We decided to revisit Kool Beanz Cafe for our latest “date night“. Teresa enjoyed the pulled pork appetizer on our first visit in November, so it’s been on our “try again” list for a while. One of the nice things about Kool Beanz is that they change up the menu pretty frequently. When I called on Friday afternoon to verify when they would be open over the weekend, I also asked if they were doing the pulled pork. They told us they were prepping it, so we decided to head over.
Kool Beanz does not take reservations. We usually eat early anyway, so we headed over just before 5:30 when they open. Just like the first time we visited, there was a pretty good crowd waiting. They have a good size parking lot, but it was already full. So was the street parking right next to them. I wound up having to park a block over. Things had actually opened up a bit when we left, so we might head over a bit later next time we go.
Kool Beanz has seating in their main room and in a large enclosed outside area. They got everyone waiting seated pretty quickly. The main room was already full when they got to us except for a small duece table. We actually sat there the first time and chose it again. We like it, but it is small enough that you should consider spacing out how you order dishes.
Even though they were pretty busy, our server Tyler came over to welcome us pretty quickly. We wanted something light and sparkling, so we ordered the “Miami Spritz”. It was refreshing. We decided to share three appetizers so we could try some different things. We started with the Pork Gyozas. These were lightly fried with a very tasty filling. We then had the Pulled Pork with Apple Fennel Slaw. The pork was really well done. The slaw was different than it was on our prior visit. I enjoyed it, but Teresa liked the creamier version we had on our first visit better. We then ordered the Crab Cakes with Jalapeno Tartar Sauce. These were stuffed with crab and very well prepared.
Kool Beanz is known for dessert. We chose the Vietnamese Coffee Baked Alaska. This has a chocolate wafer, brownie, Vietnamese coffee ice cream, torched meringue, gooseberries, and sesame tuile. It has multiple layers of flavor and is just sweet enough. We really enjoyed it.
It was a very laid-back and relaxing night out. Kool Beanz has been a Tallahassee favorite for more than 20 years and it has certainly become one of ours.
