Spring at Cakes and Ale

As the weather starts to warm up, the menu here at Cakes & Ale changes dramatically. We wanted to showcase a few recent dishes from the restaurant on the blog, to give you an idea of what the spring menu is looking like. Since our can change daily, unfortunately not all of the dishes below are still available, but other new dishes come into rotation all the time!

This is a crispy rabbit loin and braised leg with onions, carrots, and beets served on a bed of curly endive from this past week's menu.

A 20 oz ribeye is served with balsamic glazed pearl onions, tiny potatoes and horseradish cream over baby kale.

A spring onion, garlic, and black olive puff pastry tart alongside a salad of Mary's greens with lemon vinaigrette.



Our latest incarnation of the Vermont Burrata salad is fantastic: burrata with prosciutto, baby greens, some gorgeous pink beets and poppy seeds.


As always, we have a vegetable plate - served here with a crispy green garlic polenta cake, a salad of baby greens, roasted spring vegetables and a wood oven roasted egg.

Fresh Florida octopus isn't always available, but when it is, we snatch it up! Here, it's served in combination with Georgia shrimp in a stew with chickpeas and topped with aioli.

Updates from our Bakery

Our new pastry chef, Eric Wolitzky has been hard at work in the bakery, creating some delicious new desserts, cookies, and pastries. We wanted to share a few of the new additions on the blog!

Clockwise from top center: a new chocolate-peanut butter and banana macaron, a salt and pepper cookie, a linzer cookie, and a new peanut s'mores bar.

A few delicious menu items....

Even though it's still cold outside, we've been getting some great winter produce, and wanted to showcase some of our recent menu items on the blog!

This is a recent entrée from our menu - braised and roasted pork with spinach and sunchoke.

This is the smoked duck "ham" first course served with frisée, white beans, citrus and avocado. Duck "ham" is duck meat, cured and smoked in the same way that you would to make ham out of pork meat. Here, the duck is shaved thinly over a bed of frisée.








A selection of cold water oysters on ice - Shigoku and Kumamoto from Washington State. Shigoku means 'ultimate' in Japanese, and these oysters have a clean, almost sweet finish with a hint of melon and cucumber. In general, Kumamoto oysters are slightly smaller, but also have a fruity flavor.

One of our smaller plates - some beautiful purple cabbage with potato confit, rye croutons, bacon and green onions with a mustard vinaigrette.

Check out our most recent menu online here, and come try some of the dishes in person! We'll be posting more updates with other menu items soon - so keep an eye out for those!

Cakes Blog is Back!

February 12, 2012

After a brief hiatus from our blog posts, we are back with the final picts from our construction adventure and some recent food shots. We will start posting weekly updates on menu changes and other tidbits so stay tuned!

It took a year of hard work and planning, but we moved into our new location at 151, 153 and 155 Sycamore in August of 2011 and we love our new space. The bakery next door (blue storefront) is open all day and serves delicious Counter Culture Coffee, pastries, desserts and a delicious lunch.

This is our bakery...the stools are from Ebay and the chairs from the Scott Antique Market, and the butcher block tables we purchased from the former Dynamic Dish. Although we loved picking everything out, we're glad it's finished!

Here's the inside of Cakes & Ale. Notice anything from the old space? We moved the farm table, chairs, lights, and bar stools and even the old booths and tables! The bar shelving got a nice new update to showcase our vintage cocktail glass collection. Possibly our favorite part of the new space is the patio. It sits on Church Street and reminds us of sidewalk dining in some of our favorite cities. The patio is open all day and is the perfect place for a cappuccino.
A few food photos:

scallops with cracked wheat


Burratta with eggplant, peppers, beans and pesto

Delicious lunch salad by David Sweeney

Cafe au lait (served in a bowl!) with an almond croissant



If you haven't visited, come check us out!

Construction Update June 20, 2011

Here is a picture of our new bar being built!

Here are some of the crew from "Nicholson General Contracting" working hard on a Friday!

Custom booths in the works

We are getting closer every week. We will post more pictures as we progress!

Construction Update June 1, 2011

Our scheduled opening at our new location is now the middle of July! We will post some new pictures in the next few weeks!

updated photos March 26

Construction Update March 26, 2011

Two Months To Go!

Here is a view from the patio area. There are four windows and a door on this side of the building, which faces Church Street. Tables for outside seating will be here!

Here is another picture of the historic sign which was uncovered during remodeling. This will be preseved and on the left wall of our new bakery!

This is a view from the upstairs. A second floor was added above the bakery for office space and staff meetings.

This picture was taken inside the bakery space. This side of the building faces the Decatur Marta Station.

We are all very excited about our new space. Stay tuned for more pictures and updates in the next few weeks!