In September, Manchester resident Dave Gallinat opened the Plaid Melon Cafe in Chelsea’s Clocktower Complex–offering breakfast, lunch, specialty coffees, and desserts. Although he took over the lease from Gourmet Chocolate Cafe, one item customers won’t find at the new restaurant is chocolate. “It’s not my thing,” he says.
What they will find is what Gallinat calls “a comfortable, casual place that offers simple food–with a twist.” Omelets and pancakes share the menu with duck hash. Burgers, sandwiches, and Cobb salad are served along with his “Noodle Mess”–a best-selling concoction named by his seven-year-old son, Carter, which changes daily based on fresh ingredients he has on hand.
Owning a restaurant has “been in the back of my mind for twenty years,” says Gallinat, thirty-seven. He’s been a busser, server, and cook, and most recently worked for Ann Arbor’s Frog Holler Produce. Baked goods come from Stone Hearth Bakery in Brooklyn, ice cream from Monroe’s Independent Dairy, and fresh-roasted coffee from Coffee Express in Plymouth. “It’s very important to me to use the highest-quality ingredients,” he says.
The cafe is named after Gallinat’s online alias from years ago. “Plaid” is also a nod to his alma mater, Alma College, where tartan is an official symbol. That’s where he met his wife, Quintessa, who works in marketing at U-M and who also creates marketing materials for the restaurant.
The cafe serves breakfast all day, including a “Third Shift Dinner,” offering items such as chopped steak with onions, mushrooms, mashed hash, and brown gravy. It’s a tribute to workers on the midnight shift, including his father, a foreman at a Monroe steel plant.
Carter is the official consultant for the children’s menu and sometimes helps his dad in the kitchen. At the back of the restaurant, their work uniforms hang from a hook on the wall: two plaid flannel shirts–one large and one small.
Plaid Melon Cafe, 312 N. Main (Clocktower Complex), Chelsea, 475-1457. Mon.-Fri. 6 a.m.-4 p.m., Sat. 7 a.m.-4 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. plaidmelon.com
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When Chelsea’s Michael and Linda Purdy found out the Bearclaw Coffee location in Oak Tree Plaza had closed, Michael saw an opportunity for the couple’s Catered Coffee–a portable cappuccino bar that serves private and corporate events–to open a retail location. “Our catering customers had been asking us where they could buy our coffee,” he explains. Since the end of August, the Purdys–including son Michael III, an EMU student studying business management–have been serving their Lavazza-brand Italian specialty coffees, fruit smoothies, and Chelsea Bakery baked goods at their new location, which offers drive-through service.
Catered Coffee, 12855 E. Old US-12 (Oak Tree Plaza), Chelsea, 216-2732, Mon.-Sat. 6 a.m.-6 p.m., Sun. 7 a.m.-5 p.m. cateredcoffee.com
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When Bumble’s Dry Goods moved to the River Gallery’s former space on Main, Potting Shed owners Bonnie and Scott Cook realized its now-vacant W. Middle St. storefront, with its old wood floors and twelve-foot ceilings, would be just right to open a Cut Loose clothing shop. Bonnie says she sells out of the brand of casual women’s clothing at the Potting Shed on Main. “We have a list of people we call when we get it in,” she says. “It’s sewn and dyed in San Francisco and has a resort look to it–all the colors go together.”
The store will be the couple’s third in downtown Chelsea. Bonnie says this wasn’t planned: “I’m a ‘meant-to-be’ kind of person,” she says.
Cut Loose (plans to open in November), 105 1/2 W. Middle, chelsea, 475-8086. Opening early november. Tentative hours: Mon. 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Tues.-Sat 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
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Only Amish Handcrafted Hardwood Furniture opened a showroom near the Chelsea Community Fairgrounds. The business sells a range of furniture from tables and chairs to bedroom and living room pieces, “built with America’s finest hardwoods, handcrafted in the heartland,” according to its website.
Only Amish Handcrafted Hardwood Furniture, 20401 W. Old US-12, 562-2591, Mon. 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Tues.-Wed. by appointment, Thurs.-Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. onlyamish.com
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Russell Cellular, a Verizon Wireless Premium retailer, closed its Clocktower Commons location in early fall after about three years in business. A sign on the door asked customers to “visit our nearest store in Tecumseh.” That’s the nearest Russell Cellular store. If all you need is Verizon, there’s another independently operated Verizon retailer on the city’s south side.
