"We happen to be in a very conveniently located obscure location," says chef and co-owner Marshall Green.
Cafe Estelle also serves a stuffed French toast that I think might be a better homing device than any GPS tracker. When you cut into that thick slice of house-baked brioche, a perfectly sweet heart of hidden peaches and cream cheese is revealed. Dab it in warm maple syrup. Chase it with a savory nibble of handmade sausage scented with fennel and clove. Wash it down with fresh-squeezed OJ. Your car will learn the way back.
Of course, had all gone according to Plan A, Green, 27, and his fiancee, Kristin Mulvenna, 28, would still be saving money and banking experience to open a dream gastropub on the main drag near their home in South Philadelphia. Under that scenario, the glassed-in ground-floor space off the lobby of the Lofts at 444 would most likely have become a simple coffee shop serving stale Danish.
But sometimes Plan B sneaks up. A family contact reaches out. The temptation of unexpected opportunity is hard to resist. And voila! One of the city's best new bruncheries - leaping toward the head of a class including Sabrina's, Ida Mae's, the Morning Glory and Honey's - turns the Callowhill East Industrial Zone into a destination for crispy-edged buttermilk pancakes bursting with blueberries, and breakfast pizzas topped with house-cured pancetta, home fries, and fried eggs over easy. The parking's easy, too.
