A Secret No More

The following was to be my morning post and then I read this from Gail Appleson in the morning Post. This cat's now officially out of the bag: Every day I get asked “what’s your favorite place in town?” and the answer is always the same: “Well, it depends.” As the parameters are narrowed, I either blurt out superlatives about some joint I’m really excited about or roll out “the usuals” like a bored concierge. Today, no need for parameters … I’d recommend Café Osage to anyone who asks. The backdrop for its charm and appeal is its location within a renovation that became the cool-urban nursery Bowood Farms (at 4605 Olive in the CWE). With culinary karma supplied by chef David Guempel, it has been close to perfect on four separate visits. Here’s my rec: Ask for table #1 or #2. Go with the corned beef hash at breakfast or the tuna on ciabatta at lunch (no dinner service yet). Notice the clean lines and the small details: homemade jam for your muffin, bison sausage from their own bison, Coke in old-time bottles poured over square-cube “icehouse” ice. Although CO is still less than a month old (there's no signage as yet), consider visiting while grown-on-site heirloom tomatoes grace every plate. Then again, you could wait for cooler weather, when a part of the spectacular bow-roofed nursery may be converted into what has the potential to be the most soothing (and dog-friendly) dining space in town. I may have to get a dog. —George Mahe