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Bed-Stuy Café Serves Up Homemade Treats, Smoothies on Saratoga Avenue

 The new coffee shop at 83 Saratoga Ave. offers pasta, sandwiches, desserts, and more.
The new coffee shop at 83 Saratoga Ave. offers pasta, sandwiches, desserts, and more.
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DNAinfo/Camille Bautista

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — A new café serving organic sandwiches and smoothies set up shop on Saratoga Avenue in mid-July.

Husband and wife team Benoit and Nadia Busseuil opened MacDonough Café on July 14 to provide fresh food alternatives for the Ocean Hill neighborhood.

“There’s not a lot of sit-down places around here,” Nadia Busseuil, 37, said. “You can get food, but not particularly healthy food.”

90 percent of the café’s offerings are organic, she said, and all items on the menu are made from scratch, including dressings, sauces and simple syrups.

MacDonough Cafe

Owner Nadia Busseuil (pictured) and husband Benoit Busseuil opened MacDonough Cafe opened on Saratoga Avenue in mid-July, serving up healthy sandwiches and smoothies. Photo Credit: DNAinfo/Camille Bautista

The eatery’s options include avocado toast, a “Figs in a Blanket” sandwich with prosciutto, grilled cheese and pasta. Smoothies are made with coconut water or whole milk and the café also serves cold brewed coffee.

All choices are less than $8.

The 950-square-foot space at 83 Saratoga Ave. had been vacant for a decade, according to Nadia Busseuil, and the couple grabbed the space after moving to Bed-Stuy in 2013.

Photos of the building in the 1920s and 1960s hang on MacDonough Café’s wall as a nod to the neighborhood’s history. Most of the eatery’s six employees live in the area.

The coffee shop aims to be family-friendly, the owner said, with coloring books and a kids’ menu.

MacDonough Cafe 2

The eatery at 83 Saratoga Ave. aims to be family-friendly, owners said. Photo credit: DNAinfo/Camille Bautista

The Busseuils hope to start a "Bedtime Stories” series, where the café’s back area will be sectioned off for parents and children for reading sessions at closing time.  

“We focus on everybody in the family, so if you’re an individual, you’ll feel comfortable, and if you’re with your kids, you’ll be welcome,” Nadia Busseuil said.

“This is a space we all can come to.”

MacDonough Café is open Tuesday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and weekends from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit its website here.