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Fairfield Welcomes A Grilled Cheese Restaurant Downtown

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – In a little spot on Unquowa Road, grilled cheese, tomato soup and salads are being served up to fill a comfort-food sized hole in Fairfield’s restaurant scene.

The Grilled Cheese Eatery has opened to the public in hopes of fulfilling Fairfield's comfort food desires.

The Grilled Cheese Eatery has opened to the public in hopes of fulfilling Fairfield's comfort food desires.

Photo Credit: Ivanina Donneaux
Fairfield's new restaurant The Grilled Cheese Eatery doesn't only serve grilled cheese, but soups and customizable salads.

Fairfield's new restaurant The Grilled Cheese Eatery doesn't only serve grilled cheese, but soups and customizable salads.

Photo Credit: Ivanina Donneaux
The Grilled Cheese Eatery has three different types of tomato soup on the menu, each unique to the restaurant.

The Grilled Cheese Eatery has three different types of tomato soup on the menu, each unique to the restaurant.

Photo Credit: Ivanina Donneaux

The idea started in the minds of owners Henri and Ivanina Donneaux early this year after they realized there weren’t many restaurants they could easily go to with their three-year-old daughter.

And while thinking about this conundrum, they realized that they had the opportunity to create something themselves, with the Grilled Cheese Eatery.

“I think people have changed their way of dining theses days,” said Henri Donneaux, who is also head chef. “So we decided to do a place that was more casual, but still fun.”

It took them three months to come up with the idea, the menu and transform Café Lola into a family friendly place where anyone could come and enjoy a meal out.

“We realized that we really would like to eat in a cool place that can have simple food,” he said.

Grilled cheese and soup became the focal point of the restaurant when they realized that it was a meal they fall back and since having their daughter they began to experiment with different kinds of grilled cheese.

Her husband is the chef, Ivanina Donneaux explained, but she helps to come up with ideas for the sandwiches – like the Grilled Cheese Mac and Cheese, which the menu describes as being cheddar-parmesan mac and cheese stuffed between two slices of white bread.

The menu, she said, was all about comfort food and American classics, because what works better than grilled cheese and tomato soup?

There are three different types of tomato soup on the menu, each unique to the restaurant as well as several daily specials. They’re offering a salad bar where diners can create their own salad, if as Ivanina Donneauxsaid, they were feeling healthy that day. A take out option will also be available for lunch and dinner, and catering will also be available.

Eventually, she said, they’d like to expand the Grilled Cheese Eatery into a chain. “We’re trying to make it live unto itself,” she said.

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