Home Care In Cobalt, CT

EAST HAMPTON — Eugene Valentin was planning to open a hot dog stand when he visited a closed restaurant in the Cobalt section of East Hampton to possibly buy used kitchen equipment in 2021.

Instead, he drew inspiration and courage from his younger brother Samuel, 23, and decided to open up a takeout restaurant at that same location in the Cobalt section of town at 367 W. High St. in August 2021.

That building couldn't accommodate indoor dining. By December 2022, Eugene Valentin told The Press at the time, they planned to find a place with a dining room, ideally on Route 66, in order to draw in a lot of traffic.

Last month, the two launched the reincarnated Two Brothers Cafe, a 10-table, sit-down restaurant with eight additional counter stools in what was formerly the East Hampton Town Hall at 20 E. High St. It became available when municipal offices were moved to 1 Community Drive.

When Eugene Valentin, 41, arrived at the former Sleepy Rooster Cafe spot, the business owner asked him why not just open a takeout restaurant there. By coincidence, the Sleepy Rooster was run by two sisters.

The brothers decided to kept the cafe's distinctive pink interior and exterior.

“The lady who just closed the restaurant said, ‘I could sell you everything and you can start your own business if you want to,’” Eugene Valentin recalled.

So, he turned to his brother to see what he thought. “That’s where I came in,” Samuel Valentin said. “My brother asked me if I want to do this together.”

It’s not surprising that the older brother would place his faith in his younger sibling.

The pair were born in Puerto Rico and live with their father in Windham. Eugene Valentin came to the United States about 20 years ago, and Samuel Valentin arrived seven years ago in 2017.

The two share a lot of experience in the restaurant business as well as an intense work ethic. Prior to their joint endeavor, Eugene Valentin was running a restaurant in Willimantic. His brother began working for him as a teenager.

“I learned a little bit of everything ... ,” said Samuel, who would go on to become a manager for a fast food restaurant. “I was the youngest general manager of a franchise that owned 160 restaurants."

The pair estimate that they were working about 130 hours a week, so when the opportunity came to work for themselves, they jumped at the chance, Samuel Valentin said.

The takeout restaurant in Cobalt was doing well serving breakfast and lunch, and the brothers wanted to improve the property. When upgrades weren't possible, the brothers saw an opportunity.

A customer’s father, who was a real estate agent, told them about the former town hall location. “That’s the reason we moved,” Samuel Valentin said.

The pair expanded their offerings to include brunch, burritos and more omelets and burgers.

Samuel Valentin said working with his brother has been great. “We worked hard when we were working for other people. Now we work even harder.”

It is that work ethic that made Eugene Valentin confident that the brothers would succeed.

“It’s been amazing,” he said. “He’s always been a hard worker. So when I look at Samuel, I’ve always seen myself when I was younger.

“It is a great match,” Eugene Valentin said. “I do most of the cooking, and he runs pretty much everything else.”

Breakthrough could be boon for those with hip or knee replacements

Cobalt was widely used for hip and knee joint replacements until cases of heavy metal poisoning appeared. Now, researchers from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Carnegie Mellon report a way to protect people with these implants from cobalt toxicity.

Globally, more than 2.9 million joint replacements are done every year, with the majority of them in the hip or knee. Cobalt-based alloys such as cobalt-chromium-molybdenum are widely used for these implants because of their strength and durability.

However, cobalt (and other metals) can be toxic if they accumulate in body tissues at high levels. And after several years of wear and tear on the implant, metal particles can build up in the area surrounding the joint, causing pain, inflammation, and dark discoloration. This type of localized heavy metal irritation is called metallosis. Even if the metal stays localized it can cause bone deterioration along with pain.

Removing the implants seems like the obvious solution, but revision joint surgery is invasive and has its risks. And traditional chelation therapy, in which a drug binds the heavy metal and allows the body to excrete it, has a difficult time penetrating into the joints and surrounding tissues.

