Café Ventana is a quaint little bistro located on 3919 West Pine Blvd., practically across the street from the Saint Louis University campus. The café promotes itself as “a Bohemian bistro with a French-Quarter feel,” and, though many personally may not know what either entails, it certainly seems to live up to its word.
Featuring a wide range of menu items, ranging from the expected coffee and pastries to soups, sandwiches and even various spirits and beers, there is something at the café for everyone’s tastes.
Though many of the items are slightly more expensive than what one would expect from, say, a St. Louis Bread Co., one can certainly see where the extra few dollars go. With items like the Cuban wrap to the Ventana Crab Cakes, there are a nice variety of upscale tastes to be enjoyed.
One of the more striking features of Ventana is its heavy influence from Cajun food from the South. The signature pastry at Ventana are their beignets, which are essentially deep fried French doughnuts; and Ventana features a Muffaleta among its sandwich options, a New Orleans style sandwich.
Another selling point is that they serve a variety of alcoholic beverages, from an assortment of beers to “the green fairy,” also known as absinthe.
Their most popular drink, however, is the Spanish coffee, a concoction of coffee, rum, brandy and cream that has caramelized sugar around the rim of the cup.
The substantial and diverse menu can be attributed to the executive chef at Ventana, Christopher Lee. Chef Lee handles the menu and preparation of food, among many other responsibilities.
The restaurant’s continued success could be partially attributed to his unique and daring menu choices. As Lee said, “we’re the only coffee shop with lobster bisque.”
Lee said that the business at Ventana has been steady and good and that the business has been equally divided between SLU students and local patrons from the St. Louis area.
One thing that keeps people coming is their various promotions and event nights. For example, every Tuesday night Café Ventana shows a movie accompanied by free popcorn (the next title is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and, on Mondays at 8 p.m., they host a trivia night.
They also do events during the day, including brunches and live music on weekends. Accompany these with the various specials Ventana has on their food and drinks and there is a lot of reasons to visit.
Kelly Lohrmeyer, the general manager of Ventana, said that SLU students generally seem to use Ventana as a study hall, but would like that to evolve.
“I would really like for them to think of us as a fun place to go as well,’ she said.
Lohrmeyer also says that her favorite part of working at Ventana is meeting all the different people who frequent the café.
Ventana is always trying new and different things to attract business and adapt to the community’s needs. Whether it is their drink specials on Thursdays or their karaoke (which they do the last Thursday of every month), there is certainly something at Café Ventana for just about everyone.
For more information on their menu and various events you can visit their Website at www.cafeventana.com.
