Mike Marquard was just a little busy this past weekend. The former Kaldi’s education and customer service leader still bleeds coffee brown, and he was on hand to provide expertise and cheerlead at the annual South Central Regional Barista Competition at the Chase Park Plaza.
However, when cornered between an espresso machine and an amplifier, he did open up about the next phase of his career – a new brunch spot where he will both manage and sling grounds, called Half & Half. Mike Randolph of The Good Pie is the owner.
His plans for a gourmet coffee-drink experience are exciting, but, hold the foam, Marquard whipped out a preliminary version of Half & Half’s menu, and it’s as ambitious as a busboy at the Playboy Mansion.
Breakfast specialties are likely to include sunny-side eggs over braised pork belly, a chicken-liver scramble, cornbread and chorizo, a Brussels sprouts-and-cheddar omelet, salmon hash, “prosciutto French toast,” smoked duck-breast confit with poached egg, and house-made donuts.
Brunch is likely to include crab cakes Benedict, short ribs with poached egg, shrimp and grits, foie gras French toast, Grand Marnier French toast, and green-curry pork belly.
The lunch menu may feature a Hanger steak; a grilled salmon “BLT”; fried chicken livers with caper aioli, bacon, and a sunny-side-up egg on a baguette; and seared tuna with harissa aioli and olive relish on a baguette.
A proposed weekend chef’s table will offer five courses paired with cocktails from a drink menu that includes standard brunch drinks like the Bloody Mary (in all its savory variations), but also some extra-creative concoctions, including a bracing elixir called the “Corpse Reviver,” consisting of gin, Cointreau, Lillet (a French citrus-infused aperitif), and lime.
Good grief!
Naturally, Marquard promises a “really awesome coffee bar” with unusual attention to detail, and a “damn good mocha.”
Half & Half, incidentally, not only refers to the milk product/coffee additive, explained Marquard, but also that the eatery is half breakfast and half lunch; and half about the food, half about the high-quality java.
Anyone with half a brain will want to check it out at 8135 Maryland, in Clayton, in the former Manjelou’s Pizza/Gourmet Food Works space. Look for it to open sometime in the second half of this month.
