Affordable, low-key cafe raises flatbread's profile

Date AddedJuly 20, 2009 02:14:10 PM

Author

Oliver and Jessica Kiely have taken their bundle of bread knowledge from Atlanta Bread Company and flattened it. OK, let me explain.

They both worked in managerial positions at the bread company for a number of years until they recently opened their own franchise, Sandella's at The Shoppes at Susquehanna Marketplace. The franchise focuses on fresh, healthful and, yes, flatbread, which is used throughout the menu to make paninis, grilled flatbread pizzas, quesadillas and rice bowls.

After perusing the high-end shops, grab lunch (or light dinner, same menu) at this affordable if not outright cheap cafe. (There's nothing priced over $6.)
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The weather has been so unusually pleasant that we sat outdoors at high noon. In fact, the cafe could use one or two more umbrella-shaded tables on the sidewalk. Alternately, it's air-conditioned inside and quite low-key casual. Warm-toned walls and low-lit booths that hold four skinny teenagers on either side are lined up across from the open, fast-acting kitchen.

More booths and tables scatter across large tiles underneath a free-hanging flat screen in the back room.

Anyone counting calories doesn't have to at Sandella's. They've worked out the nutrition and calories. Menu items boasting fresh herbs, veggies and lean meat dip beneath the 500-calorie mark. According to Oliver, "The flatbreads are similar to those in the Middle East. They are not at all like tortillas, which you can squeeze and have oil running down your arm. It's a very neutral base that brings out and absorbs a lot of flavor."

One of the favorites, Pacific Chicken Wrap, $5.79, shows off its colorful strata once cut in half. Grilled chicken, guacamole, leafy lettuce, tomatoes and crispy bacon stack up texture and flavor in this hand-held sandwich. Ancho chipotle sauce seeps into ingredients, only to be mopped up and absorbed by the grill-marked subtle flatbread.

Equally oozing and lively is the Tuscan Chicken Panini (Paninis range from $4.99 to $5.79). It leaves its mark of moistness on fingers with a creamy pesto sauce seeping through chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, red onion, melted mozzarella cheese and fresh basil leaves.

Flatbread is slipped beneath leafy greens and fresh ingredients in either the Caesar or Greek salads, $4.99. And the rice bowls are actually formed and fitted flatbread. The Chicken Fajita Rice Bowl, $5.79, had only tidbits of chicken, green pepper and onion sprinkled over top a mediocre commercial salsa and bland long grain rice. Nothing seeped down deep enough to give the rice or flatbread any flavor. A slim blanket of Monterey Jack cheese sat delicately on top of the ingredients.

For vegetarians, Black Beans and Rice Bowl, $5.79, is one of seven meatless items. Packages of crisp, flatbread chips, 99 cents, are available next to the counter. They pair well with the soups du jour, $2.29, such as clam chowder or a creamy tomato soup. Dr. Smoothie smoothies, $3.99, are made from 100 percent crushed fruit. The strawberry is refreshing and not too sweet.

"Everything is made in our rapidly cooking Turbo Chef oven. It provides even the grill marks that come out on the paninis and wraps," Oliver said.

The grill marks line up equally underneath the popular Aloha Grilled flatbread, $5.79. This very skinny-crusted mock "pizza" is highlighted by a succulently sweet, yet catch-in-the- throat spicy, mango habanero sauce. Thinly sliced bits of ham, chunks of pineapple, red onion and fresh basil leaves cover the surface of this "pie." I couldn't help but think I was eating an oversized cracker with a tad more resistance to the bite.

Cookies, 79 cents, are within grabbing distance at the cashier. I can recommend the triple chocolate studded by white chocolate chips chased down by a large cup of Seattle's Best coffee, $1.69.

Splurge at The Shoppes at Susquehanna Marketplace but save at Sandella's on both calories and cash at this low-budget flatbread cafe.