The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Edd’s Place, a new spin on a longtime shoreline fave
New owners, vinyl records, Texas fried chicken sandwich on menu
WESTBROOK — Liz Wood is putting her own spin on a favorite shoreline dining spot.
With vinyl records playing on a turntable and Rosie the mermaid hanging over the display case, Wood is serving breakfast, lunch and dinner to hungry patrons at Edd’s Place.
“I’m so fortunate to be able to do this and look out the window and see that, while I cook,” Wood said, pointing to the meandering Patchogue River out back of the restaurant.
“We get tons of blue herons, egrets, swans,” she said. “It’s amazing.”
In the front of the 600square-foot restaurant is Wood’s boyfriend, Tate Mayeux, who greets the customers and mans the register.
The perennial favorite, Charlie’s Sea Dog, fried cod, lettuce, tartar sauce and lemon on a hot dog bun, is still on the menu.
There is also the customer favorite, Pastrami Reuben, with in house made pastrami, Swiss cheese, arugula, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing, served on rye bread.
A new addition is fried chicken sandwich with spicy mayo, lettuce and pickles.
Wood said this has become an extremely popular menu item. She said she learned how to make mouthwatering fried chicken when she worked in Texas as a chef.
“I use a lot of chili powder and cayenne,” she said. “I add a little bit of kick to a lot of our stuff.”
“Just the right amount of heat, to where it’s not hot,” she added.
Wood said she is also partial to adding dill and tarragon to the tuna, chicken salad and potato salad.
The unassuming restaurant, just west of the Singing Bridge over the Patchogue River, has been in operation since 2000 and has become a local landmark. Above the building is a large, green sign with white lettering that reads “Edd’s Place LLC Riverside Dining.”
The Patchogue River brings in customers via kayak throughout the warm months.
There is seating to accommodate about 100 diners, with a heated gazebo and about 22 wooden picnic tables.
Some of the picnic tables are brightly painted with waves on benches and mermaids and surfers on tabletops. The artwork is courtesy of Wood’s mother, Nancy.
Inside, the bright artwork of Wood’s sister, Bekkah, adorns the walls.
Family is very important to Wood and it is evidenced by the artwork and the menu at the restaurant.
The Capezzone is a nod to Wood’s maternal grandfather, Mario “Duke” Capezzone, who raised his family in Guilford.
It’s made with provolone cheese, ham, salami, pepperoni, lettuce, tomato, red onion, sweet peppers with a drizzle of red wine vinaigrette on a sub roll.
“What’s Capezzone?” people will ask Wood. “That’s Capezzone,” Wood will answer, pointing to the black and white photo of her grandfather on the wall.
This cozy spot was Wood’s favorite restaurant growing up in Westbrook. She moved away and spend six years in Los Angeles as a musician and chef and six years in Austin as a chef, then COVID hit.
“When COVID hit, I supplied a bunch of stores, so all those stores closed down and I was pretty much out of business,” she said, reflecting on her wholesale bakery, Charlie’s, in Austin.
“For years I had been calling Edd and saying, ‘Hey, let me buy your restaurant,’” Wood said, referring to former owner, Edd Hannett.
The answer was always no, until it wasn’t.
“I was a little choosy on who I wanted to sell it to, because I wanted to sell it to somebody just like them,” said Hannett.
“I just liked their personality and their sense of trust,” he added. “Right away from them I got that feeling of trust, like ‘I think these guys will do a good job.’”
As a family-owned business for 20 years, Hannett wanted to keep the business going and this feeling of trust was important.
“I didn’t want to see it and then have it fold. That would have been horrible after I worked so hard for 20 years, my wife and I both,” said Hannett, referring to his wife, Kim Hannett.
Finally in September 2020 Wood and Mayeux signed the papers and opened the restaurant as their own.
Wood admits that taking over the business in the middle of COVID was a challenge that continues to this day.
As a summer eatery, Edd’s Place traditionally closed November to April.
“We stayed open every day, all year,” Wood said. “We had days that we had to plow the parking lot and it was like $200 and then we only made $80 because it was the middle of winter.”
“We just kept going, pushing as hard as we could and staying open as much as we could,” she added.
Jeff Wilkins is a regular at the establishment, eating at least one meal there every single day.
“I just started noticing the consistency of the food, which was always, not a step above, a couple steps above the ordinary,” he said. “This place is very good.”
There are two stools right inside the entrance to the kitchen area, in front of the cash register. One of these stools is reserved for Wilkins.
