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New Restaurant in Chester is Dream Come True for Young Couple

When Lani and Joel Gargano got married earlier this year, they moved from New York to Connecticut, then moved again and settled in Branford, and then decided to open a new restaurant in the old 1902 Chester Savings Bank Building at 6 Main Street in Chester.

“It’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride,” Lani Gargano says. “But we’re excited about where this is headed. We are grateful for the embrace the community has provided and how excited everyone has been so far.”

The new restaurant, which will be called Grano, likely will open at the beginning of November, ideally on or before Sunday, Nov. 11, if all goes well with the final touches in the space, and with the town permit process. The couple got a bit of a test run at a recent First Friday celebration in Chester, where Joel Gargano offered soup, and freshly baked bread, topped with the restaurant’s own cultured butter.

Soup, Bread, Butter, and More

“They cleaned us out in a short period of time. Everyone loved it,” Lani Gargano says. “It was so nice to see people so enthusiastic about just soup and bread.”

The restaurant, when it does open, will be serving the bread and in-house cultured butter as the gratis opener, and it will be serving soup, but there will be much more at the Italian eatery and bar as well, Gargano says. The focus will be on Italian food, all locally sourced and seasonally inspired with some contemporary and creative twists. There will be handmade pasta made on site with a recently purchased machine, along with antipasti, grilled meat and fish, creative and classic cocktails, and Italian wines.

The Son of Italian Bakers

Joel Gargano is originally from Branford, the son of Italian bakers, and grew up with people who loved food.

The pasta will not only be handmade, but the ingredients will be locally sourced along with the other food, Lani Gargano says.

“We are sourcing the grains locally and milling it ourselves. It will be our own flour and our own pasta. There will be no preservatives and it will be full of nutrients,” she says.

When the restaurant opens it will likely be for dinner only, from about 5 to 9 p.m. on the weeknights, and until 10 p.m. on the weekends.

“We’ll see how we do,” Gargano says.

Ideally, they would like to expand to lunch at some point as well. And, in the spring, they hope to add some outdoor seating to the 50-seat space available inside.

“The majority of the work is done,” she says. “We’re now stocking the bar and the service area. We started staff training yesterday.”

It’s all been quite a bit of work, but it’s been a lot of fun, too, she says.

“It’s a huge step for us. It’s very nerve wracking. But Joel is ready. Joel is very ready...this has always been Joel’s dream to make what he wants, when he wants to make it.”