Thomas Breen photo
Fred & Patty Walker, & freshly made sandwich.
Thirty-four years.
That’s how long Fred and Patty Walker have been married. That’s how long they’ve run Chestnut Fine Foods & Confections. And that’s how long they’ve graced New Haven with a creamy, crunchy, not-too-sweet, and all-too-satisfying Brie on baguette sandwich — which packs a particular punch in a pandemic.
The Walkers are the culinary duo behind a boulangerie and fromagerie and sandwich shop and homemade-dessert hotspot based out of a groundfloor storefront at 1012 State St.
The Morris Cove couple first opened Chestnut Fine Foods in Wooster Square over three decades ago. They’ve been selling freshly baked bread — and everything that comes with it — on Upper State Street for the past 18.
Since Covid-19 hit this spring, the Walkers have closed off any indoor seating. They have doubled down on what has long been the focus of their business: takeout and catering.
Take-out and delivery orders will prove crucial to the ability of local restaurants like Chestnut Fine Foods to weather the pandemic during the coming months as Covid-19 cases climb and cold weather sets in. You can order the Brie on baguette or another Chestnut sandwich or baked good for pickup or delivery at 203 – 782-6767 — and you can peruse everything they have at the market at chestnutfinefoods.com. The store is open every Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Facemask wrapped around her mouth and standing behind a counter boasting dozens of plastic-wrapped, homemade delicacies (to name a few: roasted Brussel Sprouts with olive oil; roasted carrots, parsnips, turnips, and beets; acorn squash stuffed with red peppers and cherry tomatoes; cranberry walnut wild rice; Moroccan meatballs; etc…), Patty said that Chestnut has managed to stay afloat these past eight months thanks in large part to the support of loyal, longtime customers.
“There are still challenges because most of our catering with Yale is not happening,” she said. “But oddly enough, we are still doing weddings and birthday parties and cocktail parties.”
Earlier on Monday, she said, she took two Christmas Party orders. But these — just like every catering order she and Fred fill these days — is quite a bit different than what they were doing before March.
“She’s doing a Zoom party,” Patty said about one recent order. “A Zoom cocktail party for 40 people.”
The customer put in an order for a host of appetizers. Each partygoer will come by the shop to pick up their own individually wrapped portion, take it home, log on to Zoom, and then enjoy each other’s company — remotely, while still noshing on the same goods.
“You do what you have to do to keep living in the world,” Patty said. “We’re very fortunate. We’ve had customers who have been coming for 34 years.”
One of the most popular sandwiches on the white erase board menu, and one that the Walkers have been making and selling for as long as they’ve been in business together, is their Brie on baguette.
For the two culinary maestros who helm Chestnut, the sandwich is a relatively simple one: Brie cheese, wholegrain French mustard mixed with honey, sliced toasted almonds, sliced fresh apple, Romaine lettuce, and baguette.
It’s this reporter’s favorite — and, according to Patty, a staple of the shop’s for the past three-plus decades — because of just how fresh each of the ingredients is, and how well the flavors balance each other out.
On rain-soaked Monday afternoon, Fred, who is the shop’s lead baker, and Patty, the head chef, talked this reporter through what goes into the sandwich — and some of the mainstays of their shop — as they prepared one. (OK, two. But I swear I only ate one, and brought the other sandwich home for my partner.)
First up is the making of the French bread. Fred bakes dozens of loaves of bread every day. The baguette is one of the simplest, he said. “It’s just salt, yeast, water and flour.”
“And he lets it proof overnight so it gets somewhat of a sourdough taste,” added Patty. “That’s kind of what makes it so different.”
(Click here for a previous Independent article that offers a step-by-step walkthrough of how Fred makes Chestnut’s distinctive baguettes.)
Some of the other most popular loaves baked at Chestnut are the Scottish Oat, Sesame Whole Wheat, and Country Herb.
Next up, Fred sliced some Brie cheese, spread wholegrain French mustard mixed with local honey (from Swords into Plowshares, Patty said, “that’s one of the flavors you taste instantly with the Brie”).
And added toasted, sliced almonds, sliced fresh apples, and Romaine lettuce.
While Chestnut does deliver, Patty said, they don’t use GrubHub or UberEats. They and their staff of three deliver the food themselves.
“We have our van, and we load up our van” and drive the food to whoever has ordered it, she said. They also cater, even during the pandemic.
“We’re trying to fight out way through this,” Fred said, by setting up plexiglass partitions throughout the shop, by “sanitizing everything.”
“We’ve had our angels,” he said about the longtime customers who have kept ordering from Chestnut even throughout the pandemic. When all of this craziness is over, he said, he and Patty have a long list of friends and customers to whom they’ll be reaching out in thanks for keeping their business going well into their fourth decade.
Previous coverage of recommended take-orders to help keep local businesses survive the pandemic:
Fred and Patty and Chestnut Fine Foods are a New Haven treasure. Everything is first rate, including their gentle hospitality.
Long may they thrive!