It’s been seven years since the last time restaurateur Bill Taibe opened a new restaurant in Westport. But that era is over: Bill’s latest concept, hi’Amba, a Mediterranean-inspired bakery/café/restaurant, will start welcoming diners early this fall. Of course, it’s not that Bill needed to open a new eatery—since splitting off from The Whelk and the former Don Memo last year, he’s been kept plenty busy between Westport’s Kawa Ni, Norwalk’s The Norwalk Art Space Café, and the Denver location of Kawa Ni—but when the space that formerly housed Basso became available, he couldn’t turn down the opportunity. “The thing I really loved about this building was that mezzanine level,” says Bill. The space's unique layout had actually been on his radar for years. “I wanted to do something a little broader than a restaurant," he says, "with more expansiveness, that would invite an all-day community. More like what I saw at the Art Space.” The split-level layout gave Bill a vision: a counter-service, a breakfast-and-lunch hangout zone downstairs, with great coffee, baked goods, sandwiches, salads, and a grab-and-go market, with a full-service area upstairs. “It’s very different than anything I’ve ever done,” Bill says. “But I just could not pass on the opportunity to push and challenge myself. It’s kinda fun.”
And fun is exactly what Bill and his team (general manager Branden Hahn, executive chef Karen Nicolas, pastry chef Michael Finehirsh, and collaborator Jason Epstein) want hi’Amba to be. In fact, the “hi” in the name, Bill says, comes from a piece of scientific trivia that people naturally smile when they say the word “hi.” (And yes, he does tell me this with a smile on his face.) Amba, meanwhile, is a traditional fermented mango condiment, infused with fenugreek and turmeric, found throughout Middle Eastern cuisines. “It tastes a little bit like yellow mustard, but more interesting,” Bill says. Amba has a second significance, too: it also means “goddess” or “mother” in Sanskrit. “We're creating this cafe that is going to be open all day, and focused on taking care of the community. What does a mother do? What does a goddess do? I like the idea that we’re here to take care,” he says. “I'm super excited to create something where folks can get that really high-quality experience they expect from a place like Kawa Ni to start their day.”
One key area where that ethos shows up is in the ingredient sourcing. While Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food, by and large, focuses on fresh, wholesome ingredients, Bill’s team is making simple, excellent quality a hallmark of hi’Amba. “What I love about this region of the world is they use the simplest ingredients, but with the spices, and the vibrance, and the warmth, it can transform a carrot into the most delicious thing,” says Bill. “In learning this cuisine, we’ve gotten so excited about vegetable preparation, using the Westport Farmer’s Market for sourcing when we can.” You’ll also find sweet and savory laminated pastries, incredible homemade man’oushe flatbreads, Ilse coffee, egg dishes, and much more. The grab-and-go area will have hummus and dips to go, and there will be a market of curated items highlighting ingredients the hi’Amba team loves to cook with themselves. “This is really how I cook when I’m at home. Being really particular about quality, and being careful not to overcomplicate and manipulate that quality.”
Ultimately, Bill knows what Westport diners are looking for in an establishment—and he knows how badly a place like hi’Amba has been needed, particularly after spending a few years focused on Kawa Ni’s Denver outpost. “When you step outside this community for a bit, it makes you realize how amazing this place is,” Bill says. “The concept has deliberately been left kind of open, so we can figure out what people really want. What I want is for hi’Amba to make Westport more well-rounded, and enhance this incredible community.”
hi’Amba is located at 33 Jesup Rd. For more information, follow @XX or visit XX
“This is really how I cook when I’m at home. Being really particular about quality, and being careful not to overcomplicate and manipulate that quality.”
“What I love about this region is they use the simplest ingredients, but with the spices, and the vibrance, and the warmth, it can transform.”