Continental Cafe

By Sacha Pfeiffer, Globe Correspondent, 8/31/2003

Continental Cafe

5A Spruce St., Acton

978-263-2233

Hours: Mon.-Fri. 6:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. 7 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun. 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Not wheelchair accessible

No smoking

No reservations

Major credit cards accepted

Do we detect shades of Ben & Jerry's, the once-tiny ice cream giant whose founders made environmentalism their mantra?

Sue Purchon has a long way to go before she can be seriously compared with Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. But her vibrant restaurant and coffee shop, the Continental Cafe, is run with the same earth-friendly spirit.

She buys from local, environmentally responsible companies. She serves triple certified coffee, which in eco-parlance means it's organic, shade-grown, and fairly traded. And she has made her 10-month-old cafe a rich part of the community by regularly hosting book signings, art openings, and music performances.

The cafe, in a gray clapboard house in West Acton center, looks at a glance like a private home, adding to its charm. Inside are a dozen seats, a cozy leather couch, and gorgeous deep blue walls. Board games, magazines, and children's toys are strewn about, signaling that all ages are welcome here.

Purchon also serves great food - creative sandwiches, freshly made salads and fruit plates, healthy granola-yogurt parfaits, decadent pastries baked on site, simple breakfasts, and fantastic quiches.

Originally, the cafe's baker made only two quiches a week, but they've become so popular that she now bakes 30 weekly in seven varieties ($2.75-$2.95 slice, $15.95-$17.95 whole), from classic quiche lorraine to spicy Southwestern - and still barely keeps them in stock. Little wonder - they're excellent, with double-baked crusts and lots of gooey cheese.

My top-choice sandwiches ($5.75) are ``Holy Guacamole'' with turkey, roasted red peppers, Muenster cheese, and chunky guac, and ``Sweet Home Alabama'' with boursin and provolone cheeses, Vidalia onion relish, and roasted red peppers. The yolky egg salad is bland, but a sprinkle of salt and pepper solves that. The ``Tuna Schooner,'' made with white alabacore, sprouts, and Swiss on a seven-grain baguette, gets a sweet-sour zing from pickles and an onion relish.

I wish the muffins ($1.50) - in flavors like wild Maine blueberry, lemon ginger, raspberry-walnut, orange poppyseed, and spiced raisin bran - were more cakey. But the buttery cinnamon nut coffee cake ($1.65) and fudgy walnut brownies ($1.50) are out of this world.

Any baked good - be it pecan pie, cheesecake, New England bread pudding, rugelach, or scones - can be special ordered, as can custom cakes. With homespun baking like this, why bother turning on the oven at home?

SACHA PFEIFFER