The town’s Planning and Zoning Commission Thursday approved a new burger joint for the former Seymour Pastries and Cakes shop at 56 Pearl St.
Brothers Eang and Peter Ter, of Bridgeport, plan to open “The Burger Shack” by April.
It will be a take-out restaurant offering fresh, premium-quality hamburgers, Hummel hot dogs, chili dogs, curly fries, Asian and American-style barbecued pork ribs and a few Asian selections.
Given the economy, “I’m rolling the dice,” said Eang Ter, who emigrated to the U.S. from Cambodia in 1981.
The Seymour Pastries and Cakes shop was a bakery. He needed the commission’s permission to make it a take-out place. The commissioners gave it unanimous approval.
“This is a great community, and I’m really excited about being here,” Ter said.
Ter now manages a grocery store in Bridgeport owned by his father.
The neighborhood has no shortage of food choices.
John’s Deli is across the street, and a random spot check there Thursday afternoon shows it does a good business. There were at least a dozen customers in the place around 3 p.m., an off-peak hour.
As for the bakery, it was in business about a year but apparently did not command enough clientele to make a go of it. It had bakery bread trucked in from larger bakeries in Bridgeport, and baked its own cookies, pastries and cakes on site. Many of the pastries were Portuguese favorites.
Before it was a bakery, the place was a catering shop. Food has long had a presence at that corner, a road that leads to Ansonia and Woodbridge.
Commission Chairman Al Yagovane had a few questions about parking, but after being reassured by Town Planning Administrator Bob Looker that it was sufficient for a takeout-only business, with no seating arrangements, Yagovane was satisfied.
“Good luck to you,” Yagovane told the two brothers.
