“Magic Place” Claims Small-Biz Honor

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal stopped by Atticus Market to pick up a loaf of bread — and to celebrate the longtime local family-owned business’s recent award from the federal government. 

The state’s senior U.S. senator made that lunchtime visit Friday afternoon to the cafe/bookstore/fresh-food market​’s East Rock outpost at 771 Orange St. 

He did so to present Atticus CEO Charlie Negaro, Jr. with a certificate of special recognition from the U.S. Senate in honor of Atticus winning the U.S. Small Business Administration’s award for Connecticut family-owned small business of the year earlier this month.

“I’m so impressed by what your dad and you have done in building a really great business with really good food,” Blumenthal said from the market’s sun-dappled patio. 

He commended Negaro not just for the East Rock market — which opened last year and which sells sandwiches, salads, pastries, bread, fresh produce, and new food products made by local entrepreneurs — but also for Atticus’s original Chapel Street bookstore and cafe, and its related Chabaso bakery on James Street.

“It’s just a magic place,” the senator said as he recalled the many times he and his family have visited Atticus for a cup of coffee, a loaf of bread, and a book or two over the years. ​“It just has an ambience and an atmosphere and a spirit that is unique. And it’s a destination in New Haven, and in Connecticut.”

Negaro described the federal small-business award as a bit ​“intimidating,” but also a ​“reflection of the hard work” put in by the 70-plus full-time and part-time employees who work at Atticus across its Chapel Street and Orange Street locations.

Click here to read a full story about Atticus’s nearly five-decade-long history in New Haven.

And how are things going one year into Atticus’s branching out into a fresh-food and grocery market in East Rock? 

Negaro and Atticus Communications Director Reed Immer said the new store has been a hit.

In addition to running a brisk lunchtime sandwich-and-salad business, and selling out pizza nights on Thursdays and Fridays, the CT Food Launchpad initiative has proved to be a particularly successful way to market, sell, and promote locally made food products — like Kwame Asare’s Oh Shito! hot sauce.

East Rock resident and Atticus Market regular Luke Harrison (pictured at top of article) praised the neighborhood food spot as he dug into a ​“classic chicken cutlet sandwich” and his mom, Lisa, at a chicken caesar salad at one of the metal patio tables outside of the store’s Orange Street entrance.

What keeps him coming back to Atticus? ​“Quality ingredients,” Luke said. ​“Good sandwiches.” Tasty baked goods, particularly the apple scones. 

“It stands not just for good food and coffee,” Blumenthal said earlier in his Firday visit, ​“but also for culture and learning, which is kind of Connecticut.”