Issa Vibe Café boasts fresh-tasting, high-end menu

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

Upon stepping into Issa

Vibe Café

at 211 East Buffalo Street in New Buffalo, guests will realize that the café is, indeed, a whole other vibe –a boho chic, fresh and high-end vibe.

Gazing around the café, guests will find a certain bright, soft feeling permeating the building thanks to its wide white walls and the natural green plants that are peeking out from shelves above their heads.

“I just think it makes people really happy because when you come in, you feel you’re being transported to like you’re on vacation…A lot of people said they feel joy, they feel happy when they come in here,” owner Jeremy Gallo said.

Gallo, who grew up in Chesterton, Indiana, said he and his wife, Christa, have always wanted to open a restaurant.

Dave and Dawn Workman, owners of Villa Nova Pizza, knew this and nudged them toward the building that they own that’s located across the street from theirs.

“We decided to take a look at the building, and we fell in love with it and said ‘Why not?’ I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is to take risks and lots of times risks do pay off and if you don’t take a risk then you’ll never know if you’re going to be successful,” Jeremy said. While Christa has always had a huge passion for food, Jeremy said that, while he loves to eat good food, he’s more passionate about the “coffee bar side.” He credits his passion for coffee from working at Starbucks when he was a teenager. From there, Jeremy went into clothing retail before stepping into the world of interior design. He’s also been involved in ministry.

Having such a passion for coffee has influenced how Jeremy has viewed its overall quality. Issa Vibe uses Onyx coffee lab out of Little Rock, Arkansas, as its roaster, which makes it a third wave – which Jeremy said is a “high end process” - cafe. Onyx has a “lot of light taste, they have floral mixed into a lot of their roast,” which mirrors the cafe’s light and floral interior design. Jeremy said everything’s “light and fresh tasting,” from the coffee’s orange blossom syrup to the lavender one. This is because all the coffee syrups are house made, with no additives or dyes.

Most of the items on Issa Vibe’s menu are made fresh. Soups are made from scratch. His wife makes the baked goods, from the Tres leche cupcakes to the gluten free vegan chocolate muffins to the cheesecake.

The cafe specializes in “eclectic paninis,” which Jeremy said is their “take on our own recipes we’ve created with panini selections.” There’s breakfast, savory and dessert paninis. The “sweetie panini” features bananas, dark chocolate and biscoff and is cooked on the panini press, with powdered sugar sprinkled on top. Frittatas are used in breakfast paninis. The process of making 12 sandwiches, which requires 12 eggs, takes three hours.

“The amount of time and effort we put into it is important to us - and you can really taste it,” he said, adding that the finished product is really creamy and thick.

In addition to coffee, the drink menu also features “Thirst-Teas,” a tea mocktail with organic tea, juice and lemonade. The cafe has three flavors, which have already gained a fan base.

Issa Vibe also has several vegan items and sells lots of gluten free breads. The cafe sells larger pieces of bread, which are hard to come by among the gluten variety of breads.

Since opening last month, Jeremy said they’ve had a “huge response” on social media, from Chicago to northern Michigan. Recently, a married couple made the trek from Detroit after seeing the cafe on Facebook. Last weekend, a newly engaged couple from downtown Chicago, who’d never been to New Buffalo, stopped in.

They’ve also gotten a lot of support from locals. A realtor recently came in and put a $100 tab “just to help promote our business.”

“People love going to coffee shops, love hanging out, especially post Covid - you can see people coming back to life and hanging out,” Jeremy said.

For more on Issa Vibe, visit www. issavibecafé.com or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.