The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Studio Lakeville & Green Cafe aims to define healthy
Loft-style gym and eatery enable positive life choices
LAKEVILLE — For co-owner Leslie Eckstein, opening Studio Lakeville & Green Cafe in February was the fulfillment of a dream she had had since she was 15 years old.
“I have wanted to have something like this for a long time,” Eckstein said on a Saturday afternoon while sitting with co-owner Karen Jacobs at one of the tables outside the business at 9 Sharon Road. “I had the class space up the street, and when this space became available, we jumped at the opportunity.”
The business has filled a need in a seriously gymdeprived area. Studio Lakeville & Green Cafe provides spin, Zumba, Pilates and yoga classes at a fully equipped gym, as well as an organic breakfast and lunch menu in the 2,500square-foot space occupied by the town’s former Lakeville Hose Co. Nearby, one of the immense garage doors was rolled up, bringing fresh air from the warm 70-degree April weather into the gym area.
“We wanted to give it a sexier look,” Eckstein said. “And Seth Churchill helped us achieve this goal.”
Eckstein referred to the owner of Lakeville’s Churchill Building Co., a custom contracting firm. The gym, with its high ceilings, brickand-mirrored walls, and state-of-the-art weighttraining machines, free
“Once we moved into this space, people really wanted to support it. Our clients range from kids to a 90-year-old who comes here every day without fail.” Leslie Eckstein, Studio Lakeville & Green Cafe co-owner
weights, cardio machines and stationary bicycles for spin classes, was illuminated by large brass lamps, giving the effect of being in a spacious and health-oriented Manhattan loft.
Eckstein, who ran Harvest Bakery in Lakeville with her former husband, met Jacobs a year ago for personal training. Jacobs said she needed to fit into a dress for her daughter’s wedding. The two became friends and decided to go into business together. Jacobs said, “The business partnership evolved organically, just like the restaurant.”
Eckstein, a Sharon resident and mother of four, said the gym also offers TRX classes (in which participants use suspension cables for exercises) and drum-based “pound classes” for adults (as well as for local “tweens” as part of a regional after-school program).
Eckstein demonstrated the technique while standing on a yoga mat with two neon-green drumsticks. “We pound the floor, squatting and lunging,” she said. “There is a lot of fusion, in which we go from mat work to weights. It is good to see kids in a safe space doing activities they enjoy.”
Eckstein said yoga and barre classes take place at the crack of dawn upstairs in a spacious studio area. Eckstein performs traditional, deep-tissue or sports massages by appointment in an adjoining private massage room. A second office will soon be occupied by Eckstein’s husband, Jason Sherman, for individual and group substance-abuse counseling, after Sherman graduates with a master’s of social work degree at New Haven’s Southern Connecticut State University this year.
“There has been an outpouring of support from the town,” said Eckstein, who, in addition to everything else, is also in charge of baking the Green Cafe’s pastries. “It has been great to get people here. Once we moved into this space, people really wanted to support it. Our clients range from kids to a 90-year-old who comes here every day without fail.”
For Jacobs, opening the business was also a dream come true. “When I was a kid, I used to work at my parents’ ski resort as a dishwasher,” Jacobs said. “I have cooked and wanted to open a restaurant. I am 61 years old, so I have come a long way.”
Indeed, the cafe’s chef, a Culinary Institute of America graduate, said the Green Cafe is not merely a place to touch down for a smoothie or a protein bar on your way in or out of the fitness center. The menu contains a variety of locally sourced, organic and healthy meals suitable for a full breakfast and lunch.
A tasting-menu dish specially prepared by Jacobs exemplified the best of the cafe’s culinary offerings: samples of spicy coleslaw; a kale salad; blackened salmon; pappardelle pasta with Parmesan cheese; a Melty Goodness sandwich consisting of cheddar, Gruyère, and mozzarella cheeses with spinach, tomato, and sauteed onions (an accompanying large mug contained an arugula salad with strawberries). The beverage of choice was a frothy, stimulating and filling coffee maple shake.
“The cafe is growing every day,” said Jacobs. “We go with seasonal vegetables. With the weather getting warmer, we are moving into peas and asparagus.” She said of the menu, “It is simple, healthy, good food that is good for vegetarians, as well as those who like meat.”
The juice and smoothie menu includes: a “Soothethe-Joints” juice; a “Green Detox” smoothie; a chocolate-almond-buttercup smoothie and Kombucha (a fermented tea drink). A generous breakfast can consist of anything from eggs of any style with bacon; a breakfast burrito; huevos rancheros; yogurt parfait and multigrain French toast (not to mention the plethora of baked goods). Move on to the lunch offerings and you will find a range of vegan and meat-based food, including the beet salad; the “Lakeville Cubano” sandwich; Iranian vegetable stew; tofu satay; a variety of “grab-and-go” wraps and salads, and, of course, the blackened salmon.
“The menu fits into Leslie’s philosophy of clean living and eating,” said Jacobs. “It is a balance of flavors and textures.”