Smorgasbord Catering Co. opens in Midtown

What started in 2021 as a hobby between two friends who shared a love for food, eventually grew into a pop-up restaurant.

The business is now back in full operation and has recently expanded to the first physical location.

Friends and business partners IB Mansaray and Rick Hollar officially opened their Smorgasbord Catering Co. location in March in the former Jeri’s Midtown Cafe location on Thomasville Road.

“That was part of our natural progression, the way things have happened over the last three years,” Mansaray said in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat. “And whether we were ready or not, it just felt like the right time to go ahead and just jump in and try to make something of it.”

For a few years, the duo hosted exclusively pop-up events, including their popular “Havana Night” food tour dinners, at venues such as Isabella’s Pizzeria Napoletana, The Moon, Vino Beano, and also offers services if necessary.

The expansion into an intimate café environment allows the team to offer breakfast and lunch services seven days a week, as well as family meals or healthy meals in addition to catering services.

“We saw that there was a demand for what we had to offer, and we kept doing it, and it kept growing. So we let it grow the way it was meant to,” Mansaray said.

Highlights from the Smorgasbord Catering Co. menu

With more than 20 years of culinary experience combined, Mansaray, the former bar manager at Hangar 38 in Tallahassee, and Hollar, a certified chef, crafted a menu they said offered something for everyone.

“We wanted something that would cover a lot of flavor profiles,” Mansaray said. “The one thing we didn’t want to do was create a menu with dead space and items that weren’t ordered at all. So we put together something that pretty much everyone who came in would want, and I can say there’s not a single item on the menu that wasn’t ordered.”

This breakfast and lunch restaurant serves typical American cuisine with geographical influences.

The breakfast menu consists of your typical fluffy sourdough French toast ($12.48) and “breakfast bread” with eggs, bacon or sausage, choice of cheese and choice of bread ($12.48).

Other breakfast options include the ricotta pancakes with fruit toppings, caprese toast, and their hashbrown casserole. For those looking for extra hearty breakfast options, they also offer shrimp and grits ($16.64) and biscuits with sausage gravy.

The lunch menu features sandwiches, including their beloved, flavorful “peachy keen” sandwich, made with grilled peaches, prosciutto and brie on toasted sourdough bread ($15.60).

Other sandwiches available include the classic Cuban sandwich ($16.64), hamburger ($15.60), Philly cheesesteak and Irish cheesesteak ($18.72) with shaved corned beef and a house-made Marie Rose sauce.

The lunch menu also features bowls, including the hearty, healthy power bowl packed with protein and veggies, the vegan curry bowl and a Cuban bowl. Fruity supreme citrus and classic salads are also available.

Look forward to something

The official opening took place at the end of March. According to Mansaray, the cafe was well received, but as with any new business, there are still some issues to be resolved. And then there was the triple threat tornado on May 10.

“We had to go through the hard times to get there, because I mean, you can’t do everything at once. You can’t do everything at once,” Mansaray said.

Mansaray is looking forward to all the things they will introduce as they celebrate the grand opening and continue to build what they call a strong team.

In the future, the store will organize thematic film nights with dishes that match the film.

Examples of this include offering the Harry Potter film series, with a matching syrup tart as depicted in the film, or the animated film Ratatouille, with a real ratatouille dish that people can taste while watching.

Another aspect is inviting local artists to sell and display their artwork as decoration for the store. Mansaray said that implementing quirky and different things will help “create more of a community feel in the cafe.”

With all of these different ingredients and components combined, the duo’s ultimate goal is to “become a Tallahassee classic.”

If you go

When (summer hours): Daily from 10am to 3pm

Where: 1123 Thomasvilleweg

Kyla A. Sanford writes about dining and entertainment for the Tallahassee Democrat. Are there any new restaurants opening, specials, or upcoming events? Let me know at [email protected]. You can also email your suggestions for a future TLH Eats restaurant profile!