Dandelion Cafe

Photo By John Anderson

Dandelion Cafe

1115 E. 11th, 542-9542

Monday-Friday, 7am-9pm; Saturday, 8am-3pm

The changes to East 11th have made it virtually unrecognizable. I remember 11th as an unsettling drive past dilapidated Depression-era houses and bars. Now, as you go east, you pass though a brick archway that crowns the road in a manner both welcoming and pompous: You have arrived! New construction, brick and solid like the arch, has sprung up on both sides of the street, interspersed with what remains of the original businesses that have operated here for decades.

The Dandelion Cafe predates all the renewal, but just barely. Located in a small yellow stucco building, it has its own tiny dirt parking lot. The tidy interior is slightly reminiscent of a Thundercloud Subs: a chalkboard with today's soup and specials, done with colored chalk and artistic flair, colorful walls and concrete flooring, friendly countercultural counter people. People are sitting around drinking coffee and talking. Children are welcome: There is a children's play corner with toys and easels and toddler-appropriate snacks listed on the chalkboard.

The fare is exactly what you'd expect from this ambience: sandwiches, breakfast, coffee drinks. Nothing too ambitious, but everything they make are done properly and with attention to detail. They have a nice new cappuccino machine, and they know how to use it. The Double Cappuccino ($2.50) was velvety down to the last drop and kept me wired all day. Ditto the Mocha Latte ($3.50). Breakfast is available "anytime," the most popular choice being the Breakfast Sandwich, which comes with egg, bacon, and cheese, or veggie style with egg, spinach, herbed goat cheese, and tomato ($3.50). Both are satisfying, but the veggie option is deeply so, and surprisingly tasty. Quiche-like Breakfast Pie ($3.50) and "Really Good Bagel" ($1.25) are the other choices, and fresh pastries from Upper Crust Bakery are under glass at the counter.

For lunch, there are soups, salads, and sandwiches. The emphasis is definitely on the sandwiches, where a bit of culinary flair has been employed: the Sliced Turkey is made with turkey baked on the premises and layered with fresh, ripe pear slices. The Chicken Salad uses a house-made pesto mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, and pine nuts. The grilled cheese is done up Italian style, with fresh sliced tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and pesto (each of the aforementioned: $6.25). The menu offers a choice of chips with your sandwich or fresh fruit or vegetable sticks with dill dressing dip. There is a sense of fresh-scrubbed healthiness and sensible femininity pervading the whole place. Your sandwich, when it arrives, resembles one that a loving family member might make for your lunch box. It is made on regular-sized bread, cut in half along the diagonal, and while the food can't accurately be called "plain" (the recipes are too inventive for that), the word still comes to mind, along with "nice" and "wholesome." The Dandelion Cafe takes the concept of homemade to such a new level that it feels like you have been transported to a sunny breakfast room in a nice person's house. A nice person with a cappuccino machine and possibly some toddlers.