Mamie’s

***THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED***

Stretched leisurely through the rolling fields and hills of northwest Connecticut, the town of Roxbury is a wonderful place for a ride on a pleasant day. Actually, it is a nice place for a ride any day, but when the weather is nice, you can have breakfast or lunch on a picnic table on the broad lawn of Mamie’s.

The small cafe, which started as a bakeshop and still offers a magnificent array of cakes, cookies, brownies, muffins, cupcakes, and donuts, has a handful of tables indoors, but you cannot beat the al fresco dining facilities. It is perforce casual, but in no way downscale. Even at the rough-hewn picnic tables, you’ll get a thick white napkin and solid silverware; and while the everyday menu is not much more than sandwiches, salads, and breakfast, everything is several notches above ordinary. Mamie can cook!

Eggs are free-range, and taste it: bright, sunny, farm-fresh. The bacon to go with them is thick and full flavored. Buttermilk pancakes have a fetching tang and come with local maple syrup. House-made seven-grain bread, toasted and buttered to go with breakfast, is deeply satisfying. It also is available for sandwiches of turkey, ham or roast beef. It behooves anyone who eats here to venture inside at some point during or preferably after the meal to peruse the pastries, which are beautiful.

Note: Mamie’s also serves dinner Friday and Saturday nights. BYOB.