July 11, 2006
By Maggie Heyn Richardson
The funky, architectural salvage shop Circa 1857 at 19th and Government is the site of a bitchin’ lunch scene. A couple of years ago, Yvette Marie’s Café, brainchild of caterer/restaurateur Yvette Bonanno, moved in as the food anchor there. It’s been serving up baskets full of salads, gourmet sandwiches and daily specials ever since. This week it’s featuring Key Lime Crumb Cake to go along with the ample standing menu. Among its attributes includes a sweet, creamy Sensation Salad that’s low on garlic; humble egg salad on thick white bread; and pressed sandwiches including muffalettas, Greek chicken, and the all-veggie Italian loaf, which features roasted peppers, grilled eggplant, pesto and fresh mozzarella. The vibe is equally satisfying. Eat while surrounded by rustic salvage, local art and hippy dudes playing acoustic folk.
Elsewhere, my new favorite fast meal, imaginatively swiped from the back of a kosher salt box, is eye-of-the-round in a salt crust. A three-pound eye (the best cut for homey roast beef) marinated in oil, herbs, soy sauce, garlic, mustard (or, God forbid, bottled Italian dressing) takes 1 hour 20 minutes at 350 degrees. The salt crust is achieved by mixing half a cup of water with a whole box of kosher salt then packing it around the roast. It’s moist, juicy and forgiving. I spaced on adding the water to the salt this week and, still, the roast turned out great.
Finally, we need more local farmers to plant fresh corn and blueberries in these parts. I’m never early enough at recent Red Stick Farmers Markets to get the worm. Arrive like me in the mid-morning and forget going home with either.
Eat on.
Comments
Posted by Maggie on August 14 at 10:25 p.m.
(no relationship to the author)
We've eaten at Yvette Marie's once and really enjoyed it. It would be a great place to eat except for one problem. They never seem to be open. Their posted hours are inaccurate and often fluctuate from when they're actually open. We have tried to eat there twice now during their posted business hours only to find them closed. We recently walked there with friends only to find out that even though the carryout menu said they opened at 10 and the sign on the door said 10, the people behind the counter said that they wouldn’t open until 11 (another time we were there at 3:45 and the sign on the door said open until 5, but the place was already deserted). I’m not sure if we are likely to waste our time again and wonder how they stay in business with such unpredictable hours.
If the owners of Yvette Marie’s are really interested in having a successful café then they need to publish their business hours and stick with them. Until then, enjoy a lunch at Yvette Marie’s, if you can find someone working there.
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