A good cafe gives a sense of cozy familiarity. The best ones feel like home.
Though the Judith opened in Ohio City in February, the French-inspired cafe already imbues that sense of reunion. On a Saturday afternoon, some sip lattes and tap on their laptops at high top tables, while others snap selfies in the mirror shelves hanging on the bare brick wall. Picking from a simple menu of breakfast, lunch and coffee items, they stop in for a moment or stay for hours, letting their Saturday drip away without worry. The decor around them tells a story: a gallery of vintage paintings from the owner’s home or the breathtaking floral ceiling that has been left intact.
The new eatery comes from Jennie Doran and Andrew Worm, the owners of Room Service, a lifestyle boutique at Van Aken in Shaker Heights. The 850-square-foot space was developed through the same sepia-toned philosophy that Worm and Doran’s boutique, Room Service, was built on: functionality meets inspiration.
The transition from decadent home boutique to stylish eatery seems sharp at first glance, but as you meander through the East Side store, you also find unique kitchen accessories and items to elevate your pantry, like natural olive oil and fresh honey. Longtime visitors to Worm and Doran’s store might also know about the duo’s love of French cooking and their resulting offerings inspired by Worm’s travels to Europe.
Named after Worm’s mother, the Judith embodies a similar “lived-inness” that makes it feel like it’s been open for years, instead of just a couple of months. And it’s no surprise, since the space, which seats 28, features hand-me-down items from family members. The deep plum-colored booths were made from mohair fabric from Doran’s uncle. Some items, as Doran admits, have even been swiped from their own home.
“Andrew would always be like, ‘Why is the rug missing?’ And I tell him, well, it’s at the Judith,” Doran laughs.
But she adds that it’s this very textural narrative that adds to the tapestry of the venue, which resides in a 125-year-old former bookstore. It's the same with the gallery wall towards the end of the space; covered in unfinished sketches by a local artist that Doran collected from an estate sale. The backdrop of the gallery wall is a teal and white floral wallpaper that she designed herself and later added some personalized touches with her niece and nephew after it was installed.
“I love things that make you go, huh, through inquiry and curiosity,” Doran explains. “I think it’s such a beautiful way of looking at the world. There’s a lack of perfection there but it shows the process. There’s so much humanity in that.”
Though designing a restaurant didn’t feel like a big departure, Doran did reflect on slightly different questions this time around.
“How are people going to feel when they enter?” she asked herself. “How are they going to feel when they eat our food?”
Before I even took a bite of the food, I felt welcomed — even though the menu was filled with French dishes I’d never even tried before. This embrace went beyond a warm smile from behind the bar or natural light spilling in through the window. It was the dishes that felt earnest and real, presented as anything but intimidating on simple white plates with a vintage butter knife curated by The Sunday Collection.
Across a menu of sandwiches, salads, appetizers and pastries, the Judith leans on light, quality ingredients and shies away from frills.
Maybe it’s because you can see Doran or Worm excitedly cutting a fresh loaf of baguette or simmering vegetables as you lean over the marble bar, but many dishes feel as though you could make them at home — deceptive. “In truth, simplicity is unforgiving,” Doran says.
Take the list of tartines, or small, open-faced sandwiches. The radish and butter ($5.50) is like something your grandmother would bring in from her garden. The whipped labneh and preserve tartine ($6.50) — a crunchy toasted baguette from On The Rise Bakery topped with a creamy strained yogurt and tart yet sweet blackberry preserves — gives just a bit of sweetness.
But as the morning passes, a slightly heartier meal awaits you at the Judith, as well. After 11:00 a.m., out comes a menu of lunch plates.
Equally made with ease in mind, the Jambonbeurre sandwich ($13.50) has a punch of flavor in every bite — so much that you’ll be catching yourself looking down to make sure the two slices of baguette you’re holding only contain three ingredients: prosciutto, walnut butter and dressed arugula. A soon-to-be fan favorite, I presume, the Gribiche and artichoke ($12.00) makes for a refreshing sandwich that will have you dreaming of different ways to romanticize boiled eggs. The cassoulet salad ($15.50) puts an airy spin, thanks to pancetta and massaged kale, on the traditional French comfort food classic.
On the dessert menu, Judith again finds the sweetness in simplicity with selections like the olive oil lemon curd ($7.50), served with creme fraiche on dukka cracker. Drinks come from Onyx Coffee and Tea, with a beer and wine menu forthcoming.
This hypnotic atmosphere is so alluring to the senses that it’s natural to immediately want to take out your phone and snap a picture. But I urge you, don’t come to the Judith to take the perfect Instagram shot. Instead, take a bite of your pastry, leave some lipstick on your coffee cup, breathe in a conversation with a friend and then, only then, capture the moment.
“I’ve had to remind myself even though we’ve been so busy and packed that I need to remember the vision, and that vision is all about connection. It’s about taking a minute to pause,” says Doran, "and enjoy.”
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