Cafe Opens at Downtown Library

Update 10 p.m. Thursday, interview with Mark Yekta.

A new cafe opened quietly Thursday in a corner of the downtown library.

"We're trying to go after customers looking for breakfast at 7, coffee at 7, maybe a quick lunch with a diverse menu with reasonable pricing," said Mark Yekta of Danville, co-owner with his brothers Michael and Peter of the library cafe and its sister, Cafe Pica Deli of Gateway Boulevard, Concord. "Sandwich, chips and soda — we'll get you out of here for eight dollars. And we have candies and gum for the kids."

The cafe has a separate entrance from the outside to accommodate customers during morning hours before the library opens.

Bob Brittain of Walnut Creek went on a five-mile hike Thursday morning and said the tropical iced tea at the library hit the spot.

Yekta said the cafe is planning to stay open until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights, and see what the demand is. Yekta was formerly the owner of five Milano restaurants in the Bay Area in the 1990s, including one on Mount Diablo Boulevard in Walnut Creek.

The cafe has a co-branding agreement with Peet's Coffee & Tea, offering their beverages and a full Peet's menu, Yekta said.

Beverages are OK to take out of the cafe into the library proper as long as they're in covered containers. Patrons are not allowed to take food into the library proper and eat it there.

"It's like a new home," said Yekta. "We're learning where everything is. Like the boxes going into a new home."