Popular Eatery Chef's Table To Open New Location In Westport

WESTPORT, CT — After nearly two decades running the popular music-infused Fairfield eatery Chef's Table, Richard Herzfeld is excited to come home to Westport. Chef's Table actually began life in Westport when Herzefled opened his first location on Church Lane in 1995.

Now he expects to open a second location at 161 Cross Highway, the former location of Christie’s Country Store, in early April. (To sign up for Westport breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

"I lived in Westport for 25 years and I always loved this location," Herzfeld said as he sat by a roaring fireplace inside the under-construction building. "It’s a landmark. I always drove by it and thought it had so much potential. It was very busy when it was a country store."

Herzfeld finally got his chance to step inside for good when the previous owner's lease ended in December and the property became available. At the time, he had been looking for a possible location in Westport for another store that his son, David, could run.

The former country store seemed perfect as it came with a number of benefits, including gracious porch space and the fact that a lot of necessary equipment was still in place.

“I didn’t want to rebuild anything. It takes too long and takes too much money," Herzfeld said. "My son and I had been working together in Fairfield for a while. We figured it would be cool for him to run this one and I would continue to run the Fairfield one."

According to Herzfeld, his son has gained years of experience working as the breakfast chef at the Fairfield location and will work with a baker and Culinary Institute of America graduate who has trained closely with Herzfeld himself. Together, they hope to turn the Westport store into something similar to but not a direct copy of the popular Fairfield hangout spot.

"I’m definitely looking forward to being here in Westport," David Herzfeld said. "I just want to see people coming in and enjoying the food. I don’t want people to feel like we changed things too much from Fairfield, so we’re going to do what we did there and then of course listen to what people around here have to say. I’m up for anything. I just want to keep people happy."

For those who have never been to Chef's Table, the restaurant features a wide menu of 10 hot soups a day, a tossed and gourmet salad bar, panini bar and even a coffee bar. There is also live music during lunch and dinner seven days a week, something Herzfeld said the Westport store will look to emulate, with musicians serenading customers next to the fireplace.

"Having live music makes us unique, and it’s an opportunity for the musicians to make a little bit of money when they’re not usually working, which is at lunchtime," Herzfeld said. "It’s nice for people to be able to sit around and enjoy a little bit of live music, especially for little kids and teenagers."

The Westport store will continue to offer the core menu items from Fairfield as well as pizza, ice cream and both vegan and gluten-free selections. Seating will be offered inside and outside, with the large front porch hoped to bring some extra joy to customers in the warmer months.

"We're going to have couches here," Herzfeld said. "This will be a place where kids can come in the afternoon and do homework or hang out and socialize, so we want to have some comfortable places for them to sit during that time of the day."

The larger amount of space afforded by the former country store property makes things like a dog fountain outside and the ability to make more baked goods in a day a possibility. There is also space for the store to offer a small amount of grocery items, such as paper towels and toilet paper.

The store will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Herzfeld hopes to have the store open seven days a week by summertime, if not earlier. He has also already hired a number of local high school students and is looking to hire even more local employees.

Most of all, the father/son duo are eager to listen to what the community wants from the new Chef's Table location and are always open to try out new ideas.

"Being an individual operator, we can do whatever we want," Herzfeld said. "If someone comes in here and tells us there’s something cool we could do, we can do it. We have our core stuff we know is going to keep us successful, but we’re all creative people so we don’t mind giving new things a whirl."