Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Elisa Margoni, corporate trainer for Mimi's Cafe, demonstrates the proper form for holding up a tray of tempting desserts.

Eclecticism is trademark of the new Mimi's Cafe

By Suzanne Cristallo

Energy--the kind that comes with youth and optimism--is pouring out of every corner of Mimi's Cafe in the new El Paseo Shopping Center on Campbell Avenue near Saratoga Avenue. The first store to open in the center and the first of 24 stores in the privately owned, Los Angeles-based chain to serve Northern California, the lively cafe appears to revel in eclecticism.

Four dining areas each create a different mood. The Garden Jazz room is a New Orleans-style courtyard with the color and music of the French Quarter. The cafe is intimate and French, serving beer, wine, champagne and espresso.

The Bistro room is more formal, with black and white walls and bright red upholstery. The Green House is an enclosed patio with plants, shutters and lots of windows and an additional outside area for dining.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served all day. Rolls, muffins, bagels and breads are baked on site by 20 cooks who also create fresh sauces each day for brunch and dinner dishes. Soup selections like "Nu Awlins" gumbo and clam "chowda" change daily.

Mimi's menu features more than 100 items, including special brunch dishes and appetizers like potato skins topped with cheese, bacon, tomato and scallions. There are pot roast, beef and chicken pot pies, King salmon, rock shrimp capellini and "Arthur J.'s West Coast Reuben," a sandwich named after one owner, Arthur J. Sims.

"Mimi's Fitness Center" offers pasta, halibut, turkey, salad and a vegetable burger as entrées for the calorie-conscious, while New York cheese cake, cinnamon cobbler, chocolate fudge cake and New Orleans bread pudding are the dieters' rewards.

Mimi's Cafes are opening at the rate of about one every three months. A troupe of 20 employees travels from store to store with a trainer and spends up to six weeks helping the new staffs iron out their openings. New manager Cyndi Allison will oversee a staff of 140 local employees.

Mimi's Cafe, 1200 El Paseo de Saratoga, San Jose. Open daily 7 a.m.-11 p.m. 378-0778.