Residing on Wallingford’s North Main Street, Library Wine Bar and Bistro restaurant has served the local community delicious Portuguese food and rich wine for over 40 years.
First built in 1899 to house the original Wallingford Public Library, the property was purchased by Mr. Joe Gouveia, the owner of Gouveia Vineyards, in 1982. He extensively restored the old library building to preserve and highlight the landmark’s historic architecture, reopening the building with a new purpose: a restaurant.
The Gouveia family immigrated to the United States from South America and originally moved to New Haven. However, Mr. Gouveia took a liking to the small community of Wallingford and eventually made it his home. Mr. Michael Wulff, the current manager of the Library Restaurant, commented, “At that time, it was just farmland, and he used to drive by it with his brother, and he’d always thought that he wanted to turn it into a vineyard to pay homage to his roots in Portugal.”
Although he was the owner of a successful vineyard, Mr. Gouveia participated in other ventures as well, such as real estate and owning a coffee shop. Mr. Wulff said, “Joe had many successful businesses, but a restaurant was something he always wanted to venture into.” So, when the opportunity arose for him to turn the site of the old Wallingford Public Library into a business, it was not a surprise that he decided to turn it into a restaurant.
In May 2022, Mr. Gouveia sold the restaurant to the Massella family, the owners of the restaurant Bagelicious, based in North Haven and Cheshire. The rationale behind the selling, according to Mr. Wulff, was because Mr. Gouveia “just wanted to focus more on the vineyard and then pass the restaurant on to new owners that would care for [the Library] as much as he did.”
When asked whether the new owners made any significant changes to the restaurant, Mr. Wulff responded, “You had the wine and everything, but now you have the new owners that have more experience in the food service industry. So, it’s just bringing in a much better understanding of the food itself.”
Having been an employee since 2019, Mr. Wulff has seen how the Library has grown, especially over the Covid-19 pandemic. “The Library definitely grew to be a much better restaurant,” he said. “We became a much better team with much more teamwork.” Its patrons have also attested to the restaurant’s improvement in its service and catering over the years. “When I go up to tables and I talk to customers, everyone’s saying that it’s just a much better dining experience and that the food is more amazing than it has ever been in the past,” Mr. Wulff said.
As the restaurant plans to undergo renovations to accommodate more people and improve its serving efficiency, Mr. Wulff stressed the restaurant’s dedication to the community. “We’ve just upgraded our behind-the-scenes facilities that can just bring us to have more capacity of people and be able to properly serve the customers,” he said.
