If you're partial to a cup of coffee and a snack while reading, you could hit up a library—Westport and Darien Libraries have lovely cafés—or a Barnes and Noble. But IF you're trying to pair something more like a gourmet meal with your reading, it would be hard to beat Atticus Bookstore and Café in New Haven.
Gourmet food and a great read? That just about describes my ideal weekend afternoon,* so I headed to Atticus on Saturday. The bookstore/café is located across the street from the Yale University Art Gallery, and since the weather hadn't yet dropped, it was a great day to take in the fall foliage and classic New England architecture in the neighborhood.
Food and books occupy equal square footage at Atticus, and the quality of both ought to satisfy both foodies and book lovers. And for devotees of the visual arts, an exhibit by local artist Nicole Cudzilo, "Sleepwalking with Ghosts," is on view in the café through Dec. 1.
For lunch, I couldn't resist the pulled pork sandwich, served on two grilled cheese sandwiches. Wait, what? Instead of two slices of toast, with pulled pork in between, you get two grilled cheese sandwiches with pulled pork (and jalapeno mayo) in the between them. I only finished about a quarter of it, but only because my eyes were bigger than my stomach. The pulled pork had a nice smoky flavor and wasn't overly sauced, and the mayo added an extra zing to the flavor without being overwhelmingly spicy.
The book offers an overview of why humans are drawn to story, incorporating contemporary research on what it does to our brains (rewires them is what!) and touching on everything from literature, television, and music to sports and gaming. I tore through it, finishing it on Sunday afternoon (about the time I finished the rest of my sandwich).
What'd you do this weekend? :)