By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — The family that owns several area restaurants — Pizza Lyfe in Westport and Quattro Pazzi and Organika, both in Fairfield — opened a different kind of restaurant last week. 

Lyfe Café, 793 Post Road East, specializes in coffee, breakfast and lunch.

Owner Dimitri Pantzos, who said he began learning kitchen knife skills from his family before he could talk, saw a need in Westport for a place that serves good breakfasts and light lunches.

“There was a big influx from Manhattan” to Westport during the pandemic, he said, of people used to grabbing breakfast or a bagel at a sidewalk cafe on their way to work or school.

“I saw a need. There was not much around for breakfast and lunch.”

All baked goods served at Lyfe Café are made on the premises, including bagels, while offerings like smoked, wild lox and wild Albacore tuna for sandwiches are outsourced.

Coffee is ground fresh in the café, and the menu offers fans of a cup of Joe a wide variety, including hot and cold brews with everything from shaken espresso to honey latte.

For breakfast, the menu includes classic dishes such as two eggs with bacon and cheddar cheese to a Sunrise Wrap with egg whites, spinach, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, mozzarella and basil aioli in a whole-wheat wrap.

Sandwiches at Lyfe Café include shaved ribeye steak with caramelized onions, cheddar cheese and horseradish aioli on a grinder, as well as pesto chicken and falafel. A “smash burger” is also available.

“Bowls” on the menu include a chicken Cobb salad and a Mediterranean salad with couscous, falafel, chickpeas and more.

Some Westporters may have noticed the Café Lyfe sign posted at its site months ago and wondered when it would open. That’s because right after he signed a lease for the space in March 2023, the building, which has apartments above the ground floor café, was sold to a new corporate owner, Pantzos said. The restaurant’s opening was delayed until this year while details were worked out. 

But now the café, with a light, spacious interior, is attracting a range of customers, including parents taking their children to school and people headed to work looking for an early-morning coffee, he said.

And what does a man who grew up in the business think is the most important part of running a successful restaurant? 

“Good food and good quality service,” he said.

Lyfe Café is open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Food also can be ordered on the restaurant’s website. For more information, call 203-557-0387.

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Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.