Article and photography by Fitz
(Lead photo of Bridget Varney (foreground) and Kim Keene (background) owners of the Starving Artist Cafe)
Be it the Southern Grit “Up all night, tweaked all day” coffee crawl we recently embarked on around Norfolk, the constant caffeinated tit I’m suckling off of at Fairgrounds (while only appreciating barista Kate’s smile from a distance―considering her admiration for my friend Fellini), or the wonderfully entertaining-yet-prideful rants I may sometimes find myself engaging Mariusz (co-owner, Cafe Stella) with, coffee has become an intrinsic part of my everyday hustle. Thus, it seems only fitting to do a first impressions piece on The Starving Artist Cafe in North Colley, which opened just a handful of months ago.
I should start out by saying that for me Elliot’s Fairgrounds and Cafe Stella are the two coffee shops in Norfolk which, for very different reasons, personify the very best of our city’s coffee culture. When I am at Fairgrounds, I feel like I’m in a non-alcoholic version of Cheers―everyone knows my name. At present, there’s a dynamic cast of characters, including: the eclectically endearing Hollywood; the aforementioned cheeky Kate; the hazy, 420’d, dough-eyed Bobby Jean; the frequently brooding Mr. Bobbit; the anachronistic urban cowboy, Mr. Talman; and many other uniquely vibrant personalities. It’s a place where you could regularly find a gaggle of philosophy students name-dropping Heidegger, Lichtenstein, and Kant, while a juxtaposed table argues over how many inches merits a big dick. Is the coffee there phenomenal? NO. Is it syrupy and sweet? YES. Is thier food great? NO. Is it indulgent and salty? YES.
On the regular, when I’m ordering my second or third caffeine fix at the counter, it’s commonplace for the line to halt while the barista and I engage in fifteen minute conversations. (I often can feel fellow patron’s gazes weigh heavy over my shoulder, but fuck it. This is my stimulant joint, you fucks. And―yes―I just took a big shit in the bathroom you were waiting for; deal with it.) Fairgrounds is like a home away from home for many, including myself. And if my regular jolting elixir of choice―a magical chocolate-and-espresso decoction on ice―ends up on the chalkboard under the moniker “The Fitz” (by which I order it at this point), I’m willing to forgo the quality of the bean.
In contrast, I’m probably not going to drop a deuce at Stella. Or at least if I must, I’m going to rush it so the early thirty-something professional types assume I’m just taking a piss. As most coffee addicts, like myself, have found, coffee can certainly stimulate the bowels. Stella stands out among other cafes in the area due to Mariusz’s knowledge and in-house refinement of roasting along with the baking and culinary skills of his wife Stella.
Cafe Stella is a bit more refined than Fairgrounds. Amidst tempered conversations delving into the finer qualities of Iberico ham or Sonoma valley wines, you would find the humble and slightly shy Stella (co-owner) emerging to and from the back kitchen, delivering inspired petits fours to a sea of v-necks lit ever-so-delicately by ergonomic laptop screens, all whilst set to the soundtrack of live jazz duos.
With those two synopses laid out, I should probably get to the focus of this article, even if already five paragraphs in. Starving Artist Cafe sits in the north part of Colley where lately a few new additions seem to point towards a growth in the area. Formerly known as The Paint Gallery, Starving Artist Cafe is surrounded by LeGrand Kitchen, the newly chained Cogans North, and the infamous gutter-punk haven Lou’s Bar, along with the once promising but recently slipping Chow (though they do carry Sweet Baby Jesus, so my sweet-toothed-and-occasionally-tanked self can still be found there every now and then spooning up some sweet potato mash).
Starving artist Cafe retains a good chunk of the mission statement that The Paint Gallery followed. The co-owner Kim Keene, a locally-born Wesleyan alumnus, is the woman who was behind the Paint Gallery and is still engaged with and passionate about local artists. She features collections of work from a local artist each month, displayed prominently on the front easel and right wall seen upon entering the cafe. While living in Croatia with her former husband, she began teaching painting classes and her work primarily consists of abstract landscapes and local portraits.
(Starving Artist latte)
After the Paint Gallery subsisted for around a year, Kim partnered up with Bridget Varney to open the Cafe. Bridget primarily runs the front of the house and does engage well with patrons, as was my experience both times I was there. Personally, I could give or take the famous artist dubbed menu at Starving Artist. The menu names, for me, seem a bit unimaginative and kitschy, which I feel conflicts with the best of what Norfolk offers in terms of unique and independent food and culture. Then again, this is coming from the guy who still longs for the pizza pie-less incarnation of the dirty punk venue which Cogans once was.
(The Claude Monet sandwich at Starving Artist Cafe)
However, in terms of the food itself at Starving Artist, it was a bit better than standard cafe fare. I did find the potato salad to be quite tasty and, though not incredible, the turkey and gouda (Claude Monet) sandwich toasted on a waffle iron wasn’t bad. The slaw however was unfortunately over seasoned with way too much celery salt and disappointing. I would put the food currently at Starving Artist somewhere above the food at Fairgrounds, but well beneath the inspired offerings at Cafe Stella. The test for Kim and Bridget will be finding enough in the budget to engage with local farmers so as to not rely solely on the selfish and eco-hazardous offerings of the evil empire that is Sysco. In light of being informed by Bridget that Starving Artist both prides itself and calculatedly features a large variety of vegetarian dishes, locally sourced produce will go a long way if harnessed to ensure a memorable experience from other garden variety offerings..
(Locally made ceiling decor at the Starving Artist Cafe)
With all the recent growth and renovation in North Colley, Starving Artist seems poised to be the coffee joint of choice and could potentially make a killing. My hope is that, in time, it develops into a more unique and current-art engaged coffee house that adds to the new and exciting development, rather than simply filling the cafe niche there. Think more Work|Release, less D’Art Center; more Stella, less Bean There.
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