(In First Look, we pay a quick visit to a new restaurant or bar in Central New York to give readers an idea of what to expect. Our food critics might visit these places eventually and give us their take, but we want to highlight what’s new in our area. If you know of a new place, send an email to cmiller@syracuse.com or call/text me at 315-382-1984. If I take your suggestion, I just might buy you a meal.)
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Syracuse, N.Y. — For the past 22 years, Mike Bolognone has been delivering premium coffee to hundreds of businesses throughout Central New York for his father’s distribution company. It only makes sense that his first go at the restaurant business would be to serve the perfect pastry to dunk into that coffee.
The Koffee King Cafe opened a few weeks ago at 3712 New Court Ave. in Lyncourt, in the building that once housed Bob’s Barkers brick-and-mortar hot dog stand. Mike and his wife, Rebekah, had talked for years about opening a cafe that serves her baked goods, sandwiches and soups. Earlier this year, he was on his way to the office on Townline Road and noticed the building was for sale.
Mike and Rebekah closed on the property in April. They painted the entrance, built a food counter using discarded wine barrels and scraped years of grease off the kitchen equipment. As they restored the inside for the cafe, they opened an ice cream stand in the front lefthand side of the store on July 2. They serve milkshakes, floats and cones, using locally made Byrne Dairy hard ice cream.
The building is now fully open with five tables inside for up to 18 dine-in customers. They also have picnic tables in the outdoor patio and a drive-through window.
Koffee King Cafe in Lyncourt. Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com
Throughout the summer, Rebekah worked on perfecting her recipes for the cafe. She developed a breakfast pizza, a chocolate peanut butter banana bread, grilled sandwiches and belly-filling soups.
The signature dish here, though, is the Gooey Buns.
Mike grew up in Syracuse eating the sticky buns his grandmother made each weekend. Rebekah’s side of the family in southern New Jersey had its own cinnamon bun recipe handed down from her great-grandmother. Rebekah spent months blending the two recipes until she figured out the ideal blend.
“I’m in love with the product,” Mike said. “Seriously, these are special. They do take so long to make, but it’s so worth it in the end.”
You’d think making sticky buns is nothing more than mixing up some flour, sugar, cinnamon and water and tossing it into an oven.
Think again.
It takes Samantha Kelly, their general manager and head baker, three hours to make a batch of 30-48 buns each morning. “That’s why other people don’t make these,” Rebekah said. “It takes so long for the dough to rise that most people just give up.”
The homemade dough recipe comes from Rebekah’s side of the family. Mike’s great-grandmother, Malvina, would put melted butter on top of the dough, under the cinnamon and sugar.
You must try ...
Gooey Buns ($3.19): A typical sticky bun from a bakery or supermarket weighs 2 or 3 ounces. The ones at Koffee King Cafe are anything BUT typical. I think I figured out why they call them Gooey Buns here: The think syrupy glaze serves as a binder for the five rings of cinnamon dough rather than a thin hardened sugar icing.
One of these 6-inch breakfast pastries weighs 9½ ounces, more if you order one with nuts and/or cream cheese frosting. This baked yeast pastry is heavier than five scrambled eggs, and it’s a hell of a lot tastier.
You will need a large cup of their medium-roast Paul de Lima coffee to wash it down. The coffee is fresh and complements the bun nicely without getting in the way of its flavor.
TIP: Be sure you have a knife. These buns are so dense that without a fork, it’ll be like eating an extra-long Pizza Frite at the State Fair. That’s a good thing.
Gooey Buns are the signature item at Koffee King Cafe in Lyncourt. Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com
Sausage Cream Cheese Soup ($4.99): Koffee King offers a creamy tomato soup and this savory soup each day. This just happens to be Mike’s favorite. It better be since Rebekah came up with the recipe.
The soup has a chicken broth base with heavy cream and cream cheese. She adds diced onions, garlic and tomatoes before adding ground Gianelli Italian sausage and parmesan cheese.
I used this as a dipping sauce for my fried bologna sandwich. The soft buttered bun absorbed the meaty broth oh-so nicely. It turned out to be the perfect bowl of comfort for this time of year.
Sausage cream cheese soup at Koffee King Cafe in Lyncourt. Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com
Fried Bologna Sandwich ($5.99): This is one of few restaurants in the area that serves such a sandwich, and that’s a shame. We’re not talking a slab of Oscar Mayer lunch meat between two slices of Wonder Bread warmed up in a microwave oven.
Mike fries seven thin slices of high-end deli meat in hot vegetable oil as he grills a buttered potato roll. Again, this is what Malvina made him for lunch when he was a kid. “It’s always been my favorite sandwich,” he said.
While Mike prefers his fried bologna plain, I had him spread some dark mustard on top of the meat. He also offers a slice of Colby-jack cheese.
Mike Bolognone prepares a grilled bologna sandwich at Koffee King Cafe in Lyncourt. Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com
Affogato ($4.49): This Italian coffee-based dessert is unlike anything you’ll find at Starbucks or some fancy coffeehouse or ice cream parlor. It’s basically a coffee float.
Mike plops a healthy scoop of hard vanilla ice cream into the bottom of a 20-ounce cup before nearly filling it with Paul de Lima dark-roast coffee. He adds a shot of caramel syrup before topping that with a dollop of soft-serve ice cream. He finishes with a swirl of heavy whipped cream and a ring of hot caramel sauce.
The clear plastic cup winds up looking like a drinkable lava lamp as the soft ice cream slowly melts its way into the coffee. This is THE perfect pick-me-up in the late afternoon. Sure, it’ll wreck your dinner, but the caffeine buzz fights a wicked sugar high to give you all kinds of energy.
Mike Bolognone creates an affogato at Koffee King Cafe in Lyncourt. Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com
The Details
The venue: Koffee King Cafe, 3712 New Court Ave., Syracuse. (315) 960-0006.
Hours: Monday-Saturday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Closed Sunday. (They’ll be closing at 2 p.m. when ice cream season ends.)
Dress: Casual
Alcohol: No
Credit cards? Yes
Eat in? Yes
Takeout: Yep
Parking: Large parking lot.
MORE CNY FOOD
Charlie Miller finds the best in food, drink and fun across Central New York. Contact him at (315) 382-1984, or by email at cmiller@syracuse.com. You can also find him on Twitter @HoosierCuse.
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