Cafe sets out to inspire a neighborhood

303 Cafe is just what Eastie ordered

East Boston’s 303 Café, deftly named for its location on 303
Sumner Street in the burgeoning Jeffries Point neighborhood, is indeed a tasty
new dish in a neighborhood that has potential galore, but to this point very
few stylish eateries for its increasing young professional demographic.

The 303 Café seems to have served the community just what it
ordered: a restaurant and coffee shop with a near-perfect combination of style
and taste.

Owners Malinda Jones and Tom Clackett first envisioned an eclectic café
in East Boston in 2002 while sitting in a similarly funky joint in Niack, NY.
Five sweat-inducing years later, the owners’ vision is a reality, and customers
of all kinds will appreciate the café’s transformation from eyesore to artsy
café. Beautiful wood panel flooring, warm lighting, soft music and works by
local artists hanging on the exposed brick walls, to name a few, create the
perfect look and feel for the café, which opened its doors on Sept. 13, 2007.

Rest assured, though, that 303 Café tastes as good as it
looks. Serving a surprisingly long menu for coffee, breakfast, lunch and
dinner, 303 adds a healthy twist to the familiar neighborhood café. For
instance, vegetarians will scurry to try the restaurant’s Curried Tofu
Scramble, a breakfast dish combining onions, mushrooms, chic peas, a special
house spice blend, and a piece of toast on the side. 303 just may be Eastie’s
perfect brunch location, but you may want to show up a little closer to
breakfast than lunch next Sunday if the cafe stays as busy as its been.

The rest of the menu — which is served after 11 a.m. for
both lunch and dinner — discards convention for creativity and flavor. Nearly
half the menu consists of entrée salads, which combine fresh seafood, meats and
vegetables and equal sensible yet thoroughly satisfying dishes. The curried
chicken salad, with its raisins and walnuts on a bed of greens, will fill you
up, tickle your taste buds, and leave you with a clean conscience. 

Don’t worry, carnivores – it’s not all rabbit food at the
303. Try the tender Buffalo Burger with a side of crispy and perfectly seasoned
fries. The roasted turkey sandwich, with bacon, gouda,
and chipotle mayo on sourdough bread, is mouthwateringly good as well. And the
superlatives have already begun rolling in regarding the lump crab cake: One
regular patron called it the “Best in Boston.” That’s a good crab cake.

303’s food comes with its own aesthetic qualities as well,
arriving at the table on a glass plate (no baskets or butcher paper) and
artfully presented highlighting the natural reds, greens and yellows of the
fresh vegetables in each dish. Think “gourmet presentation at café prices.”

Speaking of expense, prices for full breakfast and entree salads run between $6 and $11;
sandwiches and burgers will cost you $8 – $9.75; and prices for coffee are
on-par with other java outlets.

A challenge Jones and Clackett will need to overcome,
however, is the assumption from some that 303 Café is only a high-end, sit-down
restaurant. The owners want potential patrons to know that 303 Café is also a
coffee shop, serving the typical list of fancy caffeinated favorites as well as
a modest lineup of desserts and “quick bites.” The coffee is all fair-trade,
which means its growers in developing nations receive a fair payment for their
product.

If the crowds and buzz since the café’s opening are
any reflection, the owners will have their work cut out for them.