Flea Street Cafe
A notable chef, market-fresh food and welcoming service make this cozy South Bay restaurant a destination.
Message from Flea Street Cafe
For more than 25 years, Flea St. Cafe has been a favorite place to dine with the local community. The warm, inviting atmosphere makes it an ideal location for both business and pleasure. The food and Atmosphere have a European Provencal flair that intertwines casual sophistication with a flavor driven, locally inspired menu. Menus are seasonal and make full use of the nearby Pacific, artisan cheese makers, local produce farmers, ranchers and wineries, weaving an interesting, yet approachable cuisine that uses the very best of the season. Flea St?s full bar is a quiet, yet lively spot for meeting for a cocktail; specializing in martinis and a hand-selected boutique California wine list. Flea St. has received awards with many years of acclaim for its long time commitment to organic, local and sustainable food and practices.
Editorial by Citysearch
The SceneThe decor is romantic, almost evoking a New England feel with its lace curtains and tablecloths, old photographs and snug nooks for dining. This spot boasts a regular following of high-powered Silicon Valley types as well as local foodies, who come in search of chef-owner Jesse Cool's robust regional California cuisine and warm, welcoming service.
The Food
Cool has been promoting seasonal, organic ingredients for more than 20 years, most of them at this South Bay standby. The menu changes according to what's in the markets, but typically features soup, salads and several small plates such as green onion noodle cake and mini tostados with grilled seafood. Entrees might include locally caught king salmon with smoked baby shrimp, lamb and herb sausage served with minted goat cheese, and Israeli couscous and spiked with tomato-pear chutney. Desserts tend to be homey and comforting.
Key Points
- 25 years and going
- California cuisine
- Casual setting
The Inside Scoop
- The Extras - Stone Free Farm provides the lettuce and greens, but it's not just the greens and spuds that are organic: so are the cheese, milk, oils and meats.
Insider Pages Reviews for Flea Street Cafe
Nice atmosphere
by Anonymous
This was a great place to have a romantic meal. But I was not thrilled with my meal it was too organic for me! I dont usually like flowers on my food. It was also expensive.
Posted 03/10/08 | Report Abuse
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Updating my review after going to Flea St. Cafe again last night. Spectacular! Amuse was fresh cherry tomatoes from their garden and super sweet fresh plums. "Summery soup" (carrot and ginger) was out of this world. Fried Greeen tomatoes with corn, bacon mix was delicious. The short ribs entre was super tender and flavorful. Only required a fork - no knife because braised for so long. Even had a nice table side visit with Jesse Cool - the owner and long time proponent of organic food. This place is continuing to raise the bar. Not a surprise that the Clintons dined there when Chelsea went to Stanford.
Flea St. Cafe is a nice spot for a quiet dinner - off the beaten path from the Menlo Park downtown. The all organic menu definitely has different fare than you'll find anywhere else on the peninsula. They're devout - serving even the sparkling water in old-fashioned, recycled pressure bottles. A nice alternative to the normal options.
Posted 02/21/08 | Report Abuse
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Flea St. Cafe features a lovely menu of dishes made from local, organic and sustainable ingredients. The restaurant is very elegant and warm - great for a date, dinner with friends, or a nice business dinner. The chef came by our table several times to make sure everything was to our satisfaction, which it definitely was. The short ribs and halibut were both delicious, and we splurged on dessert (bread pudding and an oatmeal cookie ice cream sandwich) which was worth it. Service was delightful -- I highly recommend Flea St. and will be sure to go there again myself.
Posted 12/01/06 | Report Abuse
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Latest reviews from Citysearch.
Organic, healthy decadence
by vwestelle
Dinner was really good. The bread was delicious. The friend green tomatoes weren't too heavy. The assortment of vegatables were each perfectly cooked. The steak, although it was a filet mignon, actually had flavor, was a large portion, and was perfectly cooked. The desert was tasty. Although we ate a fair amount and left sated, we didn't feel bloated. I highly recommend this little treasure.
Pros: excellent organic, sustainable food
Cons: a bit pricey, but almost worth it.
Posted 09/19/09
Resting on its laurels...
by tigerfood
After all the hype and wanting to go for years I finally made it last night and all I can say is--what's the big deal? Our dinner was rather mediocre given our expectations and the cost.
The ingredients were good and each dish had an interesting point but not enough to make up for faults elsewhere. The vegetable fritto misto was tasty and the cornmeal batter was nice but several of the vegetables were far too fibrous and others were overcooked. The 'stacked' beet and goat cheese was also tasty and the citrus zest was a nice touch--not a lot to find fault with here except that it wasn't really a stack so much as three thin presentations of beet-cheese-beet. I had the halibut cheeks. Very interesting texture and good flavor but I could barely taste many of the ingredients for the overpowering and very salty kalamata olives. My friend had the portobello wellington with a beet reduction. Also good, but hardly original (probably stolen from Michel Richard--that's not very 'cool'). Wines were totally unremarkable. The ginger creme brulee was an absolute disaster--it was barely bruleed and full of air bubbles, giving it a texture more like porridge. Yuck.
I won't be returning.
Pros: Quality ingredients
Cons: Mediocre use of quality ingredients
Posted 09/22/07
Cozy Cafe
by t_girl_dining
Had a wonderful tasting brunch, the complimentary biscuits are warm and delicious and the o.j. refreshing. I have to agree that service is a bit slow and there was a delay in our order due to a mix-up in the kitchen, but they comp'ed us more o.j. I had the Niman Ranch scramble with ham and it was excellent. They have a good menu with interesting pairings of flavors - food for thought. My friend said his cuppa reg coffee was excellent. I would go again. It has a wonderful setting for a more special brunch occassion (e.g., Mother's Day).
Pros: Food quality
Cons: Service a bit slow, Dark decor
Posted 03/19/06
Interprative Breakfast
by artfulbe
We visited Flea St. Cafe at approximately 10:30 on a Sunday morning. The restaurant was essentially empty at that point, but it still took quite some time for our food to arrive. We found the decor to be dark, the lighting dim and the music a bit too loud.
The food was plentiful, and while it wasn't quite what we anticipated (intreprative corned beef hash... brocolli & caulifower for breakfast?) it was basically tasty.
Service was slow and it was slightly disconcerting to have one of the waiters hovering in the doorway directly behind our table while we were eating.
Pros: Good parking, Resonably Priced, Organic
Cons: Too cold, narrow menu choices, slow service
Posted 01/18/03