Dishing up the last supper at Eat Good Food Kelly Janis

Author: Kelly Janis

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."

Thus far, this "really good food" has evoked an overwhelmingly warm customer response. "Everyone loves it," Vaughan-Hughes enthused. "This lady just said to me 'I've been wishing this was like the Eco Food in Vergennes.' And I told her, 'well, your wish has come true!'"

Even those who were not originally sold on the transformation have come around. "I was a little skeptical at first just because I loved this restaurant so much," manager Melissa D'Amico admitted. "But especially as I've seen in the past few days I think it was the right choice. I think that people are really excited and really happy to have a comfy, cozy place to come and have coffee and have just a really good sandwich, because it's a niche this town needs."

"It's great having a place like this," said customer Janet Greenman. "I like the idea that you can come here and sit and relax and have a good sandwich."

According to D'Amico, it is the restaurant's priorities which distinguish it from other establishments in town. "I think that a lot of people just kind of are thinking about the bottom line and here we're really worried about the best quality product, whether that means it comes from the farm down the road or we get it from Italy. Every single sandwich that comes out is made-to-order and has the best quality meats and cheeses in it," D'Amico explained. "We have this focus on actually really giving people a service, and have them not eat just a ham sandwich, but eat something that really is amazing, and I think that most definitely sets us apart."

Vaughan-Hughes agreed. "It doesn't make sense to just to go to McDonald's where they literally get beef in that says 'Grade D but still edible,'" she said. "I mean, why would you do that when you could do something else, when you have the choice and it's almost the same price?"

Eat Good Food's efforts do not go unacknowledged. "I have never worked in a place where people stop me on the street to tell me that they had the most amazing meal they've ever had here, and I get that in this town," D'Amico said.

Tara Vaughan-Hughes hopes the eatery's offerings evoke genuine enjoyment in its customers. "I think that food has become a really weird issue for people," she said. "People eat for fuel. They eat for comfort. They eat for lots of different reasons. But it seems like everyone's forgotten how to just eat for pure pleasure, to get something and enjoy every single aspect of it - the look, the smell, the taste, the texture - and then be thoroughly satisfied so when you're done you don't need anymore, you don't want anymore, you're just happy as can be."

Ultimately, to Vaughan-Hughes, it is all about pleasure. "I just have a passion for food and I want to share that with people. I want people to enjoy it," she said. "There are three times a day that you get to eat - well, sometimes more - and why not make it the most enjoyable experience you can have?"

D'Amico seconded this sentiment, and suggested that it is spreading continuously. "Our passion for this restaurant is sort of contagious."