Pennyroyal Cafe
By Courtney Buell
Photography by Cody Buell
There’s a street in Downtown Provo that’s quickly becoming the epicenter of Utah Valley’s artistic and cultural scene. Home to such hip haunts as Muse Music, Velour, Coal Umbrella, Mode Boutique and the Sego Art Center, University Avenue recently welcomed a new member to its painfully cool ranks: the Pennyroyal Cafe.
Aside from a dose of shabby-glam style complete with exposed brick, chandeliers and tons of local art, Pennyroyal serves delicious sandwiches and salads that also happen to weigh on the healthy side. We started out with a roasted pepper and tomato soup that was velvety and rich without any added heaviness—perfect for warming up from the inside out on frosty nights without going the typical chicken-noodle route.
We followed up the soup with Pennyroyal’s “Flower Power” salad, topped with sliced pears, candied pecans, dried cranberries, feta, honey-yogurt dressing and—you guessed it—pretty flowers that are actually edible. We also enjoyed “Gwyneth’s Girl” which mixed grilled chicken, sliced apples and feta with creamy tarragon dressing.
To round out our experience, we had to sample the sandwiches too. Our first taste was of the “Pennyroyal Classic:” a grilled panini on focaccia with turkey breast, roasted red peppers, tomato, pesto and toasted cheddar. This concoction is crispy, melty and utterly divine. “The Sweet Adeline” features turkey and cranberry cream cheese and also proves to be a tasty and semi-sweet option for sandwich-seekers.
At long last, Provo culture-seekers have a fitting place to rest their feet and fill their tanks after a night of gallery-strolling or concert-going. You can bring a date for an affordable dinner (nothing on the menu is over $8), tote along some homework during lunch, or swing by for a late breakfast (think all-you-can-eat cereal). Home to music shows, indie movie nights and fundraisers, you never know just what you’ll be treated to. For us, it was an impromptu acoustic jam session. And the not-to-be-missed homemade chocolates located near the register.
{Find a Penny}
The Pennyroyal Cafe
155 N. University Avenue
Provo, Utah
(801) 341-0120
Open 11 a.m. - 2 a.m.
www.pennyroyalcafe.com
December 29th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Yay! I’m so glad you reviewed this. I work in Downtown Provo and have been meaning to stop by. Looks fabulous! THANKS!
December 29th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
It would have taken me longer to discover this place without your site. And I live like two blocks away. THANK YOU! This place looks like the reason I think Zupas is yuck.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Oh, this place looks great and I can’t wait to try the Pennyroyal Classic!! YUM!
January 2nd, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Cute place. Those chocolates are Costco though BTW, not homade. I get them every Christmas.
January 4th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Hello, I wanted to leave a post to say how great the owners of this new establishment were on New Years. Our house burned down on the 31st, we lost everything including our cat. After having many tears, I made my wife get out of the house and try to celebrate the New Year. We drove down University Ave and found PennyRoyal Cafe open. We had a great meal, and after telling someone behind the counter about what just happened he gave us free hot chocolate. It is Amazing we thought of kindness of strangers. At the strike of midnight my wife and I decided to finally hug and celebrate the New Year with tears rolling down our eyes. We listened to the great musician, and watched some freshmen dance which finally brought us to laughter.
We decided to finally leave, and to my surprise the owner (or one of them) handed us a note saying they had a pretty good day, and although it was not much, he would like to share something with us.
I believe PennyRoyal Cafe shared their heart with us. And we really appreciated their genuine generosity toward us. We will always remember this as the best act of kindness that we have received in our lives. It lifted up our hearts tremendously after having experienced one of the most difficult hours of our lives.
We don’t have enough words to express our immense gratitude to the owners and employees of Pennyroyal Cafe! They are one of the most kind and generous people we have ever encountered!
It has now been 5 days since our house has burned down and it has been the most kind and Christ-like moment in our lives. We wish PennyRoyal Cafe continue success. They truly deserved it! Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!