Spotlight on Cafe Cusco, Van Gogh’s Eeterie and The Press Coffee and Juice Bar

There are two types of people: the ones who care way too much about Valentine’s Day and the ones that don’t care at all. Whoever you might be, you should know that Springfield restaurants are feeling the love and have created special menus for you to enjoy. 

Just half a mile away from us here at Drury University on C-Street is Cafe Cusco, the only Peruvian restaurant in Springfield. This locally owned restaurant has curated a special menu just for Valentine’s Day. 

For dinner they offer three different entrees: the Mar y Terra, an aji panca sirloin with two mango-glazed shrimp skewers and yellow pepper mashed potato; the Wahoo Tacos, crispy wahoo tacos on homemade corn tortilla; and the Turkey Sanguchon, a seasoned ground turkey burger with guacamole and a fried egg served with fries. For our 21 and up friends, they offer a cocktail called Cupid’s Kiss. It has rumchata, ginger liqueur,  grenadine and pineapple juice. 

Photo by Joe Gidman

Also on C-Street and the same owner as Cafe Cusco is another eclectic spot. Van Gogh’s Eeterie, the only Dutch restaurant in Springfield offers its own Valentine’s Day menu. For entrees they are offering a Salmon Zurkool which is a seasoned and seared salmon filet on sauerkraut and bacon mashed potatoes, asparagus and pesto. 

Photo by Joe Gibman

There are also a long list of drinks that include the hot chocolate covered strawberry, a cherry white chocolate latte, a strawberry and pineapple mimosa, a lavender rose mimosa and a strawberry mai tai. For dessert you can order the s’mores pancake, a dutch pancake topped with chocolate sauce, graham crackers, marshmallows and ice cream.

Those with more of a sweet tooth can stop by The Press Coffee and Juice Bar located on Glenstone. I chatted with Emily Smith, a Drury student and the head barista, a baker and social media manager of The Press and she gave me some insight for her Valentine’s Day menu. 

“It took me about four weeks to make sure all the recipes were just right,” she says. 

The Valentine’s Day menu features five new drinks: raspberry truffle shaken espresso, amaretto rose chai garnished with rose petals, blended red velvet latte, raspberry cream matcha and rose quartz sparkler, a sparkling strawberry rose lemonade. 

Emily’s favorite drink is the shaken espresso, which has dark mocha, hazelnut, local espresso and is shaken with a splash of milk and topped with raspberry sweet cream. 

She also created a dessert: a gluten-free red velvet whoopie pie. It’s made with gluten-free red velvet cookies with espresso to add to the rich chocolate flavor, beet powder to add a hint of red coloring and filled with cream cheese frosting. 

Article by Rebecca Dixon