Edloe St. Cafe And Catering Opens Its Doors After Being Closed For Remodeling

Edloe St. Café and Catering opened its doors this morning, after being closed for a week for remodeling, with new ownership and a new name.

The café, which was recently purchased by E.I. and Jill Thomas from Councilmember George Boehme, was known in the neighborhood as Edloe Deli for 34 years, but now is being rebranded to Edloe St. Café.

Thomas, who has been the head chef of the restaurant since May 2009, said the eatery is more of a café than a deli because they have a full menu that features hot items, whereas a deli is known more for meat and bread.

“Our menu allows anyone to come in to eat,” he said.

The café’s menu has been updated with several new items including fresh made tamales, fajitas, a plantain crusted mahi and chicken picatta.

The restaurant’s burger has been changed from a premade patty to a fresh ground Black Angus patty.

Several breakfast items have been added to the menu including bagels, croissants, jellies and jams. The café will also have daily dessert specials and a soft serve ice cream and frozen yogurt machine.

Thomas said his passion is the food and he plans on being behind the counter so he can focus on the food and the customers.

“I wanted a little café like this where you can deal with the people and deal with the food,” he said.

Thomas has made other changes to the café besides the menu. More than 10 people helped gut the kitchen to include a pass through; they had someone come in to re-strip, clean and polish the floors; and they re-varnished the original tables and chairs to retain an “older café” look.

The outside patio now has several planters with palms to make it feel more secluded at night. Thomas said they will be adding white bulbs to the patio as well.

Thomas said his wife, Jill, picked out all the artwork for the café. The artwork is for sale by local artist, Scoti Carden. Thomas said they would like to constantly change the artwork and would like to feature local artists.

They also plan on having local jazz and blues bands playing outside on the patio every other Friday nights.

“I think the community was ready for the restaurant to have some changes,” Thomas said.

The café has an employee feeder at another location and specializes in catering.

Thomas said they can cater anything from a private in-home party to a wedding reception and will work with customers to fit their needs. For catering information, contact Thomas or Patrick Lace at 713-666-4302.

After a week of repairs, Thomas said he sat outside on the patio on Sunday night, watching their restaurant come together and thought “it looks like a café.”

A re-opening will be held in a few weeks to celebrate the grand opening of the café.

Edloe St. Café and Catering is open Monday – Tuesday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday – Friday 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday – Sunday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.