Cafe Bloom is just down Reche Road but worlds away

Some tantalizing scents have been wafting down Reche Road lately and the source is the new Café Bloom at Myrtle Creek Botanical Gardens & Nursery. For years Myrtle Creek has been my source for gifts, statuary, and all things green and growing. I have spent many a day enjoying the unique ambiance enhanced by rusting tractors, a colorful gypsy caravan, and a fragrant swirling of woodsy scents.

This year the Sherman family, who founded the nursery 30 years ago, transformed a portion of the property into an even lovelier destination. The delightfully weathered 1898 barn perched on the edge of the property now features a painting of an angel who keeps watch over the grounds. Guests sit on Café Bloom’s sunshine-bathed terrace and enjoy lunch at pansy-purple linen-draped tables. Tables are also situated indoors where ferns, statuary and a trickling fountain create their own peaceful ambiance.

The café began with beverage service, then meal service two days a week, and now serves food seven days a week. Café Bloom is successfully responding to the needs and desires of the community.

Most of the food is prepared by Farm to Table Catering in Vista, a company that uses organic ingredients purchased from local growers. The catering staff shop daily, and because of this, seasonal menus for Café Bloom are a necessity. The current menu includes salads, soup, and wraps. Diners will soon discover that there is a definite difference in the taste of organic food – the flavors are more discernable and intense.

As the server slid the lunch plate in front of me I was pleasantly surprised. The prices are reasonable and the food is plentiful. Sprigs of rosemary and an edible pansy garnished the Chicken and Gouda Wrap. Along with the wrap, I was served a piece of fruit and a potato salad, which was bursting with spicy flavor. A sun-dried tomato basil tortilla was rolled with grilled chicken, Gouda cheese, baby arugula, red onions, bacon, and tomatoes. The bacon lent a definite smoky flavor and the other ingredients blended marvelously. ‘Peri-peri,’ a mild citrus chili sauce, generated not only flavor, but a hint of heat. I lingered over this wrap to savor the mélange of flavors.

Cool lemonade – fresh squeezed on site at Café Bloom and served year ‘round in mason jars, is just about the best lemonade I have ever tasted. They have the lemon/sugar ratio down perfect.

“Best Sweet?” That is certain! Café Bloom’s Myrtle Berry Pie, which took the top award for dessert at the “Farm to Table” event in Fallbrook, is a delicious pie made with organic ingredients. Myrtle berries, a type of boysenberry, are grown on site. The pie recipe is “Grandma Sherman’s” and is a fourth-generation family recipe. (The Shermans are descendants of General Sherman of American Civil War fame.)

The pie crust is light and flaky with a hint of cinnamon, and filled with a puree of myrtle berries, raspberries and blueberries. The pie was not too tart with just the right amount of sweet. Because the crust was not intrusive I could taste more of the berry filling.

On my next visit I will find a soft spot of grass to enjoy a Café Bloom Picnic Basket lunch. Each basket is stocked for two with sandwiches, side salad, fruit, Myrtle Berry Pie, drinks and a blanket. Guests are welcome to roam any part of the property to find the perfect picnic spot.

Myrtle Creek is a place where the past is present and history is preserved in a loving manner. The Shermans have taken what is part of their own history and created a gift for the community.

Café Bloom at Myrtle Creek Botanical Gardens & Nursery is located at 2940 Reche Road in Fallbrook, Calif. Contact them by phone at (760) 728-5340 and find them on the web at http://discovermyrtlecreek.com.

The restaurant, which serves food seven days a week, opens at 9 a.m. for coffee and pie. Then, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., lunch is served. Guests can listen to live music on Saturdays from approximately noon to 4 p.m.