As he has Grace has become the café of the moment, despite apparently a string of health code violations detailed in a recent article Wisconsin State Journal plot? Most resulted from a Sept. 28 inspection in Eastern Washington. According to the report of a specialist in re-inspection conducted by Public Health Madison and Dane County (although the remaining violations were still not corrected by the time of a second re-inspection on October 22). Last week, the owner announced on Facebook that the chain was hiring a sanitation manager and “has implemented a number of new daily procedures and protocols to ensure this does not happen again.”
Good to hear that. Because Grace has reliably good coffee, and it’s a nice place to set up your laptop. It is one of the success stories of the pandemic, growing from one store in 2019 to six today; the outlet in Verona was opened in October. For the purposes of this review, I ate most of my meals at Sun Prairie and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
Grace’s locations mostly have a consistent look and feel, with black chalk menus, floral murals drawn in white on black walls, green velvet couches and wood-topped tables. When Grace first opened, it used beans from Heart Coffee Roasters in Portland, Oregon; now I bake my own. The house brew is good and I have had more than one excellent cappuccino here. A recent special apple pie latte had no apple pie flavor, but it was pleasant and boasted a commendable crema.
Grace now also bakes her own cakes; Claudia, co-owner, Carlos Falcon’s sister, is a pastry chef and creates bagels, muffins, cookies and danishes, as well as massive stuffed croissants. One day I took home a chocolate and almond croissant and I thought they gave me two, the bag was so massive. I weighed it – over half a pound of croissant. It was good, with buttery almond paste in the gooey interior – but there’s no need for it to be that huge. I’m coming for breakfast, I can’t feed a family of four.
The menu from Grace to Grace is mostly consistent, but there are differences. State Street has the most constrained options, but is the only pancake location; East Washington and Middleton serve cocktails and drinks such as the White Russian cool brew; Sun Prairie and Middleton have fries; Verona has a mortadella sandwich that is not served elsewhere.
The menu is divided into appetizers and mainly sandwiches, but there are also breakfast wraps, acai bowls and French toast. Sandwiches range from piquant, crispy chicken to Italian; there is also a quinoa bowl.
On a recent Sunday brunch visit to Sun Prairie, the place was packed, but my order was filled quickly — much quicker than it had any right to do, considering the line at the coffee window. That said, I have noticed that kitchen service in Eastern Washington is sluggish even when there are few customers, but I realize that it is arduous for restaurants to keep a full staff.
The ham and cheddar cheese sandwich on fresh, crispy focaccia is perfectly balanced, with real ham flavor (like leftovers from Sunday dinner), tangy mustard and a piece of arugula. The broccoli salad side dish combines crispy, salty bacon bits, the sweet pop of raisins and a not-too-aggressive vinaigrette to give the broccoli a little chew. The sturdy avocado toast with street corn and queso fresco is good; the optional addition of an egg is unnecessary and just makes it harder to eat.
On the other hand, the caprese sandwich, which should have been basic – with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and balsamic – contained almost no tomatoes and was dominated by pesto. But it still tasted delicious, and the addition of fries was a real surprise, prepared in the best style of crispy fries.
All dishes at Grace Restaurant are delivered in boxes and can be ordered for takeaway, which results in a less than favorable reception. The tasty huevos rancheros arrived in a stack, with a fried egg and salty chorizo crumbles hidden beneath a delicate ranchero sauce and a piquant, onion pico de gallo-style salsa. At the very bottom were the tortillas, which would be quite uncomplicated to wrap separately.
The sausage and gravy are also served with an egg smothered in the gravy, but even worse, it’s served on a croissant. It’s true that it says so on the menu, but I didn’t notice it and thought I was ordering biscuits and gravy, because why would this dish be served on a croissant? The twist is not an improvement.
Of course, that didn’t stop me from eating it because it was still pretty good.
Maybe that’s the thing about Grace – even when the kitchen fails, her heart seems to be in the right place.
Grace Coffee Co.
• 417 State St.; 608-286-1560
• 1216 E. Washington Ave. 608-298-7464
• ul. S. Parkowa 1004; no phone yet
• 1261 Cabela Drive, Sun Prairie; 608-318-5328
• 1824 Parmenter St., Middleton; 425-625-7961
• 150 West End Circle, Verona; no phone yet
Gracecoffeewi.com
$3-15
