New Long Beach restaurant offers coffee from around the world and much more to sip, eat
The owner of the new Crave Kofi House & Bistro in Long Beach was so captivated by her first Coast sunset, she decided to open a business in South Mississippi.
Now four weeks since the debut of her the coffee house and restaurant at 200 West Railroad St. in Long Beach, Tanya Branch has a steady stream of customers from first coffee and pastry right through lunch and dinner.
Formerly from Savannah, Georgia, Branch is a nurse and worked in New Orleans during the Covid crisis.
She had only heard about Biloxi when she stopped at the Golden Nugget Casino one weekend and decided South Mississippi would be home.
“The area actually chose me,” she said of Long Beach. The first place she looked at in the city was not a good fit, but a few months later she got a call while working in California and she grabbed the place in the Crossing plaza on Railroad Street.
Branch and her boys don’t have any family in the area, but customers have warmed up to the restaurant with its fireplace, lounge seating and computer counter.
New coffee and teas for the Coast
The aroma of coffee and fresh-baked cinnamon rolls wake them up, and customers who who are in a hurry can call ahead or go on the app and get curbside pickup.
It’s not just a cup of coffee she serves. Branch has traveled all the way to Indonesia to find the best single-origin organic coffee. The also have high-quality blends, like java mocha made with two separate beans.
That’s just the start of the menu items found at Crave Kofi that aren’t served elsewhere on the Coast, she said.
“In the coming weeks we will be rolling out Kavatail,” she said, a relaxing, healthy option to alcohol that has the flavor of bourbon and coffee.
“We are tea connoisseurs as well here,” she said, serving hot or iced teas along with smoothies, cider, spiced hot chocolate and pineapple lemonade with mint..
Breakfast to brunch and dinner
Crave Kofi hours are expanding to 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday. Wednesday nights are open mic, catering to college students, when they can sip a dessert coffee frappe while they enjoy the music.
For a different breakfast are pesto, bacon and cheese cheese bites, boudin cheese bites and breakfast sandwiches that can be topped with apple maple bacon or hot pepper berry jam. Spinach, tomato and Parmesan quiche bites are fresh every day.
For a coffee shop, Crave Kofi has a big variety of sandwiches, such as a barbecue pineapple or chicken pesto sliders. The list of panini sandwiches includes Italian, teriyaki, club, Southwest chicken, Philly cheese and a veggie panini made in any of those flavors with portobello mushrooms.
All the food is made fresh on the premises, providing both healthy food and comfort food, Branch said.
