Rocket Cat Cafe

Specialties

I could to say great things about the home made chicken salad, any of our hummus’ or cream cheeses, especially the veggie cream cheese, and the sweet potato tofu wraps. We try to work with primarily locally grown produce, meats and yogurt, organic when it’s offered, local bakers, and a very, very altruistic local coffee roaster. We offer as many vegan options as we can from bagel spreads to sandwiches to sweet treats– and were always looking for new gluten free options to incorporate. We strive to improve and progress all the time– we are not the coffee shop we were 5 years ago– or even 6 months ago– and we hope to be a better coffee shop than we are today.

History

Established in 2004.

We bought L’il Ethals in 2002– a greasy spoon with an emphasis on grease tobacco and recirculated air. We renovated it, brought it back from the land of pegboard and drop ceilings, opened up all of the boarded up windows– there were 18 of them. The storefront windows were also boarded up and aren’t counted in the 18. The backyard was a haven for weeds and cats, most of the cats were found homes, some of them decided not to stick around and 1 decided to stay. Her name was Mama and she was the original Rocket Cat. The name was derived from the experience of walking out the back door and having 20 or so feral cats shoot like little kitty rockets to get away from us. It was crazy to see how fast they could go. There is no Rocket Cat currently living there, but health code and winters are hard on shop cats. They are better off inside and not in a restaurant.

Meet the Business Owner

Karen B.

Business Owner

I opened the Rocket Cat with my husband in Spring 2004, but have run it mostly on my own since shortly after we opened. I am an craftsman and artist who works in and teaches architectural stained glass, I am a mother of 2 fine children– I lived in the Fishtown neighborhood until the need for a good public school drove me to West Philly– where I now live with my kids, 5 cats and a canary. I have art studios above the store and a couple of apts as well– so I am also a landlord. I really, really enjoy working with my hands, building things and using good tools, renovating property, making food taste good, drinking lots of coffee, playing with my kids, watching True Blood and Glee and Desperate Housewives, reading a good book, knitting, brainstorming the next exciting expansion for me, or my business, and generally enjoying the present. I have some great friends, and some great employees, and am so thankful for all of it.