New and expanded dining coming to Olde Mistick Village
Mystic — At some point, Mango’s Wood-Fired Pizza Co. outgrew its oven.
“I never thought it would be as successful as it’s been,” Stefan Ambrosch said of the Olde Mistick Village restaurant he opened in 2010. “Then, the question became, ‘Do we go bigger?’ I’ve been fighting that for three years.”
In the meantime, Ambrosch doubled down on the village, opening Vault Coffee Roasters in the outdoor mall that comprises more than a score of buildings. Now, he’s about to move Mango’s into a bigger space, one that Taylor’s Sports is vacating next month in favor of another spot in the village. Ambrosch plans to add a gourmet ice cream shop in the new Mango’s location, and has an idea for another restaurant, perhaps Mexi- can, in the original Mango’s space.
And that’s not all that’s in store for the village.
Ricky and Tai Au, the husbandand-wife owners of Thai Sawasdee Authentic Thai Cuisine in Groton and The Spice Club in Niantic, plan to open Pink Basil, their third restaurant, in a village building the Washington Trust Co. vacated two years ago. Ambrosch originally had eyed the former bank for his coffee shop, which explains where the shop’s name (Vault) came from.
Ambrosch, who last year became president of the Olde Mistick Village Merchants Association, said ventures like Pink Basil and his new restaurant location promise to infuse the 41-year-old shopping center with “fresh energy.” He said the idea is to have the new businesses in place by the time the village hosts its first TasteofMystic, theannualfood-and- entertainment fair that gave way to Mystic Eats, a downtown food festival, in 2014.
Pink Basil is expected to debut in February or March, while Mango’s is likely to open in its new location in April or May, according to Chris Regan of Regan Enterprises, a general contractor and the village’s property manager.
The Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce’s 2015 Taste of Mystic is set for June 12-14 at the village.
By then, Ambrosch noted, all of the leasable space — some 40 shops and more than a half-dozen restaurants as well as other businesses, including the Olde Mistick Village Art Cinemas — will be occupied.
“It’s going to be much larger than in the past,” Ambrosch said of the upcoming Taste. “We’re going to have large tents in the back parking lots, where we’ve got a huge amount of space for restaurants (to exhibit) and bands. It’ll be a much more festive atmosphere, with great visibility from the highway.”
As might be expected of one who will eventually run four businesses in the village, Ambrosch is bullish on the place.
“I’ve lived in the Mystic area since I was about 4 or 5 years old,” he said. “I remember shopping in the village and going there with my mom when I was a kid. When I was a teenager, the movie theater was a big hangout spot for us.
“I do what I do on the merchants association because I genuinely love the village. Yeah, there’s a lot of changes going on, but at the same time, there’s not a lot of change going on. ... It’s rare to find a place that does stay the same— enough.”