Come for the coffee—discover the cookie.
With the virus lurking, the economy teetering, and politics eating away at our souls, it is a good time to find shelter from the storm. Nadia and Stanley have created just that.
Ostensibly a coffee shop, Wake-Cup-Coffee is a bright and shiny respite for restless souls struggling with cabin fever and suffocating ennui. The walls are sparkling white, the black tables glisten, and the whole place exudes a clean and joyous atmosphere some of us have been missing for months. In the morning, there’s sunshine blasting through the windows and jazz playing.
“This was my dream.”
It was an inauspicious time to open a restaurant last spring, but Nadia and Stanley were not going to be discouraged. “This was my dream,” said Nadia over a cappuccino a couple weeks ago. In addition to her day job as Executive Director/Functional Operations Risk Manager at UBS, she’s up and happily baking pretzels and pastries and cookies at Wake-Cup-Coffee by 5AM. “You should have one of these,” she says, presenting a family-sized chocolate chip cookie which is unexpectedly filled with Nutella. Like a luxury Oreo, it can be pried apart to get at the magic inside.
Most of Stanley’s contributions aren’t seen on the menu. He was the builder and contractor responsible for turning an abandoned meat-packing warehouse into a first-rate restaurant. He has years of experience. “I built our house,” he says, gesturing toward Kings Highway. He also built the whimsical table that incorporates a bicycle-built-for-two, he chooses the music, and oversees the roasting of the coffee beans imported from all parts of the world. Stanley describes the Wake-Cup Shot: a double espresso with equal part of Nutella. Like Nadia, Stanley juggles a career outside of Wake-Cup-Coffee as an emergency room nurse at Bridgeport Hospital, a job currently on hold so Stanley can keep his patrons safe.
They’re quite a partnership, these two. Raised about a mile from each other in the city of Plovdiv, the cultural capital of Bulgaria, they never met until they had each moved to Chicago. There, they fell in love, married, and started their family. Now daughters Daniella, 16, and Joanna, 10, are part of the Wake-Cup family, too.
It’s been daunting, with the pandemic lockdown, but community support has been lively; and the Wake-Cup journey is just beginning. In the spring, there’ll be the addition of an evening menu and wine available. Coffee shop becomes a bistro after 5PM, but at any time of day, the space lends itself to chatting and relaxing, something we’ve been missing for a year.
There are inspirational quotes on the wall from famous minds including Henry Thoreau and motivational speaker Jim Rohn, but probably the best is the one from Stanley and Nadia’s older daughter Daniella:
“Life is short. Stay awake for it.”
Visit them 6-6 weekdays, 7-5 Saturday and Sunday. In addition to coffee drinks, there are breakfast and lunch offerings from pancakes to omelets, pastries and sandwiches on pretzel bread. And a 6 o’clock Sunday morning organized bicycle ride for interested, wide-awake riders of all ages.
Wake-Cup-Coffee is Fairfield’s newest coffee shop with the best coffee, drinks and European-style food, serving Fairfield County commuters and local residents.
Contact:
71 Constant Comment Way (right next to Fairfield Metro Train Station South Bound Side)
203.345.8404