November 19, 2025
52 Years of the Fife ’n Drum
By Charles Dubow
Photographs by Jim Henkens
Watching Elissa Potts prepare her famous roast half duck flambé tableside is to see a master at work. The confident way she swirls the pan and ignites the duck with a blue flame is pure restaurant theater—and the result is absolutely delicious. Of course, as the owner of celebrated local favorite Fife ’n Drum in Kent she’s had a lot of practice. “How many times have I done this?” she laughs. “Try at least once a day six days a week for 52 years.”
Potts’s father, Dolph Traymon, opened the Fife back in 1973, well before the Litchfield Hills became the popular weekend destination it is today. “There weren’t many other fine dining establishments up here back then,” she says. “And none are still owned by the same family.”
And Potts is a hands-on owner. When not making the duck—or the filet au poivre or Caesar salad tableside, while wearing the same blue striped shirt and necktie as the rest of her veteran staff—she’s waiting tables and chatting with her legion of regular customers. Her presence is part of the Fife’s charm, along with the dark wood paneling and beams, roaring fireplace, and the always-busy long bar that give the place its authentic old-school ambience.
What also makes dining at the Fife so special is its consistency. For more than a half-century—such longevity is remarkable in the restaurant world—it has continued to serve reliably delicious classic American cuisine. There is nothing innovative on the menu. Nothing is cooked sous vide or with liquid nitrogen. In addition to its tableside favorites, highlights from the menu include the pan-seared pork chop in a cherry port wine sauce, the blackened salmon with a fresh herb chimichurri sauce, chicken parm over linguini, and steak frites. A special treat served only on Fridays is the roast prime rib au jus, cooked to pink perfection. For a more casual meal, you can’t go wrong with their French dip, corned beef Reuben or Cowboy Burger, made with cheddar, bacon, BBQ sauce, and onion rings.
Because Dolph Traymon was a Juilliard-educated pianist who accompanied such greats as Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee before opening the Fife, it soon became known not just for its food but also for live music. For years, Traymon himself on the Fife’s Steinway piano was the main entertainment. After his death in 2016, such local musicians as David Grausman (winner of Litchfield Magazine’s 2025 Reader’s Choice award for Best Musician) and Potts’s husband, George, a talented guitarist, have become regular attractions.
Traymon ’s other significant legacy is the Fife’s 7,000 bottle wine cellar, which is known for both its selection of many of the world’s greatest wines—for example, a nearly complete range of Opus One dating back to 1984 and a plethora of regal Bordeaux and Burgundies—and the reasonableness of its prices. Unsurprisingly, this cellar, which rivals any found in New York City, has been awarded Wine Spectator’s Best of Award of Excellence every year since 1992.
Fife ’n Drum Restaurant, 5 Main St. —fifendrum.com
