Chrissy's at Bayfront

Photo by Tovin Lapan

Crissy's menu runs the gamut from comfort food classics like Reubens and burgers to tasty salads like this one with herb-crusted salmon.

When you find a tasty cafe that serves breakfast late on Saturdays and Sundays, you’ve pretty much struck gold. When said joint is a mere two-minute walk from your front door, stumbling distance at 1:30 p.m. on a hung over afternoon, you can thank the breakfast angels for sending you a dear, precious gift.

For me, Chrissy's at Bayfront is that gift. Hidden away in the Bayfront property on Goodlette Frank Road in Naples, Chrissy’s is a well-planned, well-executed hole in the wall that serves an extensive menu of breakfast and lunch dishes ranging from classic to creative and from comfort to couture.

When I stop in for a weekday lunch on a Monday afternoon, Chrissy’s is peopled with its usual mix of families, tourists and local professionals. Although I usually order off the breakfast menu, sampling items like smoked salmon on a freshly toasted bagel or a hefty plate of scrambled eggs tossed with goodies like avocado, tomato and crisp bacon, today I’m feeling lunch.

My companion and I look over the menu of sandwiches, salads, hamburgers and even a few entrees – weighing options like the Santa Fe chicken salad with blackened chicken, beans and corn ($8.50), Crissy’s Reuben and a few enticing daily specials. Indecisive and getting steadily hungrier, we finally pick out two dishes to share: an herb-crusted salmon salad ($9.00) and the Monterey roast beef sandwich with seasoned curly fries ($8.50).

Our food arrives a few minutes later, and we immediately dig into the generously sized portions. My salmon salad is a refreshing bed of mixed greens thrown with large tomato wedges, cucumber slices, red onions, artichoke hearts and fresh grated Parmesan cheese served with Parmesan peppercorn dressing on the side. Atop it all a nicely cooked salmon steak adds a lovely touch of pink to the dish. The salmon has indeed been crusted with some herbs, mostly dill it appears, but assuming you don’t drench it in dressing, it is the fish’s flavor that stands out best.

While the salad is a fairly light and even borderline healthy lunch, the Monterey roast beef sandwich is not. Served on a large, soft sub roll, the sandwich consists almost entirely of roast beef and Monterey jack cheese. A leaf of romaine lettuce, a tomato slice and a few circles of onion are placed awkwardly off the side, relatively useless as the sandwich has already been grilled and the cheese melted into a glue. Despite the clearly good quality roast beef and delicious bread, the sandwich tastes surprisingly bland. It’s missing the Dijon mustard that was listed on the menu as a condiment, we realize.

Photo by Tovin Lapan

The small kitchen at Crissy's is built right into the dining room with counter seating over looking the grill diner style.

While we eat, we take in the sights and sounds of this quaint locally owned cafe. Bright kelly green walls are hung with a few large foodie paintings and a large wooden shelf on one side holds a few bottles of red and white wine. Something is sizzling on the grill at Chrissy’s the smell wafts out of the tiny open kitchen built right into the dining room and drifts over the restaurant’s dozen or so tables. Meals here are a casual affair – the servers attentive but relaxed and the pace gentle.

As I’m about to reach my stomach’s full capacity, the front door opens and a man wearing a Bayfront maintenance uniform walks in. He eagerly addresses the servers, asking what treat owner Chrissy has prepared today. The answer is white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, and he munches on one happily, before advising my friend and I that we simply have to try the freshly baked dessert. In a second a pair of homemade cookies have been dropped off on our table, and we break them apart in large scrumptious chunks that manage to be soft and crunchy all at the same time.

We get another sweet surprise when I ask for the bill. Our total is a mere $18.55. I pay up and stroll into the sunshine, full and content with the taste of sugar and macadamia nuts lingering on my lips.

Want to go? Chrissy's at Bayfront, 469 Bayfront Place, Naples. 239.649.8807

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