Bites Nearby: The Wooden Spoon Family Restaurant

There are not a lot of breakfast places within easy reach of the University of Connecticut campus, but that is not the reason lines of people form in front of The Wooden Spoon Family Restaurant on weekend mornings.

For anyone who thinks breakfast is the best thing since the domestication of the chicken, this countrified eatery in Ashford is eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausage, grits, kielbasa, endless coffee and more.

Even Gene Martin, the owner and head cook, is a little surprised – pleasantly so – at his clientele’s willingness to wait for one of the 60 seats in his homey and welcoming place at the intersections of Routes 44 and 74.

To quote one student guest: "It was totally worth it."

No doubt the food has something to do with it. (Connecticut Magazine thinks so.)  

On weekends, particularly, Martin is likely to have on special some of the restaurant’s French toast stuffed with apple pie filling, or plate-sized pancakes in flavors like gingerbread raisin or orange cranberry. They are often the creation of his wife and the restaurant's co-owner, Michelle.

Two pancakes are part of the “Hungry Person’s Special,” (note it does not say hungry man’s special), one of the restaurant’s big sellers. The rest of this breakfast is two eggs and choice of bacon, ham, kielbasa or sausage. And if you don’t want the pancakes, you can substitute French toast.  

This whole belly-buster is $7.75. A more standard breakfast of two eggs, toast, home fries and bacon will cost you $4.95. For an extra charge you can add some River’s Edge real maple syrup produced in Ashford a couple miles away.

(What Martin calls “reasonable” prices is another element of The Wooden Spoon’s popularity with UConn students and the public in general, though he laments that food and operating costs continue to rise.)

Another hot breakfast item, Martin says, is his Garbage Omelet. (It’s really called that on the menu.) It is, in his words, “pretty huge.” Contrary to its name, it does not include leftovers, but a meat of the chef’s choosing, a variety of vegetables and three eggs. If you are still not full, you can add on a bowl of grits.

The lunch specials change often, and include things like kielbasa and perogies; stuffed cabbage, or something Michelle Martin has dubbed “taco pie,” which Gene describes as “Mexican lasagna.” (There's a taco pie omelet, too.)

The restaurant also sells burgers, fries, hot dogs, sandwiches, fried chicken and fish, cheese steaks and Gene’s very popular chili.

Good food, reasonable prices and welcoming service do not tell the whole story about The Wooden Spoon, however. The rest of its appeal would have to be in local flavor.

There is nothing fancy or elaborate about this restaurant, but it cries out with hometown comfort and charm. Guests for breakfast or lunch are likely to see (and/or be) a bunch of local folks gabbing away at the counter between the dining room and kitchen. Waitresses Tammy Sperry and Deborah Chappel have worked there for years, recognize the regulars, and don’t allow anyone much time to sit before offering coffee.

The restaurant is one of sparsely-populated Ashford’s few businesses, and the community treats the Martins like family.

Martin, who retired from long service with the Air National Guard, bought the place with his wife in 2003. Two years later a vicious fire did massive damage, putting the place out of business for a couple months. The silver lining to that dark time was that it enabled the couple to remodel and update a space that had originally been designed for a local bank.

“We probably wouldn’t have come back if it wasn’t for the generosity of the community,” Martin said.  Fortunately for a hungry town, they did.

The Wooden Spoon Family Restaurant, 217 Pompey Hollow Road, Ashford, is open seven days: Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Martins cater events on special request. 860-429-3825.