By Allison Candreva, December 2008
With the current state of the economy, three Gainesville residents overcame the turmoil to open three new and different restaurants on Eighth Avenue, each one offering the convenience of inexpensive, fast meals with uncompromised quality.

East End Eatery

In a small, white, stand-alone building emerges hot pressed paninis, steaming gourmet pizzas and fresh brewed coffee. Half of a mile west of Waldo Road sits East End Eatery with its brightly lit seating for 40, surrounded by bookshelves of board games and cookbooks.
Walking into East End, customers immediately experience a cool feeling of calm as they are engulfed with tints of blue and green. Owner Sandra Carlisi wanted to create a modern, homey feel for customers as they sit and enjoy meals around tables or on cushy chairs. Hanging wicker baskets loom above customers as they contemplate the menu and place their orders.
Carlisi is also the owner of Elegant Events, a full service catering company that operates out of the East End building. While running the catering company for 14 years, Carlisi decided she wanted to open a restaurant, and in late October, she did.
Incorporating the culinary creations of Elegant Events, Carlisi created a menu that fits anyone wanting good, quick food. Serving paninis, salads and soups, the eatery satisfies customers looking for a tasty break from an ordinary lunch. The Grilled Vegetable Panini is a great selection, including a medley of seasoned and grilled vegetables pressed on whole-wheat bread with your choice of Swiss or provolone cheese and Dijon mustard.
“It’s the kind of food I think ‘God, I wish I could go get this somewhere,’” Carlisi said.
Menu selections, including the Sesame Pasta Salad – penne pasta with sugar snap peas, carrots, red peppers and homemade sesame dressing – and the Minty Tabbouleh, can also be options for sides with the sandwiches.
Next to the register, East End tempts customers with small brownies and cookies, like oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip and peanut butter, that are made fresh each day.
“It’s the perfect little sweet bite at the end of a meal,” Carlisi said. “They’re the perfect size already.”
East End provides eco-friendly materials for its customers, including clear cups made from a bi-product of corn, and biodegradable silverware and to-go boxes. Carlisi has also tried to reduce waste by using a fountain system that doesn’t use bottles and by providing a recycling system for customers.

east end eatery | 352-378-9870
1202 n.e. eighth ave. | monday - friday  11 a.m. -3 p.m.

The Fat Tuscan Café

A 10-year-old girl sits doodling with her colored pencils. A black curve here, another stroke there, making sure not to forget the teeth. When her hard work is complete, a plump image of a hippo appears.
“Give him a mustache,” said her mom’s friend, Michelle Reeves. “Add a chef hat and an apron.”
Reeves, owner of The Fat Tuscan Café, saw this simple hippo as everything her restaurant would embody: “Fat and Happy.” Mixing her parents’ Italian and Scotch-Irish heritages, she created a restaurant with a relaxed European feel. Walking into the restaurant, customers are greeted by an Italianesque mural with the Fat Tuscan hippo peeking through.
Incorporating the way Europeans think about food, Reeves makes sure everything is fresh down to the cut flowers on the tables. With warm, light-yellow colors throughout the dining area, customers can relax as they sip their fresh ground French Roast coffee served in individual French presses.
In little pots on the stove, Fat Tuscan chef Marianne Toppino makes espresso. Adding hot frothed milk to some, she makes cappuccino.
“It’s the Italian way of making [espresso], and it takes longer,” Reeves said, “but it tastes better.”
Toppino put together the restaurant menu, including items like the Roast Beef with Herbed Cheese – homemade roast beef, Boursin Cheese and caramelized shallots toasted on ciabatta bread – or the Tropical Salad – spring greens with grilled Florida Shrimp, macadamia nuts, mango, tomatoes and toasted coconut topped with an orange ginger vinaigrette.
Other selections include the Prosciutto Sandwich – prosciutto with pears, brie and arugula, lightly dressed with the house vinaigrette on ciabatta bread – and daily soups that are displayed on the menu board.
The restaurant also serves baked goods that are made daily. For example, the almond biscotti, lemon currant scones or the pear ginger cake with caramel sauce.
For customers wanting some fresh air, Fat Tuscan offers outside seating on a cobblestone patio aside a large calming fountain.

the fat tuscan café | 352-505-5648 | 725 n.e. first st.
monday - friday 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
saturday brunch 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Café C

Walking in the door, my nose swarms with warm smells of bacon and melted cheese. Satellite radio hums ’40s music as customers sit around black tables, chatting over soup and gourmet sandwiches.
In a lime-green building framed by a black fence, Café C serves the breakfast and lunch crowd Monday through Friday. This gourmet eatery opens it doors for customers wanting more than cold sandwiches or broiled burgers. Leah Sherer, owner of Celebrations Catering, opened Café C two months ago.
“She wanted to bring something new and unique to Gainesville,” said Kathie Fritz the café manager.
The Café has a changing daily soup selection, including golden potato bacon, crab bisque, and roasted red pepper and Gouda. Customers have a choice between a shot or a cup of soup that both come with crackers and a drink. All of the food in the café is made fresh and brought over from Celebrations each morning.
Café C’s salads include items like shrimp or marinated chicken breast atop greens surrounded by a flurry of fresh vegetables. The Bangkok Beef Salad has a marinated flank steak, grilled and sliced thin on top of mixed greens and veggies.
Sandwiches are prepared with quality ingredients, including sweet mango spread, cilantro-almond relish and gourmet cheeses, like dill havarti, Brie and green onion cheese spread. One of the sandwiches, The Hogtown Press, has cranberry-honey glazed ham with sliced Vidalia onions, Swiss cheese and a homemade parsley spread.
“We’re not Subway,” Fritz said. “[Our sandwiches are] going to taste like specialty sandwiches.”
Bakery manager Jared Feria creates new items each day, including cappuccino cheesecake and Ghirardelli chocolate truffle cups. He said he wants to develop what people like rather than making customers conform to the items the bakery has on a menu.
“We want to be a ‘Cheer’s” bakery,” he said. “Where we know everyone’s names and what they like. We want to make that connection.”
As customers walk up to the desert shelves, Feria emerges from the kitchen. Grabbing the dessert tray, he persuades a couple of women to buy some $1 dessert minis.

café c | 352-377-7433 | 424 n.w. eighth ave.
monday through friday:
bakery  9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
café  11 a.m. – 3 p.m.