New Gourmet Eatery, Kitchen Now Open In Westport

WESTPORT, CT — Mystic Market kitchen and eatery in Westport has only been open for one week, however it has already quickly become a popular breakfast, lunch and morning or afternoon coffee destination. According to General Manager David Griswold Jr., he and his team have already seen consistent lunch rushes since opening Feb. 25.

Located at 60 Charles Street down by the interstate, Mystic Market also has two locations in Mystic and one in Old Saybrook. The store offers customers a wide variety of sandwiches, soups, salads, desserts and even gourmet prepared meals, all made in house with fresh local ingredients.

"There really is nothing like this in town," Griswold said moments after facing a Friday lunch crowd. "Between the meals and the sandwiches and the salads, there’s just so many moving parts. The back of the house operation, just to build all the food and make it all is a massive operation."

Griswold should know. He has spent more than a year helping make the new market a reality. He first got involved with Mystic Market about four years ago when he helped revitalize the Old Saybrook store, which at the time was struggling. (To sign up for Westport breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

"The store just wasn’t doing well," Griswold said.

Eventually he was able to turn things around, so much so that he was asked to help build the Westport location from the ground up. Griswold said he had a hand in so many aspects of the new market, including picking out the decor and flooring, that it feels like a child to him.

"I’ve put so much time and energy into this place," Griswold said. "I worked every day this week, open to close, and until my team feels solid I’m not leaving their side. I want to make sure they feel 100 percent confident before I take any time off."

Mystic Market was founded by Charles Spathakis in 1993, and is part of the Coastal Gourmet Group. According to Spathakis, the Westport market came from a desire to open a store further down south in Connecticut.

"Everything kind of came back to Westport," Spathakis said. "The town is beautiful, being on the water, and the community seemed to be an ideal match."

While there is no shortage of options when it comes to food in Westport, Spathakis pointed to two things that help Mystic Market stand out: quality and service.

"It’s really the quality of our food that sets us apart," Spathakis said. "We use quality, locally-sourced ingredients and we put a lot of talent in the kitchen, and our service is second to none."

Among the varied items offered at the market are a wide selection of sandwiches, such as the "Bronx Bomber," featuring house-smoked brisket, Swiss cheese, caramelized onions, dill pickles and a grainy mustard on rye bread, or a bahn mi featuring roasted pork, crispy pork belly, cucumber, shallot, carrot and cilantro slaw on a baguette.

Anyone looking for something lighter can help themselves to a cup of butternut bisque, smokey beef chili or shrimp and corn chowder depending on the day's selection, or perhaps one of the many salads offered at the market, including both curry and Thai chicken salad.

Croissants, large cookies and other pastries are conveniently located near the coffee, provided by Illy. There is even a seating area where customers can eat their food, get some work done or simply hang out and chat.

"I’m hoping that this becomes a hang out spot for people; that they love the food and come in a lot," Griswold said. "We want to build a presence in Westport. We want people to think of us as their neighbors."

One side of the store features a wall of coolers that house a plethora of prepared gourmet meals customers can simply bring home and heat up, however they are far from a standard microwave dinner.

"You can go to some places and they will have a few meals, but we have a vast amount of them, with different recipes ranging from comfort food to health food" Griswold said. "There’s a ton of different options for whatever taste you like or whatever dietary issues you have."

The wide selection includes Swedish meatballs, chicken parmigiana, roasted butternut squash and goat cheese pizza and even lobster cobbler among many others.

"People want groceries, but if you try these meals you’ll see that we already made the meal for you. You don’t have to cook, " Griswold said. "I think the recipes are super solid. We go through really good purveyors so the ingredients are good and it’s always going to be really fresh."

One other thing that you can count on at Mystic Market aside from a wide variety is helpful service with a smile.

"Customer service is super important to me," Griswold said. "The team I hired, they all have really good hearts. That’s really what I’m looking for; just kind people who really want to help others."