Fishing the North Coast

The vegetarian flatbread from the revamped Grind Café.

Photo by Jennifer Fumiko Cahill

container is tricky to carry out but you’ll be grateful to hunker down in the privacy of your own home and use your fi ngers to get every last morsel.

Back to the Grind

A moment of appreciation for graband-go co ee shops. There, early risers are accommodated and those of us who struggle with morning are soothed without fuss. There, the good people at the counter prep for the breakfast rush and brew hot co ee while many of us turn in our covers, thinking of reasons not to get up just yet. Nowhere is that succor more urgently needed than across from an institution like the courthouse.

In July, Gaby Long , proprietress and chef at A Taste of Bim, bought the Grind Cafe (734 Fifth St.), with its front window view of Blake Reagan’s fl oaty trompe l’oeil mural alongside the Humboldt County Courthouse. It remains a solid stop for a hot Humboldt Bay Co ee Co. latte and a bagel, but scan the full menu before you order your usual.

“We’re keeping some of the traditional things, like we do the soups and the focaccia bread for paninis,” but, says Long, “we have a little splash of island, like the plantains.” The breakfast sandwich, for example, has soft scrambled eggs and cheese on an English mu n with jammy bits of plantain and curry aioli. “Back in the Caribbean, you eat a lot of plantain for breakfast. It’s a healthy food and … the sweetness really melds with the savory,” says Long. If you’re not already on board with plantains for breakfast, allow yourself to be converted.

The plantains return at lunch beside paninis in the form of chips and atop a crispy, made-to order fl atbread with a layer of hummus, baby spinach and sautéed mushrooms and peppers. There are pizza and barbecue fl atbreads, too, but the veggie turns what’s essentially a salad into party food, which is an achievement to be celebrated.

The treats in the case are made on the premises, and you can’t go wrong with a cinnamon or chocolate mu n. Hardcore sweet tooths and lovers of white chocolate might look to the hefty oat bars, which break open like geodes to reveal a layer of white chips under their crumb topping. The co ee list is standard, with espresso drinks and shakes. If you’re not here to ca einate, consider the pineapple ginger refresher, with its light fi zz, housepressed juice and the zing of fresh ginger.

Long says by early October there should be beer and wine on the menu, meaning mimosas for Saturday brunches of biscuits and gravy and wine with charcuterie boards. ● Share your tips about What’s Good with Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (she/her), arts and features editor at the Journal.

Reach her at 442-1400, extension 320, or jennifer@northcoastjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @JFumikoCahill.

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