Neighborhood Flavor

I first heard about the MAPLE STREET BISTRO sometime last year but somehow didn’t get there to check it out until recently. I felt even more sheepish when I learned that the sweet little cottage-y café has been open since August 2007, serving sandwiches, salads, smoothies and sweet treats to north-side travelers cruising Maple between Francis and Wellesley. Fortunately, owner Henry Cohrs is a forgiving sort.

“The building has been here for about five or six years,” he says with a shrug, “so a lot of people don’t know we’re new.”

Cohrs runs the place with his wife, Dezy, and a team that includes several family members. The light and airy café felt cozy on a cold rainy day, but the pergola-covered patio holds the promise of warmer days to come.

The menu appears on chalkboards that hang above the kitchen area, high up near the vaulted ceiling. Breakfast items include sandwiches ($4.79) and a wrap filled with ham, bacon, cheese and vegetables ($5), plus fruit-and-yogurt parfaits and fresh-baked sweet treats. All of the baked goods — including scones, cookies, oat-fruit bars and oversized cinnamon rolls oozing with thick icing — are made from scratch right there, says Cohrs, who holds a culinary arts degree from Spokane Community College. My cinnamon-vanilla scone had a good crumb and crust, while the chocolate chip cookie — about 4 inches around — was slightly soft and filled with mini chips.

Both treats had the unmistakable flavor of butter, and neither was overly sweet.

“All of our baked goods are made with real butter, real cream,” he says. “That’s one of our personal goals — to make sure that the food we serve is not only good but healthy at the same time.”

For lunch, you’ll find tossed salads (including Cobb and Asian chicken), deli sandwiches and panini sandwiches ($4.79, half; $7.79, whole), served with pickle or pepperoncini and chips. Everything is prepared and assembled to order, and all menu items are available all hours.
Cohrs strives to buy local — bread from Petit Chat, seasonal produce from Dan Jackson, coffee from Anvil — and really be part of the neighborhood. After all, he lives right around the corner and walks to work every day.

“We consider it more of a family-run community store,” he says. “It’s been a growing process, a sense of involvement with our customers. It’s never been about just us trying to run a business.”
— ANN M. COLFORD

The Maple Street Bistro, at 5520 N. Maple St., is open Mon-Fri 6 am-6 pm, Sat-Sun 7 am-5 pm. Fax 479-0264 or call 443-3129.