Grilled Broccoli Over Blue Cheese Dressing with Spicy Crispies

Ar·ca·dia  är-?k?-d?-?

1. Region of Greece: in mythology the domain of the god Pan

2. Pastoral Paradise; an ideal of life in harmony with nature

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3. A 1993 play by Tom Stoppard concerning the relationship between past and present, order and disorder and the certainty of knowledge

4. The best coffee shop in Ames, Iowa

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Today, a continuation of a week-long series here at The Veggies

Liz Jeffrey and her husband Ryan are the geniuses behind Arcadia, one of Ames, Iowa's most loved coffee shops. Home to “The slowest cup of coffee in town”  Not only is their food comforting (mmmm .. Laksa soup and Sweet Potato Gnocchi), but the homey vibe makes you want to stay a while, have a turtle bar, and take a million Instagram pics

In Part I – They chatted about moving to Ames .. early experiences in the culinary world .. and her parent's funny reaction when she told them they were getting married

Ahead .. Liz shares her journey toward perspective .. why she doesn't take short cuts .. and a terrifying late-night robbery that would forever shape their business strategy

How did you know you wanted to open a restaurant? 

Ryan: Ever since working at the chocolate shop, we'd talked about opening our own place

His Dad also has his own company, so we'd defiantly caught the entrepreneurial spirit

Ryan:  My grandfather owned his own company and his father was an independent practice lawyer. My grandmother's father also owned his own company. It's second nature to us

— — —

Why a coffee shop?

Ryan:  We started roasting coffee at the chocolate shop, and that's really where I began learning about it.  Freshly roasted coffee (at that point) was a life-changing experience. It was such a different world from what I'd grown up with. So I started roasting my own coffee at home.

I'd never liked coffee

Ryan:  The initial concept for Arcadia was on the bakery side.  It wasn’t until well into the thought process that we added coffee

The original idea was a dessert shop (confections).  Just bakery and chocolate, because that's what I do. I like everything with chocolate

In culinary school, we had to create a business plan. I remember the day I said “Ryan, this math .. it isn't working. I don't understand how anybody ever makes money. This is never going to work!”

As it turns out, I was trying to pay rent every day, instead of once a month

Photo Credit: JohnnyLeeDavenport.com

Why the name Arcadia?

Ryan:  It's one of my favorite plays

Which you bought and tried to read

Ryan:  Tom Stoppard is one of my favorite playwrights and Arcadia my favorite of his plays. I like the aesthetic implied by it. Kind of a pastoral beauty in nature. The prairie style of architecture, stone, wood, and a natural interface

Also, the name begins with an A. Which puts it at the beginning of an alphabetized list

Very important

— — —

What differentiates Arcadia from some of the other places in town?

We're super picky about flavors and style. So we do everything ourselves. Flavor comes from something that's homemade. For example, our mixes. We make our own mocha mix and hot chocolate. We make our own chai.

Another example,  syrup. My memory of coffee and syrup begins in Seattle with an 8 oz cup of coffee .. three of which were syrup. It didn't end very well. Therefore, when I was choosing syrups, I sought out those you wouldn't find at the grocery

I don't know of anyone else who does it that way.  Nobody takes two different things because you get all of one thing. Right?

But that's not what we do. We don't do it the easy way; I don't do shortcuts

Ryan:  We're also willing to take a different approach when it comes to running the business. For example, we'll never have just one person at the shop. This is from a safety perspective, as well as a working perspective

The dual control is very important. It's one of the reasons we weren't profitable for three or four years because it's something we insisted on

Years ago, Ryan’s aunt worked at a pizza shop in Iowa City. She never locked the door and one night she was in the back counting money at close. Somebody came in, injected her with something, and shot her.

Thankfully, she lived to tell about it.

Do you think this approach has helped or hurt your business? (Especially when it comes to coffee)

Not everybody knows we're the slowest cup of coffee in town

People who have a good experience or understand that .. come back. People who want that or know what pour-over is .. seek us out. A true story from a man we met at a party .. in fact, it might have been at Spaghetti Saturday. He came up to me and said

“Oh my God, Arcadia .. I have to tell you”

He'd come in and his coffee had taken forever. He was trying to get on the road to Des Moines. He was in a hurry and thought “I can’t believe this.” He was angry. He was angry at the process and at the ordering. He was angry with the paying and about waiting for his coffee

About halfway to Des Moines, he thought “Wow. This coffee is still really good.” By the time he got to Des Moines, he'd decided it was the best coffee he'd ever had. “Now I get it”

But about half-way through his first time in, he'd decided he was never going to stop again. In fact, he was going to tell people how awful the entire experience was. It was so far outside the norm that he didn’t want to have anything to do with it. That is until it occurred to him

“This is the best coffee I’ve ever had. Maybe there’s a reason”

Ryan:  We did put up on the letterbox sign once “Slowest Coffee in Town”

It was after him!

— — —

On Perspective

At some point, it struck me that I was doing the best I could. My heart, my soul, my blood, sweat, and tears were in this business. Some people would get it and some people wouldn’t.

I had to take a step back and say “that’s ok.”  I love being there.  It’s hard work.  It's a part of me. But it doesn’t define me. I've always said if the place burned down, I’d be sad for two weeks and then I’d find something else to do

( .. to be continued .. )

Photo Credit – Facebook – Liz with a future customer

One of the most request items on the menu? Grilled Broccoli with Blue Cheese and Crispy Berbere Puffed Rice

One of their signature dishes .. the grilled, smokey flavor really sets this broccoli apart. The magic? A punchy vinaigrette filled with spicy harissa and Sriracha, soy, lemon, and vinegar .. that Creates a wonderful contrast to the creamy blue cheese sauce

Irresistibly crunchy, butter toasted crispies to top it off

Bet you'll never want to eat broccoli the same way again!

Enjoy!

xoxo

ps:  You can read more about Liz and Ryan in Part I  |  Part III  |  Part IV  |  Part V  of the series

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~ Adapted from Stephanie Izard, chef of Girl and Goat restaurant in Chicago