Started over a decade ago, The Café has been a popular place to take family, friends and dates. The ambience is upscale and clean and the food is delicious. The Café specializes in providing in-season, locally grown food.

“As seasons change, different things hit your doorstep,” said Charles Theesfield, front of house manager at The Café. Knowing what to do with those different things is all part of the job.

The Café is known for its quality dishes made with fresh ingredients. A change of seasons means a change of menu. While fresh fruits and vegetables are available in the summer, it’s pumpkins and squash in the fall and winter. Every six to eight weeks, The Café switches up their lunch and dinner menu. Their brunch menu gets adjusted about every four weeks. The Café does a fabulous job of adjusting to the seasons to fully utilize what’s available them.

Their food suppliers include local farmers all over Iowa and varying delivery schedules. “We try to fully utilize local suppliers and farmers year round as much as possible,” said Theesfield. The farm-to-table method is becoming more and more popular. Locally grown food helps The Café offer fresh, organic and delicious food.

“I did not know that they get local food, but knowing that makes me like them even more. I am very into the farm to table movement. It’s a big thing where I’m from and it’s good to see it happening where I go to school as well,” says Christine Eckert, a senior in food science and spanish.

While they switch up their menus fairly frequently and are constantly developing new recipes, they also have some long-time favorites. Their mac n’ cheese is a popular item and is often served for a season before they switch it for their fish tacos.

According to Theesfield, “old favorites do come back on and our three-cheese blend mac n’ cheese with a bread crumb topping is a favorite. It’s a comfort food people are excited to have back and sad to see go.”

Started about eleven and a half years ago, The Café was one of the first buildings in The Village of Somerset in Ames. While it has not made any drastic changes or additions to the building itself, Theesfield sees the growth and expects some changes in the future.

 “We did not anticipate to grow this big and in order to serve all the tables with a limited kitchen, we had to downsize our catering,” says Theesfield.

The Café offers catering services found online. Despite the limitations of the four walls, they hope to keep growing and serving Ames with fabulous food.

Wednesday nights, The Café offers tapas, or small plates. These small plates are typically dishes the chef decides to make that day. Wednesday mornings the evening surprise plates are revealed on The Café’s Facebook page. “People can come and order several as a meal or order them as an appetizer to a meal,” says Theesfield.

Since opening, The Café remains one of the most popular restaurants in Ames. It frequently welcomes Ames residence and Iowa State students alike as well as visitors. It’s down-to-earth yet classy atmosphere makes it a great choice for any meal. Featuring seasonal specialty dishes, there’s almost always something new to try.

“I think it’s a good place for all occasions. You can take your parents, you can go on a date there, or you can go with your friends,” says Eckert.