“It’s almost going back to our parents, maybe our grandparents, sitting around in the country store around the wood stove in the winter, just chewing the fat,” Wilkins said. “That’s what we do sometimes at Edd’s Place.”
He admits that the couple “are good friends of mine. Over the period of a year and a half, two years, we’ve become friendly. I’m over there three, four, five times a week.”
Wilkins said it almost feels like he’s visiting friends in their home, along with one other regular patron. Yet, he is quick to add that “we respect the fact that this is their business and if it starts to get a little bit busy, we just leave because we’re not going to interrupt their cash flow for the sake of us having some company.”
Moving from Texas the couple’s biggest challenge was transporting their vinyl record collection, totaling about 500.
“I sold all the furniture, but we had to keep the vinyl,” Wood said.
There is always a record spinning, filling the air with music. Some of Wood’s favorites are Bruce Springsteen, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and John Prine.
“It adds this whole interactive aesthetic thing with the customer,” she said. “It gives them more of a personal nostalgic feeling to where they feel more at home when they’re in here.”
“We’re like, pick out one and we’ll put in one next,” she added. “Then they’re sitting and they hear it come on and it feels really special to them.”
On a recent afternoon, when the restaurant is traditionally closed, the sound of the “The Band” filled the restaurant.
Wood works about 17 hours a day, she said, and comes in early Tuesday through Sunday to make fresh pastries, cornbread and biscuits.
“Literally, almost everything we make is from scratch,” she said.
Wilkins raved about her baking skills.
“Liz is an unbelievable baker,” he said. “Just so you know, I’ve traveled quite a bit, including Europe and into the Middle East. I always liked baked goods.”
“Her stuff is amazing,” he added. “All her baked good are crazy.”
Hannett is effusive talking about Wood’s cookies. There is Rocky Road with marshmallow, pretzels and chocolate chips; classic Chocolate Chip cookie and the Cowboy, with oats, coconut, pecans and chocolate chips.
“Those cookies she makes, she’s a great baker,” he said. “The cowboy cookies, I get them almost every time I go in there. They’re delicious and they’re bigger than a softball.”
Then there are her burgers, which Wood also makes from scratch.
“The burgers, I butcher the meat,” she said. “It’s a certain blend of meats I use. I buy giant briskets and I grind the meat.” Wilkins is a fan of the burgers.
“We all, unless you’re a vegan or vegetarian, we’ve all had our good hamburger from various good hamburger places,” Wilkins said.
“Their hamburgers are the best, honestly” he added. “She can cook it to the way that you want. If you happen to be there on a day where she just happens to grind the beef - homerun. Incredible. Amazing.”
The roasted beet sandwich is Hannett and his wife, Kim’s, favorite menu item. With roasted beets, arugula, carrot, chevre and champagne vinaigrette “It’s a very good combination,” said Hannett. “It’s delicious.”
Everything is super fresh,” Wood said. “We don’t buy anything frozen.”
There is a garden on site that provides the restaurant with tomatoes, kale and strawberries. In addition, an herb garden supplies rosemary, thyme, sage and mint.
Wood has worked hard to incorporate local businesses into Edd’s Place. There is Vermont’s Rugged Ridge maple syrup, owned by Westbrook native Josh Seidman; Moodus Mud coffee; Foxon Park soda and Bethel’s Seven Farms eggs.
Even the shirts, emblazoned with Edd’s Place, are local, printed by Westbrook’s iMerchandise.
“You can feel that from the customer that they appreciate that,” said Wood, referring to customer’s reactions to the local products in Edd’s Place.
“It feels good to support the people around you that are supporting us,” she said.
Wilkins applauds Wood’s skills in the kitchen.
“I highly recommend anybody to try anything on the menu, any baked good that’s in the case because you’re not going to be disappointed,” he said. “She is that good. She is the heart and soul of the operation with a passion for what she’s doing and Tate, her guy, is probably the best front man that you could have.”
For Wood, being in Edd’s place, combining music and food, is right where she belongs.
“It’s very emotional and creative for me,” she said. “It makes people happy — I love that about both of those things.”
“But, it’s also an everlasting thing,” she added. “After you pass away, your music can still exist and recipes pass on, so an old recipe that’s crinkled and has food on it, I can shed a tear when I open up to it.”
Edd’s Place, 478 Boston Post ⏩ Road, Westbrook, 860- 391-8637; eddsplacect@gmail.com; Facebook Edds Place Westbrook CT