Catface Cafe co-owners, Tyler VanScoy (right) and Krista Cole (center), with chef Mimi Weissenborn (left). Eloise Goldsmith photo
BIDDEFORD — For me, the most important metric of success for a restaurant that serves daytime food is whether you can comfortably hang out there.
Sure, it needs to have good fare, which Biddeford’s new Catface Cafe at 17 Alfred St. does (more on that in a minute), but it also has to invite you to linger.
March 1 was opening day for Catface Cafe, the highly anticipated new breakfast, brunch and lunch spot from the restaurateur behind Sur Lie in Portland and Gather in Yarmouth.
I arrived a little before 1 p.m. and was pleased to see a number of people “hanging out.”
A mom and her two young daughters were very spread out at a corner table. A group of friends was there on their lunch break. At the back of the cafe, someone was settled in doing work on their laptop. Another woman was having what appeared to be an espresso martini by herself.
The space of the cafe is big enough to accommodate all these different modes of activity. It’s a huge airy room with high ceilings and walls painted white and blue that evoke nautical themes.
The cafe has big shoes to fill. It is in the same space of recently departed Part & Parcel, a specialty market and sandwich shop that closed in December and was beloved by many — but one could say that Catface Cafe has the blessing of Part & Parcel.
Catface Cafe opened on March 1 in the space that previously housed the market and sandwich shop Part & Parcel. Eloise Goldsmith photo
The new eatery is a joint venture by friends Tyler VanScoy and Krista Cole, who is the owner of Sur Lie and Gather. The duo had been talking about pursuing something together when Cole got a text from one of Part & Parcel’s owners last fall.
That owner had gone to high school with Cole, according to VanScoy, and wanted to know if Cole would be interested in taking over the space. “So we took a ride down the next day, and when we got back in the car it was a unanimous ‘Yes, let’s do this,'” VanScoy recalled.
VanScoy worked in restaurants for many years, and then spent about a decade working as a scientist. Catface is his grand return to the restaurant business.
He and Cole are thrilled at the opportunity to become a part of the food scene in Biddeford, and did their research in order to make sure that the cafe felt authentic to the city.
The name of the cafe is a nod to the region’s long history of milling lumber.
“The term ‘catface’ is a healing wound or scar on a log or a tree because that healing wound resembles cat whiskers,” explained VanScoy. The wall that separates the kitchen from the rest of the space is designed with tree trunk slices, something VanScoy built himself.
The menu, which was designed by chef Mimi Weissenborn — the chef at Sur Lie and Gather — features breakfast and lunch fare that’s sophisticated but accessible. I got “the Saco,” an egg, cheese and turkey creation that did not disappoint. VanScoy told me that the big seller so far is “the Biddeford,” a sandwich with egg, sausage, gochujang aioli, and maple.
The interior of Catface Cafe evokes Biddeford’s historical connection to lumber milling. Eloise Goldsmith photo
Andrea Kennedy, the mom mentioned above, told me she had the Banh Mi with tofu and was very pleased with it. “I’m glad they have some good veggie options,” said Kennedy, who is vegetarian. She and her daughters live in Kennebunk but visit Biddeford often for the food.
They used to be regulars at Jackrabbit Cafe, a Scandinavian-style eatery that closed in January. She said the three of them were thrilled when the barista they knew from Jackrabbit was behind the counter at Catface Cafe.
The barista used to make the little girls “babycinos” (steamed milk in a cup) when they would go to Jackrabbit, said Kennedy, and did the same for the girls that day.
During Biddeford’s restaurant week, which runs from March 10-17, patrons can get a free coffee when they buy a sandwich, according to VanScoy.
There’s even more to look forward to: the cafe is planning on hosting events in its backyard patio space when the weather gets warmer. They’re thinking oyster shucking events, and maybe a movie night with a projector, said VanScoy.
“We just really want to create a place where the community can gather and hang out.”
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