New Hot Dog Restaurant, Bar To Open In New Canaan

NEW CANAAN, CT — Dominick Valente, a lifelong resident of New Canaan, remembers going to a local restaurant as a child and being excited by the pictures of various youth sports teams hanging on the wall in the lobby. To him, earning a spot of honor on the wall of a local business was as close to the professionals as one could get at that age.

"It was the greatest thing in the world," Valente said. "You felt like a professional athlete."

It is a feeling he has not forgotten as he prepares to open his own local restaurant, which will feature football helmets, hockey jerseys and, of course, pictures of local teams adorning the walls. (To sign up for New Canaan breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

Valente is currently in the finishing stages of opening The White Buffalo, a new restaurant he co-owns with fellow New Canaan residents Dave Tonkovich and Doug Harris. Though he could not officially give an opening date for the newest addition to downtown New Canaan, he said it is projected to soft open this weekend and officially open next week, pending final town approvals.

Located at 72 Park Street and accessible from Elm Street, The White Buffalo is set to feature a small but focused menu of fresh hot dogs, soft German pretzels, quesadillas, nachos and chicken wings among other items.

"We’re not looking to have a lot of items on our menu," Valente said, "but the items we have are going to be really tasty and good."

The restaurant will also have a full bar menu, featuring local beers on tap, cocktails, drink specials and an "unbelievable wine list."

The concept is a passion project for Valente and Tonkovich, who have known each other since childhood and are both now raising their own kids in New Canaan.

"Me and Dave have basically grown up together since kindergarten," Valente said. "We grew up playing ball together and all that stuff, and it had always been a dream of ours to open up a hot dog-type watering hole."

That dream became one step closer to reality when they found the Park Street location available this past summer.

Valente said the trio originally brought the idea before the town's Planning and Zoning Commission in September and began construction in November. With construction and painting now finished and a checklist of final touches from the town completed, the three owners hope to share their passion project with New Canaan and nearby residents this month.

"The town Building Department, the town Health Compliance Officers and the Planning and Zoning Commission have all been so helpful in this whole process," Valente said.

The atmosphere at The White Buffalo is designed to be family-friendly. As a father of four children who are all on sports teams, Valente hopes to see customers stop by on their way to and from games.

"It’s going to be a super casual environment," Valente said. "We expect to see kids coming in wearing their baseball uniforms and lacrosse pads. It’s going to be super casual; the kind of place you can go to after basketball practice."

Though the restaurant will be child-friendly, the hot dogs will be anything but kiddie fare. Valente said they come from a nearby butcher in Fairfield and, unlike ones purchased at a grocery store, only have a shelf life of about two weeks due to the "very little" amount of preservatives in them.

"This isn’t like the Oscar Meyer frank we used to eat when we were kids," Valente said. "This is a handmade hot dog from a well-known butcher in Fairfield, and he just uses the top products. He doesn't stuff the hot dogs full of fat and nitrates, and there’s a lot less fat than the hot dogs you would buy at a grocery store."

The restaurant will also have four big screen TVs, making it an ideal location for customers to watch a game with their family or friends.

"We’re just hoping the town embraces us, and we just feel like anything that will get more people into the downtown area is going to be better for everybody," Valente said. "We feel like there’s a lot of good hype around this place. People have been popping their heads in, they love the concept and they feel like New Canaan has needed something like this for a while. We’re happy to be able to give it to them."