner plans to rebuild.
43 South Main: the Farmhouse space becomes Two Hounds
Two Hounds Public House is in the former Farmhouse Restaurant space. Co-owner James Molina did what Patch called extensive renovations before a soft opening, then held a ribbon cutting on Friday, Sept. 11. In the restaurant's own words, "We are more than a coffee shop, bakery, café, restaurant, pub or bar." The room has couches, café tables, bar seating and regular dining tables.
That all-day idea shows up in the hours Two Hounds lists on its website:
- Monday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday, 6 a.m. to midnight
- Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The menu starts with breakfast burritos and breakfast sandwiches. Later in the day come deli sandwiches and grinders, fish and chips, cottage pie, chicken pot pie, meatloaf, pub appetizers and cocktails. Two Hounds says it cooks from scratch without processed ingredients and doesn't charge extra for gluten-free or vegetarian options. In early October, The Newtown Bee listed it among the participants in the town's Restaurant & Business Appreciation Week, scheduled for Oct. 16 to 25.
Two Hounds and Red Brick opened within weeks of each other, in September, and both serve fish and chips. One is in Sandy Hook and the other is on South Main. Both went into rooms people already knew as restaurants.
266 South Main: PopUp hands the keys to Fatto a Mano
At Plaza South, the handoff came straight from the departing tenant. PopUp Bagels closed its 266 South Main St. shop on Oct. 4. A company release said the brand had outgrown a space that served as both a store and a commissary. Founder Adam Goldberg started PopUp during the pandemic in 2020. The company has since grown from three shops to more than 50 nationwide, and the release credited the Newtown location with playing a big part in that growth.
"This little space played a huge role in getting PopUp to where we are today," Goldberg said in the release, as reported by CT Insider. "It feels special to hand the keys to friends who are ready for their own next chapter."
Those friends run Fatto a Mano, the Westport artisanal Italian bakery founded by Pierluigi Mazzella. It's known for naturally leavened sourdough, focaccia, panettone and pastries. Mazzella was named 2022 Baker of the Year by the Connecticut Restaurant Association. The release described the Newtown space as the place where Fatto a Mano "enters its own next stage of growth." The room that helped a Connecticut bagel brand expand is now passing to a Connecticut bread baker for the same purpose.
The plaza changed in other ways this fall, too. Greenwich Medical Spa opened at Plaza South on Oct. 6, with nurse practitioner Katie Kajtor leading the Newtown location, Patch reported.
71 South Main: JJ Stacks plans to rebuild
The third room didn't pass to anyone. It's being rebuilt. JJ Stacks, owned by Joe Attonito, started as a food truck and opened its 71 South Main St. storefront in April, serving burgers, hot dogs, wings and fries made from scratch. A fire on Aug. 2 destroyed the restaurant. Patch reported in September that JJ Stacks was serving at Woodbury Brewing Company five days a week, and that Attonito said the Newtown restaurant would be rebuilt from the ground up. The JJ Stacks truck page lists hand-stacked burgers, stacked hot dogs, wings, loaded fries and a limited breakfast menu.
The year's handoffs, by address
| Address | Before | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Glen Hill Road, Sandy Hook | Foundry Kitchen & Tavern, 2013 to March 2026 | Red Brick Tavern, opened September |
| 43 South Main St. | Farmhouse Restaurant | Two Hounds Public House, ribbon cutting Sept. 11 |
| 266 South Main St., Plaza South | PopUp Bagels, closed Oct. 4 | Fatto a Mano taking over the space |
| 71 South Main St. | JJ Stacks, opened April, destroyed by fire Aug. 2 | Owner plans to rebuild |
| 57 and 57A Church Hill Road | Former wire factory | Restaurants permitted since July; Froggy's Deli and Tomo 202 named as prospective tenants |
Church Hill Road needed a rule change first
The last row of the table works differently from the rest. Every other address on the list already had a restaurant in it, so the new operator inherited the use. At the former wire factory, 57 and 57A Church Hill Road, restaurants weren't permitted until this summer.
Town Planning and Zoning Commission minutes from July 2 identify the owner as 57 Church Hill Road LLC, the company of Danbury developer Anthony Rizzo Jr. At that point, renovation of the factory was underway and a new building was going up on the site. The commission approved a change allowing restaurants and medical offices on the property, as Patch reported. The minutes list the amendment's effective date as July 25.
Two names came with the approval. Froggy's Deli is a New York-style deli with a location in New Fairfield. Tomo 202 is an Asian fusion restaurant in Brookfield. Rizzo has been working with both as prospective tenants. The CT Post described the Froggy's plan as breakfast and lunch, with sandwiches, soups, breakfast sandwiches and coffee. Tomo 202 would serve lunch and dinner.
Church Hill Road has been changing on a smaller scale, too. The Wheels gas station at 47 Church Hill Road closed for good on March 31 after more than 60 years. When it closed, its manager said the site would not stay a gas station. Down the road at 111 Church Hill Road, barber Matt Gaudio is opening 1711 Barbers & Co. on the building's lower rear level, with a public ribbon cutting set for Tuesday, Nov. 10. Nearby on Church Hill Road, the NorthEast Aesthetic Training Center at No. 34 set its grand opening for Aug. 14.
On South Main, a new restaurant can move in when an old one moves out. On Church Hill Road, the wire factory site needed a vote of the Planning and Zoning Commission before any restaurant could move in at all.
Where the rest of South Main fits
Not every new business on South Main this year serves food. Live New Wellness, run by James and Elizabeth Silva, opened an outpatient physical therapy clinic at 103 South Main St., Suite M3, in September. The Newtown Bee reported that the clinic works with active adults and young athletes in hour-long individual sessions. Together with Greenwich Medical Spa at Plaza South, it puts wellness businesses next to the restaurant handoffs on the same stretch of road.
Back to the food. An August roundup of new business filings in Patch included a quick-service restaurant registered as Main Moon Newtown. As Patch noted, a registration isn't the same as an opening.
For a Thursday dinner after this post goes up, the choices are Red Brick Tavern's chowder and Monroe cocktail in Sandy Hook, or Two Hounds on South Main, which stays open until 10 p.m. on weeknights and serves cottage pie. On Church Hill Road, the deli and fusion restaurant planned for the former wire factory are the ones to watch for next.
If you're curious how Newtown's new restaurants and storefronts are shaping the town, Heather Lindgren is happy to talk about it over coffee, maybe at Two Hounds. Contact Heather to discuss your next move.
