“When we painted the stripes, a friend texted Aaron and said, ‘I saw the stripes! They look just like a jacket I had in 1980!’” Nadia Blair recalls, standing inside the newly opened Flobee’s Roadside Stand. “And I thought to myself: Nailed it!”
Nadia, who co-founded Flobee’s with her husband, Aaron Blair, and their good friend Ric Gutierrez, spent weeks looking at vintage clothing and ephemera online, searching for the perfect color palette.
“I painted 17 different options,” she tells us. “I wanted them to capture the right era—late ’70s, early ’80s—dusty pinks, gray-hued blues, mustard yellows. And the order was important! Rearrange them, and it changes the whole vibe.”
Nadia’s attention to detail didn’t stop there. Inside, her meticulousness is apparent throughout—even down to the sprinkles, which match the stripes. (“I ordered five different bags and mixed them together!”)
It’s this over-the-top thoughtfulness that defines Flobee’s—a delightful roadside stand where the experience is just as important as the food.
Flobee’s is a full-on family and friends labor of love. Aaron spent nearly a decade as sous chef at Café Josie in Austin, where he met his best friend and future business partner, Ric. When Austin’s food truck scene took off, the two joined in, launching F.N. Goode Burgers on the back patio of Texas Showdown (now Mockingbird Saloon).
“Then I met Nadia, we got married, and started a family,” Aaron tells us.
Unsurprisingly, the food truck lifestyle didn’t mesh well with raising five children—now ages 12, 10, 8, and 6-year-old identical twins. F.N. Goode Burgers closed, and Aaron shifted to a management role at Home Depot, while Ric returned to fine dining. When Covid hit, Aaron found corporate life even more exhausting than the restaurant industry—and Nadia felt the strain, too.
“I was home with five little kids,” she recalls. “So I drove to my mom’s house on Cape Cod. Kate’s Seafood was for sale, and suddenly I thought, We should buy it!”
Aaron reminded her that they didn’t live on the Cape. But once the idea took root, Nadia couldn’t shake the vision of Aaron back in the restaurant business. All she had to do was persuade him to move up North.
“The older our kids got, the more I wanted them to have the childhood I had,” she says. “Snow, autumn leaves—it just wasn’t the same in Texas.”
Originally from Katonah, Nadia has always loved Ridgefield. But Aaron wasn’t convinced—until he saw a listing for a Victorian house in town. Karla Murtaugh suggested Nadia’s mom do a Zoom tour with them. “There was snow on the ground, and I just fell in love,” Nadia remembers.
When the call ended, Aaron closed the laptop, saying, “I mean, if you want it, go ahead.” That was all she needed to hear.
Once they relocated, Nadia’s wheels started spinning. “The Ridgefield Ice Cream shop was for sale,” she says. “I’ve always liked that building and it looked really sad.”
Tom Carvel opened the shop in 1957. Twenty years later, his longtime manager, Felix Lechner, took over the lease, renaming it Ridgefield Ice Cream. In 2017, the store changed hands once more before permanently closing in 2024.
“I loved the 1950s architecture, but didn’t want it to feel theme-y,” Nadia explains. “So the goal became nostalgia—figuring out a way to honor every decade this building has seen without singling one out.”
A former teacher with a master’s in public policy, Nadia may seem like an unlikely designer—but she has an eye for it. Immersing herself in research on midcentury modern, Nadia also sought guidance from Tracy Seem at the Ridgefield Historical Society on key architectural elements—including the iconic neon sign (more on that later).
The result is the ultimate eras mashup, a tribute to the building’s seventy years.
To soften the Flobee’s midcentury glass-and-steel aesthetic, Nadia added a warm cedar ceiling. The light blue and white checkerboard flooring is reminiscent of Happy Days but also classic Vans sneakers. And its name adds another nostalgic touch—Aaron’s mother, Florence Blair, was playfully nicknamed “Flobee” by him and his friends as kids. (Around the time of the Flowbee haircutting system… “It sucks as it cuts!”)
The Blairs prioritized making Flobee’s family-friendly. They created a fenced-in picnic area, installed heated bathrooms, and worked with architect Peter Coffin to build a decorative safety wall. “When you stand out front to order, I want you to feel safe,” Nadia says. “The wall has steel rebar and cement that goes six feet deep.”
Flobee’s menu is short, satisfying, and meltdown-proof. “It can be hectic taking kids out to eat,” Aaron says. “Simplicity is sometimes a gift.”
In a nod to their Texas roots, the fare leans Southern. Aaron and Ric brought back the smash burger recipe from their food truck days, and there are standouts like the habanero meatloaf sandwich, fried pickles, shrimp po boy, and queso and fries. The fried chicken sandwich—marinated in a buttermilk pickle brine and then double-battered—is already a customer favorite.
“Nearly everything on the menu is made in-house, so I didn’t want to serve a Boca burger as the vegetarian option!” Nadia says. Instead, she landed on a fresh and flavorful falafel burger. (A delicious addition, we can assure you.)
The kids’ meals come with a Capri Sun (hello, childhood!), and the paper bags feature illustrations for coloring (crayons included). Funfetti rice krispies treats and Texas sheet cake are the baked goods, and with rotating flavors of Longford’s Ice Cream and soft serve. Then, there are Snobees.
“When my oldest was a baby, we used to go to Deep Eddy Pool in Austin, and they had a sno-ball stand,” Aaron recalls. “So we decided to order a machine straight from New Orleans and serve sno-balls.”
Made with finely shaved ice, Snobees absorb the flavored syrup, creating a light, soft, fluffy texture. Try it “Big Easy” style by adding sweetened condensed milk, or get “The Alamo” with mango syrup, fresh mango, chamoy sauce, and Tajín.
New ideas are always percolating among the co-founders. Breakfast tacos may be on the horizon, and Nadia, Aaron, and Ric hope to collaborate with local farms to create seasonal sandwiches. “We talk a lot about a tomato sandwich. I’d love to highlight produce that’s in season,” Ric says.
Flobee’s is as eco-friendly as it is nostalgic. Nearly all packaging is compostable. Drinks are sold in aluminum cans, which are infinitely recyclable. And in Connecticut, returning them earns you ten cents each.
“I’ve always been very civil-service minded,” Nadia says.. “Flobee’s is now part of the community. So the thought was: What can we do with that dime? If we encourage everyone to recycle their cans, we can collect that money and donate it.”
Nadia connected with Jill Brown, Director of Finance for Ridgefield Public Schools, and arranged to put the money toward paying off school lunch debt for Ridgefield students.
No detail has been overlooked at Flobee’s, right up to its crowning jewels—the glowing neon pink and yellow Flobee’s signs, custom-crafted by local artisan Kody Shafer of Neon Spectacular LLC. Shafer, who grew up in Ridgefield and now runs his shop in Norwalk, delivered. He even tracked down and measured the original Carvel signs before designing the new ones.
“The building was made to have signs on the roof,” Nadia says.
Flobee’s isn’t only a place to grab a quick bite. It’s a love letter to bygone eras, to great food, and to our community.
“It wasn’t just about opening a burger stand. It was about honoring this space, keeping it alive, and giving back.”
Flobee’s is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Follow along on Instagram at @flobeesroadside and visit flobees.com to learn more.
And save those returnables! People who bring 20 aluminum cans to Flobee’s between April 15 and April 22 (Earth Day) will receive a free kids’ size soft serve!