Café Classics Blues Club & Restaurant

In Doylestown, Pa., Southern cooking and blues combine for good times in a cool atmosphere.

By: Pat Tanner

   ALTHOUGH the raison d’être of Café Classics Blues Club & Restaurant in Doylestown, Pa., is to provide a venue for local and national blues performers, the food here stands on its own — especially the down-home Southern cooking of assistant chef Bill Burns.
   The menu aims to please all comers, so executive chef Dan Benninghoff includes popular dishes from the broader American repertoire, such as Caesar salad, grilled portabella mushrooms, salmon and garlic-bread bruschetta. Although we thoroughly enjoyed the bruschetta ($6), with its chunks of fresh tomato perched on really good garlic bread, what especially captivated us was the Southern comfort foods, among them a rich, thick crab gumbo ($5), traditional spicy jambalaya ($16) and grilled pork loin with maple-bourbon sauce ($16).
   We also savored the best crab cakes ($18) encountered in many recent tries. Made with excellent lump crab, the two small, flat cakes aren’t much to look at, but boy, do they deliver on flavor. Nicely browned on the outside, moist inside, they are well-seasoned and, unless I am mistaken, not with Old Bay seasoning, of which I am not a fan. Accompaniments include indifferent Creole rice, sautéed fresh asparagus and a small cup of Louis sauce. The mayonnaise-based sauce, accented with chili powder, green peppers, scallions and cream, is a fine accent, but it went untouched by my dining companion, who declared at the end, "You know the crab cakes are good because I didn’t even touch the sauce, which I love.
   Only one dish fell short, far short of the others: the evening’s special pan-seared marlin with black-and-white sesame seeds and star fruit salsa ($17). The fish, which had been finished off in the oven a bit too long, was as chewy as pencil erasers — never a pleasant experience.
   One Café Classics regular had waxed rhapsodic about Mr. Bill’s St. Louis Ribs, declaring them "the best ribs this side of Memphis — and I’ve eaten ribs in Memphis." We found them to be good but not exceptional. The half-rack ($13) is a generous portion of pork ribs, tender and coated with just the right amount of barbecue sauce, neither too sweet nor too hot. But the rib meat was flabby and lagging in pork flavor.

Staff photo by Robyn Stein

Pleasant surroundings bespeak the love of music. One long wall, painted to look like bricks coming through white wash, is hung with musical instruments.

   Another example of a fine balancing act is the maple-bourbon sauce that topped two succulent pieces of nicely grilled pork loin. The sauce on this dish, like the one on the ribs, could easily have been cloying or overpowering; both were perfect. Unlike the ribs, the pork loin proved uncommonly tasty. With both dishes come sterling versions of traditional sides. Standouts among these are beautifully caramelized candied yams and collard greens that are given a kick in the pants with chili pepper. Black-eyed peas are a bit mushy, and a mini-loaf of cornbread is likable but standard.
   Our server was happy to substitute the kitchen’s excellent mashed potatoes for the collards for one of us, and she proved accommodating in other ways, too, like automatically providing four dessert plates and forks, although we ordered only two desserts. Desserts are also the domain of Bill Burns and, while the assortment is limited, they are worth a try. A big, cakey brownie ($2.50) comes to the table warm, and a hunk of moist, dark chocolate layer cake ($6) features a filling of fresh strawberries, surprisingly full of flavor for this time of year.
   All of this is served in pleasant surroundings that bespeak love of music. One long wall, painted to look like bricks coming through white wash, is hung with musical instruments interspersed between three oversize paintings. Painted in 1946 by R. L. Smith, the full-length portraits of singing legends Billie Holiday, Marian Anderson and Lena Horne originally hung in the Cotton Club. An old, attractive wooden bar runs down the opposite wall, with red-clothed café tables in between. Performances take place at the rear of the room, in good sight line of every table.
   Not too long ago, Café Classics was simply a coffee bar with music, and the coffee here is still excellent. Actually, owners Eileen Schembri and Deborah Millman — a mother-daughter team — first used the space for their antique furniture business, to which they added a coffee bar, then segued into serving lunch. Ultimately, Schembri’s passion for music prevailed, and all was swept aside for a blues club with a full bar and restaurant.

Staff photo by Robyn Stein

   About 40 wines from all over the map comprise the wine list here, with the majority in the range of $20-$35. Although California wines are well represented by, for example, a Michel-Schumberger Merlot ($43) and Beaulieu Vineyard’s Chardonnay, interesting choices include two wines from Morocco, among them a blush wine, Guerrouvane Gris ($25).
   In the short time it has been around, Café Classics has drawn top blues performers, and the twice nightly performances on Fridays and Saturdays often sell out, so calling ahead for tickets and dinner reservations is strongly recommended. Live entertainment is also featured on Wednesdays and Thursdays, the former being jam night. Tickets are usually $10 or $15, although they can go up to $30 for really big names, like the recent sold-out appearance by renowned singer Shemekia Copeland. Patrons can come for dinner only, as long as all tables haven’t been sold out for the show — and if they arrive before 7 p.m. After that, it is assumed they will remain for the 8:30 show, so the ticket price will be added to the bill.
   About an hour outside of Princeton, Café Classics delivers very good food and excellent blues in a congenial, cool atmosphere. That’s exactly my definition of a fine time.
Pat Tanner’s reviews can be heard on Dining Today, Saturdays from 9-10 a.m. on MoneyTalk 1350 AM and 1040 AM.
For directions to Café Classics Blues Club & Restaurant, click here.