Rowland: Modesto coffee shop reopens as a cafe, creperie

By Marijke Rowland
mrowland@modbee.com

E-Mail

Comments (0)

Text Size:

tool goes here

The J Street Cafe is back.

The downtown Modesto coffee shop and restaurant has a long history as a hangout for music and coffee lovers of all ages. The cafe closed last year, but recently reopened under new management.

Owner Phil Briones and his business partner and chef Mauricio Lopez have turned the coffee shop into a full-service cafe and creperie.

Marijke Rowland

J Street reopened Feb. 17, the day the Amgen Tour of California came through Modesto. Since then, it has served breakfast and lunch as well as an assortment of coffees and teas.

Lopez, the cafe's crepe chef, has worked at a variety of downtown eateries, including Bacchus, The Nines and Aqua Shi. The switch to crepes, a thin French pancake with a savory or sweet filling, was to fill what Lopez saw as a need in the downtown area.

"After working at so many fine-dining restaurants and seeing the trend with the economy, we wanted to give people a place where they could get a lot of food for under $6," he said. "We want to give them a good, affordable meal and for them to be happy with what they spent."

The crepes are served for breakfast or lunch, with breakfast served all day. The savory options include everything from the California crepe with grilled chicken, barbecue sauce, avocado and cheddar cheese, to the pizza crepe with pepperoni, sauce and cheese.

The sweet varieties can be filled with an assortment of hams, fruit and other offerings, including the popular chocolate spread Nutella. The crepes run from $3.50 to $5.95.

The cafe is open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. By the end of the month, Lopez said, they plan to expand its hours to some Thursday through Saturday nights with live music.

As a former musician, Lopez said bringing back live, local music is an important part of the cafe's reopening.

"We definitely want the local band scene to come back," he said. "As a former musician, I am trying to call all the people to come back."

The cafe has signed on to be part of the downtown Thursday Art Walk, starting this month.

The cafe's interior has been repainted, with its original two-level indoor seating still intact.

"We want to be a big part of downtown again," Lopez said. "This place has history."

For more information, visit the J Street Cafe, 1030 J St., or call 577-8007.

Elsewhere around the Business Beat:

Downtown Modesto creole restaurant Etouffeé has closed its doors.

The eatery specialized in New Orleans-based fare and had been open a little less than a year before it shut down in January.

The site, 925 15th St., has been home to about a half-dozen restaurants over the past 15 years, including The Firehouse, 15th Street Bistro, The Brown Bag, Gran Finale, MoMo's Bistro and El Clavel.

Kelley Ogan, daughter of building owner Dennis Helton, said they are in negotiations with another restaurant to take over the space.

"Surprisingly, we have someone very quickly," she said. "It'd be nice to have someone stay here for a long time."

Ogan would not comment on what restaurant or style of food to expect from the new tenants. So be sure to keep an eye on the space to see what's cooking. …

And finally, Discount Groceries wants to help you stretch your dollar.

Formerly a flea market and wholesale shop attached to the Modesto Auction Yard, the small store at 1119 S. Seventh St. has switched to carrying groceries in the past year.

Owner Ed Moyle, who ran the store's wholesale business before, now has an assortment of frozen, canned and other foods for sale to the public.

The space has been cleaned up and will soon include a bill payment center. For more information, call 527-4200

Have an item for Business Beat? Contact Marijke Rowland at The Modesto Bee, P.O. Box 5256, Modesto 95352; 578-2284 or mrowland@modbee.com.