Leah's Grill Closes, Other Doors Open

The closing of Danbury Road's Leah's Grill came as a surprise to most people - and was recently still a surprise to some town workers.

When called to ask why the former Sky Bar and Restaurant closed, the staff of the assessor's office did not even realize the bistro had shut its doors last month. After some investigation, they confirmed that the business was shuttered and that there was talk of a Chinese eatery opening in its place.

Eric Xie, a Wilton resident and owner of myriad nail salons and restaurants along the gold coast of the state, is the new owner of both the restaurant and the adjacent nail salon at 239 Danbury Rd.

The salon, called Charming Nail & Spa, opened last week to a receptive crowd, likely due to its convenient location that has housed several nail salons in the past - most recently Wilton Nail Spa. Mr. Xie hopes to have the "authentic gourmet Chinese" restaurant opened next door by late August. The plan is to serve high-end Chinese food with a full bar and takeout service available as well.

The salon is Xie's third. He also owns the Blue Lotus nail salons in Norwalk and Shelton and plans to open another by the same name in Wilton later this year.

The businessman also owns Asian restaurants in Redding, Westport and Norwalk.

In addition to being a businessman, Mr. Xie will be the chef for the forthcoming restaurant, tentatively called Village Gourmet.

He said that, although the economy is in a downswing, "it's a good time to open a business" since certain things can be purchased cheaply at the moment, whether it's through haggling, bartering or purchasing at a discount.

As far as the demise of Leah's Grill, Chamber of Commerce director Stephanie Barksdale proposed that perhaps they didn't have the customer base it would've taken to sustain the business.

"I think that the economy pushed them over the edge. If you don't market a business like that properly…" she said.

Barksdale noted that the owners had changed the name the year before to give the place a more family-oriented vibe but it just didn't gain the following they had hoped for.