Archestratus (160 Huron St) is definitely the spot in the neighborhood for picking up cookbooks (new and used), food magazines, cute stationary, and gourmet food stuffs. The store has been open for about a year-and-a-half now and has become one of the “the spots” in the neighborhood, most likely because the owner, Paige Lipari, hosts various community events every month. But Archestratus isn’t just good for kitchen things and crafts night, the back café is one of the best places to chill out with a book, or to stop by for lunch. Yes, lunch!
Paige started serving lunch a few weeks back, but she’s been fine-tweaking the menu. Currently, you can pick up a salad, a vegetarian plate, and/or a sandwich. Last week, this meant a pickled fennel, carrots, capers, oranges, and olive salad while eating the vegetable plate added up to broccoli rabe with garlic, amogghio-sauced eggplant, and potatoes with olives. Amogghio is a Sicilian tomato, oregano, and garlic sauce that makes a few appearances on the Archestratus menu.
Archestratus’ lunch offers a number of sandwiches, which thoroughly excites me, a bonafide sandwich-lover. Usually there are a couple vegetarian options with the rest for the meat-eaters. The two veggie-filled ones last week were a sheep’s cheese primusale with amogghio and roasted eggplant, or you could get broccoli rabe with ricotta salata and slightly spicy pepperoncini.
The meaty ones include a great Italian sandwich of mortadella and roasted peppers and caciocovallo cheese (that harder sheep’s or cow’s milk cheese you see hanging by a rope in cheese shops); a meatball parm; pulled pork with broccoli rabe and provolone; and one with smoked tuna, Sicilian slaw and radicchio. A great fried chicken cutlet sandwich with lemon and mint will coming soon. Everything is $12 or under.
If you need extra bites or something for the babes, Paige does have brioche toast available with pistachio butter or chocolate hazelnut spread, biscuits, and small slices of sfincione (almost like focaccia pizza with amogghio, cheese, olives, breadcrumbs, and other delicious things). There are always some cookies available for afternoon pick-me-up, as well as coffee, teas, and soda. And friendly reminder about Blue Plate special nights every Thursday, though next week, it will be monthly pizza night.
Archestratus is located at 160 Huron Street. Lunch is served Wednesday – Sunday from 11am – 4pm.