.Chef Jessica Yarr Opens The Grove Cafe and Bakery in Felton

Chef Jessica Yarr is about her roller skating. She’s about her heritage, which figures into her habit-forming street knishes and loaded pierogies for the popular pop-up project Chicken Foot. She’s about fun and flavorful fare like the deviled egg flight she features at The Brunch Shift every Sunday.

And, as much as anything, she’s about Felton, where she debuted The Grove Cafe and Bakery last week. She was born there, raised there and her parents still own and operate the town’s iconic Bigfoot Discovery Museum there. 

The cafe-bakery will spotlight her gift for organic and predominantly plant-based pastries and bread. Think including porridge bread, brioche tarts and gourmet toasts like a creamy polenta with roasted root vegetables, herbed feta and poached egg, topped with chimichurri and arugula.

That will come complemented by additionally inspired foodstuffs that hint at her uncanny creativity. The mango curry chicken salad and smoked beet Reuben are among many items that leap off the menu. There are also housemade yogurts, smoked trout bagels, chicory Caesars, quinoa bowls, seasonal fruit pops, ice cream sandwiches, drinks by Coffee Conspiracy, squeezed-to-order juices, tea spritzers and, once the permit arrives, craft beer and local wine.

The soul of it all, though, will be a sense of place. “I’m taking inspiration from the redwoods and people of Felton,” Yarr told me when she hatched her plan last fall, “focusing a lot on my bakery and pastry passion and just trying to make it as warm and welcoming as possible.”

The Grove Cafe and Bakery, 6249 Hwy 9, Felton, 7:30am-6pm daily, 831-704-7483, thegrovefelton.com