Café Classics

This Doylestown, Pa., joint rolls out some good grub and bangin’ blues with Southern-fried hospitality that hits all the high notes.

By: Lari Robling

Café Classics

816 N. Easton Road, Doylestown, Pa.

(215) 489-3535

www.cafeclassics.org
Food: Very good

Service: Personable

Cuisine: Southern influence

Ambiance: Casual blues club

Hours: Lunch: Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; Happy Hour: Wed.-Fri. 5-7 p.m.; Dinner: Wed.-Sat. 5-10 p.m.

Essentials: Accepts Visa and Mastercard; ample parking; non-smoking; handicapped accessible; tickets required for major performances.

Directions

   LATELY, I’ve been discussing ubiquitous suburban strip malls that house interesting restaurants. That seems doubly remarkable at Café Classics in Doylestown because you’ll not only find good grub, but also some bangin’ blues. It seems the suburbs aren’t rolling up the sidewalk at 6 p.m. anymore.
   I love the concept of Café Classics — good food and great music. Given that I’m a foodie and my constant companion, Bruno, is down with the tones, Café Classics covers all the bases. The menu emphasizes Southern dishes with a few innovations. Once past the strip-mall facade, you’ll feel like you’re in Memphis, minus the smoke. Café Classics is blessedly smoke-free, an unusual and welcome environment for blues lovers with allergies.
   Recent renovations have enlarged the dining area and expanded the bar. The maroon color scheme, musical instruments on the wall, and full-length R.L. Smith portraits of Lena Horne, Billie Holliday and Marian Anderson serve as transports to a club in the steamy bayou or a sensuous southside Chicago juke joint. The stage is well-placed, giving the performance an intimate feel.
   Café Classics features top talent from the national blues circuit. Sept. 28-29 you can catch Shemekia Copeland ($25). Little Jimmy Scott ($30) appears Sept. 30. While these are some of the bigger names you’ll see, there is a sturdy line-up of newcomers and established local artists. The night we dined, young organist Doña Oxford ($13) wailed out some fine boogey-woogey.
   On most Friday and Saturday nights, and for other big events, a ticket charge reserves your table. Tickets cost $11-$25, are non-refundable and require a credit card. Most shows start at 8 p.m. There is no entertainment charge for the weeknight offerings, which include the live electric Blues Jam on Wednesdays and the acoustic Blues Jam on Thursdays. Both are hosted by Brian McLean and the house band. Wednesday night includes an open-mike, which Big Bad Bruno assesses as the kind of place he’d use to try out a few of his original songs.
   In addition to the music, there is a bar with a menu or you can have a full dinner. We started our meal with the signature Bill’s St. Louis Ribs ($13 appetizer; $17 entrée). This is a plate for sharing — as the waiter explained, "Two ribs make you want more, and with a half rack you have plenty for sharing." The ribs are served with black-eyed peas, collard greens and corn bread. The ribs are falling off the bone, soaked in BBQ sauce and the sides are strictly Southern.
   I had a complaint — the temperature of the food was too cold — but as a customer I should have taken the responsibility to ask a waiter to send it back for reheating. Any restaurant worth its salt would prefer to have a customer have a dish corrected than have a less than satisfied diner. Take this as a call to fellow diners: If it’s a reasonable complaint, ask to have it fixed.
   For a second appetizer, we tried the crab gumbo ($5). This was tasty, but not at all what I expect from a gumbo. It was thin, and I couldn’t detect any roux, okra or filé powder. In my career as a food stylist I worked with Roy Guste Jr. (his great-grandfather created oysters Rockefeller) and Emeril Lagasse (of Food TV fame). Both of them make a rich and spicy gumbo that is thick.
   I’m told assistant chef Bill Burns makes the gumbo at Café Classics from a three-generations-old family recipe. It is so secret, no one on staff knows how to make it. I guess it just proves that Roy was correct in saying gumbo is the single most important dish in Louisiana cuisine, and no two cooks will agree on the same ingredients for a proper gumbo.
   I chose the barbecued shrimp ($22) for an entrée. This is a big dish of succulent large shrimp (12 to 15 per pound) in a heady sauce of butter seasoned with plenty of garlic, herbs and Worcestershire sauce. It’s served in a bowl with hunks of fabulous French bread, made next door at Crossroads Bakery, perfect for "sopping." This is the finest bread outside of Philadelphia. Happily, it also comes to the table before ordering. The shrimp are served shells-on, which makes for a far tastier shrimp but, as with the ribs, be prepared for digging in with fingers. Your waiter provides plenty of Wet Naps.
   Bruno enjoyed the Bourbon Street spiced roasted pork loin. The pork is flavored with a maple-bourbon sauce and comes with black-eyed peas, collard greens, candied yams and corn bread ($17). The pork was flavorful and juicy. The candied yams had just the right amount of sweetness — some of the best yams I’ve ever tasted. As Bruno noted about the collards, "I like the blues, but I love the greens."
   The bountiful dessert tray is from French pastry chef Didi Mercier. We opted for the chocolate pecan torte ($5.95) and the triple mousse ($5.95). The torte was full of pecans. While I enjoy a traditional pie crust, you’ll get no complaint on the torte pastry. The mousse satisfies the chocolate craving by encasing three mousses of complementary flavors in a thick chocolate. It’s so rich, sharing is a definite option.
   Service at Café Classics is very personable. We were greeted at the door and received personal attention throughout the evening. This included a stop at our table by the owner, who enjoys sharing her love of the blues with customers. There were occasional lapses by the wait staff, possibly due to an absence that evening. Certainly, this is a well-meaning staff trying to give diners the attention they deserve. This is a young restaurant, in business for just one-and-a-half years. Attentive management can help smooth the rough spots with training.
   While the service has its off-tempo moments and a truly Southern menu would offer rice, you’ll find a trip to Café Classics hits all the high notes. Or you might say you get more than a "pig foot and a bottle of beer."
For directions to Café Classics, click here.