by Bailey White
Staff Writer
With one successful restaurant at the beach, Christine Purdue is ready to leave her mark on the culinary world downtown.
Purdue is the owner and operator of Cafe NoLa, the recently opened cafe at the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art. She also owns Cafe Sonoma in Jacksonville Beach.
The eateries seem to offer the extreme ends of dining options, but manage to complement each other. Cafe Sonoma provides fine dining with a relaxed, beach atmosphere.
“It’s upscale, but with a casual feel,” said Purdue. “I use fresh herbs and spices to return to basics, using the most wholesome ingredients, the freshest fish or the ripest tomatoes. And I like for each dish to be a combination of sweet, savory and salty with the right amount of texture so that it’s a well-rounded dish.
“My signature is a breaded snapper with sauteed strawberries and white zinfandel mixed with sugar and butter with gorgonzola and toasted walnuts on top. I want all the senses to be satisfied,” she said.
Cafe NoLa, which is open for breakfast and lunch, offers salads, sandwiches and pizza, but with Purdue’s twist on the basics.
“I still want to keep it eclectic,” she said.
Smoothies and specialty coffees will soon be added to the menu.
“And we plan on opening the patio out front,” Purdue added, “probably in the fall when it’s cooler.”
Wine is a big part of both restaurants. At Cafe Sonoma, customers can choose from 50 varieties available by the glass, and Cafe NoLa now offers Wednesday night wine tastings for $5.
Running back and forth between the two restaurants doesn’t leave Purdue, a mother of three, with a lot of time on her hands.
“I’m working hard right now,” she said. “My friends ask me when I’ll stop and I tell them, ‘I’ll stop at five restaurants.’ There is so much opportunity here.”
A “Navy brat,” Purdue has lived all over the country, but much of her inspiration comes from the six years she spent in San Diego.
“I took note of the trends there and I’d like to bring a little bit of all of that back to Jacksonville, to create places where people can come to listen to music and have great food,” she said. “I’d like to do a Latin-style restaurant with dancing and music and spicy food.
“San Diego had such a great downtown. It’s so exciting to see that Jacksonville’s downtown is growing and that it’s now home to a museum of this scale. I love being a part of it.”