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You are here: Home / Archives for coffee

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A Chat with the Owner of Flats Bistro

June 5, 2015 by Seb Frey

Jeanne Harrison of Flats Bistro and Cafe Rio
Jeanne Harrison of Flats Bistro and Cafe Rio

Seb Frey with Aptos Community News ambled down to the new Flats Bistro in Aptos to have a chat with the owner, Jeanne Harrison. We wanted to talk about Jeanne’s new venture, and she shared quite a bit.

We talked about their newest menu item: breakfast pizza ($14). According to Jeanne, It’s like having sourdough toast with either bacon or sausage, an egg done over-easy, some spinach and a little bit of cheese.

Most people order the breakfast pizza in the morning, but you can get it any time of day; it’s been a very popular menu item. The breakfast pizza crust has a very nice flavor, it’s super thin and crunchy. Their crust uses a 100 year old starter for the sourdough, and that could be the reason the crust in their pizzas is extra tasty.

Listen to the Discussion

//siliconhomebroker.com/podcastgen/media/chat-with-jeanne-harrison-owner-flats-bistro.m4a
Download audio file…

Their 60 inch pizza oven was made by Mugnaini, a renown pizza oven maker based in Watsonville. The oven runs 650-700 degrees, and in an oven this hot, it’s really difficult to make some specialty crusts. They tried to make a cauliflower crust but it just fell apart in the oven.

Flats Bistro is proving to be fertile ground for Jeanne’s culinary experimentation. For example, she says she’d never really made pizza before she got the idea for Flats Bistro. On the day we visited, she had just added something new to the display case: stuffed Portobello mushrooms with garlic, onion, gorgonzola cheese and a breaded topping. Every morning they have bacon and egg croissants for $5. On Saturdays and Sundays they do biscuits and gravy, and also offer ham and egg sandwiches with that.

They are working on a gluten free pizza crust, but so far they have been unsuccessful. She has tried 5-6 gluten-free crusts and they “taste like cardboard.” If anyone knows of a great gluten-free pizza crust recipe, she’d love to have it!

They make all the food and pastries right next door at Cafe Rio, starting at 5 or 6 AM. All the cookies, cakes, desserts, and salads are made on site. But they have no plans for breakfast burritos because, Jeanne says, they love their neighbors, and don’t want to take anything away from Pixie Deli which has been selling breakfast burritos for years. They don’t deliver yet and don’t offer catering, but this is something they may look at doing in the future.

The bistro has been open for only two months, but already they are enjoying incredible success and a growing clientele. They’ve been doing an Instagram campaign to promote the bistro, and the campaign ends today, June 5. Just tag a photo with #FlatsBistroAptos showing one of their coffee cups for a chance to win a Flats Bistro hoodie.

One for the road! #flatsbistroaptos #aptos #coffee

A photo posted by Sebastian Frey (@sebfrey) on May 29, 2015 at 9:40am PDT

#FlatsBistroAptos on Instagram

Jeanne Harrison of Flats Bistro and Cafe Rio
Jeanne Harrison of Flats Bistro and Cafe Rio

Filed Under: Cafe, Eats and Drinks, News Tagged With: audio, breakfast, cafe rio, coffee, Flats Bistro, jeanne harrison, pizza, rio del mar beach, sourdough

Flats Bistro

May 29, 2015 by Seb Frey

Flats Bistro
Flats Bistro 3.5 star rating 75 reviews Yelp logo

The Flats Bistro in Aptos is located on the Rio del Mar Beach Esplanade, adjacent to the venerable Cafe Rio. Actually, Flats Bistro and Cafe Rio have the same owner, Jeanne Harrison. While Cafe Rio offers a full bar and a more formal, sit-down dining experience, the Flats Bistro is a much more casual experience.

They open early with fresh hot coffee and pastries, perfect for foggy Aptos mornings and a walk down the beach. Later on in the day, you’ll want to go there for their pizza, cooked in a distinctive gas oven. The ingredients are locally sourced and organic when possible, and the crust is distinctive. Made from sourdough, it’s chewy and flavorful in a way that really stands out in a world of me-too pizzas.

And who says pizza is just for lunch and dinner? Flats Bistro is right on the cutting edge, introducing breakfast pizzas to breakfast patrons.

The Flats Bistro is a welcome addition to the Rio del Mar Beach Esplanade. You might not think that pizza and the beach go great together – but you’d be surprised, especially given all the picnic tables you’ll find a few dozen yards down the beach…the perfect place to munch a slice or two and savor both the pizza and life in Aptos.

See also: Flats Bistro Cafe Facebook Page, Flats Bistro Review in Good Times magazine

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Filed Under: Eats and Drinks, Restaurants Tagged With: coffee, desserts, Flats Bistro, pastry, pizza, rio del mar

Norma Jean’s Coffee

June 28, 2014 by Seb Frey

Norma Jean's Coffee
Norma Jean's Coffee 3.5 star rating 110 reviews Yelp logo

Norma Jean’s Coffee in Aptos, near the Bayview Hotel, is an independently-owned coffee shop in the heart of Aptos Village. They serve a wide range of coffees and teas, and also feature an array of baked goods that are actually made on-site in their own kitchen. It’s clean, comfortable, cozy, and quiet.

Tip: They have free wi-fi – bring your laptop and stay awhile!

See also:

  • Norma Jean’s Coffee web site
Norma Jean's Coffee
Norma Jean’s Coffee

Filed Under: Cafe, Eats and Drinks Tagged With: Aptos Village, bakery, cafe, coffee, tea

Pacific Coffee Roasting Company

May 17, 2014 by Seb Frey

Pacific Coffee Roasting Company & Cafe
Pacific Coffee Roasting Company & Cafe 4.0 star rating 70 reviews Yelp logo

Pacific Coffee Roasting Company in Aptos is located in the Aptos Center shopping center along Soquel Drive, near the State Park Drive freeway exit. They have a big roasting machine right in the store and the aromas fill the air.

Pacific Coffee Roasting Company
Pacific Coffee Roasting Company – Aptos

Filed Under: Cafe, Eats and Drinks Tagged With: cafe, coffee, coffee shop

Saturday Morning

May 17, 2014 by Seb Frey

I make no bones about it: I’m a morning person. All my life, so far as I can remember, I’m up once I see the light, and it’s almost impossible for me to get back to sleep. As I get older, I seem to need less sleep than before, and I get up earlier and earlier.

This morning, my son Evan also was up pretty early, and rather than have him fuss and make noise and possibly wake up the whole house (none of whom share my penchant for early mornings), I put Evan in the baby backpack and hit the streets. I needed to visit the Wells Fargo down at State Park and Soquel to make some deposits and get some cash for the World’s Biggest Garage Sale today, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do that and get some exercise and fresh air while I was at it.

After we hit the bank, I noticed that the Pacific Coffee Roasting company was open, so Evan and I cruised over for a non-fat latte for me and an Odwalla blueberry smoothie-thing for him. Evan started missing his mommy around this time, so he got back in the backpack and we headed back home down Soquel Drive.

I love the mornings for how cool and quiet they are. It’s nice to walk down Soquel Drive without the roar of the passing traffic. There were a few people out this morning, going for walks like Evan and I, and it was lovely to say hi, hello, good morning, share a smile, and hear Evan say “hi” too in his little baby voice.

Almost back home, we came across a fireman raising the flags at the Aptos Fire Station. It was pretty cool to watch him tend to one of his daily duties in the calm and still of the morning. Don’t know why, it just was.

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: coffee, exercise, fire department, latte, soquel drive, walking, wells fargo

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