above: The Pub’s curated menu of craft brews, domestic and international wines and contemporary and classic cocktails includes a dramatic Smokey Espresso Martini.
Photography by Venera Alexandrova
It’s the smallest, cutest pub in the center of town. Seating 18, with sidewalk seating adding room for 30 people, The Pub’s soothing palette of blues and greens sets a tone of cozy, relaxed conviviality. Art, design, craftsmanship and attention to detail draw the eye everywhere; even the air conditioning ducts are clad in copper. CinemaLab’s design directors Kirsten Childs and Daniela Parker Bowles took their cues from the historic 1923 New Canaan Playhouse, sourcing unglazed Victorian tiles, salvaging a 100-year-old bar and lining a wall with a plush emerald banquette.
The smell of buttered popcorn wafts through the door of The Pub. Not a surprise, as it is located inside the New Canaan Playhouse, the gorgeously renovated 100-year-old movie house that recently reopened with two screening rooms. The Pub’s menu is intentionally small, and blends New England coastal with English comfort food, expertly prepared by Chef Luke Venner of Elm, located just down the street. Working on The Pub’s concept with CinemaLab CEO Luke Parker Bowles allowed Venner to step outside the realm of fine dining to create the pub burger of his dreams and crack the code of English “chips” (essentially American steakhouse fries) and refine them.
Before food, The Pub offers a more bountiful choice of drink, selected by bar beverage manager Javier Santoro, alum of the Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s empire. This is, after all, a pub—a family-friendly place to nurse a pint of craft brew or sip a glass of wine, perhaps trying a Pieropan Soave instead of the usual Sancerre. Santoro has also created a menu of ten classic cocktails, including a smoky espresso martini. (Moviegoers can take drinks into the screening rooms.)
Appetizers are shareable. The chef roasts fresh and briny East Coast oysters beneath a wasabi-tinged crust and sprinkles them with Meyer lemon juice, for a warm, buttery mouthful of sea minerality with a touch of heat. He pipes deviled eggs high with creamy, mustardy yolks, scattered with chives and Spanish paprika. They are soft, rich and satisfying. More virtuous yet still tasty, the smoked carrot hummus comes with crudités and grilled sourdough.
Caesar Salad features crisp Little Gem lettuce, parmesan croutons and anchovies. Chinois Chicken Salad—the Wolfgang Puck 1983 classic devoured by many a Hollywood star since then—is crunchy with cabbage, cashews and wonton strips tossed in a vinaigrette of honey mustard.
The two mains are Fish and Chips and the Pub Burger. Both come with Chef Venner’s cross-Atlantic chips/steakhouse fries, which he cuts into flat, long rectangles before deep-frying. Halibut is the white flaky fish inside the golden brown batter. The English are known for drenching the fish in malt vinegar, which The Pub serves on the side in a ramekin. Americans are more likely to spread on the remoulade, which the chef has spiked with chopped kimchi, adding a mild pickled tang.
The Pub Burger is the most popular, a thick patty of dry-aged Pat LaFrieda beef blend, simply topped with sharp English cheddar, crisp, shaved Vidalia onion and a secret sauce aptly named “Hollywood,” given The Pub’s location inside a cinema. Well-seasoned and juicy, the burger is served with sweet bread-and-butter pickles and the aforementioned luscious flat rectangles of golden-fried potatoes sprinkled with sea salt.
Dessert is sticky toffee pudding, a far cry from Luke Parker Bowles’ dreary English boarding school dessert memories. This rich, moist cake is drenched in Banana Dulce de Leche and topped with vanilla buttercream.
The Pub’s menu is also offered on the second floor in the Marquee Lounge for members. The Playhouse’s concession room, across the entry alcove and open to the public, serves coffee all day, and locally baked sweet and savory treats, like empanadas and cookies.
Parker Bowles wants The Playhouse and its public and private spaces to become places for people to gather or just hang out. They are available for private rental, too. Parker Bowles, who lives in Montclair, New Jersey, is a movie producer determined to bring back historic cinemas with pubs to the center of American cities and towns. New Canaan Playhouse is the fourth theater CinemaLab has opened, and more are slated.
A photo of Parker Bowles’ father Simon hangs on the wall of The Pub. He owned and operated the prominent Mayfair restaurant Greens from 1983 to 2016. Politicians and members of the royal family were frequent guests. (Simon Parker Bowles’ brother Andrew is the ex-husband of Camilla, the Queen Consort to King Charles III.)
The photo of Simon Parker Bowles “looks over the place, given his 60 years of experience in the restaurant world,” says Luke Parker Bowles. “The picture also reminds me to be a good host, a kind person and a professional operator. Just as he was and is.”
The Pub is indeed a place that invites one to linger over an early or late lunch or dinner. Alone, with a friend or in a group, it’s the kind of place where you’ll probably start chatting with a stranger. There’s a lot to talk about. There’s a really cool new cinema and pub in town.
Open every day beginning at 11:00 a.m.