Pretty food that tastes good, too

By KATHY SAUNDERS

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 14, 2001

ST. PETE BEACH -- Decorated with hand-painted tables and cookbooks, the Coffee Cottage has the atmosphere of a cozy tearoom, but, to our delight, the food we sampled was much more flavor than frills.

Instead of starving my way through another afternoon as a volunteer at my son's school library, I offered to bring lunch for the librarian and the other two mom-helpers. I then extended the offer to the office staff.

We placed our orders just after 10 a.m. and asked that the food be ready in about an hour. After making an unplanned stop to report on a house fire, I arrived a few minutes later than expected. All of the lunches were packed and ready on the counter. I spent a few minutes selecting cookies and scones for dessert.

Even with the delays, the hot items were still warm when I reached the library a half-hour later. The pizza took a spill in my car, but it was still partly intact in its Styrofoam container.

The Cottage Pizza ($5.50) was actually a toasted pita topped with chopped fresh tomatoes, red onions, green olives and feta cheese. The ingredients were held together with garlic, oregano and olive oil. It was a sharp-tasting Greek-like combination that appealed to several of us volunteers, who continued to pick at the dish all afternoon.

I ate most of the ham and cheese sandwich ($5.25), which included red leaf lettuce and a side of veggie sticks, a different kind of french fry with a little less fat. The sticks are sold separately for $1.79 a bag.

The whole wheat bread met my demand for softness. So did the white slices that wrapped the chicken sandwich.

The librarian sampled the chicken salad ($5.75) and couldn't get over how pretty the salad looked. The restaurant brags about this signature salad, which includes cranberries, celery, dried vegetables and the refreshing dressing of "just enough mayonnaise to hold it together." It can also be served on a pita, croissant or bagel.

My two co-volunteers were thrilled with the pizza and the roasted veggie wrap ($5.95). The vegetables were still hot even after the ride from the beach to the school. The tortilla wrap was packed with red peppers, carrots, zucchini, onions, mushrooms, eggplant and red leaf lettuce. It was held together with olive oil and fresh herbs, which made for a filling and festive lunch. The veggie sticks accompanied the wrap as well.

"There was enough heat in that to make my face red," said my co-worker of the veggie wrap. "I absolutely adore grilled vegetables."

The office staff liked the combination salad ($6.95), with chicken, tuna and imitation crab, because of the tangy dressings and such added goodies as the cranberries. The crab salad includes olive oil, celery, onions, oregano and lemon juice. The greens were fresh and crisp.

The "garden in a pita" sandwich ($5.25) was one of the biggest hits of the afternoon. Our vegetarian school receptionist appreciated the freshness of the vegetables, which included ripe tomatoes and peppers. She thought a dressing such as mango chutney or poppy seed would have been a nice accent.

"Where is this place?" she asked. "I want to go there."

The Coffee Cottage is in the historic Corey Avenue shopping district. Described as "a chabby chic cottage" in brochures, the restaurant is a gift shop, coffeehouse and tearoom in one. Gourmet foods and coffees can be packaged for gift baskets.

Fresh-baked goodies, including cookies, scones, muffins, cakes and pies, also are available. We enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies, although they were a bit harder than I like. If we had eaten in, we probably would have topped the cookies with vanilla ice cream, as the menu suggests. The scones were hearty and sweet.

Breakfast includes eggs, waffles and a breakfast pizza with scrambled eggs, bacon or ham and cheese on a toasted pita ($4.75). Coffees include espresso, latte and cappuccino. Herbal and blended teas are also offered.

The day before I placed our lunch order, I stopped to pick up a menu. The owner was busy preparing for her monthly cooking classes at the store. In keeping with February's valentine theme, a course called "Cooking in the Nude" was being offered.

"Nobody's going to be cooking naked," said owner Tina Duprey. "It's my way of introducing a line of cookbooks."

The classes are given the first Tuesday of each month. Duprey also travels to lecture about the Rooibos line of loose teas she serves at the cottage.

"They have a lot of health properties," she said.

The Coffee Cottage also hosts whimsical children's tea parties and private functions, and the owners will make picnic lunches for beachgoers.

Duprey said she encourages little girls who visit the restaurant to try on hats and gloves from her selection throughout the store.

"They wear them to eat lunch," she said.

Duprey opened her store as a coffee and tea shop about five years ago, then started making soups in a crock pot to serve customers who wanted a bit of lunch with their java.

The shopping center owner decided she should move to the larger location, where she has been open for the past two years. She still makes her popular portobello and mushroom bisque, onion, chicken and curry carrot soups.

The Coffee Cottage

338 Corey Ave., St. Pete Beach

Phone: 360-8683 Fax: 363-6031

Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays

Consumers: Six adults

What we got: Chicken salad sandwich on white bread, garden vegetables wrapped in a pita blanket, roasted veggie wrap, ham and cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread, a three salad sampler with chicken, tuna and imitation crab salad on a bed of greens, a cottage pizza, three chocolate chip cookies and two blueberry scones.

What it cost: $41.89

Time it took: 10 minutes

Pay with: Cash and major credit cards

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