The popular eatery in the village of New Preston is being run by Whitney Flood and Julie Retzlaff. The California couple have brought new ideas and energy to an old favorite.
Whitney Flood and Julie Retzlaff arrived in the Northwest Corner six months ago from the West Coast to run Nine Main Café. They have been busy baking, cooking, and getting to know their customers in the charming 19th century Colonial building on Main Street in New Preston. Julie grew up in Cambria, a lovely coastal town right in between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Whitney is originally from New London, New Hampshire. Easy-going and friendly, they took time away from the café to speak with us about their new venture.
What brought you to this area?
We both love the East Coast and we had been wanting to return. When the opportunity came to us to run Nine Main, we flew out to see the place and the town this past September. We fell in love with the place and we moved two months later. We feel very fortunate to be here. We love the town and the people.
What kind of experience do both of you have in the food and restaurant industry?
We both lived in New York for several years. Whitney was the sous chef at Tocqueville a community favorite French Restaurant just up from Union Square. Both of us also lived and worked in Big Sur, CA at Post Ranch Inn’s Sierra Mar fine dining restaurant. Whitney was the sous chef and worked with the dialing changing menu, sourcing local ingredients, working closely with local farmers.
We also ran our own catering and events company for ten years in Los Angeles serving local, organic, gourmet fare throughout southern California. We opened our first restaurant in Culver City, CA called The Muddy Leek again providing local, sustainable, organic cuisine, and also serving a full bar of all organic small batch spirits, wine and beer. Both of us have a passion for farming and working with local venders sourcing the best quality ingredients both organic and sustainable. Whitney is an award-winning chef who takes pride in creating artisan breads, seasonal fair, and creative savory dishes.
What kind of changes can we expect at Nine Main Café?
We have already made changes at Nine Main by sourcing local organic ingredients. Everything we do is made in-house from scratch. We care about the ingredients in each and every dish. We strive to bring a variety of both sweet and savory items as well as daily specials.
Recently, we have gotten a nice response from our house sourdough English muffins, our gruyere cheese and ham muffins, kale chips, as well as our new brisket gyro sandwich which is now on the board daily. We did change some of the former sandwiches out with some new ideas… We offer daily changing breads, soups and always a special sandwich and grilled cheese-of-the-day, as well as a quiche and some baked goods.
During the summer we will be grilling outside on the barbecue and also offering Friday Night Family Dinners. As well, we offer takeout for larger parties and events. Nine Main is the place where you can pick up dinner on your way in or out of town.
Do you use local sources?
Absolutely. We are working with as many local farmers and farms as possible. Most recently we have sourced from Anderson Acres, Camps Road Farms, Arethusa, Wild Carrot, New Preston Provisions for our jams, and Riverbank Farms.
In addition to running the restaurant, you also have a catering business? Tell us more…
In addition to the takeout items we are offering at Nine Main, we have our own outside catering company called Farmers and Cooks where we do a gourmet fine dining kind of experience offering cocktail parties, dinner parties and large gala style events serving everything from mini grassfed sliders to black truffle lobster dumplings.
How has the response been so far?
The response has been positive— we hear on a daily basis how great the place looks and how delicious the food is— particularly the breads, soups and daily changing specials.
The café always seems busy. Do you ever have any down time?
We are used to working a 15-hour day— back in Los Angeles we had a restaurant that served lunch and dinner and we worked long hours— this is a great change for our family. We are able to eat dinner together, take late afternoon walks with our dog Lucky and our daughter Zellia— we feel blessed to be here in New Preston!
What our your plans for dealing with the arrival of weekenders and tourists for the summer? Will you have more tables outside?
Yes, we will have more tables and we have been working hard to make the kitchen and the check-out line more efficient. We care about the locals and summer visitors— we hope to keeps things smooth and consistent all year round.
What plans do you see for the future of Nine Main?
We plan to continue to offer great food— meeting the needs of our customers by offering simple, tasty lunches as well as a few gourmet dishes. We are also excited about the dinner ideas to come— creating family style dinners with entertainment throughout the summer.
Nine Main Café is open Monday to Friday, 6:30 am – 3:30 pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 7:30 am – 3:30 pm.
Nine Main Café
9 Main Street
New Preston
860.868.1879
