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Categories: Coffee & Tea, Sandwiches [Edit]
Cantor Arts Center
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tries really hard with the fancy sounding ingredients
who doesn't want organic this, free range that, or natural ____
needless to say, it works. everything sounds better than just a turkey sandwich, (maybe they use it to try to justify their high prices)
the chipotle roast park sandwich with avocado spread and slaw was tasty on a toasted panini -- you can tell this sandwich wasn't premade and sitting around
ambiance is great with the sculpture around, so another campus eatery that is decent
Service: not very friendly, sorta pretentious almost.
Food: pretty tasty, but expensiveish. The selection is pretty much similar stuff to other places on campus- salads made with spring mix, panini, etc.- perhaps a bit more inspired with more local ingredients. Only particularly unique thing I saw was gazpacho.
And a big "whaaattt?": our nutburger had tomatoes on it that still had the _sticker_ on it. I of course didn't notice until too late because it was buried in the sandwich. I should've checked to see if it was organic like advertised. :P
Ambiance: crowded.
Very casual business lunch place maybe, not a standby.
Like another recent poster, I ordered the chicken chutney sandwich... which couldn't have had more than one ounce of chicken on it, meaning I was left hungry. One of the staff, bussing tables, asked me how I'd liked my sandwich, and I politely told him -- and received no response at all, other than a blank stare. My companion had only a slightly better time with her chicken/bacon sandwich.
We sat outside and enjoyed the view out over the garden towards the mountains and wished we had ordered something else.
If you find fancy-pants organic food cool...
Ate here & a had decent turkey sandwich. Preferred the view of the Rodin sculptures to the food.
A two-sentence review: how did I do?
(I am beyond bored silly by the plethora of two-to-three sentence reviews from..I dare to say it..some recent elites on yelp. If you can't do better than that, take notes & write some words that justify your elite status. If it's just a numbers game to post useless reviews, well..go do something else).
While I might never be elite, and my last two review were pure sarcasm: pls at least provide some useful, if not funny or cool, info. PLEASE.
Me, I pay attention.
Yes, it's beautiful. The location is unbeatable, overlooking the Rodin Sculpture gardens.
The food is just mediocre. This place gets a lot of hype for the location and the organic food but when it comes down to it, it's just not that tasty!
My chicken chutney sandwich was slathered in mayo dressing. But I ate it anyway because I was starved and didn't want to waste $10.
Now I feel fat AND dissatisfied.
Those fat calories could have been better spent on a super-dense ganache-covered brownie.
Worse, I was telling my friend about how I've enjoyed JZ Cool in Menlo Park as we were waiting in line.
The stars are for the terrific location.
In spite of my tough talk, I will probably give it another try because I am a slave for bread pudding, and they had some that looked good...but we'll see.
I really liked the chicken chutney sandwich, it was tasty. However, I wish there could be something that connects the dryness of the bread to the tasty chicken part. However, it seems a bit expensive for a sandwich without anything else like chips, etc. Went at lunch time on a week day, and it took about 35 minutes for the food to be ready.
The Cool Cafe gets the prize for the worst named campus eatery (though the Axe and Palm did give it a run for its money), but it manages to overcome this sizable handicap with its ambiance. The food is good but not memorable, and like everyone else says it is a bit expensive. Also the lunch line can be a little out of control.
That said, the floor to ceiling windows and ample outdoor seating are divine, the lawn it looks over is perfectly manicured and prime for an impromptu picnic, the sandstone building warm and pleasant. A great place to read or study and ignore the rest of the campus.
I had lunch with Patrick Keating here. You don't know who he is, but I promise he's way cooler than you or the eponymous Cafe.
This place has a lot going for it. The (vaguely) seasonal menu, waiiter service, and organic ingredients make you feel like you're at some pretentious california yuppy place, in a good way if that's possible. But the surrounding art makes for quite an atmosphere. It's just far enough away from the main part of campus, and sufficiently free of students, to make you feel like you've escaped it all. And, not that it matters at a restaurant or anything, but the food is excellent. On the downside, it's pricey and doesn't fill a voracious aspiring fatman like me up.
