Village Bake House in Niantic closed last year after five decades in business, but the space on Pennsylvania Avenue didn’t stay unoccupied for long.

In April of 2023, T&B Provisions opened there. This breakfast-and-lunch spot is run by two men with long, impressive histories in restaurants in the region.

Tom Prue, who grew up in Haddam and now lives in Niantic, had been executive chef at Aspen restaurant in Old Saybrook from 2009 till he left to start T&B Provisions earlier this year.

Ben Looney, who grew up in Old Lyme and now lives in Waterford, likewise worked at Aspen — that’s where he and Prue met and became friendly.

Prue’s decision to open a lunch spot had a simple draw: “Hours. You can have a family life. Working at the restaurant, it’s 9 o’clock in the morning till 10 o’clock at night, five or six days a week. I have a 6-month-old, a 4-year-old, and a 9-year-old,” he said.

With restaurant hours, that means the kids would often be sleeping when he headed out early in the day and sleeping when he got home.

The 9 a.m.-3 p.m. hours of T&B Provisions are much more conducive to family life. And, Prue noted, it’s only a two-minute drive from his house to his business — “five on a bike.”

He approached Looney about working together on this new food spot. Looney said he always wanted to “at least like open a bar or something at some point, but this came about and it’s less money than a bar.”

More than your average sandwich

The idea with T&B, Prue said, is to “basically bring fine dining to sandwiches. I don’t know how else to describe it.”

He took inspiration from recipes he created at restaurants and morphed them into sandwich offerings.

An example he mentions: a smoke ham and cheese sandwich ($12) with double cream brie, greens, apple, red pepper jelly, and baguette.

Looney also referenced the pork belly on the menu, in sandwich and rice bowl forms.

“You don’t see (pork belly) around very often except at foodie destinations,” he said.

T&B’s pork belly sandwich, $14, includes provolone, picked carrot & onion, broccoli rabe, sriracha aioli, and baguette.

Other warm sandwiches on the menu include:

– Pulled pork, $13, coffee BBQ sauce, kim chi slaw, pickled carrot and onion, spiced peanuts, baguette.

– Pressed grilled chicken, $13, gorgonzola, caramelized onion, arugula, lemon chive aioli, grilled ciabatta.

“Breakfasty Stuff” that’s served all day includes:

– Blueberry grilled cheese, $10, double cream brie, blueberry jam, wheat.

– Banana Split, $9, bananas, granola, berries, whipped cream.

A new look

Prue and Looney overhauled the interior of the space, bringing a fresh, artful vibe. They took the bread boards that had been used by Village Bake House and transformed them into long tables, one against the exterior windows and the other serving as a sort of counter against a wall.

They used a two-part epoxy process to create an abstract, flowing design on the floor. (Looney said he wanted to make it look like a swirly bowling ball he used to use.)

Their backgrounds

Looney cooked from a young age. “I just liked to eat,” he said.

He remembered, for instance, going fishing and cooking the fish afterward.

He earned a business degree from the College of Charleston in South Carolina, expecting to go into marketing. (He knew Mitchell Etess, Mohegan Sun CEO, and said, “I liked how he built this empire out of smart marketing.”)

But a yearlong stint at a desk job after college didn’t appeal. He quit, explaining now, “It’s not for me.”

In the culinary world, he worked in the kitchen at Black Hall Club in Old Lyme and at Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse at Mohegan Sun. After about two years at the latter, he moved to Aspen.

Prue likewise has been interested in cooking since he was a kid.

“I just always liked food. I can always make it taste better than most people, so it’s just kind of natural (as a career),” he said.

He graduated from the Center for Culinary Arts in Cromwell. His first job in the industry was the former Dock & Dine in Old Saybrook and he then spent almost eight years at Mohegan Sun. There, he worked at venues including Tuscany and Rain.

As for his hopes for customers at T&B Provisions, Prue said, “We want them to get addicted. We’re hoping that the stuff that we’re making is good enough that they keep coming back.”

If you go

What: T&B Provisions

Where: 28 Pennsylvania Ave., Niantic

Hours: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. daily but closed Tuesdays

For more info: Visit their Facebook page

Call: (860) 451-8014