Studio Cafe adds new personality to arts center
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – The Wintergreen Arts Center’s Studio Cafe is now open for business, and patrons can tempt their taste buds with specialty sandwiches/wraps, homemade soups, salads and desserts.
“Because we are a non-profit organization, there are special exemptions where non-profits can have a cafe and a gift shop to help support their mission,” said Lara Cannon, executive director of the Wintergreen Arts Center. “All of the profits from the Studio Cafe support the arts center and help us keep our prices reasonable and help support our overhead.
“Plus I think food and art go nicely together,” she said. “We noticed when we were in the Aroostook Centre Mall that people were always coming in with their tumblers of coffee and food and we couldn’t serve it there, so we always thought in our mind that if we got our own place, we would serve something light.”
Daily lunch specials are offered from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. Fresh coffee, donuts and cinnamon rolls are served from 10 a.m.-noon during the Saturday Open Studio.
“Each day we have a couple sandwich choices, as well as soups, salads and desserts,” said Cannon. “We’re doing a chicken cranberry salad on whole wheat, a grilled ham and Swiss sandwich with a pickle, a tomato basil soup, and we use Fox Family Potato Chips which are produced in Mapleton. They’re all about the same price; we start at about $4.99 and go up to $8.99. However, on Fridays we’re doing lobster rolls, which cost a little more.
“Something that’s neat is that our friends are coming in and giving us their recipes,” she said. “It’s kind of becoming a community kitchen which I think is fun. For example, Linda Zillman gave me her pasta recipe and Martha LaPointe gave me her fiddlehead recipe and we’re going to start serving those. I think that makes it even more of a community place. It just happened on its own, but it’s fun.”
During the summer, fresh fruit, salads, fruit smoothies and cold cut plates will be available.
“We do so many kid activities at the Wintergreen Arts Center,” Cannon said, “and we don’t have that many for adults, so this has been fun because we have a lot of adults coming in and enjoying it. They get to be a part of Wintergreen without actually having to take a class. People are encouraged to browse the artwork in the Barresi Financial Art Gallery while waiting for their lunch.”
Studio Cafe features five tables and 20 chairs.
“It’s just small,” said Cannon. “We’re having exactly the capacity we can handle … about five to 10 people coming in a day for lunch and that’s perfect. We’re not out to compete with the other restaurants; having the cafe makes it so that we don’t have to put the expense of our monthly costs onto our tuition. One of the visions of Wintergreen was for it to be a community or social place, and I really think the cafe is adding a new personality to the center.
“We have people who come and bring a chessboard and have coffee and cookies and they play chess for two hours. I like that. They were here and they felt that it was a nice place to be,” she said, noting that the arts center is equipped with wireless Internet capabilities, as well.
With Patty LeBlanc at the helm as cafe manager, Studio Cafe opened May 21.
“We also hired Keely Sawyer to help Patty work the tables, keep it clean and serve the food,” said Cannon. “It’s a two-person operation, and that’s all we want. We don’t want to be in the restaurant business, and we don’t have plans to make it any bigger than it already is. Our space has to be for the art classes and any expansion would take away from our ability to do art.
“Even if the cafe is just breaking even or making a modest profit, I would keep it going,” she said, “because it is such a good outreach for us. We’re meeting so many people. One of the other challenges in the mall was we couldn’t have regular business hours because we couldn’t afford the labor. By having the cafe open, we just expanded our open hours from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday so more people are able to come in during the day. That’s a big accomplishment for us.”
For those in a hurry, Studio Cafe also offers a brown bag lunch to go. The Wintergreen Arts Center is located at 149 State St. in Presque Isle. For more information, call 762-3576 or log onto www.wintergreenarts.org.
THREE-YEAR-OLD Simon Ayer of Caribou takes a break from coloring to dip his apple slice into his drink as his grandmother, Barb Currier of Caribou, looks on. Together with Simon’s mother, Jenn Ayer, the family enjoyed a recent lunch at the Wintergreen Arts Center’s Studio Cafe in Presque Isle.
A RIBBON-CUTTING was held May 21 at the Wintergreen Arts Center’s Studio Cafe, which offers specialty sandwiches/wraps, homemade soups, salads and desserts four days a week. Attending the ceremony were, front row, from left: Lara Cannon, executive director of the Wintergreen Arts Center; Lisa Miles of Citadel Radio, which sponsors the cafe; Robbin Sawyer and Nola Farley, vice presidents of the arts center. Back row: Stacy Shaw, Presque Isle Area Chamber of Commerce board; Gretchen Morse, chamber board; Patty LeBlanc, cafe manager; Theresa Fowler, executive director of the chamber; Keely Sawyer, cafe employee; and Billie Brodsky, chamber board. The Wintergreen Arts Center is located at 149 State St. in Presque Isle.
