Large Brewpub And Beer Garden Approved For Danbury's West Side

DANBURY, CT — The city Planning & Zoning Commission unanimously approved a large brewpub and beer garden on the city's West Side.

Elicit Brewing Company will move into the 14,000-square-foot retail space vacated by Barnes & Noble last spring. The bookseller had been a tenant at Danbury Square Plaza on Backus Avenue for 31 years.

The cafeteria-style eatery entered the meeting Tuesday night "approved in virtually every respect as a restaurant except for the ability to serve liquor," according to Planning & Zoning chair Theodore Haddad. The new establishment raises the occupancy rate of the Danbury Square Plaza to 71 percent.

According to the floor plans shown during the meeting, Elicit Brewing Company in Danbury will seat 422 patrons, with the beer garden alone accommodating just over 100 revelers.

"I haven't seen any outdoor dining as large as this one, so this is going to be unique to the city," 6th Ward Councilman Benjamin Chianese said during the public comment portion of the meeting. "And I think it's going to have a positive impact."

The brewpub is part of Eli's Restaurant Group, founded in Hamden in 1994. The company also operates three casual dining eateries in Hamden, Branford and Milford, and a pizza restaurant in Hamden.

The latest Elicit Brewing Company will join sister sites in Fairfield and Manchester.

Menus at both establishments reflect imaginative pub fare and extensive drink and craft beer menus. Brews named "Marriage Counseling," "Botched Facelift," and "I'll Be A Monkey's Dunkel" share spigot-space with your Guinesses and your Pabst Blue Ribbons. The pub's online menu for its Manchester location shows 24 Elicit beers on tap, and another 18 not made by the home team also available on draft. The eats include all the pub food mainstays, as well as six kinds of miniature buffalo chicken biscuits, vegan falafel tacos and a tower constructed from Bavarian pretzels, served up with honey mustard and Elicit beer cheese.

The final approvals for Elicit come amidst a flurry of new business openings in Hat City. Eastern Mountain Sports has recently opened at Danbury Plaza, and the Danbury Fair Mall is enjoying a resurgence in tenants.