Chez Jack Opens in Norwalk: Breakfast + Lunch with a Quebecoise Twist

Lunch sandwiches, like Jack’s Club (turkey, bacon, tomato, lettuce, Jack’s homemade mayo, and Swiss), all come pretty stacked and with a side salad or hand cut fries.

The strip mall right on the Norwalk – Wilton line, has a new tenant who’s come from Canada to do his thing.

Taking over the space (and some of the spirit) occupied for the past nine years by The Dilly Duck Shop is Chez Jack, where they’re doing breakfast, coffee, artisan sandwiches, and an authentic poutine, because there is a Quebecoise vibe scattered about the menu.

The “Jack” in Chez Jack is Jacques Talbot, a successful veteran chef and restaurateur behind the Cosmos restaurants (or resto-lounges) in Quebec City.

Jacques “Jack” Talbot and his son, Chris Samatar

“Before COVID I had four restaurants and a catering branch,” Talbot says.

Talbot, though, left out a detail that one of his three sons, Chris Samatar, filled in for his dad.

“When he went to Quebec City (from Bas-Saint-Laurent) his mother only gave him $100,” Samatar says. “He started with almost nothing.”

“When I met my now wife, I decided I wanted to go to the U.S., so I worked hard and saved money just to be with her,” Talbot continues.

Coffee is still a thing here, iced or hot, cortados, lattes, espresso, cappuccino, and iced teas, too.

The custom artwork you see inside is courtesy of the family’s cousin, Annie Theriault.

Now not only a father of three, but a grandfather of two, and after 40 years in Canada’s restaurant industry, Talbot is at a different stage in life, so he’s out of a larger restaurant operation and into a singular smaller one.

When he heard The Dilly Duck shop wanted to sell, Talbot, now a Connecticut resident, was interested.

“Phyllis and Russ (Zappala) wanted to sell Dilly Duck about a year-and-a-half ago, so I sold my part of Cosmos about four months ago,” he says. “I wanted a small business with less employees. I don’t need a big place anymore. We’re not trying to be too expensive. Real prices, but good ingredients.”

Chez Jack is putting the space’s rotisserie to use, roasting ham, chicken, pork, and this familiar roast beef sandwich with cheddar and caramelized onions. It’s very cheesesteak-like and a nice tribute to The Dilly Duck Shop.

No ordinary ham & cheese.

Every morning at 8 a.m. (9 a.m. on weekends) Chez Jack is open for business. Because Quebec City is big on breakfast, and this location was previously a known breakfast haunt, you’ll see classics like a BEC (or sausage), a breakfast burrito, and some French influence with omelets, strawberry crepes, and French toast that’s loaded with cream cheese, bananas, berries, chocolate, and whipped cream.

At lunchtime until 3 p.m. on weekdays, 2 p.m. on weekends, you might see a few familiar fan favorites, ala, Dilly Duck in the rotisserie pork sandwich (provolone, tomatoes, aioli) and the rotisserie roast beef with cheddar and sweet caramelized onions, but this is Chez Jack, and he’s got sandwich combinations of his own like Jack’s House Chicken (rotisserie chicken, chipotle mayo, bacon, and tomatoes on butter griddled sourdough), an open faced tuna sandwich with cheddar, capers, tomatoes, and celery, and a ham & cheese a la Francaise—rotisserie ham (not deli ham) with nutty, buttery melted Emmentaler cheese, mayo, and pickles on toasty baguette.

Then there’s the poutine with a rich gravy made from beef and chicken stock, with Wisconsin mozzarella curds, all on top of hand cut fries, with the option to add on house roast beef if you so desire.

“There’s poutine because I love poutine,” Talbot says. “The fries are never frozen. Everything is homemade.”

Aside from sandwiches and breakfast, Chez Jack’s Poutine should be a sure fire hit. Additionally, the café serves scratch made lasagna, soup, and a few salads. And for dessert, two different cakes, gooey chocolate and maple syrup cake, both served warm.

And whatever’s not homemade comes from excellent local purveyors.

“Omaha Beef for meat,” Talbot continues. “And our bread comes from Wave Hill, English muffins from SoNo Baking Co., and bagels from St-Viateur Bagel in Montreal.”

Both Jack and Chris said that even though Chez Jack is still new that they will add beer and wine. When the holidays come around, they’re thinking about meal boxes for breakfast and supper.

“We already approached Michele’s Pies to collaborate as to not compete with one another, maybe on a holiday meal box,” Talbot says. “Maybe there will be beef wellington and bûche de Noël. And I would like to start catering since that is in my background.”

One thing Talbot has enjoyed about being in a smaller, family-owned, neighborhood café is getting to meet everyone who comes in.

“I want to be able to see and talk to every customer,” he says. “I try to go to every table to thank them. Two people even came back in with a clipping from a newspaper when I was first featured to show me. My business was built years ago by listening to the people, too, so that’s what I will do here.”

666 Main Avenue Ste 100, Norwalk
203.289.0430, chezjackcafe.com
Instagram @chezjackcafe