Doubtless many small restaurants with limited advertising budgets owe their existence to word of mouth among foodies. If you know about Seaboard Café, though, I suspect you heard about it through a different branch of the gossip grapevine: gardeners.
That's because this hidden gem of a lunch spot is tucked away behind Logan Trading Co., a garden shop and nursery in downtown Raleigh. To get to the eatery's order counter, you have to wend your way past bird baths, patio furniture, wind chimes and a jungle of ready-to-plant greenery.
When you get there, there's apt to be a line unless you arrive early or late (it's open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday). The line moves quickly, though, and before you know it you're enjoying an al fresco lunch against a backdrop of birdsong, dappled sunlight and a rainbow of flowers and landscape plants.
I'm partial to the chicken salad sandwich. Featuring homemade celery- and relish-spiked chicken salad, lettuce, tomato, pickle and mayo on soft whole-wheat bread, it's a soothingly old-fashioned construction that strikes me as perfectly suited to the idyllic setting. Unless I'm in an adventurous mood, that is, in which case the tuna salad with Swiss cheese and cranberries on grilled sourdough hits the spot.
Regardless of my mood, I'm happy to pay the $2 surcharge to substitute house-pickled carrots or raspberry-dijon pasta salad for the default chips or pretzels that come with sandwiches. Sometimes I'll spring for a cup of soup from the daily changing list: vegetarian vegetable, say, or Tex-Mex chili, or a refreshing gazpacho whose garden harvest includes the surprising punctuation of finely diced radishes.
I haven't yet tried the 8-ounce burger, though it clearly has its fans. So does the Greek grilled-chicken-breast entree salad, according to owner Rick Perales. And given the restaurant's herbaceous setting, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that veggies on sunflower bread is Seaboard Café's best-selling sandwich.
Perales (he's the friendly guy who takes your order) opened Seaboard Café in 1991. More than any single menu item, it's his warm hospitality and infectious smile that are responsible for this out-of-the-way eatery's enduring popularity.
OK, the Edenic setting doesn't hurt, either. You certainly don't have to be a gardener to appreciate all the greenery. And it's hard to imagine a foodie who wouldn't be tempted to pick up a pot of mums, their buttery flowers bursting like popcorn, on the way back to the car from Seaboard Café. I imagine if you look around a bit, you might even find a grapevine or two.
