Le Bleu Bird Cafe’s light blue walls are filled with antiquated coffee signs and inspirational quotes.
Behind the old-fashioned breakfast counter, coffee cups line the wall and coffee pots steam with seasonal-flavored coffee.
Those are a few characteristics owner Lauren Scheele said she wanted for her new breakfast eatery at 170 Main St. in Port Washington as she was planning a restaurant that “makes you feel like you’re in your grandmother’s kitchen.”
The cafe, which had its grand opening on Thursday, focuses on quality food you can’t find in diners, she said. The grand opening, which incldued a ribbon-cutting ceremony, was organized by the Port Washington Chamber of Commerce.
“Everyone seems to really like the different types of food this far,” she said. “They especially like the daily specials.”
Scheele said the quality of the food is important, but the café focuses on the presentation and plating of the food as well.
“We focus a lot on the plating,” she said. “We try to have the mindset of if it looks nice, it tastes good.”
Scheele said she’s a “foodie” and avoids eating at a restaurant twice to keep trying new meals. Scheele said part of her idea for the daily specials, which she posts on Facebook, came from her love of trying new things.
“Every few days, I am trying to switch up the specials to offer the customers new options,” she said. “Restaurants always have the same things, and I want to try and be different by offering specials every few days. I want people to look forward to eating different things.”
Scheele said she had worked in the restaurant business her entire life, working her way up the ladder, while always hoping to open her own place.
“I’ve wanted to open a restaurant since I was a teenager,” Scheele said. “This is a big accomplishment for me. It’s something I’ve always thought of.”
The cafe offers everything from eggs and brunch specials to salads and cupcakes.
The most popular item on the menu is the pound cake french toast, she said, but people come in for the coffee, too.
“Breakfast is a comfort food and when people are here, I want them to feel comfortable,” Scheele said.
Scheele said the restaurant’s name came from a song her grandmother made up and would sing to her and her cousins.
“The song was called blue bird on your shoulder, and she made it up,” Scheele said. “She would sing it to us all when we were younger.”
Barret Beyer, a chef featured on the television show “Hell’s Kitchen” is one of the café’s chefs who, Scheele said, helped make everything possible and helps her with the menu.
“When I was making up the menu, I thought about what I would want,” Scheele said. “I did research and went to brunch places and then thought about the best possible things I can put on it.”
“Stressed spelled backwards is desserts…so eat more cupcakes” is a quotation on the café’s wall.
Scheele said people always comment on that quote.
“That one seems to always catch their eyes,” she said. “And I’m a big quote person, and that’s a great one to live by.”