Now, researchers in the Laurencin lab at UConn Health and Stephanie Sydlik at Carnegie Mellon report in the 30 October issue of PNAS that injecting a material made of a traditional chelator combined with a molecule naturally found in the fluid surrounding the joints makes an effective, less invasive therapy to clear out cobalt. The researchers used a chelator called British anti-Lewisite (BAL), a treatment originally invented to help soldiers poisoned with arsenic-containing Lewisite during World War II.

They attached the BAL to hyaluronic acid, a molecule commonly found in fluid that helps lubricate our joints. The BAL-hyaluronic acid was then injected into the hip joints of rats with cobalt metallosis. And within hours, the BAL-hyaluronic acid cleared a great deal of cobalt into the bloodstream and then the kidneys, so the rats could excrete it.

“This unique approached developed by teams at The Cato T. Laurencin Institute and the department of chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University offer a possible breakthrough treatment for metal ion disease after joint replacement,” says Dr. Cato Laurencin, the chief executive officer of the Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering, who is also both an orthopedic surgeon and a chemical engineer. “Now that we know it works in animals, our hope is to eventually bring this type of therapy to humans,” he says.

NEW HAVEN >> No, we’re not going to wax poetic about the latest adventures in blues music by The Cobalt Rhythm Kings just because the group’s frontman is longtime Register reporter Mark Zaretsky. But there’s a longevity story here.

The group has been playing gigs for 20 years, and will celebrate the milestone Sunday from 4 p.m. until closing at the place where they formed during a Sunday night blues jam — Cafe Nine on State Street.

CRK has been around so long it played for a large crowd atop the Temple Street Garage before the city imploded the New Haven Coliseum.

These days the brothers in blues are seen at the summer “Blues, Berries & Jam” Wednesday concerts on the New Haven Green and other area festivals and clubs. But along the way the Kings have had a few high-profile gigs, too — at the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival, at Toad’s Place opening for Johnny Winter and at the New Haven Blues & Roots Festival opening for Etta James.

Chicago-born Zaretsky, who has the crusty temperament of a reporter/blues guy but turned into a giddy kid this fall when he returned to Chi-town to see his Cubs win the World Series, is the only current member of the band who dates back to the start. But most previous members (including George Lesiw and George Mastrogiannis) will return to play Sunday after the current band does a set at 4 as part of the Cygnus Radio/Cafe Nine Sunday Buzz (free admission and food, we hear).

Also in the band now are Chicago native and longtime New Haven guy Wendell Jones on bass guitar and vocals, Tom Smith of Cheshire on drums and Greg Benn of West Haven by way of Guilford on guitar. All but Smith have been members for at least 15 years, said Zaretsky, who plays harmonica and sings.

“What’s unusual is that most bands are sort of projects,” Zaretsky said. “They’ll get whoever they can get. It’s like a loose stable of people and whoever is available... There’s very few bands that are like a BAND, where it’s the same people all the time. And we’ve had the same three people for 15 of our 20 years.”

Benn, who is a music teacher at Carrigan Middle School in West Haven, said, “I’m looking forward to it, definitely. ... The first gig I did with them was at Cafe Nine and my wife was about seven months pregnant with my first daughter. And she came down ... and watched. And my daughter is 17 years old now.”

Zaretsky said the group does a good amount of gritty Chicago blues (Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon) with some jump blues (Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner) and other jazzy or swing elements in a broad mix of tunes.

They also do original tunes; they put out a CD years ago called “Hot... Like Red Pepper.”

“If you look around, there are very few bands that have lasted 20 years,” Zaretsky said, mentioning the D. Smith Blues Band and Eight to the Bar as exceptions. “We never planned on making it a longtime thing. But it’s been fun; it’s been a struggle. ... Frankly, Connecticut is not the most supportive place for musicians. ... People want you to pay for the ‘door.’”

He said since the recession, venues will hire out duos, solo acts or deejays instead of full bands.

“If we were a cover band, a wedding or ... jam band or Motown band, it would be much easier,” he said.

