Cali Fresh and BYOB: Four Cafe, Eagle Rock

My friend Shelley, an Eagle Rock local, introduced me to one of the new joints in her neck of the woods: Four Cafe, a seasonal, California-esque, BYOB cafe owned and operated by husband and wife duo Corey and Michelle Wiltons. Four Cafe takes a slow food method approach and uses produce from Farmers Markets. The atmosphere is very relaxing and unpretentious. It was actually owner Corey who took our order at the front (while Michelle cooks in back), giving us an old time laminated postcard as the order ticket and some equipment to open our bottle of pinot noir. Hurray for BYOB!


The decor is new age Oregonian with lots of deep stained 2 x 4s used throughout the establishment.


Since we had just consumed a block of cheese from Trader Joe's washed down with a bottle of riesling before coming to Four Cafe, we decided to split a few lighter dishes, starting off with a large bowl of Fresh English Pea Soup ($6).  It was the perfect example of spring in a bowl, with shallots helping to round out the sweetness of the peas and spring potato adding to the creamy vegan goodness. The drizzling of olive oil gets a plus 1 from me :)


Also arriving with our soup was a complimentary bowl of roasted chickpeas. I really enjoyed the crunch and heartiness of this snack.


We shared the Smoked Albacore Salad ($11.50), which Shelley was slightly hesitant about being adverse to intense smokey flavors, but I persisted. Fortunately, our salad was pleasantly, as opposed to unbearably, smokey, tying in well with the other components of the salad: watercress, grapefruit, avocado and lemon vinaigrette.


Our Oven Roasted Tomato Panini ($8.95) came oozing with warmed burrata and soft, rich tomatoes held together on crusty fresh bread. The tuscan kale bedded underneath gave just a hint of bitterness, not distracting from the other flavors. I really enjoyed the simplicity and execution of this panini!


The Brown Butter Lavender Cookie ($2) was the perfect way to end our meal. Each bite of the fresh baked cookie melted in my mouth warranting signs of a cookie made with lots of delicious butter :) while the bits of lavender provided a refreshing and herbal component.


While ordering, we couldn't decide between the cookie and the Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcake ($2) so owner Corey brought us out both. I am not the biggest fan of caramel, having developed some kind of fear of overly sweet stickiness while working at a chocolate shop one summer but appreciate the sweet-savory things in life so I was curious. The rich caramel frosting with a hint of salt  on top of ultra fresh, moist cake would probably send most people to confession but it was too sweet for my tastes.


I can't wait to go back to Four Cafe again. They're new summer menu comes out in a few weeks so enjoy the spring goodies while you can! They're also open for breakfast.

Four Cafe
2122 1/2 Colorado Blvd
Eagle Rock, CA 90041
(323) 550-1988