Springfield Food News

Pie on the Move

Prairie Pie has announced that its downtown Springfield storefront is closing, and the pie purveyor will now be doing business out of Tea Bar & Bites. Why Tea Bar? Well, you might remember early this year when Prairie Pie owner Eleanor Taylor bought longtime Pickwick institution Tea Bar & Bites. We’ll miss the restaurant’s sweet little downtown storefront, but we’re excited that we’ll still be able to get our hands on those incredible pies. Taylor wrote in a Facebook post: “Pies, cookies, and take n bake pot pies are available at Tea Bar & Bites Tuesday-Sunday, and pre-order is available on our website.”

JW’s Takes on Dinner

Starting today you can indulge in JW’s Kitchen eats all day! The former breakfast and brunch spot has added dinner hours every Tuesday through Friday, and we can’t wait to see what will be on the menu. As of this writing, they hadn’t released the dinnertime dishes. The new hours for this beloved spot, owned by the Andy and Misty Hampshire of Farmers Gastropub, include brunch and breakfast Tuesday–Sunday from 8 a.m.–2 p.m., happy hour Tuesday–Friday from 2–4 p.m. and dinner Tuesday–Friday from 4–8 p.m.

Spring Sips

Lots of local coffee shops have been teasing their spring drinks menus, and we’re loving all the bright and fresh flavors that have been popping up. Here are a few of our faves:

• Urban Grounds is going all in for Earl Grey (my personal favorite tea) with an Earl Gray Sea Salt Matcha and an Earl Grey Sea Salt Cold Brew. There’s also a strawberry matcha latte—a drink that’s been trending on the coffee and tea side of social media lately.

• Strawberry makes an appearance just down the road at The Workshop at Finley Farms too, this time in the form of the Strawberry Patch Iced Tea. But we’re even more interested in the herbaceous Rosemary Latte and the Lavender Mint Lemonade.

• Spring blooms dominate the seasonal menu at The European too, where they are offering a Cherry Blossom Latte, Rose Matcha and a Lavender London Fog.

• And finally, it’s Strawberry Rose Matcha season at Eurasia Coffee Co., and rumor has this beloved seasonal drink tends to sell out.

Itty Bitty News Bites

• Andy’s Frozen Custard has been teasing a brand new menu item for a while now, and tomorrow’s the day of the big reveal. What do you think it’s going to be? One ingredient in the teaser video looks like a sort of cake to me… but maybe not… because I also spied bananas and caramel. Could it be some sort of spin on banoffee pie? We honestly have no idea, but we can’t wait to find out!

• It’s not just JW’s Kitchen that’s tossing out some new tastes today. Retro Metro is doing it too, as they gear up for a new menu release. They had been teasing a March 3 menu upgrade, but they bumped that out to today. We’ll be keeping an eye on Retro Metro’s social—looking for the new stuff!

• While coffee shops have released seasonal drinks, Askinosie Chocolate has released seasonal chocolate bars. The company just restocked its Dark Chocolate & Peanut Butter bar for the spring season.

• Sleepy Opossum Cafe is hosting another farm-to-table dinner event, and as of yesterday there were still some seats available for this March 29 event. It includes a five-course meal featuring lots of ingredients from local farmers and producers. The dish we are drooling over the most is the radish pickled deviled eggs with salted miso yolk mousse. Wow!

• SPLIT Social Kitchen has a multi-course dinner planned as well. Their March 9 event features four courses and four wine/cocktail pairings. Wines featured are from Sueno Salvaje. (Oh, and by the way, SPLIT is taking reservations for regular restaurant hours now too.)

• Guess what, all you busy bees? Roots Coffee Bar now has a drive-through.

Table Talk: February 17–25

Growth Spurt
El Cafecito, everybody’s favorite teeny tiny little Mexican coffee shop, is expanding. It won’t be quite so teeny tiny once the renovations are finished! In the meantime, the restaurant remains open for business with all their usual tasty options: breakfast tacos, an array of espresso and coffee drinks like cafe de olla, sweets like tres leches waffles and lots more. And speaking of cafe de olla, you can read our take on this tasty Mexican coffee drink here. The presentation looks as good as the drink tastes, too.

Fresh, New Bites
Springfield now has a new mobile charcuterie board business. Bite ‘N Board Charcuterie Bar plans to open soon, offering an on-the-go bottomless snack board service that can be hired for private events and other gatherings. We’ll keep an eye on them and let you know their opening as soon as we do.