Business Focus: Little Garden Cafe opens in Audubon Center

It was as if residents around Audubon Park on Spokane’s North Side breathed a collective sigh of relief with the recent opening of the Little Garden Cafe on Northwest Boulevard.

Certainly, owner Corina Little and her supportive family were pleased that months of preparation had come to an end with the cafe’s opening in late August.

Support from the neighborhood was heartwarming, Little said, adding that at least 200 people had stopped by to ask about progress on the cafe.

“One man even slipped a letter under the door thanking us for being here,” Little said.

At any rate, the cafe is operating now and will be open seven days a week. Little admits that she and her staff face some long days – from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays.

The cafe is in the Audubon Center, a half-block-long building across Northwest Boulevard from Audubon Park. A landmark on the boulevard for decades, the center houses a variety of businesses, including a hair salon, a chiropractor and an accounting service.

The cafe is a new facet for the center and follows an antique store into the roomy space on the east end of the small complex at 2901 W. Northwest Blvd.

Planning for the cafe began Jan. 15, and work on the site progressed for about a month and a half. Then work halted for four-and-a-half months while the landlord added a city-stipulated firewall between the cafe and the business to its east.

Redecorating, remodeling and adding appliances and furniture followed.

The menu also was a work in progress.

“The basic idea was to have a coffeehouse. Then we thought we should have some sandwiches, and it’s gone from there,” Little said.

A variety of coffee drinks is available along with juices, sodas, sandwiches, wraps and salads. And there’s pastry to go with the coffee and the specially brewed loose-leaf teas.

“The pastry is from Rocket Bakery and Sweetwater Bakery, so I think we have the best,” Little said.

Quiche and salad bowls are among the breakfast offerings, and breakfast bagels also are in Little’s plans.

“Putting together a large menu is a little overwhelming,” she said.

The offerings are listed on attractive menu boards on the wall behind the walk-up counter just inside the cafe’s entrance.

This is Little’s first business, but she worked in grandfather Ray Cook’s Carpet Warehouse for several years and has been pursuing a business degree at Spokane Falls Community College.

Plus, Little has had the support and advice of three sisters and a brother, all of whom have worked in the food business, she said.

But Little has had some different ideas for the cafe.

At one end of the dining area, space is set aside for a children’s playroom with appropriate murals on the walls, plus toys and games.

Another area with sofas and comfortable chairs is designated as the “library,” Little said. It can be reserved for meetings and appears a likely spot for a book club gathering.

On a recent visit, one woman was enjoying coffee while reading the morning paper and a couple was playing chess in front of one of the cafe’s large front windows.

Little has offered space to local artisans to display their wares. So far, there is some photographic art as well as pancake mix and syrup, handmade soap and decorative tiles.

“And don’t forget – we have wireless Internet for people who are working or studying,” she said.

Little is comfortable with her business in her home neighborhood.

Her daughters, Rachel, 8, and Shaylee, 5, attend nearby Finch Elementary School. She and her husband, Toby, who works in construction, live a few blocks from the cafe.

And her parents attend St. Anthony’s Catholic Church a few blocks east. “They had about 30 parishioners here for the opening,” Little said.

“We had about three times as many people as we’d expected for that,” she said.