Melinda’s Coffee + Bistro

618-532-0619

325 W. Noleman St., Centralia, IL

Melinda Angles has cooking in her blood, and for the past five years she’s been bringing that passion for food to Centralia with Melinda’s Coffee + Bistro.

Since Monday, Oct. 29, 2019, Melinda’s has been serving a signature menu of homestyle offerings, several of which are personal recipes from the owner herself.

“We’ve always been about food, family get-togethers, that kind of stuff,” Angles said of her family. “All of my grandmas cooked, my mom and brother both cook, all of us. I have been cooking all my life.”

Like with cooking, the Centralia community is another lifelong passion for Angles.

“My family moved to Centralia when I was two years old. [My parents] opened the Farm Fresh stores. So, I have been here all of my life. I grew up in the family business. We celebrated my second birthday in the backroom [of a Farm Fresh store].”

Angles said the opportunity to own a restaurant of her own came after her in-laws, the former owners of Java Joe’s, decided to retire.

“I had done some private [cooking jobs] for family and friends leading up to this. When I married my husband, Rob, back in 2007, the opportunity came up [to run the business]. His parents wanted to retire and asked it I would run it.”

Angles said almost immediately after taking the business over, she was given a chance to expand into the 325 W. Noleman location into a restaurant of her own.

“When we started, all of this was an antique store. The little room [currently a video gaming area] was the restaurant space,” Angles explained. “The woman that was running the antique store retired, so I said, ‘let’s just open it up and do a restaurant’.”

Angles would infuse the restaurant with all of her talents, vision and personality - from the down-home décor to the handcrafted menu.

“I would say our menu is homestyle, because that’s me,” Angles explained. “If you look around the restaurant, that’s me. It’s cooking from the heart. If I don’t believe in it, I don’t do it.”

“We do a lot of coffees, and a lot of lunches,” Angles continued. “We do breakfast and lunch every day, and dinner weekly, on Thursday. I make all of the desserts, all of the soups. We cut vegetables every day, and the soups are fresh. The salad dressings are all of my recipes. I typically have about 100 baked goods out every day. We’ve started doing some gluten free items, and some vegetarian items as well.”

Angles said the staff is predominantly made up of family and friends, and the restaurant enjoys a long line of loyal customers, both longstanding and recently acquired.

“We do have a lot of people that have been coming here since the beginning,” Angles said. “We have been seeing a lot of new faces, too, recently. So, that has been nice.”

Looking back on Melida’s first five years, Angles said she is proud to have the business, and to have opened it in the community that means so much to her.

“I’m proud to have a business in Centralia. I grew up here,” Angles said. “I have always had good relationships with local businesses here, but to have one of my own here is a really proud moment for me.”