Best Bites: New Canaan

BREAKFAST BURRITO: three eggs scrambled, sausage, cheddar, scallions, salsa, cilantro (Marcus adds avocado)

By Paul Reitano

I read recently that most people are either pear shaped or apple shaped. Basically, most of us look like produce. Fair enough. But this is not what my friend Marcus looks like. Marcus looks like a GI-Joe. I say this with adulation, and of course a sizeable dose of envy. Though I too sometimes work out in the basement; I do not have the discipline of my enormously smart, kind and fit friend, Marcus. Maybe you’ve seen Marcus around town. He’s the gentleman getting his steps in on White Oak Shade after dark. Perhaps you’ve almost hit him by mistake as you speed unnecessarily around a tight corner, or you’ve waved hello thinking he was someone else. It doesn’t matter, because while the rest of us are flipping through Instagram as our brains decay; Marcus is burning calories. 

Q: Marcus, how often do you eat…actual food?

A: All the time. I try to eat whole foods, as little processed stuff as possible, and lean proteins. I have the 80/20 rule. Healthy, 80 percent of the time. 20 percent; I eat whatever I want.

Q: I have the 20/80 rule – and let me tell you, it is not working. Anyway, what’s for breakfast?

A: I skip breakfast.

Q: That doesn’t make you angry?

A: Not at all. I try to only eat when I’m hungry.

Q: What about when you’re bored – does that count as hungry?

A: It doesn’t.

Q: So you’re eating real food, right – not the green dust the crazies mix with water?

A: I usually have a salad for lunch – then for dinner, protein and a vegetable. And nuts. I’ve been eating a lot of nuts lately. Probably too many.

Q: Sounds like a party. What do you do for a living?

A: I work at Gridiron Capital, a private equity firm that buys middle market companies. My role is focused on financing those companies.

Q: How old are you?

A: 46.

Q: Damn.

A: Not good?

Q: We’re the same age. I was counting on you being in your 30’s – early 40’s maybe – to account for the disparity.

A: Sorry to disappoint.

Q: How do you keep from being lazy, Marcus?

A: Self-Discipline. I’ve always had it.

Q: Not to turn you into a fortune cookie, but how does one maintain discipline?

A: Discipline breeds discipline. I have a schedule that I try to follow each day.

Q: Go on.

A: I wake up between 5:37 and 6:07. I go to the Y twice a week and lift at home. Also, there’s this place F45 Training in Norwalk, I’ll go there once a week. I do 45 minutes to an hour everyday, weights and cardio. Except for Sunday.

Q: You take Sunday off?

A: I only do half an hour Sunday.

Q: So, your off day…is an on day?

A: Yeah, I guess it is.

Q: Is your wife happy about your physical fitness or does it bother her tremendously?

A: A mixture.

Q: These short answers – they’re going to make the article take up a lot of space on the page.

A: Sorry.

Q: Do you find that you like to hang out with other fit people – or do you hang out with the Apples and Pears?

A: Both. I’m not discriminatory. There are a lot of dad jocks in town. But if you just hang out with dad jocks, you become one. You don’t want to get caught in the New Canaan dad sports trap.

Q: What’s the New Canaan dad sports trap?

A: Naturally, you want your kids to excel and be great. It’s fun to win. At the same time, I do realize my kids are probably not going to be professional athletes. Hopefully, they can learn some life skills in sports, in winning and losing, in being great and having an off day. Sports taught me hard work, discipline, and team work. Those life lessons are most important, not dominating 4th grade Y-Ball.

Q: I will try and consider this – but I can’t make any promises. Alright. Hit me with your favorite – and make sure it’s from the 20%.

A: After church on Sunday, we go to Rosie’s. I get the breakfast burrito. It’s the optimal blend of quality, warm cheese, eggs, ham and avocado. I usually get it with one of their muffins.

Q: Pistachio?

A: Carrot or Apple. And then…

Q: There’s more to this meal?

A: …I’ll get a few muffins to take with me.

Q: Bro, are you pounding three Rosie’s muffins on the way home?

A: No. I have a hiding spot. In the kitchen.

Q: I knew there was a crack in the armor. YOU HIDE YOUR MUFFINS?

A: I want them just out of reach. It’s part of the discipline. You can’t be tempted.

Q: Where’s the hiding place, Marcus?

A: I’m not going to say. But I will tell you that sometimes…I forget about them.

Q: You hide the muffins, to keep from eating them in a fit of weakness. But instead, you forget about the muffins — and you murder the muffins?

A: Occasionally, not all the time. But it happens.

Q: Marcus – I wish we could go on, but the Sentinel is going to run out of paper. Maybe some day, at 6:17, I’ll surprise you and show up at the Y.

A: I’d like that.

Paul Reitano is a television producer who lives in New Canaan with his very patient and forgiving family. This winter you can find him yelling inappropriately at his children’s Yball teams and hogging the bread slicer at the new Whole Foods on High Ridge.

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