'Upscale Neighborhood Pub' Comes to Fairfield

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – It’s been a busy 75 days for Dennis “D.J.” Schack. He and his wife, Casey, welcomed a baby girl 10 weeks ago. Not long after that, Schack was in the hospital, having torn his stomach muscles from working too hard at his Fairfield restaurant.

All that was on top of the weeks he spent working from 9 a.m. to 3 a.m. with his business partner Stephen Hanrahan to get Sam’s Bar and Grill ready to open. But less than three months after signing their lease, the two opened on Kings Highway on Super Bowl Sunday.

“The only time we stopped working was when I was unconscious,” Schack says. “As soon as I came out of the hospital, we started working again.”

Both Schack and Hanrahan have been in the restaurant business since they were 15 years old. Starting as dishwashers and moving on to waiting tables, the two worked around Westchester County until starting their own place in Port Chester, N.Y., in 2009.

The original Sam’s is still going strong just over the state line. Schack says he hopes the new Fairfield spot will take on a similar character. He describes a sign now in Port Chester that will soon hang above the bar in the new Sam’s: “Everyone’s a local.”

“We like people to feel the same way the first time they walk through the door that they feel the thousandth time they walk in,” Schack said.

Along with a bar lined with high-pressure taps and big-screen TVs tuned to ESPN, the bar sports extra-wide booths with their own TV sets throughout the dining room. Each table is decorated with butcher block paper and a cup of crayons during dinner hours, before the bar scene and Sam’s shuffleboard table take over for the night.

“It’s nice to have a 28-year-old stockbroker sitting next to a 60-year-old electrician, and everybody’s having fun,” Schack says of the mix of clients he gets in Port Chester. Schack and Hanrahan chose Fairfield for that same mix of people in the town’s demographics.

Schack describes the bar’s food as “upscale pub food.” Their menu is filled with burgers, sandwiches and appetizers. The kitchen stays open until the bar closes, even as late as 2 a.m. Schack says they’re not too particular about sticking to the menu, either.

“We try to cater to people’s needs,” Schack says. “If someone comes in and wants something, if I got it, I’ll make it.”

After a soft opening on Sunday, Sam’s will reopen Thursday through Sunday. After another brief break for preparation, Sam’s will open for good Feb. 16.

Sam’s Fairfield sits at 548 Kings Highway, a location that has seen restaurants come and go over the last few years. Schack said he knows the property’s history. But he points out that a new train station, supermarket and mini-mall have opened just down the street since the last tenant closed its doors for good.

“Hopefully, the area’s starting to turn around,” Schack says. 

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