grass stains: Now open: Park Avenue Cafe!

It's always exciting when something new comes to Bluff Park. We live in an established neighborhood, and whenever an old space is renovated for a new use, we all wait on pins and needles until it opens.

I'm happy to say that Park Avenue Cafe recently opened in part of Artists on the Bluff's space -- which itself is part of the original Bluff Park School building.

It's open Tuesday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., for breakfast and lunch and Sunday from 7 to 10 a.m. for breakfast. (There's no sign outside that tells you that, so make a note of it.)

When you walk through the double metal doors, you're greeted by beautiful artwork of Artists on the Bluff's resident artists.

If you're local, you probably recognize this honey bear ... I think it's by Jayne Morgan, but please correct me if I'm wrong. I didn't see a signature on it. Isn't he adorable? And he looked like his belly was painted with chalkboard paint. Too cute. Jayne is kind of famous for her honey bears around here.

Never having been to Park Avenue Cafe before -- it just opened at the beginning of October -- I had to carefully peruse the ENTIRE menu before I ordered. As well as the bakery case. YOU NEVER WANT TO MISS SOMETHING AMAZING, INTERNET.

The day we were there -- I met my friend Lisa there for breakfast one morning before work -- the bagel machine was on the fritz. So they couldn't make any bagels, but they had plenty of other things to offer.

(I see that this wall menu says that breakfast is served from 6 to 10 a.m. But their website says they don't open until 7 a.m. Ima go with the website, but I'll come back and edit the post if somebody tells me otherwise.)

I ordered the Bacon, Egg & Cheese Morning Sandwich on a croissant. It might have been JUST A LITTLE BIT GOOD.

Yeah, it was super-tasty. I'd order it again in a heartbeat. My only complaint is that I didn't see the note on the menu that I could make it a combo and get a side of grits with it. I wish the cashier had tried to sell that to me! "Would you like to make it a combo?"

YES, PLEASE.

Still, it was a nice portion, piping hot and tasted really fresh.

Lisa ordered the Ham & Cheddar Souffle. It was adorable.

I mean, it looks like a beautifully wrapped little ham and cheese GIFT.

She said it was fabulous.

Apparently the wraps are so popular at lunch that they've started offering their breakfast sandwiches as wraps, too.

Although I haven't been for lunch, several of my friends have enjoyed lunch there and say that it's just as good as breakfast.

They also have a pretty extensive kids' menu, which is nice for this walkable neighborhood.

All of their baked goods looked fresh and yummy.

I couldn't bring myself to try any of it so early in the morning, but I look forward to going back to try a little bit of everything!

I really hope that our community rallies around Park Avenue Cafe the way it has supported other businesses in our neighborhood. Its prices are reasonable, its location convenient, and the quality of the food is great.