Creston's Red Jet Café greets summer with a new patio, new liquor license, new menu

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

The Red Jet Café plans to help patrons enjoy the great urban outdoors – on a new sidewalk patio where they can sample some new taste sensations and sip an adult beverage of choice.

The Red Jet, 1431 Plainfield, was formerly dubbed Red Ball Jet Café. Owners The Gilmore Collection dropped the "ball" due to copyright infringements involving Red Ball Jet sneakers, but they have not dropped the ball on anticipating what customers want.

"We've had people stop in for dinner and they assumed that because we're a Gilmore restaurant we served liquor," says Rick Sauber, manager. "When they found out we didn't, they'd get up and leave."

The café needed 100 seats to qualify for the liquor license, and the new 45-seat patio along the Coit Avenue side of the café brings seating up to 106. The patio, which opened last Friday, accommodates diners through three seasons – open air dining in warmer weather, and Plexiglas-enclosed, heated dining in cooler seasons.

Beginning next week, the cafe will offer twenty wines, six beers on tap including New Holland, Bell's and Founders, bottled beer and cocktails.

As a warm-up, the café launched a new menu this week, adding five appetizers, two new entrées and three desserts.

The appetizers, a first for Red Jet, include hummus with pita chips, and an arugula, spinach and artichoke dip with bagel chips. The entrées are a jerk-marinated pork chop and three-cheese ravioli in a pesto cream sauce.

And for dessert? How about Retro Tiramisu made with Twinkies, or cannoli filling laced with chocolate chips and wrapped in a sweet crepe?

"We've been trying to get the liquor license approved for two years through the liquor control commission," Sauber says. "We're really looking forward to these changes."

Source: Rick Sauber, Red Jet Café

Photo:

Red Jet Café

Photo by Joshua Tyron -All Rights Reserved

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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].

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