Man About Town: On the Beat

Man About Town: On the Beat

(Column appeared in Fairfield-Citizen newspaper 10/1/10)

By Mike Lauterborn

2010. All Rights Reserved.

9/21/10

It was a crisp weekday morning. The sun was still yawning, stretching and climbing up out of bed. Fall had crept in overnight and dew glistened on blades of freshly mown grass.

A good time to pad into downtown and watch the day come alive I figured. By this time, students had already settled into their classrooms and were hitting the books, so streets were passable. Moms that had escorted their little ones were now headed to fitness classes or taking a neighborhood stroll. Office workers were making last-minute stops for cups of coffee before reporting to their workplaces.

One such coffee stop was Chef’s Table on the Post Road, a good place to set up for a while. I slipped into one of several booths, with a view of the street and entryway, and plopped my gear on the table, which was black with aluminum trim like a roadie case.

“Oh, this is such a cute place!” a young woman, dressed in black and white, exclaimed, bouncing into the shop. A step ahead of her, a male co-worker in a neatly pressed blue button-down shirt and tie, said, “Yeah, and look at all the old music references,” pointing to the dozens of framed band photos, concert posters and record albums covering the majority of wall space in this high-ceilinged, narrow café.

There was Bruce. Johnny Cash. Led Zeppelin. Jerry Garcia. Bob Dylan. John Lennon. The Doors. All the greats were represented in this hall of music fame and shrine to rock.

Enhancing the scene and making it all the more authentic, fast-paced classic rock tunes jangled from overhead speakers, and a series of uniquely-colored lava lamps on little perches at each booth pumped gooey globs up and down in their cone-shaped containers.

“Come on and take a free ride, come on and take me by your side, come on and take a free ride!” the Edgar Winter Group pleaded over the PA system.

Another woman strolled in, with big sunglasses, a low-dipping drawstring top, a Fruit Stripe gum patterned bag and bell bottom jeans. For a minute, it was like a time warp had occurred, but of course this was just a case of retro styles coming back around and enjoying another spell in the retail limelight.

One would think that with such a strongly embedded music theme here menu items would be named after some of the leading industry stars. The Creedence Club, Hendrix Hero… something along those lines. But food offerings were put out there unadorned, meant to appeal solely on the basis of their ingredients. It was a tasty lineup to be sure, with breakfast sandwiches the opening act and hot soups and wraps headlining.

A salesman-type bounded in, laid down a backpack, set up a laptop and fetched a java. At the same time, he eyed a news report on a big screen TV near the front of the place. Rolling in behind him, a mom, new baby in stroller and young lad. They b-lined for the restroom before she secured a very tall cup of coffee for herself and snacks for the children.

Traffic was whizzing back and forth on the main drag by this time as mid-morning errand running began – the start of a narrow window before the noon close of pre-schools and mid-afternoon flight back home of the older children.

It was time to get going, to join the flow, the Fairfield beat. I would leave my cozy booth to the lunchtime set – hometown heroes seeking sumptuous subs.