Restaurantarama has a ritual most summer Saturdays: We rise earlier than we’d like to race over the City Market to stock up on essentials before the crowds descend. Then, finding that a crowd already has descended earlier than we’d expected, we fight through the throngs toward Milano Café on South Street for a much needed espresso before braving the craziness with a clearer head and caffeine boost.
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Guy walks into a café: Changes at Mark Cave’s Milano will include evenings with comedy and spoken word acts. |
Lately, we’ve noticed a lot more people doing the same and that, almost magically, Milano has a lot more places for everyone to sit. As it turns out, owners Mark and Victoria Cave recently expanded the café in terms of the physical space as well as in menu and offerings and, in conjunction, closed their separately branded Italian ceramics and furniture business, Verity Blue, which used to occupy much of their location in the “pink building.”
Both when Milano and Verity Blue were in their old digs at the Main Street Market, and when the Caves first moved the businesses to South Street last summer, Mark says, “We were heavy on furniture and ceramics and light on café. Now we’ve subsumed the Verity Blue business under the Milano brand, and we’re heavy on café and light on furniture and ceramics. We’ll continue to sell ceramics and special order farm tables, but we’ve expanded Milano Café into more of a European café.”
If you haven’t had the pleasure of enjoying cafés in Europe and, in particular, Italy, what this means for you is that in addition to Milano’s lineup of espresso drinks, gelato and light breakfast and lunch fare, you now can choose from a very affordable selection of beer (from $3 Bud Light to $4 Boddingtons) and wine ($6 glasses and $3 half glasses) and an extended menu of snacks such as carne & olives, salads such as Caesar with grilled chicken, soup and panini throughout the day. Plus, there’s a new kids menu for the bambinos in tow. It’s pretty much everything you might need dawn through dusk.
For now Milano is only open until 7pm on weeknights and 9pm on weekends, but that may change in the near future as well. Having taken over Verity Blue’s retail space, the Caves also have been able to add a stage for acoustic, spoken word and comedic acts—“more in the lounge style of things than the club style,” says Mark.
Referring to the development activity at the Gleason building behind him and at the new office building on the corner of 2nd Street and Monticello Avenue, Mark says, “The area is growing, and we’re trying to anticipate what it needs food- and entertainment-wise.”
No doubt this difficult economy also has something to do with downsizing the Verity Blue business, which specialized in beautifully handcrafted Italian (i.e., expensive) home interiors.
“We’re trying to make changes not only to respond to the existing climate but also to anticipate future improvements to the area. You have to be light on your feet and change with the times,” says Mark.
To further spread the word about its transition to a larger community lounge spot, Milano is hosting two special events this week: Boddingtons & Bratwurst on Thursday, September 3, 5:30-8pm, with $4 Boddingtons Cream Ale and $4 brats from the Organic Butcher with potato salad and Family Pasta Night on Sunday, September 6, 5:30-7:30pm, with $5 pasta, $5 wine and $5 Caesar salad. Advance tickets are required for both events.
