Orchard House Cafe in Seekonk Offering Healthy Options

Joseph Carvalho and David Baccari have owned the Orchard House Café for five years now and they say they aren’t looking back.

“I’ve been here a long time,” said Baccari.

Baccaris said he’s been working in the restaurant industry for longer than he said he cares to remember. He worked at the Café in the Barn in Seekonk as the head waiter and manager for eight years and working the Marina Bay as a chef in South Kingstown. He also owned and operated Johnny B’s in Cranston for the better part of 15 years.

Carvalho said this is his first job in the food industry, and before that he was a church organist at Saint Mary’s in Pawtucket for 20 years.

“Now. I’m famous for my chocolate chip cookies,” he said.

They said the Orchard House Café was kind of a break from normal café fare.

“You won't find anything fried here,” Baccari said.

They started when Johnny B’s was forced to close because of a redevelopment project Cranston was undertaking. Baccari and Carvalho met when Baccari was at Johnny B’s and Carcalho was a regular at the restaurant.

“When this opportunity came up [Baccari] needed someone to help,” Carvalho said. “I wasn’t working full time during the week so I had the availability.”

They said the Orchard House was a perfect fit in 2008 because of the businesses and foot traffic around it. The pair said they saw a great influx during that time.

“All the places around us were catered to women and we thought we’d cater to the foot traffic,” Baccari said.

The design of the café is quite unique. For instance, the shop features art from 16th century artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who was known for constructing the images in his paintings out of other objects, such as fruits, vegetables, and books.

Baccari and Carvalho said they pride themselves on their homemade cuisine.

“Everything’s made from scratch,” Carvalho said.

Baccari said one of the items people are always surprised seeing is their omelets. He said they do a French style omelet, which has the ingredients cooked in the pan first and then adds the egg mix over it.

They said is much better than cooking the items separetlly and then “topping” the meat and veggies over the egg.

“Some people come in here and say I’ve never had an omelet like that before,” Baccri said.

In 2001, Yankee Magazine was doing a best of restaurants in New England, and Johnny B’s was chosen for Rhode Island.

Carvalho said that the name of the Orchard House Café came from when he was reading Louisa May Alcott, and is named for the Concord Orchard House in Massachusetts where she wrote a lot of her work.