Zaretsky keeps playing (and writing about area music in the Register) because music is in his blood since his college days. He and Benn recall gigs when the audience didn’t want the blues to stop, including the night they opened for Etta James and other known acts on the Green.

“We were the opening act and we were given a time slot,” said Benn. “And we got done with our tune, and the place was clapping and cheering ... and the woman (stage manager) looked over and said, ‘You guys got any more to play? They want to hear you more.’ And I thought, ‘That’s nice.’”

After the original members get a chance to play Sunday at about 6 p.m., current and former members will mix for a jam at about 7:30 or so. Says Zaretsky, “We’re going to resurrect the late, great Cafe Nine Blues Jam — special ‘Home-for-the-Holidays’ Edition — until they kick us out of the place.”

EAST HAMPTON — For some, going into business with a sibling would be a nightmare. But it was always the goal for Eugene and Samuel Valentin.

The brothers behind Two Brothers Cafe have worked in restaurants since they were teenagers. Eugene Valentin got his start learning to make bread when he was only 12, while his brother, Samuel, started as a busboy at 17, and worked his way up to a managerial position at fast food restaurants such as Burger King and Wendy’s.

Both knew they didn’t want to work for other people forever. But they thought their first business endeavor might be property management. That is, until last year, when Eugene Valentin saw an ad for restaurant equipment being sold by the owner of The Sleepy Rooster Cafe, the breakfast joint that previously occupied the space on Route 66 in the Cobalt section of town.

Like Two Brothers, The Sleepy Rooster was run by two sisters.

Eugene Valentine, who also operates a hot dog cart, decided to buy some of the pieces for sale. When he showed up, he asked about the space. The Sleepy Rooster proprietor offered it to him pending the building owner’s blessing.

“My brother was with me, and we looked at each other (and knew),” Eugene Valentin said. “We were both burnt out working for someone else, so we took this opportunity and ran with it.”

“(We wanted) to serve people and to bring good food to town,” added Samuel Valentin. “That was our goal, to bring satisfaction to the people of town.”

After three months of prepping, the co-owners opened Two Brothers Cafe Aug. 18, 2021, with Eugene Valentin as chef and Samuel Valentin as manager. It is painted pink inside and out.

“I worked with him before, and it was good back then; and over here, same thing,” said Samuel Valentin. “He has a lot of knowledge of the kitchen and he's taught me a lot. We share a little bit of what he knows and what I know. We make it work, always.”

So far business has been good, said Samuel Valentine, with an average of 70 to 150 customers stopping by on an average day — ranging from people on their morning commute to those passing through the area on their way to nearby towns.

The brothers said the cafe’s location, by a traffic light off Route 66/East High Street, lends itself to drawing in customers who see their sign from the road.

“It's honestly been a good year and a half for us,” Sameul Valentin added. “It’s a lot more work working for yourself, but it’s completely worth it.”

The menu at Two Brothers focuses on breakfast and lunch offerings, along with occasional specials, including monthly pop-up dinner events such as Taco Tuesday nights, and Latin night where the two offer food inspired by their Puerto Rican roots.

“We keep it interesting so we don’t fall into the same,” Eugene Valentin said. “We try to bring some Latin flavor here to Cobalt.”

The eatery’s daily fare consists of standard breakfast and lunch dishes, including waffles, pancakes, a variety of wraps and club sandwiches, plus plain, asiago, sesame, everything and cinnamon raisin bagels made locally in North Windham, and delivered fresh every Tuesday and Thursday.

Eugene Valentin also tapped into his culinary skills from his previous restaurant jobs to craft some special offerings, including the Two Brothers bagel (a toasted bagel of choice with spinach, tomatoes, avocado, bacon, cream cheese, smoked salmon and red onions), and the Two Brothers omelet made with hamburger, avocado, tomato, bacon, gorgonzola, and house sauce and served with of potatoes and toast.

For lunch, there’s the Two Brothers burger, a half-pound of meat topped with bacon, avocado, gorgonzola, lettuce, tomatoes and house sauce. As for a pick-me-up, visitors can try the Two Brothers, a 24-ounce coffee with caramel, chocolate, white chocolate, cinnamon sugar and whipped cream.

