YAKIMA’S NEIGHBORHOOD BISTRO

WRITTEN BY Melissa S. Labberton

“I wanted Café Melange to become more hip, more modern, like a big city bistro with a neighborhood feel,” owner Lisa Rembold explained. Now, a year since her family took over the reins of this popular eatery, she feels she’s met her goal. And her regular clientele would definitely agree.

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Café Melange is located in the heart of Yakima on historic Front Street.

From the coveted bay window tables with great views of Yakima’s bustling historic Front Street, to the cozy tables for two along the walls, Café Melange’s small, candlelit dining room makes the perfect setting for romantic dinners, quiet business meetings or a fun place to meet and see friends. As an added dining bonus, tables spill out onto the sidewalk on warm summer nights.

But enough about the great setting. Isn’t the measure of a wonderful restaurant all about the food, the wine and of course, the service? If that’s the case, Rembold and her experienced staff at Café Melange definitely have won the Trifecta!

Having worked at Café Melange for ten years before buying it, Rembold is proud that her serving staff usually knows exactly what the regulars want the moment they walk through the front door. She related that customers often say, “We can’t believe you can remember our order without writing it down.” Owning a family run restaurant, she’s convinced that quality food and attention to detail will keep people coming back week after week.

Bronwyn Coffey, Rembold’s daughter, works the front of house, serving and acting as the wine steward. This spunky young woman has made it a point to learn everything she can about wine, especially every vineyard from Yakima Valley to Walla Walla. She looks for the unique, those vintages that may not appear on competing restaurants’ wine lists. Attending lots of wine tastings has helped make the Melange wine list a window into what the Yakima and Columbia Valley vineyards have to offer. If she finds a wine she’s sure a regular customer will enjoy, Coffey tries to buy a bottle and suggests it to them the next time they come in. The restaurant also features a service bar and according to several customers, Coffey has “skills” when it comes to cocktails, especially the classic Martini.

In the eighties the restaurant was called Deli de Pasta and served mostly Italian food. However, over the years and several different owners, the menu has evolved into a more Northwest cuisine with the emphasis on fresh, seasonal ingredients from the region.

Customers can still find their classic smoked salmon ravioli — once featured in Bon Appetite — on the menu. Though today Chef de Cuisine Verlene Elm, who has worked for the restaurant for the last fifteen years, has lightened the homemade pasta and added a delicious variety of sauces from which to choose, including Alfredo, lemon, pesto and basil cream.

The shitake beef tenderloin medallions in a sauce of port wine, demi-glace shitake mushrooms and shallots, and the pan fried Idaho trout, encrusted with panko and almonds, and topped with almond butter, definitely rank as two house favorites.
Both entrees come with a variety of mouth watering choices; whether to have the House, Caesar, Melange or caprese salad, or a cup of gazpacho and Pasta (choice of sauce), potatoes, or polenta? This conundrum could bring any gourmand to their knees. To make things worse, Chef Elm often adds a creative twist, like when she substituted the flavorful garlic mashed potatoes with a clever potato tart that tasted like a cheesy scalloped potato in puff pastry. Yum!

Yakima restaurants benefit from a cornucopia of locally grown fruits and vegetables available from early spring to late fall. Café Melange takes advantage of this bounty and tries to serve what’s come directly off the tree or from the field. Rembold adamantly said, “We’ll only serve asparagus when it is in season.”

Speaking of the freshest ingredients, summer brings Rembold’s amazing watermelon gazpacho to the Melange menu. She shook her head when she related how at a recent catering for a group of out-of-town conventioneers, she watched in amazement as they literally gobbled up the cold soup. “I served the gaspacho in small cups and some people came back four or five times for more.”

The Melange salad should not be missed as well. Imagine spring field greens, toasted walnuts, dried cherries and Yakima apples, tossed with Champagne-maple vinaigrette, topped with gorgonzola crumbles. The salad also makes a delicious entrée when paired with grilled chicken or Northwest salmon.

Other signature dishes include Ed’s Cheap Dates, a delightful appetizer made with dates stuffed with goat cheese and pecans, wrapped in bacon and baked to perfection.

The duck with Marion-berry port sauce and the ribeye steak also move to the top of customer favorites. But don’t forget to look at the chalkboard where an Ahi Tuna special might appear because it came in fresh that morning to the Deep Sea Deli where Rembold buys all her fish. Or maybe the shrimp caught the Chef ‘s eye and she creates something completely different like the summer Mojito Shrimp salad made with mint, lime and rum.

Melange diners know to save room for dessert. All are made in house and change regularly. Paired with seasonal berries, the goat cheese cheesecake is surprisingly smooth with a little bite to cut the sweetness. Rembold’s secret Swedish Cream topped with almonds and berries, couples perfectly with their locally roasted and freshly brewed coffee.

If you’re lucky enough to have discovered the delightful little neighborhood bistro in the heart of Yakima’s historic district, you’ll join the throng contentedly sighing, “Ahh…Café Melange…so many delicious entrees, so little time!”

Café Melange
7 North Front Street
Yakima, Washington 98901
Phone: (509) 453-0571
Open Mon. through Saturday
(lunch 11:30-2pm, Dinner 5-8:30pm)
Web site: Cafemelangeyakima.com
E-mail: lisapburns@gmail.com