In 1989, Susan Sherrill and her husband opened Village Green Cafe and caterers, which quickly became known for serving afternoon tea/lunch during the week, and dinner on weekends. They opened to much success, despite Ridgewood not being the bustling restaurant town it is considered today. Other than a few delicatessens, most of the restaurants were serving “bar food.” Susan prided herself on serving high quality, local, and cooked from scratch food, something that was far ahead of the trend at the time.

Susan Sherrill served her last entree on New Year’s Eve 1999, when she sold the restaurant after ten years of running a successful business. Over the next ten years, the restaurant changed many hands, until 2011, when it was bought by our current chef/owner Kevin Portscher.

Kevin keeps the tradition of the Village Green Cafe alive by serving fresh, local, and high quality meals that are always cooked from scratch. Kevin said, “It took me a while to win back the locals after the restaurant changed so many times.” Through out the years, the restaurant changed concepts from French to American, and at one point it was only serving tasting menus. Kevin says, “The loyal customers who have been coming since the beginning tell us we have a lot in common with the original VG and we take that as a huge compliment.”

The restaurant is currently serving New American Cuisine, which is a type of fusion cuisine that assimilates flavors from traditional American cooking, mixed with foreign and sometimes molecular components. They serve a la carte as well as tasting menus, and they pride themselves in cooking with the seasons. The year 2016 marks the five year anniversary of the New Village Green Restaurant and you can expect more great things from this pillar of the community.