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Home cooking in downtown Fairfield

Village Book and Table Restaurant open since 1974

Posted: 06/29/2009 09:38:19 AM EDT

Tom Larson, a cook of 27 years at the Village Table and Book Restaurant in Fairfield, prepares eggs for breakfast on a recent Sunday. Larson has been making popular homemade breakfast and lunch at the restaurant since 1982, when he retired from the U.S. Army. (Evening Sun - Shane Dunlap)

They don't accept credit cards. They don't have a Web site. Having lunch at Fairfield's Village Book and Table Restaurant is like stepping back in time.

And that's a good thing.

Shelley Kellogg has owned the restaurant for the last 11 years, but it has been open since 1974. A former drug store, the restaurant got its name because it once also served as a local book swap.

It's a calm, relaxing place popular among Fairfield residents stopping in for breakfast or lunch, and for golfers and skiers, too.

"I would say it's pretty low-key," Kellogg said about the atmosphere. "You can come in dressed any way you want to. It's not a fancy place. It's just good food."

It sort of looks like someone's grandmother set up some tables in her house and opened it up to the whole neighborhood, serving daily lunch specials. Knick-knacks on shelves all around the pink room almost have you wondering if granny is indeed in the kitchen.

You can have those grandmotherly treats any day of the week. Chicken and biscuits, spaghetti and meatballs, pancakes, country scrapple (whatever that is) - it's all there, and it's all fresh and homemade. The cook, Tom Larson, has been there for 23 years and keeps a consistency in the home-style breakfasts and lunches. He's a master in the kitchen, Kellogg said.

I know this column is called "Ticket to Lunch," and I did stop by around lunchtime, but I tried the Southwestern Omelet. You can have eggs for lunch, right? The restaurant serves breakfast all day - except for pancakes and French toast, which ends at 11 a.m.

I usually skip breakfast. You always hear it's the most important meal of the day, but skipping it has not adversely affected my life. Well, I didn't get accepted into the space program, but I think there were other circumstances there besides skipping breakfast.

Whether breakfast is the most important meal of the day or not, if it's done right, it can be the most yummy.

The omelet I had was a big one, stuffed full of sausage and salsa. It's a great treat any time of the day.

And so is the Village Book and Table Restaurant. Catch up with some old friends, sit at the counter and lose yourself in a book or just have a friendly chat - it's all there in downtown Fairfield.

Ticket to Lunch is a weekly column focusing on local restaurants' meals available during the lunch hour. Contact Steve Marroni at smarroni@eveningsun.com.