Nidal Balbeisi’s ever expanding empire of restaurants crossed another Rubicon on Friday, opening the doors of Collage Cafe on Jefferson Street.
The espresso machine cranks up at 7:30 a.m. to jolt a coffee menu to life. Espresso, capuccino, lattes, cafe mocha and cafe au lait, beignets, fresh fruit smoothies, a breakfast special of the day and cafe tables on the sidewalk are vital to the urban fabric of downtown. Thank you chef Octavio “O.J.” Ycaza for getting up early so we can have our morning cuppa joe.
The menu is limited through Festival International to a handful of sandwiches, salads, pizzas and a plate lunch special; walking food if you want to go, but there’s lots of seating inside including at the bar overlooking an open kitchen, where you can see your burger sizzling on the grill. Look for new items next week.
Collage Cafe 423 Jefferson St., 704-9000 Open daily: 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m. through Festival International, after that closed Sundays, but late night hours will be added. www.collagecafe.net
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
Philip deMahy Sr., a once respected New Iberia ad exec, was sentenced May 2 to spend the next two years (he faced up to 100 years) in a state penitentiary after state and federal investigators found dozens of images depicting children engaged in lewd sexual acts on his personal computer.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
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