By all outward appearances, Seasons Eats looks like your typical lunch takeout storefront. Looking through the window, you witness chaotic swarms of downtown types picking up a salad or sandwich to take back to their desks. But peer a little closer and discover a culinary gem that defies categorization.
"We're not a deli. We're not a sandwich shop," says Phil Costas, a New York Times Three Star chef, who with his wife Liz, runs the place. “Maybe we're a cafe. I don’t know. We keep evolving.”
That’s why the Costas have just changed the name from Katie’s Gourmet to Seasons Eats. What started as a gourmet specialty shop 16 years ago, an offshoot of their highly successful American restaurant Kathleen’s, has become a… I don’t know, maybe the best word for it is indeed “Eats.” In this tiny 1300 square foot storefront, Phil and his five elves serve nearly 1400 delightfully inventive breakfasts, lunches and dinners a week.
Having been in Westport for almost eight years, I am definitely enjoying all the hip, new restaurants popping up like wild mushrooms, from California fusion to country chic. I love the innovative foods, inventive cocktails, the trendy decor and the chance to hang out with people who are far more interesting than I am. But sometimes I crave a little old school, mom-and-pop, and a diversion from my mostly vegetarian ways. After driving past Art’s Deli on the Post Road, I finally went in, and discovered a wonderful new, old place. It seems that in spite of all that has changed, what’s old has become new again. But this time, it’s better than ever.
Carly Monson is our roving 10 yrs old food critic. She hopes to get Fairfield County kids excited about eating in new venues like this one...
Are you starving for some classic deli food? Then get in the car and head on down to Rye Ridge Deli in Stamford, CT. As soon as I got there I knew exactly what I was going to order, Matzo Ball Soup and half a sandwich of corn beef and half a sandwich of pastrami on white bread. Before the waiter even came to take my order we got two bowls of pickles one bowl had half sour pickles the other had sour pickles.
What to call it?
