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A fountain to commemorate the "O" face. #stpete #dtsp #stpeterose #instaburg (at Downtown St Pete)

Banyan Café & Catering

689-D MLK St. N. 33701 ● 727.896.6100 ● banyancoffee.com

Similarly to my experience with Trip’s Diner, my journey to Banyan Café & Catering began with a reference from a friend.

My girlfriend – who needs a stage name, so I’m going to refer to her as Cinnamon from now on – and I walked in to discover a quaint and inviting brunch oasis. I just ::right clicked > synonyms:: the word “quaint,” because I feel like it isn't necessarily accurate. Even the “synonyms” tool is like …

… because both “antiquated” and “attractive” are synonyms for “quaint.” And unless we’re talking about Jessica Lange, my word choice isn’t quite right. I apologize. All hail the Supreme.

We stood slightly confused near the doorway for a minute or so until I mentioned to the woman at the counter that it was our first time, and to go slow, and then I asked her if she really loves me. She was very friendly and helpful, letting us know that we order and pay at the counter and then sit down to be served. I introduced myself and found out that she is Erica, the owner of Banyan.

I got an iced coffee (they serve Kahwa – drink local!) and Cinnamon got a tea (this is already funny to me) and we took our bevs over to the fixins stand. I like my coffee a very particular way – preferably sweetened with stevia and half-and-halfed to the color of Halle Berry in the summertime – so I always appreciate a DIY coffee bar.

We went and sat at a nice two-top on the front patio. It’s always a great day in Florida when you can actually feel comfortable sitting outside. Both Cinnamon and myself are “crank the A/C to 70” people, so there’s really only a three-week period where this is possible for us. I learned that someone had been stealing the flowers from the window box. This was not appreciated by the staff.

I visited the water closet while waiting for my food to arrive and noticed the large bulletin board behind the toilet. First, I love when there are things to look at in the bathroom. I love stall graffiti; I even love those behind-the-door ads for those devices that allow women to pee standing up. Second, I love that there’s essentially a center for community members to share a variety of goods and services in the john.

I finished my business (it was #1, so it didn't take long), washed my hands like a responsible adult and headed back to the table. My bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich was there waiting for me. I’m such a sucker for anything in “sandwich” form, especially breakfast. It was so lovely and its pressed Cuban bread exterior was just the right amount of buttery and crunchy. The thick-cut bacon and over-medium eggs (all of their breakfast sandwiches come with over-medium eggs unless otherwise requested) were all sorts of delicious. And the side of fruit was good too.

Cinnamon had a “make your own omelet” of tomatoes, spinach and goat cheese. The goat cheese made everything so creamy and magnificent. Her only qualm was that there was no ketchup available for her potatoes. Banyan doesn't keep ketchup in-house, which I actually appreciate because I think too often people just douse their food in it and it loses the flavor that the chef intended. ::Dips everything in Sriracha, which they do have.::

CONCLUSION: The people are very nice and helpful, the food tastes great and the Kahwa coffee is excellent. There are also cool community sharing elements in play – like the bathroom bulletin board and the newspaper & book baskets next to the front counter – so the whole space really supports a “local” mentality.

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