Sal e Pepe Opens To Express Crowd

People on the go have a new place to stop for breakfast or lunch and even a dinner entree to take home.

Angelo Marini, owner of the popular Sal e Pepe Contemporary Bistro, on South Main Street, recently opened Sal e Pepe Express, a fast food outlet next door to his restaurant, catering to residents and visitors who need a quick morning bite, noon meal or dinner to heat up.

"We are offering gourmet sandwiches for breakfast and lunch in our express business, starting at 7.30 a.m. Monday through Saturday," Marini said. "The express closes at 6 p.m., but dinner entrees to go along with fresh pasta by the pound will be available at our restaurant next door until 9 p.m. Monday though Saturday."

The restaurant kitchen is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday and 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday.

"People think of our restaurant when they want a leisurely, sit down lunch. This express portion will take care of the quick service some people want," Marini said.

Sal e Pepe, meaning salt and pepper in Italian, takes its name from the ceramic salt and pepper shakers, such as a hen and rooster or a baseball and glove, decorating each table of the restaurant and its express portion.

For breakfast, Sal e Pepe Express, which took over a space formerly occupied by a coffee shop, offers a burrito composed of scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, cheddar cheese and mild salsa wrapped in a jalapeno cheddar tortilla, for $3.95. 

Other items include egg sandwiches, costing from $1.75 to $2.50, depending on whether they are plain, with cheese or including bacon, ham, sausage or turkey. Bagels baked fresh daily may be ordered with butter or cream cheese.

The lunch choices include soups, salads, wraps, sandwiches and simple desserts such as muffins, cookies or brownies. There is a standard menu, but it is accompanied by a list of daily specials.

The overall menu offerings are eclectic, drawn from a wide spectrum, not just Italian. In addition to the Southwest or Mexican style burrito, they include an Oriental salad with crispy noodles and Mandarin orange segments, a Caesar salad which might include grilled chicken and the "yummy hummy," a Lebanese type wrap with grilled chicken, tabouli, hummus and lettuce.

Paninis cost $6.95, wraps, $6.50, and other sandwiches, $5.95.

Coffee made from fresh roasted and ground beans is available along with juices and soda.

Dinners to go in the evening may include meat or vegetable lasagna, veal, beef or lamb stew, chili, and various sauces and meat balls for pasta.

Marini and his wife, Renia, are no strangers to the lunch and breakfast trade having founded What's Cooking, a sandwich place on the Post Road, in Fairfield, nine years ago. They operated that business several years before opening Sal e Pepe restaurant, now in its fifth year.

Creating Sal e Pepe Express grows out of the success of the Fairfield venture and a number of popular sandwiches it offered, Marini said.

On a recent day, the express business hosted a steady stream of customers, who sometimes formed a line.

Chris Dubin and his mother, Linda Dubin, of Newtown, were among the patrons who chose seats on the patio out front to eat their sandwiches and sweet potato fries.

"The food is good. We'll come back," Chris said, between bites of a chicken cordon blue sandwich.

His mother, who had selected a egg, bacon and cheese sandwich on a fresh baked roll, said, "We're having a nice lunch. It made sense they expanded."

While some businesses have decided to contract in light of the tough economic climate, Marini said he sees the expansion as a good, opportune time to invest in a business, rather than wait until the economy heats up again when it would cost more money to make the addition.