Café Florie: Chicken feet over rice

Before your panties get all uncomfortable, I would like to tell you that I don’t think they serve chicken feet over rice at Café Florie, however, it is the name of their Wi-Fi network as detected by my iPhone.

Yup, this just happened

I enjoyed my meal here even more because I know the owner, or at least the person who set up his/her Wi-Fi network, has a sense of humor.

For weeks Chicken Sandwich Girl had been trying to get me to eat at Café Florie. It only took a wing, a prayer and a Groupon to get me here.

Cafe Florie on the outside

Let’s pause for a moment to talk about the exterior of this place. Yes, it looks like a shack. Yes, it has the words “organic” and “soul food” on it. Yes, I was nervous about these two words showing up on the same sign. Yes, the building does not fit with the surrounding neighborhood.

But it’s beautiful and when you walk inside, it’s even more beautiful. I spent some time on the island of Anguilla and walking inside is like stepping into the Caribbean.

Cafe Florie inside

Enter four American tourists with a Groupon for a meal plus a drink for just $5 each. (Normally meals are about $8 - $10 and drinks are about $2). That’s right, four of us ate lunch here for $20. (I wrote that in my best “I saved a ton of money on my car insurance voice.”)

My food was really good. I had the organic roasted vegetable sandwich. I was pleased with the vegetables’ taste, texture and seasoning. And someone actually cuts those French fries by hand. I believe they also make their breads in-house also. Mine was a hearty wheat variety.

My veggie sandwich

Maryann and Allison decided to order the same meal thereby cheating you out of a photo. They each had a really tasty fried chicken sandwich with the same French fry goodness as my sandwich. And the same goes for their roll - made here.

Fried Chicken Sandwich

For this particular meal, Chicken Sandwich Girl got something slightly different. Still chicken, yes, but she ordered the stewed chicken over rice. Notice it is chicken on the bone (I’m not sure if there are feet in there, it is over rice after all) with some seasoned summer squash and one of the best mac and cheese sides I’ve ever had. Her plate won not only in taste, but also in visual presentation.

Chicken Sandwich Girl win!

That little biscuit on the plate caused quite a stir. Maryann said, “It smells like butter.” And it did. And it tasted like real butter too. This place was a win on taste, price, variety, ambiance, everything.

The only thing about Café Florie that stinks, and soon to be "stunk," is the hours. At the time of this review, they were open only for breakfast and lunch and closed on Sundays. According to their Facebook page, on May 29 they are adding dinner to their lineup. Hooray! If you haven’t had a chance to check them out because you have a nine-to-five gig, staring next week you can.