By far my favorite place to eat on campus. And surrounded by the Rodin sculpture garden, right off of Palm Drive? Can't beat it.
All-organic, super fresh comfort sandwiches, salads, soup, etc. From Jesse Cool.
Had one of the paninis -- roasted asparagus, goat cheese, sundried tomato pesto, spinach and creamy green goddess dressing. Phenomenal. YUM. Served with red cabbage sauerkraut and roasted potatoes. So good.
Next time maybe the rocky freerange chicken, bacon and point reyes bleu sando...
Only open for lunch... except on Thursdays when dinner goes til 8, I think.
Free wifi of course (Stanford)
Mexican hot chocolate! (A+)
Black and White cookies (A)
Lemon bars (A+)
The sandwiches are really good but the price is pretty expensive for a broke college student like myself but I'd come here to eat anyway.
Best place for a (cheap) date!
- FREE art museum!
- FREE outdoor art - sexy Rodin sculpture at that! Have your date model next to them (and try not to compare size or anything).
- On the Stanford campus, so you can seem all intellectual and stuff.
- Tasty (but unforturnately not free) organic dining at Cool Cafe (Jesse Cool, the chef behind JZ Cool and Flea Street Cafe in Menlo Park). I'm partial to their lemonade and the salads, but the sandwiches are great too.
- Gorgeous sunny patio to sit on while looking dreamily into each others eyes.
There's something just so casual yet civilized about this place.
Really, does it get any better!?!?
Oh, yeah ... having a new love to take there. :) Perhaps I'll take the oldie but goodie next time.
Ever thought about eating at the gates of hell? Here you can. The food is quite good, simple service (no waiting for the waiter, you order/pay, they bring the food), and great ambiance of the museum. I think the deserts are the best part of the meal.
Top 5 lunch spot in my view for the southbay.
The Cool Cafe has become a favorite daytime date spot for my wife and me. Its casual indoor/outdoor location here in the Cantor Arts Center is tough to beat... and the salads and sandwiches from Jesse Cool meet the same high standards she sets at Flea Street Cafe and JZ Cool Eatery.
We used to come here regularly for leisurely weekend lunches when we were just two; it is also one of those rare places that still works for us with little kids, as the large adjacent lawn and scuplture garden provide a fun but safe place for them to frolic while we relax.
The Cool Cafe lives up to its name---attached to the Cantor Arts Center the place enjoys a very cool location overlooking the Rodin Sculpture Garden. Everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) on the menu is organic, range-free, grass-fed and kept away from syringes and steroids, which made it seem odd that the asparagus in my spring vegetable sandwich tasted like it was out of a can. Is it possible that my many years on chemically produced vittles has left my palet unable to discern when things are more natural? Ok, I'm off topic... all-in-all, the Cool Cafe is nice as an ocassional treat. It is pricey but, it will make you forget for a time that you're on a college campus and have you believing your in a trendy little bistro in Paris, NYC or some re-created street scene in Las Vegas mega casino (I'll leave that up to your imagination.)
Go early ---- the place fills up fast and the line to order will stretch the length of the restaurant.
The prices are high, but you're paying for quality and all-organic ingredients. The burgers are delicious...one of the best in the area. Everything is fresh and organic - right down to the sodas. Jesse Cool is the owner, and she's all about using the freshest ingredients she can find.
I've also enjoyed the pork sandwich (which I think is no longer on the menu...need to verify that). And the chicken is good, yet slightly dry.
The lines can get ridiculously long, as it takes a while for this tiny kitchen to keep up with the demand (hey, Stanford...expand the building for them). And tables can be hard to come by (have someone save a table while you order).
But...I'm telling ya...the food is worth it. A terrific option for lunch at Stanford.
A line of at least twenty people watched my coworkers and I in envy as we sat out on the Cool Cafe patio overlooking the Rodin Sculpture Garden. The only way to secure a table for lunch is to get there at least a half hour before noon to avoid the mob.
