LET’S EAT Restaurant Review by Annie Nashert
Café 7 Delicatessen & Pastaria

A café owned by OSU grads, new to north Oklahoma City, has been open for six months and is drawing in hungry customers. A sandwich, pizza or pasta, ready to eat in seven minutes—what more could someone in a hurry want?

When you walk thru the door you will notice the enticing aroma and the full tables. Take a moment to breath deeply before advancing to the menu board. Pasta or pizza, it can be a hard choice, fill out your order form and advance to the counter. There are separate forms for kids, pasta, pizza, salad and sandwiches. If you don’t care for the combinations offered, create your own. Pick a pasta, a sauce (six to choose from), and up to four toppings (there are 13 to choose from).

On my visit, I did not notice any children in the restaurant but they do offer high chairs and a kid’s menu that includes favorites like mac & cheese, mini ham & cheese, cheese pizza or spaghetti & meatballs. While waiting for my order, I inquired of several people how they enjoyed their food. Some were repeat customers and all agreed they
enjoyed their meals.

We had the turkey and guacamole sandwich ($6.45) with roasted turkey, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and fresh guacamole on a toasted hoagie. I had them add mayo and noticed it was very light on the guacamole, you might want to request extra if you are a big guac fan.

We also had a Cuban sandwich ($6.45) with smoked pulled pork, ham, banana peppers, red onion, pickles, Swiss cheese and dijonnaise sauce on a fresh toasted hoagie. Joe thought these combinations of flavors were quite tasty and the hoagie rolls they are served on are very good.

We couldn’t pass up the chance to order pizza so we had the luau pizza ($6.45) with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, Canadian bacon, pineapple and mandarin oranges on a crispy, tasty crust. I found this group of ingredients to be yummy. The sweet juicy pineapple and mandarin oranges were a nice compliment to the Canadian bacon and
cheese. I will gladly order this again though Joe would probably prefer the ultimate supreme pizza—tomato sauce, pepperoni, bacon, Italian sausage, Canadian bacon, green peppers, onions, mushrooms and black olives. Sounds like a manly pizza packed full.

We also tried the loaded baked potato salad and the Café 7 signature pasta salad. The potato salad had bacon bits and sour cream with nice slices of potato. I enjoyed the flavors of this salad while Joe preferred the pasta salad of rotini pasta, red and green peppers and onion with an Italian vinaigrette. Though the flavor was good it just seemed a little bland to me.

On the day we were there, they offered red velvet cake, cheesecake and a plate with a variety of mini desserts (éclair and cheesecake bites). We had the red velvet cake, a moist cake of several layers with white icing. I enjoyed the cake, Joe ate most of it but thought it needed more flavor, more chocolate. Most people sadly think red velvet cake should have a stronger chocolate flavor.

Café 7 can also cater to groups of five to 500 with platters or box lunches for your entertaining purposes.

Café 7 Delicatessen & Pastaria

Annie’s rating: 3 of 4 forks

14101 N May, OKC

405-748-3354

Prices: $1.00-$6.45

Hours: Monday-Saturday, 11am-8pm; Sunday, 11am-3pm

Fun Food Factoid: Red Velvet cake is a rich, sweet cake popular in the south with a red or red-brown color. There is very little cocoa in this cake so it does not have a strong chocolate flavor.