NORFOLK — Tasty food, coffee and a friendly atmosphere are drawing people to the ICBX, a new café offering breakfast and lunch.
The ICBX, so named in honor of Norfolk being known as the Icebox of Connecticut, opened on Monday, Dec. 2, after many delays in the installation of an exhaust system.
“Something you’d think would take two weeks, ends up taking three months,” café co-owner Peter Crippen said. In this case it took much longer than three months, closer to two years. He said the bigger companies kept pushing back the job in favor of bigger jobs. Finally, using local contractors was the key and the work was done more quickly.
Marinelle Crippen, Peter’s wife and partner in the business, works at the counter greeting customers and taking orders while Peter is in the kitchen cooking.
“Things have been going very well,” Peter said. “We get busy, we handle it and learn each day how to refine the flow from everything for customer service to food preparation.” Marinelle agreed, saying, “It’s been fun so far.”
The Crippens are not strangers to working with food. They bring their experience running Rex Café in Hell’s Kitchen in New York City, managing the Mermaid Inn in Chelsea and Red Rooster in Harlem, to the ICBX.
Peter Crippen, owner of the ICBX cafe at Station Place in Norfolk, prepares to cook a made to order omelet. ICBX opened on December 2nd. Peter and his wife Marinelle run the cafe together and offer breakfast and lunch from 7a.m. to 2p.m., everyday except Tuesday. Robin Roraback
In addition, Peter’s mother makes Mrs. Crippen’s Bourbon and Molasses Fruitcake, which is available at ICBX. His sister ran Irving Farm Coffee House in Millerton, New York, for many years. When Peter and son Rex went on a fishing trip recently, his sister filled in at the grill.
“It is amazing how the Breakfast Burritos have gone over.” Peter remarked. He also said that he has brought back something he remembers from childhood: toasted muffins. He said that once customers have a toasted muffin “it is the only way to eat it.”
David Gourley of Norfolk has quickly become a regular customer. He sat at the counter, chatting with Marinelle. “It’s a wonderful meeting place and a welcome addition to our community,” he said. Of his made to order three egg omelet, he said, “The tomatoes are warmed on the grill first. Delicious.”
ICBX offers coffee, tea, biscuit sliders, oatmeal, yogurt and granola. Breakfast sandwiches can be made to order with a choice of sausage, ham, egg, avocado, bacon, tomato and cheese. Breakfast Chorizo Burritos have options of onion, egg and hot sauce. Vegetable Burritos can be made with green peppers, mushrooms, black beans, egg and hot sauce.
A variety of baked goods is also available, including scones, breads and muffins.
Starting Thursday, Jan. 2, the café began offering lunch. The lunch menu contains two sandwiches, soup and salad.
In December they were open every day except Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and in January extended the hours until 2 p.m. For more information, call (860) 671-0005 or stop by the ICBX at 10 Station Place in Norfolk.
Scott Reinhard, graphic designer, cartographer, former Graphics Editor at the New York Times, took time out from setting up his show “Here, Here, Here, Here- Maps as Art” to explain his process of working.Here he explains one of the “Heres”, the Hunt Library’s location on earth (the orange dot below his hand).
He added, “When I moved to New York City, I continued that exploration of cartography, and my work eventually caught the attention of the New York Times, where I went to work as a Graphics Editor, making maps and data visualizations for a number of years.”At the New York Times, his work contributed to a number of Pulitzer Prize winning efforts.
In his work, Reinhard takes complex data and turns it into intriguing visualizations the viewer can begin to comprehend immediately and will want to continue to look into and explore more deeply.
One method Reinhard uses combines historic United States Geological survey maps with “current elevation data (height above sea level for a point on earth) to create 3-D looking maps, combining old and new,” he explained.
For the show at Hunt Library Reinhard said, “I knew that I wanted to incorporate the place into the show itself. A place can be many things.The exhibition portrays the exact spot visitors are from four vantage points: the solar system, the earth, the Northwest Corner, and the library itself.” Hence the name, “Here, Here, Here, Here.”
He continued, “The largest installation, the Northwest Corner, is a mosaic of high-resolution color prints and hand-printed cyanotypes — one of the earliest forms of photography. They use elevation data to portray the landscape in a variety of ways, from highly abstract to the highly detailed.”
This sixteen-foot-wide installation covers the area of Millerton to Barkhamsted Reservoir and from North Canaan down to Cornwall for a total of about 445 square miles.
For subjects, he chooses places he’s visited and feels deeply connected to, like the Northwest Corner.“This show is a thank you to the community for the richness that it has brought to my life. I love it here,” he said.
The opening reception for the show is on June 7 from 5 to 7 p.m. On Thursday, June 12, Reinhard will give a talk about his work from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the library.“Here, Here, Here, Here” will be on display until July 3.
Scott Reinhard’s 16-foot-wide piece of the Northwest Corner is laid out on the floor prior to being hung for the show. L. Tomaino
