by Gretchen Webster
WESTPORT–Patrick Jean, the general manager of Nömade Restaurant; Ciara Webster, his investment partner, and Nömade Chef Zoli Kovacs are planning to open their third Main Street restaurant this spring in the former Rye Ridge Deli, 159 Main St. The trio already owns the restaurant Anan, now under construction at 190 Main St., as well as Nömade at 150 Main St.
Each of their restaurants will have a different personality, Jean said in an interview on Thursday.
“We don’t compete with ourselves,” he said. Nömade has a menu with an international flair, Anan will be serving French Vietnamese food, and their newest addition in the deli space will be called Luya, which will be more informal, with casual dining, including breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“It will have a diner kind of vibe … a family spot,” Jean said, serving items like smoothies, healthy food and diner food, he said, plus carry-out food.
The Rye Ridge deli was open for about four years, Jean said, then was rented by a new proprietor, but it didn’t work out. The popular Oscar’s Delicatessen was in the space for many years before that. “It’s a hard business,” he said. “You have an idea, a concept, and you hope it works. It’s a challenge.”
One challenge for the three partners has been the construction to remodel Anan, a project which began in 2024, and is still not complete. The building, which formerly housed the restaurant called 190 Main, was built in 1852, according to the town’s Historic Resources Inventory. Plans for the renovation have gone before the Historic District Commission and the ZBA, as well as to the P&Z.
Jean said he hopes Anan will open in the spring, around the same time that they expect the new Luya to open.
Nömade opened the summer of 2022 in space occupied for many years by Tavern on the Main, and Chez Pierre before that. Nömade’s distinctive interior and varied menu attracted diners right away. Jean, previously the manager of La Plage Restaurant in Westport, and before that at the French restaurant St. Tropez in Fairfield, is happy to be starting up yet another food establishment.
“We’re excited to do something else for the town that they will enjoy,” he said.
Gretchen Webster
Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, has reported for the daily Greenwich Time and Norwalk Hour, the weekly Westport News, Fairfield Citizen and Weston Forum. She was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman for ten years. She has won numerous journalism awards over the years, and taught journalism at New York University and Southern Connecticut State University.
Congratulations Patrick Jean and Ciara Webster! Cannot wait for these two new restaurants. I have missed French Vietnamese cuisine since the fabulous days of Le Colonial in NYC. Also great news that Main Street is getting a diner.
This pair is a positive force for downtown Westport, creating great experiences for patrons and jobs during a bleak jobs market.
I wish you the best and I hope to be among the first at Anan and Luya.
Joe Vallone puts his finger on the problem with permitting off site affordable units. It allows the developer to identify properties which are already “affordable” (i.e. those of lesser value) and use them to meet their affordable quota without in fact increasing the number of affordable units town-wide.