If you go to...Ellen's Cafe
by: Barbara Vosbein, Humble Observer
On a warm, sunny day, the lure of Old Town Spring is hard to resist. Visiting the shops, boutiques, and galleries in the restored, turn-of-the-century railroad town is a treat, and the icing on the cake is having lunch at Ellen's Cafe, as fellow reporter Susan Meinholz and I discovered recently.
We were greeted cheerfully by owner Ellen Saxe and seated at a table in the light, bright indoor dining room. Tables shaded by umbrellas are also available outdoors on the wooden deck overlooking the street.
Menu items include a wide variety of entree salads, cafe sandwiches, specialty sandwiches and quiche. Sandwiches are served with your choice of one side of either soup or salad. The cafe also serves wine by the glass and beer, along with traditional beverages, including fresh-brewed raspberry iced tea.
Susan chose the Trio Salad ($9.95), a sampler of the cafe's three favorite salads--chicken, tuna and seafood--served on a platter of cold, crisp greens garnished with tomato, cucumber, lemon wedges and a sliced hard-boiled egg.
"The chicken salad had slivers of pineapple and nuts, and the tuna had celery," Susan said. "I could barely tell there was mayonnaise in the salads since I could taste every flavor. The seafood salad had a medley of crab and vegetables, and the flavors were strong and delicious."
I tried one of the cafe's specialty sandwichs, the Chicken Ranch ($9.95), a grilled chicken breast topped with avocado, alfalfa sprouts and ranch dressing in a pita pocket, and for my side, I ordered a bowl of the cauliflower cheese soup.
To my delight, the generous bowl of soup was piping hot, thick and creamy, with just a hint of bacon adding to the delicious flavor. I was really surprised to find out that all the soups at Ellen's Cafe are homemade by Saxe's husband, Alan, and are either low fat or fat free.
My sandwich included a large boneless chicken breast that was grilled to perfection and was also served piping hot. The avocado, sprouts and ranch dressing complimented the chicken with a combination of creamy and crunchy textures. The portions were so generous that I found it easier, and less messy, to eat with a knife and fork.
On Saxe's recommendation, we ordered the blackberry cobbler and a slice of double fudge chocolate cake ($4.99 each). The servings were so generous that we shared them with our fellow reporters at the office.
"The chocolate cake was rich, with delicious swirls of chocolate throughout," Susan noted.
"The blackberry cobbler was full of flavor," said Observer sports editor Dwight Bullock. "The dough reminded me of cobblers made the old fashioned way, from scratch. I believe I will make the trip to Old Town Spring just to have it again."
Saxe also offered us samples of the cafe's award-winning fudge.
"As the fudge melted in your mouth, you could taste each of the flavors," Susan said.
"The milk chocolate fudge was the richest, creamiest fudge I've ever tasted," added Observer receptionist Katie McDevitt.
Saxe has had a gift shop at the Gentry Street location for the past 10 years. She decided to open the cafe with her husband about two years ago. Plans are in the works to add a dining area for the private functions and another outside deck in back of the cafe.
Saxe's husband is the cafe's chef. In addition to making all the soups, salads, sandwiches, quiche and desserts served in the restaurant, he also makes 30 varieties of fudge and all of the ice cream sold there. A small taste of the coffee toffee chip ice cream made me realize that I'd forgotten how rich old-fashioned homemade icecream can taste.
-- Barbara Vosbein, Humble Observer
Ellen's Cafe delights with sweets, treats, soups and more.
Start with the wafting scent of cinnamon roasted pecans and fresh cranberry nut fudge, infused with the fragrant combination of a stovetop bubbling with herbal soups, then stir in the aroma of an oven crammed with baking pies, and what you have is Ellen's Cafe in Old Town Spring, the hands-down winner of my caloric ambiance award.
At the back of a well-maintained yellow clapboard house with blue trim in the heart of Old Town Spring, this little no-smoking restaurant includes a homemade fudge and praline store and specializes in soups, salads, quiche, desserts and creative homemade sandwiches.
Although they are situated with plenty of free parking in the rear, Kathy and I were lucky enough on the Saturday afternoon before Christmas to find a handy place to parallel park in the next block down on Gentry. This allowed us to enjoy strolling caroling groups as we leisurely window-shopped our way to Ellen's front door.
Once inside, we navigated the displays of collectible figurines to the cashier station guarding the dining room.
Pleased to be offered immediate seating because the lunch rush was ending, the gregarious proprietor showed us to a nearby table.
Decked out in Santa's little helper regalia, our elfish server Priscilla was promptly there to make suggestions and take our beverage order.
When Kathy heard one of the soup choices was broccoli, she went with the Light Side Combination ($7.95), a bowl of her favorite soup and a dinner salad with poppy seed dressing.
Given a choice of 16 sandwiches and 10 entree salads, I ordered their popular Crab Salad Sandwich ($8.95), a recipe featuring lemon and dill on multigrain bread.
Served with soup or a side such as potato, pasto or fruit salad, I asked for the dinner salad with their Original House dressing, aged blue chees, spices and the "right touch of Roquefort."
Kathy gives her combo, presented in generous bowls on a large platter, her unequivocal thumbs up recommendation -- the fresh salad with a requested extra side of poppy seed dressing as well as the thick, steaming hot broccoli soup.
I enjoyed the salad and would definitely recommend the flavorful Original House dressing. Garnished with olives and a deli-quality pickle spear, served on thick slabs of bread, my crab sandwich was delicious as well as filling.
While the Chef or Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwichs go for $9.95, the other 14 are uniformly priced at $8.95, including combinations of turkey, tuna, chicken salad, chicken and ham. Several of the sandwiches can be prepared with carbohydrate friendly wraps.
Including Loraine and Asparagus, your choice of six quiches ($8.95) comes with soup or salad.
While we were dining, Ellen was kept busy ringing up pies and desserts as well as weighing pecan brittle and slabs of 16-varieties of fudge she makes back in that magic kitchen.
If the opportunity arises, I would suggest visiting Old Town and Ellen's before the holiday decorations come down.
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