The Haven Opens in Norwalk Featuring a Speakeasy, Rooftop, Cafe, and Event Space

The restaurant space on the corner of Washington and N Main has seen its share of flips.

Evarito’s had an over five-year run, then it was The Pompano for a blink. Drive or walk by it now and you’ll notice the dining room is empty-ish, but more like a clearing, and that the lights are on. And the lettering on the glass door reads, “The Haven.”

Behind all of those previous concepts, and behind The Haven, is Christian Burns, who you’re familiar with as the brains behind The Ginger Man and The Cask Republic locations.

With The Haven, Burns and his landlords, Joe and Aldo Criscuolo, are teaming up on all four aspects of what this is and what it’s going to be when it’s whole.

“This is a vision of Joe, Aldo, and myself,” Burns says. “They own the building and it’s my lease. The dining room is going to stay truly an event space for ONTHEMARC, who are the exclusive caterer for events there. Or us. We can use that space, too, but no one can do food in there except for them or us. There’s a separate room that’s an arcade that can be rented out with pinball, video games, air hockey, and Skee-Ball.”

But also…SSSHHHH! Or at least that’s the phrase (sound?) that The Haven is using for their speakeasy aspect.

And they really went all in on that idea.

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There’s even a separate entrance in the alleyway across the street from The Blind Rhino. Walk all the way down and you’ll see a door marked “Global Entry Passport Photos.” Enter, but don’t open the door once you’re inside, and don’t go past the curtain to your left as it’s an insurance company’s office. Instead, hit the button above the pamphlets and the wall slides open. Go past the black curtain and you’re in a sleek, sexy bar.

“My cousin, who’s a chef, said in like 2011 that none of us have ever done a speakeasy before, and he said that when they were barely popular, maybe there were a few like that in the city,” says Joe. “We had to wait on doing it because we had to fill up Evarito’s and we had to fight the state for the outdoor seating permit and for the liquor license on the rooftop. It took up a lot of time, then COVID hit, then it was slow everywhere. This was our window of time and we figured, let’s do it.”

Because this is a speakeasy concept, it’s only proper to begin at the bar. To run the program, Burns turned to Henrique Tofani who ran it back when it was The Pompano. Expect classics with a twist, like a smoked dirty olive martini, a gimlet with black pepper, and a variation of a bourbon Manhattan called “Hell’s Kitchen” with Buffalo Trace, Carpano Antica Vermouth, amaro, Angostura and smoked chili bitters, and charred orange peel. Beer, wine on tap, sake, and neat pours are available, too, or they can make you a cocktail of your choosing.

As for the food, think in terms of small, shareable plates, and…pizza, which makes sense if you peeped Joe and Aldo’s last name.

“My family owns Pizza Post, Nick’s in Stamford, and Heights in Darien, and Joe from Luca’s Pizza and Meatball & Co. is my cousin,” Joe says. “We’ve got a Marra Forni oven, so our pizza here leans Neapolitan, but it’s not true Neapolitan. Our dough is a mix of 00 which they use in Italy and (King Arthur’s) Sir Lancelot. It’s got an artisanal touch. Fermentation of our dough is cut shorter, like 6-8 hours.”

Burns picks up that thought, “We’re not going three-day fermentation because we don’t want a super puffy crust,” he says. “We want it a little crisper. It’s not just a pizza place. It’s a global mix, but leaning Italian, and we’re keeping a mix on the menu. Cocktails are a focus, there’s wine on tap, too, because I love the sustainability part of that.”

Early on, The Haven’s menu is mostly apps, pizzas, and an egg yolk raviolo, but it will soon expand, according to Burns, to include a strip steak with trumpet mushrooms, a double patty wagyu burger (cooked either “pink” or “no pink”) on brioche, cheese and charcuterie, house-made cavatelli, and we’re told there will be chicken parm.

Not part of the speakeasy that’s also coming soon is a café that’ll open next door to the dining/event space. Think along the lines of coffee, matcha and chai drinks, organic teas, smoothies (with add ins like protein supplements, lion’s mane, collagen, etc.) and food that’s on the health-conscious side like sandwiches, breakfast, chia seed puddings, overnight oats, and some pastry that’ll be partially done in-house, including the now trendy Korean salt bread.

What Burns also clued us in on is that the rooftop will return and that you will certainly see some Evarito’s throwbacks on it. I definitely asked about the nachos.

“People will recognize the spicy tuna tostada,” he says. “But nachos? Sure. Done! I still have three of my line cooks who worked there that are now here and I still have access to my main prep guy from back then. We’re remodeling it up there, putting in a pizza oven, and making it so it’s protected from wind or rain outs, with the same great views. It’ll be a casual, approachable vibe, fruitier cocktails, beers, some wine, and cocktail-focused like Evarito’s was. We’re definitely doing the margarita and maybe the Summer Breeze if you remember it, it was so popular.”

Until the café and the rooftop make their debut and re-debut, the speakeasy is open Tuesday through Saturday from 5 p.m. until “late night” as Burns mentioned he’s hoping to bring back some late nights to SoNo.

16 N Main Street, Norwalk
Follow The Haven on Instagram @thehavenct

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