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With a juice bar and a flower-draped ceiling and walls, Andre Lopez strove for freshness when planning his new restaurant.
After a half-year wait, Lopez’s Jardin Café swung open its doors to the public Tuesday, filling the vacancy at 90 E. Main St. that NOLE left in 2020. Guests will enjoy the bounties grown in a jardin (Spanish for “garden”), as well as the atmosphere in the new eatery’s nearly 50-seat dining area.
Lopez is no stranger to the restaurant industry; his family owns Don Quijote. Odds are, fans of Lopez’s family’s food will enjoy the hot options cooking up in his new kitchen.
“We’re taking a lot of things from the other restaurant, Don Quijote, like our ground beef and our pulled pork, and we changed it up and went plant-based,” Lopez said. “So we used a lot of Spanish recipes.”
Three square meals a day
Starting at 11 a.m., guests can order plant-based or tofu options as proteins in salad, rice and quinoa bowls, or wrapped in tortillas for lunch. They can then choose their veggies, fruits, beans, dairy or vegan cheeses, nuts, seeds and sauces.
There’s plenty of breakfast bowl options from 7-11 a.m., including the smoked salmon bowl and the salsa ranchero-topped burrito breakfast bowl. The menu also boasts a variety of avocado toasts.
Starting at 4 p.m., Lopez said he will serve dinner.
“People can try a variety of vegan options, we also have our sustainable fish, grassfed steaks,” he said. “I want everyone to give it a try.”
Among the vegan offerings across the menus are vegan cheeses and creams for bowls and carnitas made with jackfruit instead of pork.
On Saturday and Sunday, people can enjoy a cheat day brunch. While health-conscious greens are still available, guests are given cheat-day options, such as pancakes, Nutella French toast and a breakfast burger. Of course, mimosas will flowing.
Yoga and live music this summer
In addition to its eats, Jardin Café serves healthy juices and smoothies, hot and cold brew coffees, kombucha and local beers and wines.
The café offers an assortment of super fruit smoothies, including the green Jardin smoothie, packed with vanilla vegan protein, kale, spinach, banana, mango, almond milk. There are plenty of other juice bar options — from the quick vitamin-rich wellness shots to the fresh-squeezed fruit and veggie fruit juice combinations.
The vibrantly colored juices await in to-go jars with labels like Bugs Bunny, Lover Boy and — what sounds like a Main Street essential on the weekend — Patchogue Hangover.
After Jardin Café settles in, Lopez hopes to open the joint’s side entrance, provide some outdoor seating and establish a wine and beer garden. He has already started barnstorming some events for the joint’s first summer on Main Street.
“We’ll do some live music in the summer,” Lopez said. “We’re gonna do something called yoga and brunch. My sister’s an instructor, so we’re gonna have some yoga and do brunch after, give away from fresh-pressed juices. All different kinds of things.”
Top: Andre Lopez (center) with his Jardin Café crew.
