I have been frequenting Baldanza since discovering it in New Canaan last summer. I love that it is tucked away off Elm Street - so when I take friends they are always pleasantly surprised. When the weather is warm, I sit outside with my dog, drinking great coffee and eating fresh pastries. Baldanza Natural Market Cafe has European charm. I also really like the owners - Angela and Sandy Baldanza. Sandy, who is normally Front of House is extremely passionate about fresh, local produce. He has shown me freshly laid farm eggs, his latest pasta machine imported from Italy and can tell you exactly which farms his ingredients came from that day.
Baldanza was recently reviewed by Patricia Brooks, for The New York Times and what a glowing critique! When I spoke to Sandy about it, he was his usual modest self - wanting only to highlight the great culinary skills of his Chef, Kender Urena. This award-winning chef, formerly at Bistro Bonne Nuit (before it closed) has helped elevated the dishes and menu to dizzy, new heights.
Baldanza has recently stopped opening for breakfast during weekdays and is instead concentrating on lunch and dinner service. So if you haven’t visited yet, now is your chance. Be sure to book in advance, because those New York Times readers certainly are. Baldanza new opening hours are:
Monday through Friday - 11:00am - 9:00pm.
Saturday (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner) - 8:00am - 10:00pm.
Sunday Brunch - 8:00am - 4:00pm.
Patricia Brooks, New York Times Review
“The first things we learned after sitting down to dinner at Baldanza Market and Cafe in New Canaan was that Brian Williams had dined there the week before and that the table at the entrance had once belonged to Faye Dunaway.
This information was imparted to us, not with braggadocio but with exuberant excitement, by our young waiter, Alex Baldanza, son of the owners, Sandy and Angela Baldanza. Such excitement permeates this locavore cafe, which opened in July 2013, where almost everything has a farm-to-table freshness and is made on the premises. Baldanza is small, but Sandy Baldanza likes it that way: “We aim for warm and fuzzy,” he said.
Freshness is a key ingredient at Baldanza. Eight farms, listed on a blackboard in the cafe entrance, provide most of Baldanza’s fresh ingredients. The breads, from Norwalk’s Wave Hill and several other area and New York City bakers, vary from order to order, day to day.
First came appetizers: a fresh-tasting tomato-goat-cheese tart with caramelized onions, pesto and tiny brown Catalan arbequina olives, and Riverbank Farms kale salad interwoven with pine nuts and Spanish manchego cheese, dressed with lemon preserve and extra virgin olive oil.
Two of our entrees were just as delightful: wild Alaskan salmon (barely cooked, as desired) a la plancha, resting on a hillock of organic fingerling potato purée ornamented with tiny broccoli florets. Almost as appealing were the plump sea scallops from Stonington, Me., shielding a potato with chives purée under a spectral swirl of truffle vinaigrette.
A third entree, risotto primavera, embroidered with peas, asparagus and zucchini, had good flavor, but it was more an ordinary rice dish, a tad too mushy for a true, cheese-edged risotto of Arborio rice.
While dessert was unnecessary after such a meal, we succumbed anyhow and savored a delicately crusted, smooth-as-satin crème brûlée; mixed fresh berries snuggled into a goblet of freshly whipped cream; and bananas Foster radiating the fragrance of Grand Marnier.
Lunch was just as bustling at Baldanza, but the menu was simpler.
On a cold day the escarole and bean soup made a no-nonsense, hearty starter, as did a second soup, potato-leek, which had a delicate, well-orchestrated flavor that grew more apparent with each spoonful.
For lunch entrees we enjoyed sandwiches like the Ortiz (yellowfin tuna salad with red onion, tomato and lettuce on a multigrain bread); the Rodrigo (organic grilled chicken breast — moist and meaty — accented by roasted red peppers in a balsamic vinaigrette on Wave Hill Tuscan bread); and the top sirloin (thinly sliced, augmented by horseradish sauce, with pickled onions on a toasted brioche bun). Using a different bread on each of these sandwiches gave an extra kick to the choices.
Lunch entrees are often salads, and the quinoa, with roasted red and yellow peppers, squash and zucchini slices and a few kale leaves, was a real winner, light, with diverse flavors, and very photogenic. We also enjoyed the beef chili, tucked under a blanket of melted cheese, though we would like it even better if it had more snap.
Finding Baldanza Market and Cafe nested in downtown New Canaan is half the battle. Now that I have found it, I expect to return again and again.”
To read the entire review, click HERE
Baldanza, 17 Elm Street, New Canaan, CT 06840 / 203 966 4000