Café at Figge Art Museum Reopens for Lunch Thursday, April 22
The Figge Café, featuring the culinary skills of Quad-City native Chef Jason Stewart, will reopen to the public on Thursday, April 22. It’s
The Figge Cafe is reopening for lunch Thursday, April 22.
inside the Figge Art Museum, 225 W. 2nd St., Davenport.
Stewart, who is also known as “Chef Stu” and owner of Zeke’s Island Café in Bettendorf, will be introducing a completely updated menu that will launch in conjunction with the Café’s reopening.
Items include a variety of sandwiches — including the Rustic Burger, that is ground fresh and hand pressed daily, vegetable cheddar chowder soup, loaded Caesar and B.L.T. salads with homemade salad dressings, a selection of Bistro Bowls with various protein options, sweet treats like sour cream apple crumb, and much more.
“I want the food on the menu to complement the art on view,” says Chef Stu, who studied
Chef Stu of Zeke’s Island Cafe has completely updated the museum cafe menu.
culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., and graduated with a 4.0 GPA. “As one of the top tourist destinations in the Quad-Cities, it’s important the visitor experience is special whether they are in the galleries or dining in the Café.”
He was also the 2020 People’s Choice winner from the Figge’s annual Cajun Cook-Off event.
The Café will be open for lunch Tuesday-Friday from 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. Seating will be socially distanced and there will be precautions in place to make sure the dining experience is safe and comfortable for all patrons.
The Figge is at 225 W. 2nd St., Davenport.
“Having the Café open again provides another in-person option for our visitors to experience,” Figge executive director and CEO Michelle Hargrave said Wednesday. “We are excited for the public to try the new menu and enjoy the spectacular river views from the dining room while sampling Chef Stu’s delicious creations.”
A portion of every Figge Café purchase directly supports the Figge’s mission of bringing art and people together. Figge members receive a 10% discount in the
Café. You can see the menu at https://figgeartmuseum.org/visit/cafe.
While the museum café was closed from March 17 to Sept. 8, 2020 (the museum itself reopened last June), the café closed again in early November due to the impact of Covid on attendance, museum spokeswoman Natalie Dunlop said Wednesday.
“We decided to wait to reopen until now, as we are seeing an uptick in our attendance numbers with more people vaccinated and getting out,” she said. The Figge is currently averaging around 500 visitors each week, which is a significant increase since the fall.
Free virtual talk and virtual tour
Ann Gale, one of the artists in the American art exhibit, will give a virtual talk at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Also Thursday, April 22, you can attend a virtual talk at 6:30 p.m. by American artist Ann Gale, who is featured in the traveling exhibit “For America,” through May 16.
Gale is known for her complex and expressive oil paintings of individuals. Gale earned her BFA from Rhode Island College and her MFA from Yale University. She is a Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Gale is an American figurative painter based in Seattle, Wash. Gale received her BFA from the Rhode Island College and her MFA from Yale University. She has been the recipient of several awards, including: Western States Art Federation/National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation
Another view from self-guided virtual tours on the Figge website.
Grant and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship.
She received an Academy of Arts and Letters Museum Purchase Award and is an Academician of the National Academy of Art and Design, New York.
Gale’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the country, including solo exhibitions at The Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco, Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, NY, Fralin Art Museum, University of Virginia, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, the Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon and Weatherspoon Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
One view from the virtual gallery tour on the Figge’s website.
Registrants for her free talk will receive a Zoom link two hours prior to the program. You can register HERE.
At the museum website, www.figgeartmuseum.org, you can also access a great, comprehensive virtual tour of “For America: 200 Years of Painting From the National Academy of Design.”
The online tour offers a vast array of resources, including a 10-minute video of the exhibit
Michelle Hargrave is executive director of the Figge Art Museum.
(narrated by assistant curator Vanessa Sage); gallery views of the Figge’s third and fourth floors, where you can control the navigation of what to see, as well as a slide show of many individual artworks, where you can see detailed information on each artist and painting.
The site also includes an audio introduction to “For America” from Michelle Hargrave, docent videos, regional artists audio, gallery event videos, educational information, and art activities such as video demonstrations of portrait and landscape painting from Rhiannon Ashmore of the Figge education department.
Museum hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. on Thursdays; and 12-5 p.m. on Sundays. Reservations are strongly encouraged and can be made at www.figgeartmuseum.org or by calling 563-345-6632. Admission to the museum is $10 for adults, $6 for seniors and students with ID and $4 children ages 4-12.
Admission is free to Figge members and institutional members and to all on Thursday nights.
