Cafe has plenty to offer hungry patrons at Leesburg library

OrlandoSentinel.com
Rosalind Jennings
Special To The Sentinel
September 14, 2008

Guests visiting the city's public library can now get a cup of coffee and even a gourmet or vegetarian meal before hitting the stacks. The library finished construction of a roughly 1,500-square-feet area slotted for a cafe earlier this year.

And last month, Z-Caf, with an extensive food menu and coffee roasted on-site, opened on the first floor of the library at 100 E. Main St. in downtown.

The menu includes meat sandwiches and more than 50 coffees. It also has a large selection of vegetarian and vegan sandwiches and other vegetarian meals.

Co-owner David Kahan said he wanted an extensive menu because he expects the cafe to get many repeat customers because of its convenient location.

"We feel it's important in a community when you are selling to a lot of people -- people who often come in two or three times a day -- to have plenty," Kahan said. "You don't want your menu to be tiresome. You want it to be exciting. We try to be balanced.

"The menu lists breakfast and lunch-dinner meals. Breakfast offerings include sandwiches made with eggs, cheese and sausage. Deli sandwiches are made with tuna, ham, roast beef and chicken.

They also serve classic meals such as hot dogs, grilled cheese with tomato and mushroom, grilled tuna melt and grilled turkey melt. They have quesadillas with chicken, turkey or beef, and offer a house salad, hummus salad and gourmet salad.

The cafe serves 12 varieties of wraps, including grilled pesto with turkey, grilled pesto with pepperoni, grilled roast beef Reuben and a grilled Mediterranean eggplant and bacon.

The other half of the menu is vegetarian.Both Kahan, 47, and his co-owner and wife Haemi Kahan, 47, are vegetarians, so coming up with vegetarian recipes comes natural to them.

"Our menu is like an artist's palette," Kahan said. "We create different paintings with our food.

"The canvas includes vegetarian breakfast meals and classics such as a vegetarian chili dog and a vegetarian bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. Also on the menu: eight vegetarian quesadillas, five types of vegetarian burgers and 13 varieties of vegetarian wraps, such as vegetarian teriyaki turkey and falafel-hummus.

The Kahans also serve 15 vegetarian gourmet sandwiches such as grilled pesto with eggplant, grilled vegetarian meatball sub and grilled vegetarian roast beef Reuben.

"We are definitely fulfilling a need here," Kahan said. "Vegetarians are not a stereotype. They come in every age and every demeanor. We get lots of retired folks -- some people drive all the way from Mount Dora. When they come in and see the menu, they say, 'Oh my gosh, there's all these choices.'

"Coffee selections come from a host of countries.Java fiends can enjoy such brands as Hawaiian Kona and Jamaican Blue Mountain along with coffees from lesser-known sources such as East Timor and the Galapagos Islands.

"We like people to know we are set up like a wine bar for coffee," he said. "Anyone [coffee variety] that you want, we can grind the beans and make it.

"The cafe also has shakes, smoothies, iced lattes, cappuccinos and more. There's energy coffee, which has twice the caffeine. Fruit milkshakes come in such flavors as guava and passion fruit.

Those steering clear of dairy also can find a drink, Kahan said. And the cafe prepares sugar-free beverages.

"We offer vegan [without dairy] milkshakes," he said. "Any drink we have we can make soy-based.

"Library Director Barbara Morse noted that wireless Internet is available in the cafe -- just as in the rest of the library.

"It's so neat to see people reading books and working on their laptops," Morse said. Morse said the chicken salad is one her staff's favorites. She drinks coffee herself and loves the large variety.

The Kahans began their coffee business in 2002. They opened their first Z-Cafe at the Orlando Public Library in downtown Orlando about three years ago. They also operate in the Cagan Crossings Library in Clermont and in the Florida Hospital in Apopka.

For more information, call the restaurant at 352-326-2439.


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