Wines, coffees, biers 
and sweets

[MAY 4, 2000]  Grapes and Grounds Café had its grand opening Monday, May 1, at 125 Sangamon St. in Lincoln.  The café serves imported coffees, wines and biers. The café hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.  On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays it will remain open as late as the adjacent Eckert’s Fine Dining.

Part-owner Jon Steffens said, “Our grand opening received great support from the Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors and a steady crowd of residents throughout the day.   Downtown business owners and patrons came out to show support, and almost everyone bought something.”  The Steffens brothers, Jon and Jason, operators and part owners of the café, are a part of a family corporation that includes their parents, business entrepreneurs Larry and Bette Steffens. 

 


[Beth and Jason Steffens stand behind the counter of their newly opened café.]

 

Jon and Jason Steffens liked the idea of gourmet coffee blends and flavorings so much that they decided to open Grapes and Grounds.  Jason’s wife, Beth, has been instrumental in the launching of this new venture. “We are trying to create a social climate where people can meet friends or read the newspaper while they drink coffee and eat sweets,” said Jon Steffens. Biscottis are now available, and the dessert menu will be expanded to include muffins, pastries and many of the dessert items that are served at Eckert’s Fine Dining.

Jon Steffens joined the family corporation in December 1998 as a partner and is the chef for Eckert’s Fine Dining, another of the family’s holdings.  The restaurant serves gourmet six-course French and Italian fare.  Jon said that his love of good food blossomed after a six-month stay in Italy, as did his love of fine wines and coffees.

The café serves a full array of specialty coffees: cappuccinos, lattes, espressos with and without flavors, as well as specialty teas. The café also sells its own special blend of packaged ground and whole bean coffee under the Grapes & Grounds label.  Chia tea (the Turkish word for tea) – a rich and creamy blend of honey, cream and spices – is served, as well as frozen drinks.  The menu includes many sugar-free offerings. 

 

The café carries 90 kinds of wine, a small selection according to Jon Steffens. “Our wines are affordable but good at $8 to $20 per bottle.  We want people to get in the habit of picking up a bottle of wine on a weekly basis to drink with their meals.”  At these prices, he feels, people can afford to buy and try different wines on a regular basis.  Wines are imported from all over the world – South Africa, Chile, Italy, France, etc.

 

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The café has a computerized, interactive wine guide where patrons can research wines from different countries to find out what kind of wine would be best for a particular meal.  “There is a ton of information there,” said Jon Steffens.

European biers are available that will appeal to bier lovers with and without trained palettes.  The owners will concentrate their selections of biers on micro brews.  In the early years of Lincoln, the 100 block of Sangamon Street was known as “Dutch row,” since the owners of that block were of German nationality.  Although the makeup of the block may have changed, the flavors of the German pubs have returned.

 

Patrons can purchase baskets made to order, filled with wines, coffees, biers and with their respective accoutrements for any occasion.  Wine racks, bottle openers and host of other items are also available to help complete the experience.

 


[Jon (left) and Jason (right) Steffens sit outside their Grapes and Grounds cafe on Sangamon Street.]

The Steffenses have purchased most of the property on the 100 block of Sangamon Street, from 121 Sangamon St., the location of Eckert’s Fine Dining, to 129 Sangamon, where the Pink Shutter is housed.  Some of their other downtown properties include a building at 412 Pulaski, across the street from the Vintage Fare restaurant, and properties at 519 and 521 Broadway St., the locations of Action Rental and Sorrento’s restaurant.

 

[Kym Ammons-Scott]