It’s late on a Saturday morning and don’t ask why I happen to be trekking the streets and alleyways of lovely little Ambler, so many miles from my home. Something compelling has called me there, I guess.
It’s January cold on this wintry December day, and arctic air fills my lungs as I pass through a very Courier & Ives scene: shops are alit, piped-in holiday music resounds off the Victorian homes and galleries and shoppers scurry as locals file into the old Ambler Theatre.
Tucked in my worn rucksack is a giant Stephen King tome that I’ve been reading for the last how-ever-many months. Now, if I can only find a place to sit for awhile, maybe a cup of hot coffee…
Ambler, that Central Montgomery County treasure trove, could very well be the perfect Pennsylvanian town. Clean, walk-able, safe and adjoining points everywhere, it boasts good schools, a fine community fabric and a tidy yet laudable little restaurant scene.
There’s the sleek and upscale Bridget’s 8 West (recently expanded in size and in menu) and its rowdier sibling, K.C.’s Alley, next door. La Cava is a diminutive Mexican BYO. Across the street there’s a favorite of mine, The Shanachie, for Blarney-good fun and a pint of Guinness. Trax Café within the old train station serves serious New American fare, and just-opened nearby is Finn McCool’s, as hep cat-a-place as its name suggests.
They’re all closed at the moment, yet, down quiet Main Street I hear a guitar strumming and the plaintive chords of someone singing; a whiff of coffee tempts my nose. “What’s this little place? Sweet Bytes…” I walk on in.
Even without having yet opened her mouth to say hello, Donna Mitchell’s expressively deep eyes gazing at me from behind her neat counter give off a most welcoming greeting. They speak volumes about this woman; the motherly look of someone who has experienced life in ways I can not yet fully understand. Later though, I’ll learn a bit about the depths this genteel lady has mined.
The guitarist, a Jim Croce-like performer named Jack Enea, occasionally plays here on Saturday mornings. Imagine that! Live acoustical entertainment with your bacon and eggs!
Inside the storefront café, the walls are painted a sunny hue and lots of light streams through the wide front window. On plump love seats and at a handful of tables, locals huddle with their coffee mugs or café au lait, next to hearty plates of French toast, eggs and cheesy breakfast sandwiches. Consigned area artists’ works are displayed along one side of the room, and at another, a bank of computers beckons. Sweet Bytes, you see, is an Internet café, possibly the first of its kind in the entire county.
At lunchtime, Mitchell, her mother, Lorraine, and their friend Kimberly tend to this Ambler anomaly, a cyber café that hosts varied acoustical performers and jazz singers, while serving real home cooking. It all translates into an experience that is far more like being in their actual home than simply a restaurant.
Sweet Bytes serves weekend breakfast, lunches on Tuesday through Sunday and dinner Wednesday to Friday. The menu shifts from morning favorites to simple yet hearty soups, salads and sandwiches by noontime. Donna’s chicken salad, her daddy’s North Carolina pulled pork and coleslaw on a Kaiser roll and a comforting three bean vegetarian chili lead the down home hit parade. After a spoonful of that good ‘n spicy chili, I slowly rend in half the homemade cornbread, watching wisps of heat steaming out of the good, grainy meal.
Their dinner platters are comfort-fare favorites, and the most affordable as you’ll find in this area: oven-fried chicken filets served with two Southern sides (choose from mac and cheese, collard greens, yams, country style string beans…), chicken stew and biscuits or Lorraine’s meat loaf. The tilapia is the menu topper at only $11.95.
And then there are the desserts, baked goodness that seems to emerge from the heart as much as it does from the dairy case. Sweet potato pie, white chocolate cake, peach cobbler, lemon cake and some of the better chocolate chip cookies I’ve had in a long time are offered piecemeal and in whole form. Few things this sweet and tempting are found this far north of Chapel Hill, NC let alone in Ambler.
The food, the music, the gigabytes—they’re only a part of the story of this café, however. The rest of the tale is about Mitchell herself, who, just a few years ago, was suddenly stricken with respiratory failure.
One day, she was a single mom, a hard-working computer geek who, with her mom, operated a consulting firm and then, suddenly, for nineteen long days, she was comatose, her life ebbing away.
Then, MItchell’s eyes opened. Her strength returned. Motivation enveloped her and soon, so did inspiration. Once she was well enough, the idea for mom and daughter to open this blending of two passions (computers and cooking) emerged with a third: The joy of hosting and serving others.
By the time the then-stranger named Kimberly (who also loves to cook and serve) crossed the street (“Like someone was telling me to come here, look around for awhile”) and entered into their lives, their collective course was forever changed, and now, Sweet Bytes has become one of the sweetest things you’ll find in Ambler.
A mug of coffee, listening to Jack playing his tunes, that brimming bowl of chili and some convivial conversation with these friendly folks…well, I guess Stephen King can wait awhile longer to be opened. I’m enjoying my time here far too much to get lost in his pages during this most auspicious late-morning Ambler amble.
Visit Sweet Bytes
