So when you find that restaurant and it is part of a larger business that boasts fabulous shopping, an espresso and gelato bar and a wine bar, you know you've found gold.
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Cobblestone Café, Furniture & Gifts in Waynesville is the only place like this that we've ever come across and to say it is special would be selling it short.
This one-stop destination offers both high-quality dining and shopping in the same spot. The cathedral wood ceilings and wide plank wood floors feel warm and give it a homey feeling. There are home goods, fashion accessories including jewelry, scarves and handbags, and one-of-a-kind handmade art for sale in a sprawling portion of the building.
Guests can shop before or after lunch or dinner.
The Cobblestone Cafe menu is American-French inspired and delivers on flavor and value.
The "Best Chicken Sandwich Around" ($11) featuring a buttermilk fried crunchy chicken breast, celery seed garlic mayo, bread and butter pickles and shredded iceberg slaw on a toasted brioche bun was terrific. The potato latkes ($6) served with apple butter and sour cream were crisp and fantastic. Cobblestone Cafe has a menu fit for a lunch, dinner or snack depending on the level of Waynesville shopping you are planning on and your hunger.
Chef specialties include citrus crab cakes ($14), winter vegetable gnocchi ($12), mushroom argue crepes ($14, add bacon for $2) and a seafood pot pie ($14).
Kee Mo Sabe Espresso and Gelato features fresh house-made Italian ice cream and fair trade coffee from Yield Coffee.
Some of the gelato flavors include basics like Madagascar vanilla, coffee and chocolate chips and more creative flavors like blueberry cheesecake, Kentucky Bourbon and pink guava sorbetto.
This is a truly beautifully merchandised store with a terrific restaurant attached and is a destination worth seeking out before or after the holidays.
Contact this contributing writer at alexis.e.larsen@hotmail.com.
WANT TO GO?
What: Cobblestone Cafe, Home Interiors & Gifts
Where: 10 N Main St., Waynesville
More information: (513) 897-0021 or www.cobblestonevillageandcafe.com
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