Raven Blake and Tryone Jones bring out a fresh Veggie Lovers’ pie.
Allan Appel Photos
Mayor Toni Harp, Gideon Gebreysus, Paul McCraven, Lauren Zucker cut Petals Market ribbon.
Blossoming. Sprouting, Spreading. Growing. Flourishing.
No one could resist the floral and botanical metaphors Wednesday afternoon as 50 celebrants marked the opening of a new Dixwell eatery that combines fresh pizza (even for breakfast) with job-training and community-development efforts.
The scene was the new Petals Market, at 100 Ashmun St., at the corner of Ashmun and Lock. It is the third local eatery, and first neighborhood grocery, opened by the economic development arm of the job-training organization Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology (ConnCAT)
ConnCAT culinary students and graduates at the event served up fresh pizza, including the amazing Breakfast Pizza, which features fried glistening fried eggs and bacon floating on a sea of cheese.
On nearby platters were home-baked chocolate chip and cranberry-orange cookies, and fresh apples and oranges and grab-and-go sandwiches.
The restaurant/grocery sits near two new Yale residential colleges and the Yale Health Center, and in the midst of a Dixwell neighborhood that is something of a food desert.
Yale Associate Vice President for New Haven Affairs and University Properties Lauren Zucker approached Science Park-based ConnCAT a year ago to consider turning the Yale property, which had been used for construction, into a neighborhood market.
The timing was right. ConnCAT had recently created ConnCorp, the economic development arm of the job-training and cultural center, in order to complete the circle: not only to train unemployed and under-employed young people for jobs, but to help create those jobs, said ConnCORP CEO Paul McCraven.
Roll the clock ahead a year, and the market shelves are stocked with milk and cereal for local moms, healthful stuff for the area’s graduate students, and fresh pizza created by Kitchen Zinc former chef Jeff Gennerella.
The Breakfast Pizza: scrambled eggs, bacon, green onion, ricotta, and EVOO.
ConnCORP already operates the Orchid Cafe in Science Park, where its students train, and has recently taken over the cafe at the Ives Main Library. Petals Market will be its first market, said McCraven.
The concept is two-fold: Making a profit while contributing to job creation and community revitalization.
“To engage folks and get them on a better economic trajectory,” as McCraven put it .
ConnCORP Vice-President for Food Operations Gideon Gebreysus said the three businesses employ about 22 people, including graduates of ConnCAT’s culinary program along with neighborhood people.
As she munched on a macadamia chocolate cookie, baked by ConnCAT students, Yale Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and Director of Graduate Student Life Lisa Brandes called the market a godsend for the 3,000 graduate students in her charge, 85 percent of whom live off campus and are often on the run.
The store stocks no alcohol and no tobacco, reported Raven Blake, ConnCorp’s food operations manager. In addition to the delicate pizza, the offerings include grab-and-go paninis and fresh produce. The store errs on the side of organic products and healthy teas and fresh produce.
Customers have asked for hot soups and hygiene products like toothpaste. Those are on the way, said Gebreysus.
As he and Raven Blake brought out a freshly made Bianca pizza (mozzarella, spinach, ricotta, caramelized onions and EVOO, or extra virgin olive oil), Tyrone Jones praised the place for giving him an opportunity to put into practice what he learned at ConnCAT’s culinary program: not only how to prepare food, but how to run a kitchen and how to manage the business side of a food operation.
The market, which also does catering, is open from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. on weekdays, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sundays.
In her remarks welcoming the Petals Market to her Dixwell ward, Alder Jeannette Morrison praised both the convenience and the job opportunities. She confessed she doesn’t cook much anymore and suggested the market even increase its hours.
ConnCORP, which rents this property from Yale, has also been buying up Dixwell Plaza with a revitalization in mind. “You’ll hear more from us soon,” McCraven promised.