Gates Restaurant Plans: Stage for Music, Local Artwork, Wood Oven

Jay Luther, the new owner of Gates Restaurant, says that when the eatery with entrances on Main and Forest streets reopens after renovations, some of the new features under active consideration are a wood-fired oven and rotisserie, a stage in the bar area for Saturday musical acts and walls with exposed brick and the work of local artists hanging from them, according to the New Canaanite website.

Luther is a partner in an 11-restaurant chain of restaurants with an Irish pub theme (although that won’t be the theme of the updated and renovated restaurant he’s planning), the report says.

A town resident since 2003, Luther said the purchase of the restaurant is one way for him to see more of his family, since he’ll be in town more to oversee its operations rather than travel quite as extensively as he does now for work, the website reported.

Luther said he wants to keep Gates recognizable as a longtime town institution while giving it a more contemporary feel, according to the report.

Correction: Jay Luther’s name was incorrect in an early version of this article.