The Smithy Cafe & Market in New Preston: A New Approach to Community Building

On a speck of Main Street in New Preston, the Smithy Cafe feels like it’s always been there. Coffee cups clink, steam hisses from the espresso machine, and customers pick up loaves of Farmers & Cooks sourdough while waiting in line to place their order at the counter. Across the street, in a 200-year-old former blacksmith shop, the Smithy Market carries the everyday and the aspirational in equal measure: bread, eggs and coffee, alongside gourmet Bridgewater chocolates from Brookfield, micro-batch Wonderland Jam made in Newtown, and East Street Arts handmade printed tea towels from New Haven.

What’s less obvious, until you sit down with owner Steve Shabet, is that none of this exists to turn a profit. Shabet, a onetime Wall Street executive, believes places like this keep small towns alive.

“I don’t make money doing this,” he says simply. “It’s give-back for the community.”

Shabet and his wife Rose moved from the Upper West Side to Darien, then in 2012, to Litchfield County, long before 25,000 New York transplants descended on the region during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike many newcomers, they didn’t stop at buying a house. Instead, Shabet started buying neglected properties—farms, barns, and houses that needed real work—and making them productive again. 

Today, in early 2026, his portfolio includes the Smithy Cafe, the Smithy Market, Sunny Meadow Farm—a 185-acre spread in Bridgewater he rescued from development, after the mayor came knocking at his door one afternoon—the Flying R Ranch (a nod to Rose), a sawmill, and rental housing scattered within minutes of New Preston. Together, they form an ecosystem that feeds itself. Sometimes, literally. 

Produce grown on Shabet’s farms (in all, there are more than 200 types of organically grown fruits and vegetables, from apples and beets to onions and spaghetti squash) is sold at the Sunny Meadow farm stand, delivered to area restaurants, stocked at the Smithy Market, and folded into soups, sandwiches, and salads at the Smithy Cafe.

“There’s limited waste,” he explains. “We’re growing it, selling it, serving it.”

The Smithy Cafe, with its indoor seating, cluster of picnic tables, 200-year-old silver maple tree, and view of the Aspetuck Falls, occupies a building that has lived many lives, first as a house, then as an antiques store, and finally, as a cafe, before Shabet bought both the business and the property in 2020. He made the purchase at the height of pandemic uncertainty, encouraged by the prior owner, Stephanie Ingrassia, who saw the success he was achieving at the Smithy Market, which he had acquired two years earlier in 2018.  

Inside, the menu skews “familiar, with elevated touches,” says Lauren Williams, the General Manager, who joined the business early on and has helped shepherd the market and cafe through their growth. The Lake Waramaug sandwich, with turkey and sprouts, is the cafe’s top seller. When it was cycled off the menu, customers demanded the cafe bring it back. Also popular: golden milk lattes, gooey grilled cheese, butternut apple soup, and a smash burger that’s earned a spot on the specials board for months.

Shabet is obsessive about how the room works. (And it’s a lovely room: wood milled at the farm and ranch make up some of the shelving and furniture; antique farm equipment pulled from hedgerows is restored and mounted on granite pedestals). He often sits quietly at a corner table, watching how people move through the space, observing where plates pile up and whether someone uses a phone flashlight to see the pastry case. That’s how he gets ideas for improvements, and how several innovations were born: a “fixings” table with condiments, lighting for said pastry case, a spice rack that doubles as a buffer between customers and the kitchen, and a discreet table, measured down to the inch, where customers can return their dishes. “I just try to make it better,” he says. “I’m always asking, what do we need?”

The most striking part of Shabet’s operation, however, has nothing to do with food.

Like many restaurant owners in Litchfield County, staffing poses a challenge. Housing is scarce. Rents are high. Instead of accepting those constraints, Shabet started doing something radical: buying houses. 

He now owns nine rental units within minutes of the cafe and market, rented exclusively to staff at cost and covering taxes and utilities, nothing more. Employment is tied to housing, which allows him to attract and retain workers who would otherwise be priced out. Shabet keeps his staff on year-round, even when winter sales dip.

“I don’t lay anyone off,” he says. “If I do, I won’t have them in the spring.”

The result is a workplace that has weathered the inherent ups and downs of restaurant life with remarkable humanity. 

Shabet mentors local producers, too. When a couple brought him a sample of maple syrup tapped from their property, he didn’t just stock it. He tasted it side-by-side with his own, guiding them on how to refine both their product and branding. Today, the couple sells their maple syrup at the Smithy Market. 

The Smithy Market has evolved dramatically since Shabet took over. For one thing, there’s now an upstairs loft gallery featuring rotating exhibitions by local artists, like Seth Stevens and Nancy Lazar. But the biggest change is that the market once stocked a handful of local products—now it carries thousands. During the pandemic, customers started asking for food that came from farther away, like lemons and avocados. The market obliged, and partnered with small distributors like Fair Goods and Hudson Harvest to meet the demand. It now carries spices sourced directly from women farmers, seasonal simple syrups, vanilla bean sugar, almond butter, mixes for English muffins and garlic herb focaccia, BBQ sauces, cutting boards made by Rob Turnquist in Gaylordsville, candles, signed cookbooks, and much more. 

But the market’s “small batch, high quality” ethos remains steadfast, says Williams. It’s not about trends, she explains. It’s about supporting people who are doing things the right way.

That commitment mirrors a larger sensibility in Litchfield County, one that is increasingly catching the attention of the wider world. Stories about the long-beloved area have appeared in publications both domestic and international, from Travel + Leisure to the Financial Times, as of late. Shabet is greeting the attention with aplomb. An ambitious expansion is already underway for 2026: the Smithys will open a farmhouse-style market in an old bank building in Bridgewater (sparing locals the hourlong drive into the next county to get what they need), as well as an expanded commercial kitchen space in New Milford, where they will host guest chefs and cooking classes, prepare food to be distributed at the Smithy Market and the new Bridgewater market, and launch a catering service. At the new market, there will be lots of basic food items as well as gourmet ones, along with prepared foods and gifts. Shabet is having fun with the space, and the plan is for the bank vault to be refrigerated so as to stock cheeses and smoked meats. 

It’s all quite exciting, and the openings mark yet another chapter for the Smithys. Even so, the core idea remains the same: feed people well, support workers, and give the town a place to gather. Judging by the lines at the counters, it’s landing. 

The Smithy Market 10 Main St, New Preston, CT

Things To Do in New Preston

• Eleish Van Breems Swedish antiques; an outpost of the Westport flagship. 11 Main St.

• J. Seitz A wide array of plush clothing and refined home goods. 9 E. Shore Rd.

• Plain Goods A gorgeously curated lifestyle store with home goods, ceramics, and clothing. 17 E. Shore Rd.

• Privet House Linens and other home wares with European flair, plus a vintage books section upstairs. 13 E. Shore Rd.

• The Smithy Cafe 9 Main St.

• The Smithy Market 10 Main St.