A Cooks Cafe

While doing some work in the area near here, I asked where a good place for lunch would be and they said «Cook’s». They were right on. High quality ingredients, great tasting food, kind staff, quaint dining area and they even had Wifi.

We attended a cooking class here last night. Delish! At the end of the evening, they packed up our extra sauces for us to take home. Nice, thoughtful touch.
The owner Craig cares as deeply about sustainable food as he does about tasty recipes. I really appreciated his insight and found the class atmosphere to be laid back and lots of fun.
Can’t wait to return!

I had a solid turkey sandwich here with dill havarti cheese and a champagne mustard sauce. Tasted homemade and not overly processed, which was nice for a change.
I think the real draw to this place is their delicious and interesting soup menu. I had a delightful cup of asparagus and the other options sounded great too!

This is a convenient location for the office park employees to grab something, but I find their pricing expensive. Its a bit over priced for sandwiches.

Customer service is stellar. I went in 3 times and they remembered I am gluten free from a comment I made the first time I came in. I had salad. It was very fresh every time. I highly recommend this place. Good for take away or eating lunch there.

I took a cooking class here a while back. As soon as we walked in, we were immediately turned off by the dingy interior and clutter lying around all over. The floor and paneling are old, dirty and ugly. The place is in desperate need of a makeover.
The owner Craig seems nice at first but is not a great person to learn cooking from. At times, he seems more interested in sharing his message on food production than just teaching cooking methods. Craig was very soft spoken and did not have control of the class. He comes across as a perfectionist with a lot of his own opinions. Opinionated perfectionists with quiet voices do not make great instructors and Craig was a very weak teacher. Wish we had not spent the thousand dollars to attend his classes. Waste of time and money. I do not recommend taking classes unless you want to struggle to listen to a quiet teacher with a hidden agenda.

When looking for lunch on the N/​W side of Annapolis I go directly to A Cooks Café. The quality of food is second to none. They always have a different special which I often try. The ready-​made salads are great. They go out of their way (which you have to do) to source locally which is how I came to know them. Glad I found this place and people!

Great coffee! Probably some of the best coffee I had while in the Annapolis area. Really woke me up like the Hampton Inn coffee could not. We had lunch catered by A Cook’s Café for training.
I was really not impressed with the sandwiches. Sure, they may have had decent ingredients, but nearly everything had mayo or some other derivative such as thousand island dressing or creamy mustard. Why cant anyone ever put these items separately??? Had a rough time scrapping off the manufactured flavouring to try and salvage some enjoyment of the rest of the sandwiches. The cookies however were quite tasty. Had a few of those with the lunch time coffee.
Dont recommend the sandwiches (unless you maybe give special instructions not to lard them up), however, the coffee and cookies are awesome.

A great hidden gem in Annapolis. I love that A Cook’s Café is more than a café… it’s also the home to a cooking school and its the hub of local and sustainably based food in Annapolis.
Try the Roll in the Garden wrap, it’s a winner! I also am a huge fan of the salads. But my favorite– the fresh, sometimes still warm– baked goods. At the top of my list are the cupcakes, cinnamon coffee cake, cookies, and chocolate brownies, yes please! Thanks A Cooks Café, I will always be a fan.

Great place for catering companies luncheons or just having lunch. I would use them all the time while working at a local Annapolis Risk Assessment firm. The food was ALWAYS fresh and the cookie’s were homemade.
My favorite is the «Pacific Coast» sandwich with extra sprouts and avocado (yummy). The croissants are locally baked at a French bakery and picked up daily!!! Also they support t local farms by purchasing fresh organic vegetables.
The service is also great and they have homemade soup daily. Lastly, they offer cooking classes and I hope to try them soon.

I love this place the salads are beautifully delicious, the sandwhiches are yummy and satisfying, the CSA is the bet variety in town, and yes I have tried other CSA’s. Go green, go local, go to this place.

I am very disappointed in the quantity and quality of produce in the 2011 Spring and Summer CSA program sponsored by the Cook’s Café in Annapolis. Although I found the pick up location convenient, the expense of the share and what we have received are far below the expectations that we had and were assured by the owners. As we are in the middle of the summer and produce is in abundance typically, I was very disapointed again last week when the «small» (supposed to serve 1 – 2 people for a week) only consisted of the following– 1 cantaloupe, 1 green pepper, 4 small red onions, 1 eggplant, and a small bag of cherry tomatoes. Oh – and 2 herbs – Basil and Mint. Each week the quantity has been far less than what 1 – 2 people eat in a week (and we aren’t vegetarians) and the produce has had only a short refrigerator life of a couple days. We had a wonderful experience last year with the CSA program from Calvert Farms where the weekly «small» share was gigantic by comparison to Cook’s Café and about half the cost. We will enthusiastically return to that program next year.

Best food place in Annapolis. I’m a charter member of his CSA, which supports local farmers and provides me with the freshest locally grown foods. I also eat most of my lunches there and use him exclusively for catering.

There are some experiences that are just so terrible they stay with you forever and this was one.
It was Christmas time a couple of years ago. I called Cooks Café and spoke to Craig to order a Bouche de Noël. We had a very long, very pleasant conversation, he seemed like a great guy, and I gave him my order info. I asked if he wanted my credit card number and he said «no» just to give my name when I got there.
I was going to quite a fête for the Holiday and had bragged to my hostess that I was bringing something VERY special for dessert.
When I got to CC to pick up the order, the line was out the door, but I waited happily, anticipating the wonderful confection I was about to pick up and anticipating how everyone would be thrilled with oohs and ahhs when they saw what I was bringing.
When I finally got to the front of the line, the woman at the counter said «We don’t have an order in your name.» I, in shock, disbelief and dismay, asked to speak to Craig.
Craig acted like he had never spoken with me, was brusque and unapologetic and did not have an extra to offer me. I was so livid I wanted to scream – or cry – or both.
I went to the party in total humiliation, in tears, and I have never been back to CC, nor have I been able to forgive Craig for what he did to me with total apparent callousness.
So, as far as I am concerned, Craig may be the bee’s knees of Annapolis, with his committment to local produce and cooking classes, but as far as I am concerned he will always just be that very insensitive guy who broke my heart and ruined a party…

In regards to their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program… yummo!
We have been part of the spring CSA and it’s been great working with this business. They are right minded and they are doing a lot for the future!
The veggies we have gotten from the CSA have been amazingly fresh, varietal and delicious — rainbow chard, mint (chocolate and hazelnut and some others), micro herbs (yum), lettuce mixes, carrots, radishes etc. Just yum.
I have yet to eat a sandwich or tasted their catering but I will definitely use them when I need them. I will update then.