Saturday, February 23, 2008

Breakfast in Oak Park

Sounds like a great new place planned for one of Sacramento's oldest neighborhoods!

Bob Shallit: Breakfast restaurant planned in Oak Park
By Bob Shallit - bshallit@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PST Saturday, February 23, 2008


A local coffee shop owner is bringing to Oak Park what he boasts will be "hands down, the best breakfast restaurant in Sacramento."

Chris Pendarvis expects to begin construction this spring on the 35-seat eatery inside a 1920s-era, concrete building at 36th and Broadway, where he now roasts coffee for his three cafes – Naked Lounge and Tupelo Coffee House in Sacramento, and Habit in El Dorado Hills.

The coffee roasting operation will share space with the new restaurant he's calling Orphan Breakfast and Coffee House.

Why Orphan? "Because it sounds cool," says Pendarvis, who is 38.

Orphan will be similar to a Chico eatery, Sin of Cortez, that Pendarvis opened in 1999 and later sold. The concept: all-fresh foods, no preservatives and creative presentations, he says.

With an emphasis on breakfast, the cafe will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. most days once the place is completed later this year, a block from Kevin Johnson's 40 Acres retail project.

"Hopefully, this will be an anchor for that corner – a 'destination' that attracts people" from nearby neighborhoods, as well as Oak Park, he says.

Pendarvis says he's convinced a restaurant will succeed in the low-income neighborhood that's seen hit-and-miss revitalization efforts in recent years.

Oak Park "just needs a standout product," and diners will flock there, he says.