Combining upscale bistro cuisine with a lunch-friendly price and swift service is the order of the day Monday-Friday for Kathy Collins, chef and manager of Café Nola in the lobby at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
“To do the kind of menu we want to do at a good price point and be able to serve it quickly can make lunch a challenge,” she said.
Collins, a native of Chicago, graduated from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts there and then moved to Jacksonville.
She worked at Pastiche in Avondale before becoming chef at Café Nola in 2005. Two years later, Collins was named chef and manager when the museum took over the restaurant operation, which previously was leased.
Collins changes the menu six times a year to reflect the season and the availability of fresh local ingredients.
The menu is designed to accommodate fast service as well. Collins said entrees are prepared and presented within about 10 minutes after the order is placed.
“We serve a lot of fish because fish cooks quickly,” she said.
Café Nola’s lunch menu transitioned last week, retaining the restaurant’s most popular selections, including pan-seared shrimp in a white wine and mushroom sauce served over stone-ground grits and “Lobster Mac & Cheese” – steamed Maine lobster with pasta, apple wood bacon and smoked gouda.
The featured fish for summer is Arctic char, a cold-water variety that combines flavor and texture elements of salmon and trout and is farm-raised. That makes the fish sustainable, said Collins.
It’s available as the blackened catch entrée or in the new Asian noodle bowl, a spicy salad with cucumber, cilantro and chili-citrus vinaigrette.
Jerk chicken or tempura shrimp tacos are offered with spicy slaw, pickled red onions and house-made chips and salsa.
The new “Pork & Pimento” combines pulled pork with Cheerwine Carolina barbecue sauce, house-made pimento cheese and pickled green tomatoes. The sandwich is served on a pretzel roll with sweet potato chips.
Also new on the menu is an organic blueberry salad with grilled asparagus, goat cheese and Georgia pecans.
Collins said another of the new creations, the spicy black bean burger, qualifies as vegetarian or even vegan if it’s ordered without the melted Brie cheese.
“Flavor obviously comes first, but presentation is also important. We want to appeal to all of the senses. I think we have something for everyone, even gluten-free,” she said.
Café Nola recently received the “Snail of Approval” from Slow Food First Coast in recognition of many of the ingredients used in the recipes being sourced locally. Collins grows most of the herbs used at Café Nola in her home garden.
The restaurant is open 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday and serves dinner from 5-8 p.m. Thursday each week and the first Wednesday of each month during Art Walk.
Café Nola is available to cater events for museum members and has a selection of wines and a full bar.
To view the lunch and dinner menus, visit mocajacksonville.org and click on “Café Nola” at the top of the home page.
@drmaxdowntown
356-2466