No matter what dish new Hilltop Café owner Mike Zielie is cooking, he’s probably thinking about Prosciutto.
Prosciutto, you see, was the name of a pig Zielie and a friend raised in an effort to eat locally.
“I was expecting when it came time, our meat would arrive in clean white paper,” Zielie joked. Of course, it didn’t. They had to slaughter and butcher the pig themselves, and during that hands-on process, Zielie had an epiphany.
“I’ve got my hands in Prosciutto and this revelation comes to me – I need to be respecting food,” Zielie said. “And the first thing I thought of was ‘I need to learn to cook better.’”
Thus was born a love of cooking. After about 10 years of honing his craft, Zielie began cooking dinner specials at Wilton’s Hilltop Café. When owners Ben and Christie Reed decided to sell the café, Zielie and his wife Sandy “jumped in feet-first,” and they’ve been making it their own since January.
“Our tagline is ‘Eat like it matters,’ and that means different things to different people,” Zielie said. “Some people like to eat food that’s organic; some people have dietary restrictions. The new reality that people are learning is that agriculture plays such an important role in global warming. We’re not a vegetarian restaurant, but we’re not meat-centric. We’re trying to make great food where meat is an accent… we do that by making really interesting food.”
Hilltop’s menu includes a lot of South American fusion — llapingachos, a Peruvian potato pancake dish with eggs and peanut sauce, is a favorite — and Zielie’s continuing and expanding his pop-up prix-fixe dinner specials with themes like Korean barbecue.
As much of the ingredients as possible are sourced organically and locally — some from just out in the yard, as the café is on the grounds of the Temple-Wilton Community Farm, the country’s longest continually running CSA.
“We’re really trying to be responsible about the ingredients that we use,” Zielie said. “Meat-wise, the humane treatment of animals is essential.”
It’s a family affair at Hilltop. You’ll catch Zielie in the kitchen and Sandy behind the counter whipping up lattes, and their children work there as well.
In the winter months, the cozy, intimate interior is a great place to warm up with a coffee or an incredible chocolate chip cookie, and once the weather warms, outdoor seating is the place to be as you enjoy your meal as the farm life continues on around you.
“We’re building a special place,” Zielie said.
The Hilltop Café is located at 195 Isaac Frye Highway in Wilton.