Marguerite’s Café and Catering: Your Happy Place in Dunedin
The front patio at Marguerite’s Cafe and Catering.
August’s Restaurant of the Month takes us to the familiar and well-loved Marguerite’s Café, 405 Plaza Drive in Dunedin, across from the Blue Jays’ TD Ballpark. It was storming the day of my visit, and I was warmly welcomed by the staff and customers already hunkering down.
I met Marguerite between greeting customers and cooking beef tips.
When asked how her summer has been, she responded: “Weird. We’re wearing masks again.”
The Centers for Disease Control currently advises the use of masks regardless of vaccination status, but Governor Ron DeSantis said there are no mandates on wearing masks. As a business owner, what do you do? “Err in the direction of protection,” Marguerite said. She plans to have customers wear masks indoors, but not outside on the patio.
Overall business has been better than last summer, but it hasn’t been consistent. “It goes in fits and starts; it gets real busy for a week, then slacks off,” Marguerite said. I asked if it feels like the “offseason” and she said it doesn’t. “I’m not sure if it’s because we just came off a year of quarantine and people are happy to embrace getting out, or is it because more people are moving down here.”
Owner, Marguerite Allison, stands with servers Kelly and Danny.
What does Marguerite enjoy most about running her café? “The satisfaction of pleasing people. Giving them something; maybe a place of reprieve.” She encourages her staff to keep conversations light and upbeat.
“People come out to get away from the TV and the people in their house. I want this to be their happy place.”
A “happy place” complete with an assortment of comfort foods! “We are more than willing to provide you with comfort foods,” Marguerite said.
On this visit, I enjoyed an egg and cheese croissant with fresh fruit (above left), and Bill Parker had a salad (above middle) and the roast beef and brie sandwich complete with au jus (above right).
Maybe it was the storm, maybe it was the cozy atmosphere, but we indulged in dessert and it was so sweet! Bill had a generous slice of the coconut cake (above left), and I had the beautifully decorated lemon cupcake (above right).
“I like to be creative with whatever it is I’m making. I like to give it a little twist. I don’t like bland, ordinary food.”
As an Italian, Marguerite enjoys using pasta as a vehicle for different sauces, vegetables and seafood. “I like making different things that go on it or in it,” she said. “My father grew a garden every year, and we always had bumper crops of everything so we’d have different vegetables to create with.”
It sounds like her lasagnas pay homage to this early influence: roasted vegetable lasagna, traditional lasagna with ground beef and Italian sausage, and grilled chicken and spinach lasagna to name a few.
The menu follows the seasons with light fare during the warmer months, like fresh salads and cilantro lime chicken. The cooler months bring more hearty meals like soups and Chicken Captiva topped with garlic-dijon sauce, crumbled bacon, mozzarella and scallions.
Marguerite’s offers award-winning catering services, so be sure to keep them in mind for your next event.
Owner, Marguerite Allison, stands in front of a wall of art provided on a rotating basis from the Creative Arts Guild of Dunedin.
Part of what adds to the cozy feel of Marguerite’s Café is the wall décor. They’ve had a partnership with the Creative Arts Guild of Dunedin for about nine years, which provides a rotating gallery of art every 6-8 weeks. The current items have been up about a week and they’ve already sold two pieces. Marguerite loves this partnership: “It’s a great way to see the artist’s work. So often art just sits in the corner of a room unless you’re doing a show. This way it has some place to hang. It works for me because we have ever-changing wall décor.”
Marguerite’s Café and Catering • 405 Plaza Drive, Dunedin 34698 • 727-677-5352
Margueritescafe.com • 8a-3p Tue-Sun - closed Monday