New England dining reviews >>> Traveler Restaurant, Union, CT, dining review

The Traveler Restaurant: great family-style food and three free books!

Article and photo by Eric H.

Our parents told us not to read at the dinner table, but, then again, they probably never knew about the Traveler Restaurant in Union, CT.

The Traveler serves delicious, family-style breakfast, lunch and dinner and allows customers to take home three free books. Here's how it started: the previous owner of the Traveler needed to thin out his extensive book collection, so he put them on the shelves of the restaurant, and the idea took off. Approximately 100,000 books a year are given away!

The informal dining room looks, as expected, like a restaurant and library. Books line the shelves all over the dining room, which is pleasant with its cozy, dim lighting and nice wooden tables and chairs. While waiting for their meals, customers browse the endless supply of books, covering seemingly every subject matter except, ironically, dining out books.

Featured in several media sources including the New York Times, Charles Kuralt's Sunday Morning Show and Yankee Magazine, the Traveler has built a cult following, serving commuters passing by on Route 84, the Sturbridge Village crowd just over the line in south central Massachusetts as well as the local crowds in Union -- the smallest community in Connecticut.

We recent feasted on a delicious tender strip steak , flavorful pancakes, an abundant, fresh tossed salad, some authentic New England clam chowder and for dessert an amazing chocolate overload cake.The Traveler also serves wine and beer, omelets, pasta burgers, turkey dinners, seafood and grinders. Our initial visit will, no doubt, result in coming back to this most unusual and quite satisfying restaurant. We expect to "book" many more visits at the Traveler.

The Traveler Restaurant
Rt. 84, exit 74, Union, CT. Tel. (860-684-4920