Cafe Gutenberg just announced that they will be open 7 days a week for lunch. [via]

Dana Craig’s Best Restaurants of 2009 gives props to both The Boathouse at Rockett’s Landing and (the new) Cafe Gutenberg as two of “the best new local restaurants of 2009″. Speaking of Gutenberg she says:

This Shockoe Bottom café has a tumultuous history — from Tropical Storm Gaston’s devastation to almost closing last year. But this year saw Cafe Gutenberg reborn. It came back strong to define itself as a bona fide dining destination with a menu that celebrates the bounty of its neighbor, the 17th Street Farmers’ Market. Whether it be a local mushroom panino with scrambled eggs and Cabot Cheddar or grilled brats with ale-braised sauerkraut, it’s hard to find something not to like.

Not everyone is happy with the changes, but Style Weekly gives the new Gutenberg a solid review this week.

Cafe Gutenberg will reopen this week! The grand reopening is scheduled for Wednesday, March 18 at 5:00 PM.

Read more >

The still-closed Cafe Gutenberg has launched a new website with enough foodie porn photos to get anyone’s anticipation up…

Read more >

Cafe Gutenberg has CLOSED, but will open under new ownership in late February. Anyone know anything more?

John G. Haddad put together some nice words about Cafe Gutenberg for Style Weekly:

Modeled after European cafés and named with a nod to the printed word, it is an ideal space to pick up a book and drink a cup of whatever strikes your fancy (Illy coffee served all of the usual ways, teas and a great selection of wine and beer.) But you’d be missing the full experience if you limited yourself to beverages, because Jen Mindell’s and Garrett Berry’s eclectic menu gives reason to visit three times a day. They are an interesting pair — the former vegan and the carnivore — and they’ve designed a menu that meets the needs of people who eat most anything.

[...]

Café Gutenberg has earned its admirers with consistently flavorful food and improved service. It celebrates lingering over a conversation or coffee or a meal. It feels genuine and real, perhaps because it has lived a lifetime in a few short years. Indeed, it’s the little café that could, and hopefully will for years to come.

In what may be the first ever review of the place not disparaging of the service, Ginger Warder visits Cafe Gutenberg for richmond.com and describes the experience as “great American food in a classic European environment”:

While the vibe is totally European brasserie, the cuisine is contemporary American, and I have yet to eat something at Café Gutenberg that I didn’t like. Chefs Jen Mindel and Garrett Berry use local and seasonal ingredients to create soul-satisfying meals from breakfast to dinner, and the prices are incredibly reasonable for the quality of ingredients.

Style Weekly’s restaurant roundup Short Order gives an update on Cafe Gutenberg. With new front-of-house manager Gershom Wynn (Karsen’s, Escabar and Metro) joining executive chef/general manager Jen Mindel and chef Garrett Berry, the restaurant continues to serve up simple fine dining that is “local, seasonable, lively and affordable”.

Read more >

Read more >

Richmond’s best coffee shop/wine bar/book store, a fixture in Shockoe Bottom since 2003, and now for sale: Cafe Gutenberg.

OK Bird, The Great White Jenkins, Cold Toastestra @ Cafe Gutenberg January 27 @ 8PM. The OK Bird is the music of Adam Thompson, guitar/keys/vocals, accompanied by Taylor Burton on cello/guitar/vocals, Tyler Newbold on viola/bass/vocals, Feet on percussion.