Sweet spot: Pine Island cafe is a hidden gem in every sense
The name couldn’t be more fitting.
To say Pine Island Getaway Café is off the beaten path would be an understatement.
“It was not in the budget to be on Matlacha,” said Florent Brunet who co-owns the French bakery with brothers Adam and Thomas. “We decided to be in the back.”
“The back” is another understatement.
Opened in 2018, it’s behind an industrial park on Doug Taylor Circle, off Stringfellow Road in St. James City.
Map it and you may be directed on a side route off Pine Island Road that runs beyond the county maintenance line. Stay the course and you’ll be glad when you eventually find it.
“It’s like an experience here,” said Adam. “People come, eat, stay. We didn’t want to be just a French bakery. We want to be part of the soul of the island. The locals have been very good to us. Some come every day.”
They’re coming early for the full espresso bar, the almond croissants, brioche filled with cream cheese and blueberry, tarts, loaves of bread and more.
“We focus on making everything ourselves,” Adam said. “It’s all homemade and at a fair price.”
Make your purchase at the display cases, then grab a seat along a wall-length counter inside, on the screened-in patio, or at an outdoor table overlooking a serene pond.
Items tend to sell out by late morning so go early for the best selection.
“The croissants are very popular,” Florent said. “They are made with French butter. It’s imported from France. The flour too. We make 3,000 a month.”
That butter is found in the tarts too.
“It just elevates everything,” Adam said.
For lunch, the croissants are back, overflowing with chicken, tuna or bacon, egg and cheese, plus ham and cheese empanadas, French onion soup, croque monsieur and quiche.
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Macarons, cheesecakes, tiramisu, Danish, mousse, cream puffs, thousand leaves pastry, eclairs and more get gobbled up as the day goes on.
The brothers, who grew up on the France side of the Caribbean island St. Martin, come in around 5:30 a.m. to “start the process again, from bread to all the pastry.”
“Even though we are closed on Mondays, I still come in,” Adam said. “And I’m still behind.”
It’s just that good and well worth finding.
Pine Island Getaway Café, 5281 Douglas Taylor Circle, Pine Island; open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m Sunday; (239) 283-3602; follow on Facebook.
Robyn George is a food and dining reporter for The News-Press. Connect at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Pine Island Getaway Cafe is a hidden gem well worth finding
