Cafe 1

Overview

Cafe 1 at 753 N. Main Street is one of those Fort Bragg restaurants whose history comes less from the building’s architecture than from the generations of people who have eaten and worked there.

The simple highway-facing commercial building has housed several restaurants over the years, including Ada Belle’s, a remembered business called Inez’s, an Asian or Chinese restaurant and eventually Cafe 1.

Today, Cafe 1 continues that long food-service history as a breakfast-and-lunch restaurant known for both traditional favorites and health-conscious choices.

Location

753 N. Main Street sits along Highway 1 on the north side of Fort Bragg, in the stretch of town shaped by motels, restaurants, service businesses and traffic traveling between downtown and the northern entrance to town.

Its location has made the property a natural restaurant site, easily reached by locals, motel guests and travelers passing through Fort Bragg.

History

One of the best-remembered earlier restaurants at this address was Ada Belle’s.

Community memories place Ada Belle’s here during the early 1980s and identify it with the Britt family. Former employees remember working there, including one recollection from 1985, while others remember regularly eating breakfast there during that period.

Another remembered name is Inez’s, although its exact dates and place in the sequence remain uncertain.

After Ada Belle’s, community recollections place an Asian or Chinese restaurant at the address. One particularly vivid mid-2000s memory recalls being able to buy a bowl of rice for 80 cents.

Cafe 1 followed.

Community history credits Janie Reese and Marie Head with opening Cafe 1 after the Chinese restaurant period.

A 2022 Word of Mouth Magazine feature described Cafe 1 as having been founded about 20 years earlier and reported that Maria Andrea Mex and Miguel Mex purchased the restaurant about 16 years before the article appeared.

That account also connected Cafe 1’s health-conscious approach to one of the original owners having worked as a hospital dietician.

Over time, the restaurant developed a menu combining traditional breakfast and lunch dishes with organic ingredients, vegetarian and vegan selections, gluten-free choices and tofu substitutions.

Community Memories

Many memories center on Ada Belle’s and the years when locals worked there or stopped in regularly for breakfast.

Others remember Inez’s and the later Asian or Chinese restaurant, including inexpensive meals during the mid-2000s.

Cafe 1 itself is remembered simply and warmly: good food, good people and a dependable place for breakfast or lunch.

Together, those recollections show how this address became part of everyday Fort Bragg life through employees arriving for work, regulars meeting for meals and travelers stopping along Highway 1.

Timeline

Early 1980s — Ada Belle’s is remembered operating at the location under the Britt family.

1985 — A former employee remembers working at Ada Belle’s.

Later period — Inez’s is remembered as another restaurant associated with the address.

After Ada Belle’s — Community memories place an Asian or Chinese restaurant at the location.

Mid-2000s — The Asian restaurant chapter is still remembered during this period.

Early 2000s — Published coverage later places the founding of Cafe 1 around this time.

Cafe 1 era — Janie Reese and Marie Head are remembered as opening Cafe 1.

Later ownership — Maria Andrea Mex and Miguel Mex are reported to have purchased the restaurant.

Today — Cafe 1 continues serving breakfast and lunch at 753 N. Main Street.

Why It Matters

Cafe 1 matters because it represents a different kind of Fort Bragg history.

Not every long-lived community place occupies a Victorian storefront or a dramatic old commercial building. Some become landmarks because people keep using them.

753 N. Main Street has been remembered through Ada Belle’s, Inez’s, an Asian or Chinese restaurant and Cafe 1. Different names and owners came and went, but the purpose stayed remarkably consistent: feeding people traveling, working and living along North Main Street.

Cafe 1 has become the longest-running remembered chapter for many people and carries that restaurant tradition forward.

The building may be modest, but decades of breakfasts, lunches, employees, regular customers and passing travelers have made it part of Fort Bragg’s everyday history.