We can all presumably agree that any modestly sized town worthy of Sating The Appetite will have at the bare minimum a few "fine dining" options, some tasty ethnic choices and representative fast-food franchises.

What else is important? Well, in an area such as ours, where a lot of communities are clustered together, it helps to have a few restaurants about which folks from all over the region say, "We gotta go to (Town X) because they're got (Restaurants A and B)."

I specifically feel that way about Norwich's Olde Tymes Restaurant and Philly's A Taste of Philadelphia.

Olde Tyme's (see a What to Cook recipe on page WHAT) family gathering spot indeed harkens back to titular days of yore. You can imagine the "My Three Sons" clan eating there, waving a few tables away at the Cleavers from "Leave It to Beaver." Great, reliable home-cooking with a few surprises, wonderful pies, touristy knick-knacks and a curiously intriguing layout that reminds me (at least) of an under-deck galley on some explorer's wooden ship crossing the sea.

Philly's zeroes in on the Philadelphia thing through their array of sublime cheesesteak options. The only time I was in Philly, my companions preferred vegetables, so I didn't get an authentic cheesesteak. But the offering's in this friendly Norwich spot are wonderful — so I don't NEED Philadelphia. Fine wings and hoagies, too.

Olde Tymes Restaurant, 360 W Main St., Norwich; 7 a.m-2 p.m. daily; www.oldtymes.com, (860) 887-6865.

Philly's A Taste of Philadelphia, 33 Sherman St., Norwich; 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m.Mon.-Thurs., 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Fri. and Sat.; www.eatcheesesteak.com, (860) 886-9449.