Wouldn’t it be great if there was an all day café in the city where you could get coffee, natural wine, beer, breakfast, lunch, or dinner? Imagine if they also had a skylit bottle shop in the middle of it all – now that would be something! Well, imagine no more because this perfectly describes Bloomsday Café, opening this spring in Headhouse Square. Green Engine Coffee owners Zach Morris and Kelsey Bush have had the Bloomsday project in the works for a while, but soon it will become a reality. Zach and Kelsey, with the help of Tim Kweeder who they brought in to run the wine program for Bloomsday, gave our guests a sneak peek of what their all day café. Read on to see the fantastic dinner they put on and get excited for what’s coming soon to historic Headhouse Square!

Upon arrival our COOK guests were greeted with a locally-distilled vermouth and a gorgeous cheese board. After finishing their welcome vermouth, everyone received a glass of Metal House Cider Ora d’Oro. Tim explained that this Hudson Valley cider – brewed in the Champagne method – pairs well with the assorted local cheeses on the board: Calkins Creamery “Noblette” (cow’s milk brie), Goat Rodeo “Bamboozle” (washed rind goat), Otterbein “Shepher’d Delight” (hard-aged sheep).

After sampling the local cheeses with the tart, extra bubbly cider, guests were ready for the first course – salmon gravlax. On a slice of toasted brown bread sat the gravlax, cured in-house for three days and rinsed with gin for an added botanical finish. The majority of Bloomsday’s menu is inspired by the kitchen setup that Green Engine had when they first opened. Without a lot of space for refrigeration Kelsey and the kitchen crew turned to pickling, curing, and fermentation to preserve their product.

Speaking of pickling… Kelsey’s pickled deviled eggs were awe-inspiring. These vibrant purple eggs sat atop a winter beet salad adding acidity and funkiness to the dish. Kelsey made this salad with her mother and father in mind. Growing up her mother would always make a Pennsylvania Dutch staple – deviled eggs – and her father made her eat beets almost everyday even though she hated them. Since then she has developed a taste for beets and has improved upon her mother’s deviled eggs. Paired with the winter salad was a wine produced by Salvo Foti, who Zach described as “the godfather of wine in Sicily”. Zach warned that you have to be careful when choosing a wine to go with a powerful vinaigrette. The i Vigneri Etna Rossa 2017 red had a tannic bitterness that gave way to a fruit skin mouthfeel.

Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine was prominent in the main course, but with a slight twist. Scrapple is a Pennsylvania staple. Well, after a trip to Spain that included eating a lot of wonderful cured meat the Bloomsday crew had an idea to turn scrapple on its head, scrapple-sada. Basically they made scrapple in the style of sobrassada, which meant using a lot of paprika, cumin and other spices. The scrapple-sada was served over cannellini beans cooked in cider, lard, garlic and onions; this dish was hardy and filling!

Since everyone could use a pick-me-up after a large feast, Zach brewed coffee in the chemex method to end the night. That wasn’t the only coffee our guests received this night; as a special treat everyone grabbed a Kyoto-style coffee and granola on their way out. Breakfast the next morning was taken care of, thanks to Bloomsday! Follow their Instagram to stay up to date on when Bloomsday opens up.