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(front-to-back) Worker Chris Cuatico, co-owner Mike Simpson,
bartender Kayon Cox and an unidentified customer at the
recently-opened Brookland Café on 12th Street NE. The café
features vegan as well as traditional light fare, and hosts wine-
astings on Saturdays. (Photo: Kelley Dupuis)
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Just a short walk from the Brookland/Catholic University Metro stop is a cozy-but-friendly new place to eat, drink and relax in Brookland.
The Brookland Café opened last spring at 3740 12th St. NE, offering a variety of light and tasty fare, with a special tip-of-the-hat in its menu to customers who might be vegetarian or vegan.
In fact, for guests at the Brookland Inn bed-and-breakfast, it’s convenience itself. Stay at the inn and you have a café and bar right downstairs. (The B&B has nine guest rooms, if you’re looking.)
But the veggie and vegan offerings do not mean that the new café is a meatless experience only. Co-owner Mike Simpson said that owner Demaz Blumekanda, who opened the café downstairs from the B&B, which in turn opened in February of last year, puts the emphasis on giving his customers what they ask for. If they ask for chicken, fish or beef, that’s also fine.
In fact the Brookland Café’s menu makes a point of informing one and all that it’s subject to change and grow based upon input from customers, chef and staff. This café aims to please.
“The place used to be a carryout, then for a while it was office space. We decided to make it a café,” Simpson said.
The veggie twist, Simpson said, was just kismet; the café happened to find a chef who was good at “doing veggie.”
“He was good at vegan rolls and vegan stuff,” Simpson said, “so we decided to do a vegan Wednesday every week.”
The Brookland Café is a clean, well-lighted place, to borrow a phrase from Hemingway. With a menu centered around things you can eat with your fingers, it’s more a place for tasty snacking than for hearty dining. The menu emphasizes such light fare as Angus beef, turkey or grilled chicken sandwiches. And then there are variously-seasoned fries (lemon pepper zest or red pepper zing), which are very popular in the neighborhood, according to Simpson.
Aside from seasoned fries, the café also traffics heavily in its “Caribbean wings,” (baked, spicy or barbequed), which come with an assortment of sauces, including Mando Q (spicy), ranch, avocado ranch, honey mustard and blue cheese.
Vegetarian offerings include the café’s signature veggie burger, vegan fish delight or veggie/salmon cake sliders – patties with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and sauce on miniature vegan buns.
Desserts are a very big part of the Brookland Café experience; in fact Simpson characterized the place as very much a “café and dessert bar.” Among desserts the Brookland serves up are bakery sweet potato cake; pineapple, butter or lemon pound cake; chocolate swirl cake; ice cream and sorbet; and the special “heavenly nut brownie.”
“Everyone comes for the sweet potato cake,” said Simpson.
The Brookland Café features a fully-stocked bar and also offers beverages ranging from coffee and regular or herbal tea to lemonade, soda, fruit juice and bottled water.
The café and its offerings reflect an increasing gentrification of the Brookland neighborhood. Light fare, desserts and a vegan menu tend to appeal to the younger crowd. Also, Simpson said, the café regularly hosts special events to bring in folks. Its weekly wine tastings, usually held on Saturday afternoons, have different themes.
“Sometimes it’s reds versus whites, or reds versus whites versus champagnes,” Simpson said. “The wines come from different vineyards or wholesalers. Each week we have a different one.”
A Sunday brunch is currently offered, and plans are in the works for “football nights” on Sundays and Mondays, a karaoke night and a 4-7 p.m. happy hour, Monday through Friday. |
