Eclectic tastes that cater to everyone’s cravings

DINING OUT

When Cherie Faulds and Patrick von Leeuwen bought the Fitness Cafe,

wedged between a day spa and the Fitness Addiction six months ago,

they had a contest to name their new cafe. From more than 100 entries

Eclectic Cafe won the day. It’s a perfect fit. It’s a breakfast,

lunch and dinner spot with home made muffins, pancakes, wraps and

entrees -- a treasure chest of morning choices and midday snacks as

well as Snoopy Doodle biscuits for your dog and games on each table

to pass the time of day.

If breakfast is a meal you skip, Eclectic will change all that.

One quick solution is Muesli ($3.25), a bowl of oats, honey-roasted

walnuts and mixed fruit rather like fancy oatmeal but not cooked,

nutritious as well as tasty. They also serve a warm bowl of

old-fashioned oatmeal ($4.95) topped with banana slices and raisins

-- the kind mom used to insist on.

I succumbed to the All American breakfast ($5.50) with three eggs

(scrambled for me), three long thick strips of bacon and two whole

wheat pancakes. There’s a choice here too -- of buttermilk, seven

grain, or banana berry cranberry, which I had -- delicious and nearly

the size of a small Frisbee. Eclectic serves generous potions

reminiscent of the fare served at boarding houses. Ceramic rather

that plastic plates would help if heated to keep the eggs hot. Chef

Misalli will also do custom pancakes. Cherie really aims to please.

On another occasion a chicken quesadilla ($6.95) as overstuffed as

a pillow, was filled with chicken and firm bell pepper, smooth cheese

and tomato an excellent contrast in texture in a thin wheat tortilla

served with a scoop of seasoned brown rice, salsa and fruit. This

selection is the sort of breakfast/lunch that bridges two meals.

Another are the popular wraps (6.95) one a wheat tortilla filled with

turkey slices, avocado, artichoke hearts, spinach, tomato and

shredded carrots. A wrap with hummus, middle Eastern chick pea

spread, is great for vegetarians.

For sweets there are great dense banana berry bran muffins (not

the light fluffy kind), scones, huge oatmeal cookies and tasty lemon

bars tart as lemon pie ($1.50). No wonder, since talented Cherie was

a pastry chef at Newport’s Haute Cafe and chef on private sailing and

motor yachts creating the menus for charter guests. While working as

a chef in the San Juan Islands off western Canada she was adept at

preparing fresh seafood.

Eclectic Cafe is a friendly family oriented cafe that features a

live soft jazz duet on Thursday nights, a special spaghetti and

Caesar salad Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m. ($6.95) when paper-covered

tables are pulled together for communal dining.

Here is a small cafe where breakfast can jump start your whole

day.