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Saltbox CaféEssex · Connecticut
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Café & bakery · Est. 2017

Baked before the village wakes.

Coffee, laminated pastry and a proper breakfast in the Hayden House, a 1754 saltbox on Main Street in Essex. Lunch on weekdays, brunch on the weekend.

Order ahead for pickupSee the menu
Two butter croissants in low morning sun on a striped linen cloth
This morning’s croissants, on the counter by the window.

Right now

Today’s hours

This weekend

Brunch Saturday & Sunday from 9

Find us

61 Main Street, Essex, CT

From the morning bake

What the regulars order

The full menu
  1. Flaky croissants piled together in soft light

    No. 1

    Butter croissant

    $4.25

    Three days from start to finish. Cultured Vermont butter.

    Out of the oven by 6:40

  2. Glossy maple-glazed sticky buns packed close together in a pan

    No. 2

    Maple-pecan sticky bun

    $5.50

    Baked upside down in maple caramel. The reason people line up on Saturdays.

    Saturdays sell out by 10

  3. A soft egg, crisp bacon and roasted tomatoes on toast in morning light

    No. 3

    Two eggs any style

    $11.50

    With roasted tomatoes, house toast and cultured butter.

    Served until close

  4. A bowl of chowder topped with herbs beside a thick slice of toasted bread on a board

    No. 4

    Clear clam chowder

    $9.50

    The Connecticut way: quahogs, potato and thyme in a clean broth.

    From 11, with house bread

A white clapboard colonial house with black shutters and a red front door under a clear autumn sky

The house

A house older than the country

Abel Hayden, a ship’s carpenter, framed this house the year he married. His son added the lean-to at the back for a kitchen, and that long sweep of roof is what makes it a saltbox.

The kitchen is still where the bread happens. We kept the wide pine floors, the hearth in the keeping room and the crooked front stair, and put the espresso machine where the parlor window catches the morning light.

Read our story

On the board this fall

Cider, maple, and the last of the squash

From mid-September until the orchards close, we cook with what comes down Route 9 from the farms.

  • Maple latte$6.25

    Grade A dark syrup from a sugarhouse in Hebron, a pinch of sea salt.

  • Hot mulled cider$4.50

    Fresh-pressed from an orchard in Glastonbury, with clove and orange peel.

  • Cider doughnut$3.00

    Fried every morning from mid-September and rolled in cinnamon sugar.

  • Roasted squash salad$13.50

    Delicata, lentils, pepitas and greens with a maple-tahini dressing.

A latte on a round oak table beside the plaid wool sleeve of a fall jacket
A dozen deep-golden croissants cooling on a wire rack

Order ahead

Skip the line on a Saturday

Choose your order, pick a time, and it’ll be bagged on the shelf by the door. Most orders are ready in twenty minutes.

Start an order
Croissants and a sugar-dusted bun in a woven wicker basket

Catering & events

Pastry boxes, office mornings, the keeping room

A baker’s dozen for the office, breakfast for thirty, or the whole house after hours for a shower or a rehearsal brunch.

Plan something

Visit

On Main Street, up from the river

Address

61 Main Street
Essex, CT 06426
(860) 555-0163

Parking

A small lot behind the house, off the side lane. Free street parking on Main, and the town lot by the dock is a two-minute walk.

Hours

Opening hours
Tuesday – Friday7 AM – 3 PM
Saturday7:30 AM – 3 PM
Sunday8 AM – 2 PM
MondayClosed
  • Coffee, pastries and breakfast all day
  • Lunch from 11, Tuesday – Saturday
  • Brunch from 9, Saturday & Sunday
Connecticut RiverMAIN STREETPTown dockSaltbox CaféN
A few minutes off Route 9. Bike rack by the side door.