Take the Girls to Magpie Café

This tiny, quaint restaurant on the far edge of South Main Street is unashamedly targeted at female retirees. Considering the sheer volume of sports bars in St. Charles, it’s refreshing to find a successful restaurant targeted at the opposite demographic.

You’ll find in a quaint, narrow converted house at the far edge of South Main Street. Soft listening hits of the 1970s play in a small front room decorated with a sign reading “The Witch Is In,” handblown glass bowls, and heart-shaped candle boxes on the tables. When I stopped in, the dining room was bustling with women from their mid 40s through mid 70s enjoying a light lunch.

Ironically, the staff consisted of three men under 30, all of whom did a fantastic job catering to the older female crowd. It may be an accident, but I suspect the owner did a bit of strategic hiring.  

The menu itself is equally targeted at feminine tastes with a heavy emphasis on hearts of palm salads, spinach salads, and a trio of daily house quiches. Because everyone in the dining room gushed about the quiche, I decided to try a slice with feta and spinach along with a side salad.

The service at Magpie Café can’t be beat. Not only did my iced tea never drop below half-full, but my quiche and salad combo came out almost instantly.  

The spinach salad was bigger on the inside than the outside. The deceptively small bowl was densely packed with washed baby spinach, dried cranberries, crumbled feta, and a light drizzle of a sweet, but not sticky, poppy seed house dressing with a nice, mild acidic vinegar background to balance the sweetness.

The salad was a clean, crisp change from the usual iceberg lettuce, including tomatoes and croutons.

The quiche came as a nice, savory slice of pie, likewise brimming over with spinach atop a thick layer of feta crumbles, all held together by a fluffy mix of eggs. House made that day and warmed up before being brought out, it was a nice, filling meal on a chilly day, but wasn't too dense or heavy.

If you're in the mood for a light but refreshing meal in the same price range as St. Louis Bread Company, this is a good lunchtime alternative. The quiche, salad, a couple slices of bread and my iced tea came to about $12.

However, I couldn’t resist the dessert menu. I was tempted by the homemade bread pudding with raisins and cranberries. However, I'm a sucker for crêpes, and Magpie Café offers them with Bing cherries, fresh strawberries, and my choice, the banana Heath Bar crêpe.

While good, dessert wasn’t as satisfying as the salad or quiche. The single crêpe was wrapped around banana slices and laid on a bed of drizzled caramel sauce. Instead of filling the crêpe itself with the Heath cream, it came as a massive fluffy cloud piled at one end.

Honestly, between the sheer volume of cream, almonds and caramel, the crêpe itself seemed like an afterthought. My only complaint for an otherwise excellent dining experience was I would have appreciated the stuffing spread between two to three crêpes. I ended up leaving a lot on the plate.

The gracious, attentive service combined with near record speeds and very affordable costs made for a great dining experience. The chicken wings and potato skins crowd would hate it, but for its target demographic, Magpie Café  is a delightful find. I give them a cheerful A-.