The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 1/10/07 Section: Local News

Media Credit: Chris Heinrich Boasting a fresh new menu and flavor, Eat Good Food opens its doors to Middlebury breakfast and lunch diners. [Click to enlarge]

When the doors of the funky Eat Good Food restaurant first swung open in February of 2006, Middlebury food aficionados raved about the Main Street grill, bar and deli's knack for churning out quality cuisine. The eatery, an off-shoot of Eco Food, an organic establishment which opened five and a half years ago in Vergennes, was intended to resemble its sister restaurant, but with an added twist. "[Eco Food] was more of a daytime place and this was going to be more of a nighttime place," owner Tara Vaughan-Hughes explained. Eat Good Food's customers, however, had a different idea.

"Everyone kept saying 'can't it be more like Eco Food in Vergennes? Can't we have breakfast? Can't you do this?'" Vaughan-Hughes recalled. As such requests mounted, so too did the personal toll rendered on Eat Good Food's owner as she juggled two restaurants and a budding family. Eventually, Vaughan-Hughes relented. "After almost a year, I realized, why fight it? So we changed."

Eat Good Food closed after Christmas for renovations and re-opened on January 3, boasting a traditional breakfast menu consisting of everything from eggs and toast to Greek yogurt with honey and almonds, as well as a lunch selection of "panini, pitas and more." In addition, the restaurant offers baked goods, retail beer and wine, prepared meals to go (shrimp lasagna, salmon fishcakes, black bean salad and potato salad among the customers' favorites), and a diverse array of imported goods. "You'll be able to come in, grab some cheese, a baguette, a bottle of wine, maybe some dinner options and go home all set," Vaughan-Hughes said.

Though the eatery strives to appeal to a wide audience, the perception of its menu items as unusual often makes this an uphill battle. "We found this in Vergennes when we first opened," Vaughan-Hughes said. "People would come in, look at the menu and get this kind of blank stare. And eventually as they got to know the menu, they realized it's all just really good food. It's not weird or whatever."

Continued...

Page 1 of 3 next >

Article Tools