The sandwiches and salads are well-crafted with fresh, organic ingredients. My chicken sandwich included bacon, grilled onions, sundried tomatoes and bleu cheese which complimented the chicken quite nicely. I washed it all down with freshly squeezed strawberry lemonade. We all shared a molasses cookie and a chocolate cheesecake cookie for dessert. Quite yummy and worth the trek out to the Cantor Center.
Cool cafe is one of the best place to have a leisurely Sunday brunch from the madding crowd in the city or as close as University Ave. This place is a sister restaurant of Flea Street Cafe in Menlo Park, all the ingredients used in both places are local fresh organic products.
I really enjoyed sitting outside at the patio, smelling fresh air and grass in a calmly casual atmosphere on sunny nice afternoon.
I highly recommend that if you shop at Stanford shopping mall, instead of eating a lunch at the mall, just walk 5 minutes or drive 2 minutes to the Cantor Museum. Cool cafe is right here.
Defenitely stop by the Arts Museum next door after eating brunch there.
Cool Cafe isn't the cheapest place to find lunch at Stanford, but it's the highest quality. The food is all orgainic, sandwiches and soups and salads. The smoked trout sandwich is tasty, and the burger is the best on campus.
If you work on campus, it might behoove you to call your order in and pick it up, as they do attract a lengthy lunchtime line. There's moderate seating, which fills up quickly. This isn't a problem in the spring/summer, as you can always enjoy your meal outside amongst the sculptures.
What a great place to get away from it all, in the haven of an idyllic campus setting. Perfect spot for a healthy, tasty, and cultured meal on a lazy summer evening, or for a lunch and an iced tea.
Fresh, organic ingredients galore. Chilled ice water with lemons. This place is high class, and yet campus casual all at once. As mentioned in other reviews here, the grassy veranda is perfect for the kiddos to practice their summer saults under the ever-present influence of the Rodin sculpture garden just an errant frisbee toss away.
Fair prices, fresh food, exciting selections. Did I mention they serve beer and wine? Alrighty then. Make sure you pay the parking meters, unless you want to make another contribution to the Stanford endowment.
NOTE: Keep an eye out for summer music series where you can enjoy free entertainment and culture while you dine. And, don't forget to browse the free museum on your way in or out.
The best place (and the priciest) to eat on campus. It's nice to sit next to the Rodin sculpture garden, but the cafe is situated such that you won't actually see the sculptures from where you are sitting unless you are on the patio. If you come, come for lunch - the prices are reasonable for the quality of food. The chef's salad is quite good.
Dinner is just as good, but the incongruence of eating high quality food in non fine dining atmosphere is just a little strange. I don't know how to explain it - its just that the food is so good, you expect the surroundings to be much nicer. And when you can't see out the windows, the place really loses its charm. Combine the lackluster night ambience with the higher pricing, and I just don't know if I can recommend coming here unless you plan on going to a play at Memorial Auditorium right afterwards.
Be warned - Cool Cafe is closed for lunch on Mondays and Tuesdays.
I love this place. Some of my best memories from college are here... sipping uber good hot chocolate and talking grand plans with a friend, discussing a research topic with a professor.
As a Stanford tour guide back in the days, I always referred people to come here for lunch.
The fresh and organic meals, lighting of the space (which faces the Rodin Sculpture Garden), fast and friendly staff, and overall intellectual and artistic ambiance strike this establishment as unique and _wonderful_.
The hot chocolate is one of the best I've had on the West Coast. Lunch-wise, the half sandwich and soup is my fav (pic: http://www.flickr.com/...). Eat in and enjoy the meal with a good friend. It made many of my days :)
3.5 stars really. I had lunch with my team at Cool Cafe at the Stanford Cantor Arts Museum today. Aside from the nice veranda al fresco dining, or the ability to eat amidst the Rodin sculpture garden (and the Gates of Hell), I thought the food was great (chef's combo, $9, cup of French lentil soup with a rich tomato base and half of a wild seafood salad sandwich containing spinach and aioli on whole-wheat bread), they also do catering. Chef Jesse Cool also owns Flea St. Cafe and JZ Cool Eatery in Menlo Park. Everything is local, organic, seasonal, sustainable, and delicious! The cutlery is biodegradable. The sugar is organic, from Sugar Land, TX (ok, that's not local). The wines and port are organic as well.They only do dinner on Thursdays.
