The menu at Kaffé Frappé features breakfast, lunch and dinner, served all day.

KAFFÉ FRAPPÉ , Locations and Phone Numbers: 2839 Selwyn Ave., 704-372-1424. Details: Patio dining; take out; private rooms; separate bar area; reservations accepted. Prices: Breakfast entrees range from $3.95-$9.95. Lunch entrees range from $6.95-$8.25. Dinner entrees range from $9.95-$18.95. Hours: Daily from 7 a.m.-10 p.m.

With so many new restaurant openings in Charlotte since the first of the year, the Queen City, it seems, now has a number of good little neighborhood spots open for lunch and dinner. These eateries are great places to stop in, eat and be on your way. Located at the corner of Selwyn and Colony avenues in the Myers Park neighborhood, Kaffé Frappé is one such eatery, serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks.

The food here is simple and good. There are no overdone or innovative creations on the menu, nothing with a twist of this or that, just the standards - solid American fare served in pleasant, calm surroundings.

It's nice to have a choice for breakfast that's a notch up from the usual pancake sort of place and even nicer that breakfast is served all day. Breakfast fare is great for dinner, and Frappé's list of omelets and breakfast specialties are sure to hit the spot. Omelets come in just over a half dozen varieties from a delicious mix of basil, tomato and feta cheese to a hearty Meat Lovers version stuffed with ham, bacon, sausage and your choice of cheese. The omelets are served with sides of home fries or grits and toast, as are the Frappé specialties like Steak and Eggs; Eggs Florentine (like the classic Eggs Benedict with fresh sautéed spinach instead of the standard Canadian bacon); and a ham, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich aptly called Taylor Ham, Egg and Cheese, served on a hard roll. This favorite is straight from the Garden State of New Jersey and is served SPK - that's with salt, pepper and ketchup.

If eggs are more than you'd care for early in the day, try the pancakes, the fruit bowl topped with yogurt, granola and a drizzle of honey, or a hot bowl of oatmeal. Breakfast sides include Applewood smoked bacon, sausage, Canadian bacon, Taylor Ham, fruit, toast, English muffins, home fries and grits. Coffee drinks are served all day, and there are several choices. The one that kept me buzzin' was the Kaffé Frappé, a tall, cool frothed mix of strong Mediterranean-style coffee and sugar that is the restaurant's namesake...delish.

Luncheon fare, served from midday until closing, consists of offerings from the grill, salads, and speciality sandwiches such as panini, an Italian-style sandwich on focaccia bread filled with meat and vegetable combinations, then grilled to a golden brown. Filled with combinations like chicken and pesto, roasted veggies or steak and portbello mushrooms with caramelized onions and feta cheese, they are a great alternative to a standard sandwich and are good served warm or cold.

In the mood for a specialty sandwich? Try the Country Club, a traditional stacker with ham, turkey, bacon, Swiss cheese, lettuce and tomato; the BLT with Applewood smoked bacon and piled with all the classics; and the open-faced Reuben. From the grill, look for decent burgers, cheese steaks and a grilled chicken sandwich. The Veggie Burger is disappointingly ordinary, but the tuna melt, made with a tasty homemade tuna salad and melted cheddar, is quite nice. All the sandwiches and grilled items are served with a choice of delicious, thick-cut, dinner-style fries or pasta salad and a spear of dill pickle.

In general, the dinner specialties, all served with a crisp salad and lovely warm bread, are good, fresh and cooked to order. Selections include chicken, shrimp, pastas and steak. Favorites thus far: a baked salmon served with a tasty, chunky dill cucumber sauce and served over angel hair pasta, and the grilled meat loaf served with garlic mashed potatoes. The pair of crab cakes was large and flavorful, but the proportion of bread to crab was overwhelming and the end result, sadly dry.

Slightly lighter lunch or dinner fare includes main course salads guaranteed to become fast favorites. All are wonderfully fresh, featuring the likes of marinated grilled chicken, a Caesar mix, and a Hollywood Salad with veggies, ham, turkey and roast beef as well as American cheese, hardboiled eggs and Applewood bacon crumbles. The Colony Salad, a mix of fresh greens with Granny Smith apples, grilled chicken, blue cheese and walnuts, has become a fast favorite of many Frappé regulars.

RATING SCALE Excellent, a must try. Above average, worth consideration. Average, but nothing spectacular. Just okay. Poor, not recommended.

Do check out the list of starters, good for a light lunch or dinner with a salad, or as a precursor to your meal. We enjoyed the homemade salsa as well as the tasty hot pimento cheese dip, both served with more than enough thin, warm tortilla chips for a group to share. The Selwyn Sliders piqued my interest and reminded me of White Castle and Krystal Burger days gone by. But the plate of four mini burgers topped with grilled onions and cheese were dry with little flavor, and the experience just wasn't quite the same.

On the other hand, the slightly spicy Grit Fritters served with salsa and sour cream were very nice, and if you have some left over, they reheat well.

For the kids, the menu includes everything from Silver Dollar Pancakes and grilled cheese to spaghetti and meatballs. While there is a separate bar area adjacent to the dining area and patio, families are welcome here and the staff is quite accommodating.

We found the service at Kaffé Frappé to be warm, friendly, and efficient at all of our stops for lunch and dinner. The interiors are beautifully done, much more upscale than one might expect in a little neighborhood place. The restaurant runs along the Colony Road side of the newly refurbished Selwyn Corners shopping strip, formerly home to Wolfman Pizza and a CVS Pharmacy and before that, The Fresh Market, Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream Shop and Conte's Ristorante.

Parking is around the back with entrances off Selwyn and Colony roads. It's a bit tricky locating Frapp'és front door, since there are four or five different doors leading into the space, but the one and only actual entrance is around back, coming in from the parking lot. There is a lovely patio to enjoy before the weather gets too hot and muggy, and, fortunately, it's protected from most of the traffic noise on Selwyn.

Dine out on the patio at Kaffé Frappé or inside at the bar or in the dining room.

Well-known Charlotte restaurant critic, food writer, cooking instructor and connoisseur of food and wine, Heidi Edidin writes "South Charlotte Weekly: Culinary Corner," a restaurant review or food feature that appears weekly. Contact Heidi with questions and restaurant, food or story ideas by email at heidi@southcharlotteweekly.com.

SCW photos by Melissa Cherry.

This article first appeared in "South Charlotte Weekly" on May 7, 2004. "South Charlotte Weekly" is a free, locally owned, independent newspaper that's "About the Community, For the Community," available every Thursday in South Charlotte and Uptown.

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