Bill Taibe calls hi'Amba "the kind of place you want in your neighborhood and can rely on every day," according to 06880, which ran his description in late August. That phrase describes a daily stop, and the restaurant opened that way. When it soft-opened on Friday, October 9, in the old Basso space on Jesup Road, it served breakfast and lunch. Dinner was still listed as coming later.
hi'Amba isn't the only daytime opening this season. A bagel shop has signed a Main Street lease, and the town's best-known neighborhood deli is looking for a new operator. Downtown's two biggest days between now and Halloween also happen in daylight.
Downstairs, the bakery opens first
The building is 33 Jesup Road, an address also given as 76 Post Road East. Basso Restaurant & Wine Bar was there for 19 years before it closed in December. Basso's farewell notice set the last night as Thursday, December 18, 2025, after "nearly 19 wonderful years." That left the corner dark for most of 2026. Then in early September, the Historic District Commission and Architectural Review Board approved hi'Amba's signs at a joint meeting, as the Westport Journal reported.
CTBites' August preview described the plan as one building with three ways to use it:
- Ground floor: a counter-service bakery and a grab-and-go market. The market sells dips, prepared food, breads, pastries and pantry goods.
- Upstairs: a full-service dining room.
- Dinner, once it starts: shareable plates, including whole roasted fish and chicken.
The morning menu in that preview listed Jerusalem bagels, oven-fresh pita, man'oushe, pastries, eggs and shakshuka. For lunch, Taibe previewed big sandwiches, swordfish shawarma and lamb kebab among them, plus salads and dips such as hummus, baba ghanoush, muhammara and hindbeh. CTBites called the food Eastern Mediterranean, with flavors drawn from North Africa and Southwest Asia as well. The site explained the name as a mash-up that suggests a warm welcome and the comfort of being fed.
The soft opening matched the plan. 06880 reported that the place "was packed all day," and that people were eating the bakery goods, dips, salads, shawarma and skewers at tables inside and out.
Before you walk over, check the schedule. The same 06880 report said hi'Amba would close for a couple of days after its first weekend to get ready for the "actual non-soft opening." As of this writing, the hi'Amba website still says "Opening Soon." It lists breakfast and lunch, with dinner to come, and gives no hours or full opening date.
Why this opening has Taibe's full attention
Over the past few years, Taibe has cut back the number of restaurants he runs. In August, 06880 reported that he had sold his interests in The Whelk, in Don Memo, which is now Massi Co, and in Le Farm, which is now The Cottage. That left Kawa Ni in Westport and Denver, plus the Norwalk Art Space Café. The Whelk is still open. Its website credits Massimo Tullio with opening it and names Zack Hinman as executive chef.
Kawa Ni is an izakaya-inspired Japanese pub with dumplings, noodle and rice bowls, raw fish, whiskey and sake. CTBites tied hi'Amba directly to it, calling the new menu "Eastern Mediterranean Kawa Ni." The pub is Taibe's evening place. hi'Amba is the one that opens with coffee and pastries.
Main Street is getting a morning stop too
The other food news downtown also starts early in the day.
Pop-Up Bagels has signed a lease at 178 Main Street, the former Cold Fusion Gelato storefront. The Westport Journal reported on October 5 that the shop expects to open in early 2027, so it won't be selling bagels this fall.
Old Mill Grocery & Deli will soon have a new operator. Romanacci told the Westport Journal it won't renew its lease after three years at the deli. The owner, Soundview Empowerment Alliance, was talking with at least four possible replacements when the paper reported the change on September 17. No successor or handoff date has been announced.
Then there's the opening everyone waited for in the spring. Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana opened at 361 Post Road West on June 1, CT Insider reported. That was the summer's big pizza night. The fall's new arrivals are a bakery-café, a bagel shop and a deli looking for a new operator. Our August Westport guide covered the Post Road openings from before Pepe's arrived.
The two big Halloween days happen in daylight
Westport Restaurant Week runs through Sunday, October 18. That's the last stretch of a two-week promotion that started October 4, with 19 Westport restaurants and one Southport restaurant taking part, per the Westport Journal. After that, the two biggest downtown days are both in daylight.
| Date | Event | Hours | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Halloween Window Painting Contest | 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Participating downtown storefronts |
| Wed., Oct. 28 | Halloween Parade and trick-or-treating | Trick-or-treating from 3:30 p.m. | Main Street to Veterans Green |
| Thu., Oct. 29 | Parade rain date | Same | Same |
The Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce runs the window contest. Elementary and middle school students paint participating merchants' windows, either alone or in teams. They bring their own water-based paint, drop cloths and brushes, and they clean up afterward. Each merchant marks off a space up to 3 feet by 3 feet and leaves the art up through Halloween. Judges pick six winners over the next few days. According to 06880, the prizes go to the scariest artwork, the best Halloween theme and the most original design. The Chamber hasn't published a list of participating windows. The painted windows stay up from October 24 through Halloween.
Four days later comes the parade. The Town of Westport's special events page recommends it for children up to age 8. The route starts on Main Street, turns right onto Avery Place, then left onto Myrtle Avenue, and ends at Veterans Green across from Town Hall. DJ Kenny Michaels leads the Monster Mash on the green at the end. Children can trick-or-treat along Main Street and inside Town Hall starting at 3:30 p.m.
So within a single week, families with young children have two daytime reasons to be downtown. Both happen during the breakfast-and-lunch part of the day that hi'Amba opened with.
The evening calendar runs alongside, then carries into November
The after-dark events, starting in late October, are indoors and mostly at 7 p.m.
- Thursday, October 22, 7 p.m.: the 2026 Haskins Lecture with biologist Joan Maloof, presented by the Westport Library and Aspetuck Land Trust at the Library, 20 Jesup Road. That's a short walk up the street from hi'Amba.
- October 20 through November 7: the Westport Country Playhouse world premiere of "Ken Ludwig's Pride and Prejudice, Part 2: Napoleon at Pemberley." The run includes Pride Night on October 22, Opening Night on October 24, an open-captioned performance on November 1 and a Thursday TalkBack on November 5, per 06880's October 11 roundup.
- Monday, October 26, 7 p.m.: Kevin Flynn's "Fear of Heights," part of the Playhouse's Barnstormer series.
In November, the Library has two more evening events. The Westport Prize for Literature award ceremony and author conversation is on November 12 at 7 p.m. On November 14 at 7 p.m., the Library and the Chamber host a "Special Dead and Drinks Edition of Supper and Soul". Both are at 20 Jesup Road, on the same street as hi'Amba. Whether its upstairs dining room will be serving dinner by then depends on a date the restaurant hasn't announced. Until then, the plan is breakfast and lunch at the downstairs counter and market.
For updates on downtown and the rest of town, our Westport neighborhood page collects what we follow through the year.
If the hi'Amba news has you thinking about which corner of Westport fits your everyday routine, from Jesup Road to Main Street, Mary Beth Grasso and the team know these blocks well and are glad to talk it through over coffee. Contact Us.