UPDATE: Diners at the Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University can now kick back with specialty martinis, in addition to organic beers and local wines. Though the cocktails are available during the cafe's regular daytime hours, things really heat up on Thursday nights from 5 to 8 PM, when dinner is served.
Address:
http://maps.google.com...
Menu:
http://www.cooleatz.co...
I agree with the observations of others, this is a great place to go to avoid the crazy mall and downtown, poseur-heavy scenes.
Went there for lunch two Sundays in a row! My favorite has to have been a lunch combo of a half of an egg salad sandwich with a moderately-sized bowl of shitake soup. Delicious, and filling. Just about everything's organic and is high cuisine takes on traditional dishes like a buffalo meatloaf sandwich and a risotto sweet cream torte.
Yum!
P.s. Oh, and apparently they cater!
P.p.s. I really have had good luck with art gallery restaurants--the cuisine at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the National Gallery in DC is quite good, definitely a large step up from burgers and hotdogs.
The location is amazing. The food is pretty great. The coffee is fantastic. The sweets are pretty good. The day they start serving Handley Pinor Noir will be the day I change my rating to 5-stars.
Their service used to be pretty slow but the last time I went (this past weekend) they were quite speedy.
Seafood salad sandwhich is sub-par in my opinion (though my mom loved it). Love the Chef's salad (?) -- greens, blue cheese, bacon, beets, egg, etc. Love the cobbler + REAL cafe macciato (espresso + foam).
What's better than a killer swim at Stanford Aquatic Center followed by lunch at Cool Cafe and an hour or so strolling around the museum? The location is divine.
This goes against how I was raised.
If we're trekking to a day of museum hopping (think Planetarium, MSI and Shedd Aquarium), the last thing on your mind is budget priced gourmet food.
If you're midwestern, you're thinking sack lunch. If you're on a field trip, I was thinking of taking Kevin Muck's sandwiches too (he was a bully that would take the nerdy kids food).
Eating with the California sun on your shoulders during a noon outing 5 minutes from University Ave is a *treat*
Decor- 9
Service - 9
Amenities - 9
Ambiance - 10
Not bad for a museum cafe.
Great scenery and nice food.
They serve salads and sandwiches. The menu is pretty large for a small cafe.
What a gem of a cafe on Stanford's campus!!
My mouth waters when I think about Jesse's Favorite: heirloom tomato, avacado, fried egg, arugula, mayo, honey mustard on toasted organic white bread (ask for wheat). It's soo amazing, every fried egg sandwich I make will be benchmarked to this. Strawberry lemonade was a little sour, but nevertheless, fresh and plenty pink.
The long wait is daunting, as is finding a seat on the patio, so I opt to get my order to go and perch myself under a tree or on a stretch of lawn for a picnic. The perfect lunch, Wednesday through Sunday. Dinner til 8pm on Thursday!
A mediocre experience. The menu board prominently featured the special of the day, which was half of an egg salad sandwich with arugula salad. I ordered that, but the distracted person behind the counter couldn't seem to get it. What could be simpler than ordering the special of the day? Anyway, I repeated my request several times, but of course when my order came it was not the special, but rather just the egg salad sandwich. The food runner was rather flummoxed when I pointed out the mistake so rather than causing some serious panic I settled for that. And after all that I must report that the sandwich was probably the worst egg salad sandwich I have had in recent memory. It mostly consisted of rubbery egg whites with a little yoke in a boring curry sauce on very inappropriate bread. I would rather travel from Palo Alto to Bakesale Betty in Oakland if I wanted an egg salad sandwich.
