New cafe and market scheduled to open May 2

By Molly Moser

The highly anticipated opening of a new restaurant in Guttenberg is scheduled for Monday, May 2, when Sodes Green Acre Country Market and Café will begin offering a unique combination of locally produced goods from food and spirits to handmade gifts.

Since closing Sode’s Bar and Grill last October, Matt and Beth Sadewasser have been hard at work on their limestone building at 7 Goethe Street. The couple purchased the building in 2008 and began renovations, which include the addition of two upper-story apartments. They’ve honored the building’s history, which dates back as far as 1839, by exposing original brick, beams, and limestone throughout the interior and exterior. 

The new café and market features a gift shop, a deli, indoor and outdoor restaurant seating, a full bar menu, and also houses a small liquor and cigar store owned by the couple’s son, Owen. Breakfast will be served from 7:30-10 a.m. and lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday. “We’ll be using homemade, fresh ingredients,” Beth told The Press. “Every day there will be a different dinner salad, a different sandwich basket, and a sandwich, soup and side lunch special.” There are 30 different soups, sandwiches, and side dishes with endless pairings to be offered.  

The regular menu will include ‘build-your-own’ burgers, as well as burgers with daily twist that might include bleu cheese grilled onions with steak sauce or feta cheese and black olives. “We’ll combine different ingredients to help you expand your palate,” said Beth. Other items include specialty grilled cheese sandwiches and homemade macaroni and cheeses, vegetarian entrees, and daily salads such as fiesta; feta, fruit and nuts; and oriental that can be ordered with or without chicken to cater to vegetarian diets. Ice cream smoothies will also be available. 

Baked goods will be offered each day, as will salads, cold or crock-pot sandwiches, soups, and several take-and-bake options for the evening meal. “On Dad’s night to cook or after a long day of work, stop in to pick up supper, go home and pop it in your oven,” said Beth. Lasagna, spaghetti, meatloaf, chicken Parmesan, and Chinese food will be several of the take-and-bake offerings.  

Friday night is date night at Sodes Green Acre Country Market and Café. An evening meal will be served from 5 – 9 p.m. with menus of varying options each week. “Every Friday night there will be some regular things that are always on the menu, like a slow roasted prime rib sandwich we shave thin ourselves, served with an au jus and horseradish sauce with sautéed mushrooms and onion or a whole Mississippi catfish,” said Beth. “Dinners will be complete with fish, meat, or a vegetarian entrée, like salmon with wild rice, asparagus and a dessert. I want people to think of us first when they think of a really good seafood dinner.” She plans to serve catfish, shrimp, salmon, sea bass, calamari, a seafood appetizer basket, seafood chowders, and bisques alongside more typical items like steaks and barbecued ribs. 

Desserts will be served with every meal on Friday evenings. “We are going to be the place to come for desserts made with booze. We are really perfecting that,” Beth told The Press, listing cheesecake with Fireball caramel sauce, chocolate cake with Bailey’s mousse, whipped cream with Rumchata, grasshoppers and pink squirrels among the options. 

Diners also have the opportunity to purchase a bottle of wine or a build-your-own six pack from the liquor store and, for a small cork or bucket fee, consume those drinks over dinner in the café. Sodes will even recork your wine bottle for carry out if you don’t finish it. Mixed drinks, craft beer on tap, domestic beers and spirits will be sold by the drink in the café. 

Saturday morning’s breakfast menu will feature a different novelty each week, like a maple bourbon bacon donut. Regular hours for the store are 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays. 

The Sadewassers' renovated limestone building holds even more than a restaurant. “When people walk in, the first thing they’ll be greeted with is a nice selection of handmade, locally produced consignment items,” said Beth. The gift shop will feature fountains and zodiac necklaces, novelty and bulk candies, cooking wines, party supplies, and the popular ‘ice cream of the future,’ Dippin’ Dots. 

Whether you’re hungry, thirsty, or looking for a unique gift, Sodes Green Acre Country Market and Café is sure to hit the spot.