The cafe only offers takeout since the building cannot accommodate indoor dining, but, Eugene Valentin said, they plan to find a place where they can set up a dining room and expand while ideally staying in the Cobalt area and on Route 66, which draws in a lot of traffic.

“We just fell in love with this little spot,” he said. “There’s no competition.”

For information, navigate to twobrotherscafe.square.site.

Dec 13, 2022|Updated Dec 14, 2022 10:07 a.m.

Erin Kayata was formerly a reporter with Hearst Connecticut Media Group. She was most recently the city hall reporter for the Norwalk Hour. She previously covered education for the Stamford Advocate. Erin got her start as a Hearst fellow covering Darien and New Canaan. She previously worked at the Boston Globe as part of its co-op program. Erin grew up in southeastern Massachusetts and graduated from Emerson College with a degree in journalism.

The East Hampton Parks and Recreation Dept. will sponsor a hike in Cobalt and explore the old cobalt mine and the site of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Jenkins on Gadpouch Rd. on Sunday, August 4 at 10 am. The hike is organized by the Chatham Historical Society and is part of the “Explore East Hampton” monthly series program.

Come and learn about the history of these historic sites. The cobalt mine is located at the southern foot of Great Hill where there are two parallel veins, one contains nickel and cobalt and the other gold. Both veins are under private property and partly under the Meshomasic State Forest. In 1770 miners came to Cobalt searching for cobalt which was used to make a deep blue pigment used in making textiles and dishes. These miners probably dug through traces of gold but were unaware of its importance.

There were rumors of gold in the Cobalt area way back in the 1600s when Governor John Winthrop, the first governor of Connecticut and an avid prospector, wore a gold ring that he said was mined and smelted from local ore.

From the late 1700s to the mid1800s mines were established in the Village of Cobalt and cobalt ore was extracted and shipped to England and China. During the mid1800s miners shifted to extracting nickel because the US Mint was beginning to use it for coinage.

Later in the 1980s UCONN professor, Anthony Philpotts, and his geology students came to Cobalt and discovered one of the richest gold lodes in North America. They were able to extract 1.5 to 6 ounces of gold from a ton of quartzite, a hard, non-foliate metamorphic rock.

The second site to be explored will be Camp Jenkins, a CCC camp that began on June 15, 1933. CCC camps were established throughout the US during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency in 1933 to give unemployed, single men between the ages of 18-25, a job building up the natural resources in the US. These young men came from poor families that were on relief and were paid a dollar a day. They received five dollars a month for spending money and $25 went to their parents to help during the economic crisis that was gripping the US. The enrollees at Camp Jenkins built roads & trails, developed state parks, removed dead and unwanted trees from the state forests, fought forest fires, planted trees, and helped neighboring towns during disasters. The camps were supervised by the Army and the Connecticut Conservation Dept. planned and supervised the work projects. Camp Jenkins closed on January 1, 1936.

The hike offers a wonderful and unique opportunity for residents to learn about the history of Cobalt and for life-long residents to share their recollections and stories. Adults and children are welcome to join in on what promises to be a morning of making local history come alive. Hikers should wear proper shoes. Heavy rain will cancel the walk.

Directions: At the intersection of Rts. 151 and 66 in Cobalt turn on Depot Hill Rd. Drive up this road for approximately a mile and then turn right onto Gadpouch Road. Follow the signs to the old mine site.

The Chatham Historical Society's Museum complex, located at 6 Bevin Boulevard, will be open that afternoon from 2-4 pm. All are welcome to visit the museum and admission is free.

For further information about upcoming walks or the Chatham Historical Society, contact Marty Podskoch, coordinator of the “Explore East Hampton” walks at 860-267-2442, [email protected], or visit http://www.easthamptonrec.com/info/activities/program_details.aspx?ProgramID=27025 or http://www.chathamhistoricalsocietyct.org/