Wednesday, May 14, 2008

New coffee shop comes to Edgefield at former wine bar site

from www.thetennessean.com

A new coffeehouse is brewing in the historic Edgefield neighborhood of East Nashville. Sky Blue Coffeehouse and Bistro is the latest venture from Kara Christian, who formerly ran The Mystic coffeehouse on Eighth Avenue.

Sky Blue is taking over the corner space at 700 Fatherland St., which was home for several years to The Place, a meat-and-three, and more recently, Vino wine bar.

Unlike Vino, Sky Blue will be a daytime cafe, serving espresso drinks and coffee from local roaster Drew's Brews.

Sky Blue will also serve full breakfast and lunch. Look for traditional breakfast dishes like eggs and sausage (including veggie sausage, if you prefer), plus more unusual fare like bruschetta topped with a fried egg.

Christian is still working on the menu, but she says she'll have some heartier options at lunch, including steak with béarnaise sauce.

The kitchen will operate 7:30 p.m.-3 p.m. Between 3 p.m. and closing at 6, customers will be offered premade salads, sandwiches and pastries to go with their coffee. Free wifi will be available.

Christian also plans to serve ice cream, the traditional accompaniment for a day in the park. (East Park is about a block away.)

To help launch the cafe, Christian has recruited her sister, Michelle Newman, a veteran of restaurants in Denver, including The Palm. They hope to open June 1, operating Tuesdays-Sundays.

Meanwhile, back at the old Mystic location at 608 Eighth Ave. S., metaphysical shop The Goddess and The Moon continues to operate in the space. (The Mystic had been sharing the space with the store.) Tish Owen, owner of The Goddess and The Moon, plans to add her own cafe serving coffee and tea in the next few weeks.

—Dana Kopp Franklin
dfranklin@tennessean.com