Putah Creek Cafe a delicious shining light for Winters
Whether you want to sit down to eat in a traditional cafe or take a fabulous treat to go, Winters' Putah Creek Cafe — at 1 E. Main St. — has provided the local community with a highly reliable, stable and delicious establishment.
COO Emarie VanGalio, who also takes a role in running the family's other business, The Buckhorn Steakhouse across the street, has been at the helm for the past three years.
A few years after opening up the Buckhorn in 1980, the family opened up Putah Creek Cafe to offer something a little different from a steakhouse.
“My parents looked at it like, what type of place can be the cornerstone of downtown?” VanGalio said. “Putah Creek Cafe serves breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. People come in for coffee every morning. It's the same celebratory style as the Buckhorn, but it's a bit more approachable and not as expensive as a steakhouse. It's a place you can go after school but also a place for a nice dinner on the weekend.”
Upon entrance, you'll see a traditional busy cafe at work, with a bakery case filled to the brim with homemade desserts, including carrot and chocolate cakes, cookies as big as your head, lemon bars and scones that are some of the best in the area. You can also enjoy their patio and benches under the sun or a perfectly sized umbrella outside.
“We have customers or guests who join us multiple times a week,” VanGalio said. “The regulars are there all the time, and it's also a place that a lot of people will stop when they are coming through from the Bay Area. They make an effort to make a detour through the cafe on the way to their destination.”
While VanGalio and her staff still had a challenging road during the COVID-19 pandemic, she mentioned she made a consistent effort to have at least one of the two businesses open so that downtown didn't look completely empty.
“One of my main goals was to have at least one restaurant open every day,” VanGalio explained. “I made sure the cafe was always open Mondays and Tuesdays. We all worked closely to get the downtown set up with tables and benches so people could eat outside while creating as festive a mood as possible so people could come downtown and be safe.”
In the early days of the pandemic, when the place was closed, VanGalio was able to do some basic remodeling and painting. They also only used to be open for dinner Thursday through Saturday but changed it up to a maximum of seven days a week coming out of the pandemic.
“Without the team there, we wouldn't be where we are,” VanGalio said. “Specifically, the back of the house team. When we were just doing takeout, we still had to have people cooking the food. A lot of us never got a break. We all came to work and worked throughout the past two years. It's pretty remarkable when you think about it.”
For a menu or more information on the Putah Creek Cafe, please visit putahcreekcafe.com/.