Eclectic Eating: The General Store Cafe

The General Store Cafe, located in downtown Pittsboro, vends not only an interesting mix of cuisines, but also the art on its walls and the antiques on its shelves. Eat a Mayan Burrito -- filled with sweet potatoes, jerk chicken, cheese and beans -- and take home the framed University of North Carolina Centennial Celebration poster you stared at during your meal. Drink a glass of the featured organic red wine, and decide where in your living room you can display the daintily painted birdhouse for sale on the table across from you. In the meantime, enjoy the sounds of local artists -- from flamenco to bluegrass to jazz musicians -- as they serenade the cafe's clientele.

Recently featured in Bon Appetit and Southern Living, the General Store Cafe opened in 1979 as a health food store. Now a thriving hub for local artists, the cafe offers breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. The staff -- locals who remember not only faces but favorite orders -- are consistently friendly, accommodating, and supportive of indigenous creativity. Potted flowers line the outside entrance, seated directly across from the smallest park and largest dogwood tree in the world. Fliers from non-profit organizations greet clients as they enter the cafe. Drawings from student patrons on special cafe paper sit proudly among the professional art on the walls. Purses hand-sewn by locals hang by the cash register.

The General Store Cafe offers menus for breakfast, lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch. Breakfast includes small items, like bagels, muffins, pastries, and heartier dishes, such as huevos rancheros with black beans and tortillas, and Belgian waffles with walnuts and berries. The lunch menu features salads, soups, sandwiches and unique, filling entrees. The Pittsburito is a favorite, stuffed with spinach, black beans, cheeses and salsa. The Mediterranean Platter -- a dish of hummus, stuffed grape leaves, baba ganouj, pita and tzatziki -- is also a winning choice. The dinner menu is the same as the lunch menu for half of the week, but grows to include interesting and changing entrees for the weekend. Hormone Free Beef Tenderloin with horseradish Dijon sauce, Seared Salmon with Citrus Beurre Blanc, and Roasted Tomato, Goat Cheese and Eggplant Roulades are among the featured items. Desserts -- cobblers, brownies, crumb cakes -- are homemade and not to be missed.

The chefs are often creative with their weekly specials, which vary by season, adding international flair with items like beef satay and pastitsio. Their experiments are consistently delicious and healthy. They also strive to include locally grown produce and locally raised poultry and beef.

The General Store Cafe's prices are moderate. The regular lunch and dinner menus range from $3 soups and salads to $11 entrees. Specials are $10 to $20.

Keeping up with a schedule as eclectic as the cafe itself can be challenging. Breakfast is Monday through Saturday, 7:30 to 11 a.m.; brunch on Sunday lasts from9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; hot lunches are served daily from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; deli items are offered from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.; dinners are 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday and 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday -- Saturday.

Contact the General Store Cafe at 39 West Street, Pittsboro, NC 27312; 919-542-2432; info@generalstorecafe.com.