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We are willing to bet you won’t pronounce the name of the restaurant correctly the first time. The lunch-ey addition to the Colleen’s Cookies space in Clayton will be called “Caife Caife.” Would you believe that’s pronounced, quite simply, “Coffee Café”?
The Gaelic word “Caife,” explained cookie queen Colleen Thompson, means both coffee and café, and it’s pronounced just like the English words to which it refers, depending on the shade of meaning.
Okay.
The language lesson is well and fine, but we’re really excited about the major changes coming to the expanding bakery. Breakfast and lunch crowds will have their pick of tarts in flavors like feta and goat cheese, mushroom, “BLT,” goat cheese/tomato/caramelized onions, and potato and onion. Puff pastry pockets will be available; look for combos like salami/Gruyere/fig jam, three-cheese, zucchini and tomato, and Brie and pear.
Frittatas are cooked in a manner, explained Thompson, that they may be eaten on a plate at Caife Caife, or eaten with one hand by a commuter (this, we’ve gotta see.) They’ll be served in Denver omelet style with peppers, cheese, and onion; in a Chiles Rellenos style, incorporating fried, cheese-stuffed peppers; and in a sausage-and-cheese combo. Savory pies, a la pot pies, will brim with ingredients like broccoli and cheddar, beef and ale, and chicken.
A spinach torte, says Thompson, is super-buttery. The signature “Caife Casserole” features bacon, eggs, spinach, orzo, and leeks. Look for a sophisticated grilled cheese sandwich for adults, too.
The sweet goodies that have defined Colleen’s will of course remain, with new additions:
- Whoopie Pies come in flavors like chocolate, lemon, Elvis (banana with salty peanut butter creme), red velvet (above left) and ginger with mango buttercream (above right).
-Sweet Scones come in blueberry, strawberry with a lemon glaze, cheddar-chive, and, but of course, bacon with a maple glaze.
-Muffins come in the usual suspects (pumpkin, lemon poppy, blueberry, and banana), plus flavors like chocolate-banana, coffee cake, date/cranberry/pecan, and orange with orange glaze.
-Hand Pies (below left) are fruit-filled pockets in flavors like apple, cherry, raspberry, and peach.
-Macarons (above right) are available in chocolate, cafe au lait, salted caramel, raspberry, orange blossom, white chocolate-lavender, almond, and pistachio.
-Pastries will include cinnamon rolls and Kouign-amann, a French “butter-purse” type-cake.
-“Cookie Jar Cookies” come in about 20 flavors, including chocolate chip, Snickerdoodles, black & white, lemon ricotta, white chocolate-cranberry, etc.
-Sweet tarts, signature shortbread cookies in fun themes (below left), and ice cream sandwiches (below right) will still be available, too.
Prices sound reasonable. Cookies will range from $1 to $1.50, macarons are $1.50/per, muffins are $2, scones are $2.50, frittatas about $4, tarts and pastry pockets will be about $5, and savory pot pies should be about $6, Thompson said.
If you’re caught up in the “Third Wave of Coffee,” you’ll be pleased to learn that Intelligentsia Coffee helped in the layout of the bar, will train the baristas, and is naturally supplying the beans. The coffee bar, as we augured here, will feature original coffee, tea, and juice drinks with flavor infusions of herbs, spices, and sugars. The restaurant will also boast “cookie flights” and recommended cookie-coffee pairings (below).
All eats and drinks may be ordered from a single counter in the unified space, and diners may order breakfast and lunch foods all day long. (New hours will be 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.)
Thompson is already getting excited about developments planned for Caife Caife’s future, too.
“We will eventually have soups, salads and sandwiches once we get grounded,” she said, “served with a slice of either herbed or caramelized-onion focaccia. I’d like to have soups like tomato basil and tortellini, and ‘nibbles’ like this dish my family insists I make at get-togethers – it’s a pesto-garlic cheese-sun-dried tomato terrine you cut into slices and eat with crostini. I’m also thinking we’ll have an avocado sandwich, and vegetable-and-cheese paninis.”
(The prepaid Colleen’s Cookies card to facilitate curbside delivery we told you about here is not quite ready to make an appearance, Thompson said.)
The business will go from a paltry four seats to 48. One fun design note, said Thompson, will be a spotlight booth replicated to look just like Don and Betty’s upholstered turqouise headboard from their bed in “Mad Men.”
Thompson said she is shooting for Monday, July 8 as Caife Caife’s opening date.
These developments come as no surprise in our bakery-crazy town. (We’re looking at you, Piccione Pastry, La Patisserie Chouquette, Whisk: A Sustainable Bakeshop, Pie Oh My!, Red Fox,…)
Colleen’s Cookies’ Caife Caife
Scheduled to open July 8
7337 Forsyth Blvd.
314-727-8427
