Cafe 43 (In case you missed it.  President George W. Bush was the 43rd  President of the United States of America.) is the new restaurant at  the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

There is an outside entrance to Cafe 43, and it is open to the public for lunch (11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.) Monday thru Friday.  On Saturday and Sunday, brunch is served from 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

FYI:  The kind volunteers will be quick to tell you that if you decide to eat after you have gone through security, you will have to re-enter through security to return to the museum.  This is also true of the Museum Store.  Since the restaurant and gift shop are open to the public, (You do not have to pay to go into the museum if you are only wanting to eat or shop.) it makes sense.  You do have to pay for parking though.

Cafe 43 is gorgeous.  Tall windows that are framed with thick dark wood are on three walls.  Beyond the windows is the prairie.  The room is light and bright and very calming.  I liked it.  I loved it.

The red goblets sparkled in the light, and were impressive.  They certainly got my attention.

Before we ordered, tasty crackers were brought to our table in a wire basket.  The crackers were beyond good.  Really!  Who could have imagined that humble crackers could be so delicious.

I read that all of the bread used at Cafe 43 is from La Spiga.  I looked up La Spiga, and it is located at 4203 Lindbergh Drive in Addison.  It is north of Belt Line and off Midway on Lindbergh.  The cracker bread is called Lavosh and sells for $2.95 a bag.  (Note to self:  Go to La Spiga soon.  I shared this information because I thought you might need/want to know.)

The menu is designed to offer fresh ingredients, and it will change with the seasons.  It is another restaurant with the farm to table concept.  Fresh food, well prepared is always a winner, and Cafe 43‘s food was delicious.

Ever-Lovin’ ordered the Crab Cake on a bed of melon slaw with a smoked red pepper remoulade from the appetizer menu.  Excellent choice.  The crab cake was basically large lumps of crab with very little filler. (That’s the way I like it.)  The melons in the slaw added a touch of sweetness.  Yummy!  (On this day, I was so happy we shared our dishes.)

My choice was the Slow Cooked Pulled BBQ Pork Sandwich on a jalapeño cheddar bun.  Again the bread was fantastic.  The bun wasn’t spicy, but it still had flavor.  The pulled pork was very tasty, but not peppery hot or drowning in sauce.  The Kennebec Fries were … not bad – just different.  Okay, I did a little research, and the Kennebec potato is now the “It” potato.  I am sure you already knew this, but…  Our waiter told us the Kennebec potatoes are more consistent during the entire growing season.  Due to this fact, it is easier to serve consistently good fries using Kennebec potatoes.  The fries were good.  They were firmer than many fries.  Live and learn.

For dessert, we tried the Grilled Carrot Cake.  After we ordered, the waiter mentioned this was his favorite dessert on the menu.  We knew this was going to be good when we could smell the dessert before it was placed on the table.  Here is the how to:  The carrot cake was sliced, buttered, and sprinkled with finishing sugar.  Then the cake slices were grilled in a panini press.  There was a nice crunchiness surrounding the sweet moist cake.  On top of the cake was very sweet cardamom cream cheese.

Cafe 43 was a wonderful ending to our visit to the museum.  I feel like we have been on a vacation.

Blessings to you and yours,

You are encouraged to make reservations for dining at Cafe 43.