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"Whimsical" Red Velvet Birthday Cake
About Us
Cozy Space to Meet with Friends
Food that is indulgent is unnecessary, it is excess and it should therefore be wonderful! We do not eat pastry because it gives us energy throughout the day, we do not eat pastry because it helps our bones to grow and our skin to glisten. We choose to eat pastry, because it tastes amazing. Because something inside of us is asking us to treat ourselves to a delight that is extra. To share a fresh baked, warm, chocolate chip cookie with a friend after school, to end the day with a slice of chocolate mousse cake and a cup of coffee with a loved one while the sun sets outside our cafe window. These are the extra bits of life that we allow ourselves that are not a vital part, and I feel that every guest who walks in our doors should receive the best possible product and experience as a thank you for trusting me to be the one to provide it to you. This has been my mission since I began cooking for others, to make taste the number one priority. I want you to take a bite of my treats and think, 'Wow!' In a market saturated with quick and accessible options, I want to be the one that is worth the drive, wait, cost, calories, etc. Whatever the story is that brought that baked good to your lips, I want you to feel rewarded and elated and I want it to be worth every delicious bite
George and Alicia Cafe
As a child I had a deep admiration for the talents of my grandfather George Metropolis. For over three decades Grandpa George was a pastry instructor at the world renowned Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. While teaching at the CIA, he worked on and perfected a recipe for our beloved Pecan Diamonds which were destined to become the unofficial cookie of the CIA; "The Culinary Institute of America's renowned pecan diamonds, otherwise sold only at the college's Apple Pie Bakery Cafe on the Hyde Park campus." (The Spokesman-Review Dec 10, 2003)
I remember visiting him on summer breaks and walking into a room filled with collapsable tables; extensions which, over time, became fixed pieces in his home. He was endlessly creating baked goods by the dozens throughout his retirement. After years of service to the culinary industry my grandfather had a baking compulsion; and I had an eating obsession. I became transported into a new world of thought when I realized that one could devote an entire career to the research and development of food! This was my calling. To this day I dream about rows of elephant ears and truffles. My mind's eye wanders in revery to the sweet and salty aromas which encapsulated my pre-teen senses and filled my mind with the longing for just one taste; a taste I was never to experience. Where my grandfather was talented he was doubly strict. Any former student would recognize him as the infamous "screamin George." And I was to become his last student. His fiercely firm stance on what was appropriate for children to enjoy and what was deemed "not for kids," would inspire in my young mind a passion to attain the ability to not only taste the treats which were withheld from me as a child, but to share them with everyone. My grandfather's withholding of those flavors left me with a longing to attain each perfect taste. As I grew up I would allow myself a sweet indulgence here and there as we all do, but nothing ever satiated the expectations in my mind. This is what motivates me every day in the kitchen. I aim to produce baked goods, treats, pastries and desserts that taste as good as they look.
I have lived in many states and worked in many professional kitchens earning a vast and eclectic education of culinary styles, techniques, flavors and perspectives.
The GA Cafe concept blends my late grandfather's masterful and not so traditional influence, with my passion for food, quality, interest in sustainability and plethora of restaurant experience. Although my grandfather did not live long enough to witness my passion in play, I hope to honor his legacy and thank him for inspiring me by dedicating my cafe to him.