Upper Crust Bakery & Café Opens Wine + Beer Cafe at Night – Darien, CT

As many dinner spots begin to make a change and offer breakfast and brunch options like Olio in Stamford, there are other restaurants in the area where there’s a different thing going on.  Case in point, Estia’s American in Darien started off with breakfast and lunch and slowly made their way towards dinner because they wanted to do things right and do them well.

Well, here comes Upper Crust Bakery and Café in Darien with a pretty big change.  They decided to change things up a lot and to expand into dinner service with fresh, seasonal, and healthy cafe options.  Another focus for dinner?  Carefully chosen pairings of wine and beer to go with your meal put together by Chef Jamie Pantanella.  Jamie was a chef at Ginger Man SoNo (check out this vid for his beer dinner) for 3 1/2 years and he has lots to share with the Darien community besides killer bagels, breakfasts, and lunches.  Here’s just a glimpse into some of the possible things that you might find on the menu.  We say might because Chef Pantanella wants to keep things changing with the seasons in order to get the best taste and best ingredients.  

• Charcuterie board with a choice of 2 cheeses and 2 cured meats for 8, or 4 cheese and 4 meats for just $15.  That comes with house made flatbread, fruit, and other seasonal goodies.  
• A nice variety of soups such as chicken and sausage gumbo that would be nicely paired with Cisco Whale’s Tale or even a Thai curry chicken.  
• A few seasonal salads such as the quinoa and baby spinach salad that has toasted pecans, dried apricots, currants, golden raisins, red peppers, and blue cheese in it along with a sweet chili vinaigrette.  
• Flatbreads and sandwiches are also on the menu including a grilled black truffle pecorino and rosemary ham that is made with caramelized shallots and green apple.  

Some of the beer that you can order are Cisco Whale’s Tale, Cisco Sankaty Light, Cisco Lady of the Woods, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Allagash White, Brooklyn Pilsner, and Brooklyn Oktoberfest.  Wines on the menu include Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Rose, Pinot Noir, and a Malbec all at $7 a glass or $26 a bottle.  

No doubt, Chef Pantanella has other dishes ready to create and share with cafe-goers.  In addition, be on the lookout for special events such as book club meetings, art exhibit displays, poetry readings, and cocktail parties.  Upper Crust Bakery and Café is definitely a place that we’d like to hit up when we just wanna chill, relax, and spend the night in a nice casual laid-back kinda way.  

Upper Crust Bakery and Cafe

Address:  980 Post Road

Darien, CT 06820

Phone:    (203) 655-7566

HOURS: 6 am – 3 pm Monday

6 am – 9 pm Tuesday to Saturday

6 am to 2 pm Sunday