Mosswood Market is a Cafe and Bakery selling bakery treats, coffee drinks and lunch fare in downtown Boonville. It is small with some outdoor tables and lots of to-go business. The sandwiches and wraps are made to order, as are the coffee drinks but the bakery items come straight from the counter to you. You order at the counter and there is a separate place to pick up flatware and napkins, then they bring the hot food to you. Music was in the background and many windows to the street provide lots of light for this daytime place. The market is next door and you can walk through to it – it has the bathroom. The Cafe’s interior was decorated with photos of cats in Morocco so Frankie and I loved that. Continue reading
Buena Gente is a Cuban bakery and sandwich shop in Decatur that opened in Aug of 2020, that started running out of a camper in 2016. Now it has found a home in a strip shopping center filled with many ethnic restaurants. It is takeout only and masks must be warn at the counter when making your order. You wait outside with a buzzer to go back inside and get your food. The food is well seasoned and really tasty. It’s hard to chose what to get but the counter person guided us. All sandwiches and pastries are well filled and it didn’t take long to get the hot sandwiches, whereas you can walk out with the pastries. 
Cry Wolf opened 3 days ago at 4422 Gaston Avenue, a space that formerly held a Subway and you’d never know it. Chef/owner Ross Demers and his team have done a miraculous makeover to present a cozy, fun spot to have a delicious meal. Chef Demers previously owned On the Lamb but also held positions at Flora Street Café and Beverley’s Bistro. Alongside Demers in the open kitchen is another Fauna (part of Flora Street) alum, Liam Byres and also from there is sommelier Tim. The less than 30 seat stylish place offers a small seasonal menu of gradually-increasing-in-size options – to mix and match as the diner prefers. The plan is to change options as ingredients become available. The interior has a long concrete counter facing the kitchen and bar where diners can eat and interact with staff. There are also standard tables on the other side of the room. Music is in the background and the lights are lowered but you can still see. Get here before it gets so popular that you can’t. This is a new favorite restaurant and highly recommended. 
Club Paris was visited by Frankie in 2018 for lunch so this visit we decided to have dinner. It is an old school place but the interior has been changed quite a bit to deal with the Covid pandemic. Tables are now separated by dividers and so room shots are difficult. The building dates back 100 years and the current restaurant to the 1950s when I understand the owner married a French woman and he decorated the place with lots of Paris images to make her feel at home. The Selman family bought it in the 1970s with many of the staff having worked there for more than 25 years. They are known for their steaks and seafood as well as their pink neon sign out front featuring an Eiffel Tower. It is a long space with a curved bar taking up most of the front room. Music is in the background, the lights are low and they did have one nightly special to add to the menu. Their wine selection was not as appealing as their cocktails so we enjoyed martinis with dinner. 
Dametra Café specializes in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food. The small cafe opened in 2008 and is even smaller now having only outdoor dining due to Covid 19 restrictions of California. The same table set up runs along the street in front of the building with tables divided by planters and heaters and separated from the street by a wooden fence. The narrow, small tables are covered with bright yellow oil-cloth tableclothes and set at street level rather than sidewalk. It makes some difficult to get in and out but didn’t seem to keep the crowd away. It’s reputation is that there is often a line for walk-up guests but we were lucky and got a table when we arrived. They offer the same menu at lunch and dinner but add sandwiches to the lunch offerings. They also have a more limited menu for curbside pickup. Service was friendly, helpful and efficient. Even with an ever-changing supply of table guests they did not rush us to finish up our wine so they could reseat the table. 
Our second evening at Restaurant Beck we got a table next to the window and the view was spectacular. The tables were configured slightly differently to accommodate the guests, but they were still well distanced from one another. 
