East Lyme — Deke Haylon has come full circle.

His newly established Haylon's Market at 157 W. Main St. lies on the very spot where his late father's favorite restaurant, The Yankee Clipper, once stood. And now Haylon lives upstairs above his take-out food store in the Heritage Commons plaza, not far from the Crescent Beach home where he spent summers.

But his ties to the food business go back even further.

"My great-grandfather had a butter, egg and cheese business in Hartford called Kingsley & Smith," he said.

Haylon developed a passion for food from his late mother, eventually dropping out of the Boston Conservatory of Music to pursue a culinary career in New York. He wound up working in the Royalton Hotel in Manhattan, then flew off to Los Angeles for a few years to get a dose of West Coast cuisine before winding up back in New York as the personal chef to a variety of wealthy clients, including Robert Trump (Donald's brother) and his now ex-wife Blaine.

Haylon said the Trumps wanted show food for their elaborate parties, so he became very aware of the presentation aspect of the culinary business. Guests of the Trumps, he said, included baseball player Cal Ripken Jr., comedian Joan Rivers, actress Joan Collins and the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson.

Blaine Trump didn't want Haylon to serve just cheese sticks; she wanted the food stacked up in elaborate pyramids.

"The expectations were very intense," he said. "Dinner was an entertainment."

Yet when the wealthy families he worked for were at home among themselves, Haylon said, they often preferred comfort food. 

And that's what he has recreated here at Haylon's Market by serving beef, veal and chicken curry stews, fresh biscuits (including one incorporating fried chicken), meatloaf served with acorn squash, quiche, broccoli cakes and a variety of pies, tarts and other sweets all cooked up in the 1,000-square-foot space. Dinners include salmon, sea bass, veal, lamb and pot roast.

Most of the offerings, displayed in food warmers or cases at the front of the store, are priced by the pound so customers can mix and match an entree with a variety of vegetables and starches, including the ever-popular mashed potatoes.

"I did want to create something that hasn't been done before but I didn't want to alienate people either," Haylon said.

Haylon, who also does catering, seems to have developed a loyal clientele, though his store has been open only since October. One customer, Jody Ziskind of Niantic, said she enjoys one-of-a-kind businesses like Haylon's.

She recently walked over to the shop with a neighbor and sat down to enjoy a mini-apple pie.

"It was beautiful to look at," she said. "And it was so delicious."

For now, the store is available only to the lunch and dinner crowd, but by February Haylon is expecting to open as early as 6 a.m. to begin offering takeout breakfast fare, including doughnuts and danish. The store, which has three full-time and three part-time employees, was funded partly with a $120,000 loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration, and students from Washington & Lee University in Virginia wrote up the business plan.

Haylon said business so far has been good, with the biggest rush coming around lunchtime. Route 156 is amazingly busy in the summer months, he added, as crowds flock to nearby Rocky Neck State Park and other attractions, including the Book Barn down the road.

In the summer months, Haylon expects to set up about 25 seats outside his place for people to sit and eat, but right now everything is strictly takeout.

"So far so good," he said. "We're girding our loins here. It's gonna be wild."

l.howard@theday.com

Twitter: @KingstonLeeHow

BUSINESS SNAPSHOT

WHAT: Haylon's Market

OWNER: Deke Haylon

ESTABLISHED: October 2015

NO. OF EMPLOYEES: 6

WHERE: 157 W. Main St., Niantic

WEBSITE: www.haylonsmarket.com

PHONE: 860-739-9509