Dining al fresco at the Cool Cafe is a simple luxury not to be missed. On a lazy Friday afternoon you might find me and my little puppy, Duncan savoring our delicious slow food under a tree and on the grass or enjoying cappuccino or perhaps a glass of sauvignon blanc to get the weekend started early... everything on the menu is great, be adventurous!
Similar menu to the JZ Cool Cafe in Menlo Park. It is nice to eat here on a sunny afternoon right next to the Rodin Sculpture Garden. I had the green goddess green bean salad and it was delicious, but it was a bit pricey.
A bit pricey, but yummy food. I got the chutney chicken salad sandwich, which was delish with a hint of curry. Fresh ingredients and gorgeous setting, especially on a nice sunny day.
I had high expectations, even though a well-eaten friend of mine said it was not that worth it and for the same price, she'd rather go to St. Michael's Alley.
I am no longer a doubter in her culinary wisdom.
I was working on a laborious 40 page essay on Iran and decided to make Cool Cafe (open until 8 on Thursdays) the venue for my essaying that day. Alright. It's pretty. I love the light streaming in. The patio looks nice (unfortunately, my laptop's lack of battery life tied me to indoors). It's got lots of windows and just very "cool" and "California."
First, I had the homemade lemonade. While good, I could personally do better myself (and have done better). It was extremely sour and I added the agave nectar on the side table to sweeten it to a palpable level. Lots of ice in the glass, hardly any lemonade. Not worth the 3-4 dollars.
Second, I believe I had the chicken sandwich with bacon and some other stuff. Obviously not that memorable, I just remember the chicken being quite dry, the portions being quite small, and myself being disappointed.
I proceeded to sit in the cafe and enjoy the ambiance for the next 7 hours, uninterrupted (it was not a busy day for them). Although it got really busy toward dinner, with lots of professionals getting off of work and eating here with their kids. Cute.
In the 7th hour, I got a large mocha and a cup of french onion soup with a baguette. The mocha was also bitter and grainy, and definitely not that impressive. The soup was good, with nicely caramelized onions that I could make myself for much cheaper - it was like 5 dollars for a small bowl of soup and a piece of mediocre bread! Note that I'm not a particularly good chef - in fact, the onions were on a piece of failed pizza.
Definitely not somewhere I'd go again until I need to escape another day to essay in a cafe, in which case I'll only probably buy a small drink, ask for less ice, pour in the honey, and sit and essay for another 7 hours.
I love this place on a sunny day. You can eat fresh, Californian cuisine as you read a book or watch the kids run around on the lawn. Food prices are a bit hight, but I think what you're getting is worth it. It's also close to the Rodin Sculpture Garden which is a nice area to check out some of Rodin's pieces. If I want a nice, chill place for "me time," this is definitely the place I'd venture to.
Sitting at one of the patio tables is one of my favorite spots for lunch on a sunny day. Located at the Cantor Arts Center on Stanford University campus, the caf overlooks the Rodin Sculpture Garden. There is a large grass area where my children love to run while we wait for our lunch to arrive. The caf serves fantastic soups, salads and sandwiches (my favorite is the egg salad with capers on a baguette).
4 stars just because it's such a unique location and has such a great feel to it. Food? Fine, no big deal. It's the location and feel that I like.
Eating at the Cool Cafe must be complemented by a trip to the Cantor Arts Center (yes, I'm a long time member so I biased). The museum is open late on Thursday nights, what a perfect date or personal outing adventure. Go check out the rotating contemporary exhibit (and the antiquities of course) and then treat yourself to a glass of wine (from the local Santa Cruz mtns of course) and an organic (DELICIOUS) meal. The best part is that you can sit outside to enjoy this all and look over the Rodin sculpture garden.
Stanford, CA
Category: Coffee & Tea
Stanford, CA
Category: Delis
Redwood City, CA
Category: Coffee & Tea
Palo Alto, CA
Category: Museums
Palo Alto, CA
Category: Sandwiches
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