West Ashley Eatery Doubles as Daytime Coffee & Brunch Café & After Work Wine + Dessert Bar

Jeff Walker,  Entertainment Writer / Food & Beverage Review

In the ever changing landscape of the food and beverage industry in greater Charleston, it's best to set yourself apart. You never want to do what your competition is doing just down the block. That is especially true when it comes to coffee houses. Coffee much like tea, wine, and beer has become a preferred beverage, with coffee houses becoming preferred destinations.

Whether it's a morning pick me up, a midday gathering, or an end of the day respite, coffee houses and or coffee cafes are part of the lifeblood of our daily lives. Not surprisingly the national chains, most notedly the one out of Seattle has tainted the local coffee house, becoming more run of the mill. Offering average coffee at ever increasing prices, they've become less customer friendly and more about profit. Overkill has caused them and others like them to loose their charm. 

Having said the aforementioned, Café Roca located at 1303 Ashley River Road in West Ashley is every bit a welcoming community coffee house, albeit with a twist. Owned and operated by Joe Walker who formerly ran Stereo 8 on Folly Road, Joe isn't interested in being ordinary, rather he prefers to be unconventional, more akin to a square peg in a round hole.

While Café Roca serve up awesome espresso concoctions, iced lattes, killer fresh brewed coffees, chai teas, and power drinks, they offer a unique brunch style menu from 6am until 2pm weekday, and 7am-2pm (Sat-Sun). Among their desirables include pop in your mouth travel bites, pastries, sandwiches, salads, bowls, and bagels. 

Want to wake up your taste buds, perhaps try their sourdough Lox Toast, topped with an avocado spread, nova lox, tomato, caper, red onion, dill, lemon juice, and evoo (extra virgin olive oil). Or maybe opt for its zestier cousin the toasted sesame Lox Bagel complete with herb cream cheese, lox, tomato, cucumber, red onion, caper, and lemon. Go old school and order a toasted bagel with a plain schmear of butter or jam. Ooh la-la! 

The adventurous might want to sample their Wontons. Simply a flaky Chinese dumpling filled with egg, cheese, bacon, and green onion in an eel sauce, surrounded by sriracha aioli (mayo with sriracha chili sauce). The Wonton is undeniably the king of the early morning travel bites. Go ahead and 'take a walk on the wild side'.

However, if you really want to test your palate and have a bit of a sweet tooth, I suggest the Hemp Granola Bowl. Vanilla Greek yogurt swirled in a blend of house-made granola (for crunch), strawberries, blueberries, and toasted coconut chard (crispy toasted flakes), as well as hemp heart (soft & nutritious inner portion of hemp seeds), and jalapeno infused honey for an added kick. If this bowl doesn't scream 'greet the day' than maybe you need an Americano or a double shot of espresso. Couldn't hurt!

If you need to take your sweet tooth to the next level there's always Café Roca's Raspberry-Lemon Poppy Scone or their ever satisfying Blueberry Muffins and Brownies. They all go great with a hot or cold caffeinated brew. Café Roca gets their pastries just a little ways down Highway 61 at Little Peanut Bakery in West Ashley. 

Furthermore Café Roca craft all their coffee concoctions using beans from Riptide Coffee on Dorchester Rd. in North Charleston. Riptide are quickly becoming the local coffee bean of choice due to their bold, rich, and complex blends, derived from South America, Africa, Central America, and Costa Rica. You can smell and taste the difference.

The appeal of coffee is that if it's cold outside you can enjoy a piping hot cup of joe, or if it's the middle of the summer you can sip on an iced latte. No matter how you prefer your brew, they all go well with Café Roca's more traditional lunch time fare. A half dozen handhelds include a festive Turkey Sandwich on sourdough bread, complete with sliced turkey breast, brie, strawberry jalapeno jam, arugula, and black pepper aioli. A wealth of flavors between two slices of bread. Yummy!

Café Roca's Beef Sandwich is a flirtatious take on the Philly cheesesteak. Served on an authentic Amoroso roll, your eight inch hoagie comes teeming with marinated grilled steak, surrounded in a medley of roasted red pepper and white onion, further oozing in goat cheese and a slather of pesto aioli. Goodness gracious, that's an amazing array of flavors on a hearth-baked Italian hoagie roll.

Gluten-free bread options exists, as do vegan friendly choices such as a Veggie Sandwich or the Farmer salad consisting of blueberries, strawberries, avocado, granola, red onion, chick peas, and goat cheese on a bed of mixed greens drenched under a savory mustard dressing. Gluten free options available. Café Roca continually think outside the box!

Just recently they dipped their culinary toe into another food & beverage watering hole. As they transition later in the day (4-9pm) Café Roca become a hip laid back community wine + dessert bar, offering fruit of the vine alongside a variety of lite bites that complement the menu items. !2 select wines (four each of red, white, & sparkling. It's like a 'Red, Red, Wine' (UB40) at Café Roca.

The groupings include a fruit & cheese board, a charcuterie plate, spring rolls, duck tacos, and Korean BBQ Wings. Desserts include a Fried Steam Bun Ice Cream Sandwich, Little Peanut Bakeshop Cheesecake, and Affogato, a classic Italian dessert made by pouring a shot of hot Riptide espresso over a scoop of Wholly Cow Killa Vanilla ice cream. Heavenly!!

The name 'Roca' which is Spanish for rock, came about by Joe's wife Diana. The couple are fans of rock n' roll, with music playing an essential role in Café Roca. Whether it's daily, weekly, or sometimes monthly Joe personally selects the cafe's playlist which could be anything from the 1960's through today, encompassing several genres of music. No rhyme or reason, just awesome songs playing subtly in the background while patrons enjoy good food & drink, great coffee, and shared conversation. 

Additionally Diana owns Shift Pilates Body Shop next door, and the Walker's own a small neighborhood convenience store, which is part bodega, part gourmet food shop, part head shop and every bit a throw back to the 1980's and 90's at the far corner of the building near Home Team BBQ. Want more? In between The Corner Store and Café Roca the couple are at work on a niche slightly upscale Italian bistro that will serve dishes created from home-made pasta. Talk about being in touch with the surrounding community, the Walker's are establishing a foot print for sure.

What about the overall vibe. The interior was built by hand using building materials either found, salvaged, reclaimed and or recycled. Café Roca is best described as modern warehouse meets industrial studio, with an homage to an old school record shop. More like it's like 'Black Coffee in Bed' (Squeeze) merging with 'Champagne Super Nova' (Oasis) at Café Roca. A nod to coffee, wine, and rock n' roll.

Let's recap. Café Roca is an unpretentious eatery doubling as a daytime coffee shop with amazing brunch style offerings, before morphing into a fashionable early evening wine + dessert bar serving up shareables and trendy sweet treats. And oh yeah, as long as you don't over abuse the privilege, Café Roca welcomes guests to bring in the laptops and use their shop as a mobile office. 

Collectively the fundamental principle at Café Roca is thoughtfulness, with their hope in some small way, too enrich the lives of their guests. Mission accomplished. Maybe exercise the body and soul at Shift, and then shift (pun intended) on over to Café Roca to refresh the body and soul with great food and drink. Perhaps pop in The Corner Store just in case there's something you need to take home. It's a win-win-win combination!

For more on this one of kind avant-garde coffee shop slash wine bar, listening lounge, and community gathering place visit https://caferoca.com/ and for more on the coffee they brew up catch the Riptide surf at https://www.riptidecoffee.com/ And for more on Shift Pilates Body Shop visit https://shiftbodyshop.com/