No One Goes Hungry Here
It’s rare — if not impossible — to get a matching teacup and plate at the Starving Artist Café and Gallery on Tulip Avenue in Franklin Square. But then, opposites rule at this warm, colorful outpost on Long Island, where local residents would rather make small talk and soak up atmosphere instead of working with their headphones on.
By many measures, Starving Artist is nothing like its name. On any given day, visitors can treat themselves to an assortment of hot, potted tea — from Long Island strawberry green to chocolate mint — as well as a diverse selection of locally sourced food that includes flatbreads, burgers, salads and panini sandwiches. Once they’re finished, they can visit the café’s gallery — literally a hole in the wall — where art from a local artist is displayed once a month. Sometimes the art is provided by a local high school student; other times by an older customer who enjoys painting. On Fridays and weekends, the galleries hosts musical guests as well, like acoustic singers and jazz-folk bands.
At Starving Artist, every artist gets a free dinner and dessert before a showing. Visitors, meanwhile, feel welcome as soon as they arrive, thanks to the owner, Jeff, who greets everyone at the door, and whose wife Carol takes over when he’s not around.
Starving Artist is located in what used to be a house, and then a bar that sat vacant for years after it left. Inside, the café’s decorations vary by season, but are best during the winter holiday season when dozens of Christmas lights — as well as handmade, hanging wooden snowflakes — create a winter wonderland effect. Even the bathrooms cozy up: Scented, they’re lined with inspirational sayings and stocked with interesting soaps and creams.
Still, as any regular knows, the first thing to do at Starving Artist is to order a pot of tea, and then maybe an item like the popular panini made with grilled chicken, bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato and chipotle aioli. It used to live on the special menu until it was moved to the regular menu due to popular demand.
At Starving Artist, the dessert menu is vast, ranging from mini chocolate cakes to cannoli dip, as is the growing coffee menus, which now hosts 14 different flavors. Many regulars treat themselves to a flavored coffee, like local resident Alexondra O’Connell, who once performed at the café when she was in high school. She enjoys the blueberry flavored coffee.
“I wish I could make this coffee every single day,” O’Connell said, adding “I never know whether I want tea or coffee when I come in, so, I usually start with tea and end with the coffee.”
The food is what makes customers want to try the Starving Artist, but it’s the atmosphere that keeps them coming back. As someone who grew up with the Starving Artist, I can attest that this is, in fact, a community hotspot. It’s easily the first place local residents bring their friends and family when they come to visit.
