Hemma Café's first pastries will go out on platters at long tables, each seating eight, in a room with a stone fireplace on Saturday, November 14. The café itself is planned for Weston Center in summer 2027. Its first public dinner is at Lachat Town Farm, in the Daniel E. Offutt III Education Center. The building opened in September 2023, and this November it hosts two of the town's communal meals.
The location makes sense. Chef Molly Healey describes the café as a community meeting place, and the town already has a room that does that job. For now, the room is at the farm.
Dinner on Shared Platters
Lachat's listing calls it the Fall Harvest Dinner with Hemma. It starts at 7 p.m. on November 14 and costs $90 per person. The meal is served family-style on shared platters at communal tables. You can come with a group of eight or be seated with neighbors you haven't met.
The menu, as Lachat lists it:
- To start: a spiced cider spritz with lemon, with a mocktail version available
- Salad: kale and squash with lemon vinaigrette, breadcrumbs, bacon and almonds
- Mains: fennel orange roasted chicken and miso roasted eggplant
- Sides: garlic braised greens, trumpet mushrooms and smashed fried potatoes
- Bread: fresh buttermilk biscuits with whipped honey butter
- To finish: assorted pastries from Hemma Café, plus coffee and tea
The pastries are the clearest preview of what the café will serve. The rest of the menu shows the cooking Healey has done in Fairfield County for years: seasonal vegetables, a vegetarian main that holds its own next to the chicken, and food meant for passing around the table. Vegetarian options are part of the meal. For other dietary needs, Lachat asks guests to email [email protected] before the event.
A Chef Coming Back to Where She Grew Up
06880 reported on October 18 that Healey grew up in Westport and Weston and is now back, raising a family. She wants to give back "through food, warmth and gathering."
Her background is broader than most new café owners'. In 2020, 06880 reported that she graduated from Weston High School and Johnson & Wales University, worked at Blue Hill, ran high-volume catering in the Bay Area, and co-founded Grateful Food Company. That same spring she launched Manna Toast in Westport. It started on May 26, 2020, as family-style meal-kit delivery, with a café planned to follow.
Her more recent venture is Hemma Kitchen, a weekly prepared-meal delivery service. In 2025, Moffly Media described it as made-from-scratch meals delivered across Fairfield County, with no subscription required. 06880 profiled it in August 2025 as a once-a-week service with online ordering.
The name has carried from the delivery service to the café. Hemma is the Swedish word for "home," and Lachat's listing describes the café as
"...a home base for the Weston community, designed with the same care and intention Molly has brought to everything she's built."
That line comes from Lachat Town Farm's event page, which also says Healey wants a place where Weston residents can "socialize, nourish themselves, and simply relax."
What Weston Center Has, and What It's Waiting For
The Center's food options have changed over the past year. The space that once held the Lunch Box reopened over Memorial Day weekend as The Chase, run by Josh and Jessica Tolk. 06880 described it in July as Weston's own dive bar, with a menu that started with pizza and fried food and plans to expand.
A bar handles the evenings. Healey is pitching something else: a café where people stop in during the day and stay a while. Lachat's listing invites guests to "celebrate a new restaurant coming to Weston." The most specific public details so far are the summer 2027 opening target and the Weston Center location.
So the November dinner is the only way to taste Hemma Café's food in Weston this year. It's also a chance to see how the café plans to treat its guests, at shared tables rather than separate two-tops.
The Room That Already Does the Job
The Daniel E. Offutt III Education Center opened at Lachat on Sunday, September 3, 2023. Weston Today reported that a charitable trust in the namesake's name paid for most of the building. The Town of Weston announced the opening the same week.
The building has a gathering space with a stone fireplace, a demonstration kitchen, a pantry, an art studio and classroom, public restrooms, and an audio-visual system. It was built for programs that run all year. A demonstration kitchen and a fireplace room make it one of the few town-oriented spaces where a chef can cook for a crowd and the crowd can sit down together.
Twelve days after the Hemma dinner, the same room hosts a more personal meal. Lachat's Thanksgiving Community Feast runs from noon to 3 p.m. on Thursday, November 26, in what the farm calls "the beautiful new Offutt Center," with "a fire glowing in our fireplace." It's meant for individuals and families who would otherwise spend the holiday alone. AMG Catering provides the turkey, sides and dessert, with partial sponsorship from the family of Brian Gordon and the Howard & Katherine Aibel Foundation. Guests are asked to bring apple cider or a bottle of wine to share.
Registration is $25 per person, and children under 12 are free. Sign up online or call 203-984-8403 by Friday, November 20. The table seats 75, and groups are limited to four people. Lachat asks anyone for whom cost or transportation is a barrier to contact Weston Social Services.
Taken together, the two dinners show what the farm has become. In one November, the Offutt Center hosts a chef previewing a future Weston Center café and a holiday meal for people who might otherwise eat alone.
November's Shared Tables, in Order
The Offutt Center isn't the only room hosting gatherings this month. Here is the November calendar of events built around sitting down together, counting from this post's publication on Thursday, October 29:
| Date | Event | Where | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed., Nov. 4, 3:45–4:45 p.m. | Food Explorers: Apple Cheesecake Eggrolls | Weston Public Library, Community Room | Hands-on cooking class, ages 6 and up |
| Sun., Nov. 8, 4–6 p.m. | Sunday Soundscapes with pianist Anthony Ratinov | Weston Public Library, Community Room | Free; suggested donation $20 adult, $10 student; reservations recommended |
| Sat., Nov. 14, 7 p.m. | Fall Harvest Dinner with Hemma | Lachat Town Farm, Offutt Center | $90 per person; communal tables of eight; BYOB after welcome cocktail |
| Mon., Nov. 23, 7–9 p.m. | Wreath Decorating Party | Norfield Grange, 12 Goodhill Road | Listed on the town calendar |
| Thu., Nov. 26, 12–3 p.m. | Thanksgiving Community Feast | Lachat Town Farm, Offutt Center | $25 per person, under 12 free; register by Nov. 20; groups up to four |
The Weston Public Library calendar has the Food Explorers listing, and the Sunday Soundscapes page takes reservations for the Ratinov concert, which the Friends of the Weston Library present. The wreath party is on the Town of Weston calendar.
Before You Register for the Hemma Dinner
- Seating: Add any seating requests when you register. Tables are arranged in groups of eight.
- Drinks: The welcome cocktail is included, and you're welcome to bring other beverages.
- Refunds: Lachat doesn't offer refunds, but you can transfer tickets if you tell the farm who is coming in your place.
- Waitlist: The listing includes waitlist instructions, so check the registration page for current availability. If you join the waitlist, include your group's total headcount in the notes.
At Camelot Real Estate, Vickie Kelley and our team are based in Weston Town Center, so we're glad to see a café on its way and a farm table ready to welcome it first. If you'd like to talk about the Center's next chapter, or what new arrivals like Hemma mean for your street, connect with Weston's local experts. We'll gladly share what we're hearing over a cup of coffee.
