GREEN SPRINGS CAFE, INC.
SUGARLOAF KEY, FLORIDA

Owners Chef Paul Kapsalis and Kris Kubik share a simple philosophy … A memorable dining experience is not the result of just great food, or wine, or service, or even ambience. It’s not any one of these, but all of them. A truly memorable dining experience is time deliciously spent. In the early days of commercial passenger aviation in America, when the romantic vision of air travel included the notion of ‘dining’ in the sky, Paul’s grandfather founded one of the first companies to cater to the airlines needs, becoming one of the vanguards in the airline catering industry. It was while tagging along with his grandfather as he conducted his business that Paul learned the ethics of hard work and the value of providing a quality product to your customer. Kris Kubik is the perfect complement to Chef Paul, bringing to Green Springs the warmth and genuineness instilled in her from her family’s traditions. Life in her large Polish family was centered around boisterous gatherings around her mother’s kitchen table. Conversations bounced back and forth, while platters brimming with food were passed around. Utter chaos … utter family. It was a daily celebration of the ritual of dining together … a time to share more than a meal, a time to reconnect and share themselves. Days events were discussed, vacation plans made, quarrels settled, accomplishments acknowledged … seemingly random moments of togetherness which brought an affirmation of belonging to those gathered. Kris’ career paths have taken her down many roads … to Essex, Connecticut and marketing and graphic design, where she created annual reports for national corporations like Xerox and alumni magazines for universities like Yale; to New York City, where she assisted a friend in launching her own successful mail-order gourmet cake company; to the high desert of Cortez, Colorado, where she ran the kitchen and bed-and-breakfast at a hands-on archaeological site. On September 12, 2000, Green Springs Cafe and Gathering Place opened its doors. It quickly lived up to its name and became the ‘gathering place’ … people came from all over to get together with old friends — and, often, meet new ones — and to enjoy great food, music, and service. By late 2004, Green Springs Cafe had outgrown the little house that nurtured its beginnings. It was literally ‘busting at the seams.’ Their dilemma: How to grow, yet stay within their community of Safety Harbor? So, once again, Paul and Kris were back at work ‘constructing’ the new Green Springs Bistro. Friends, of course, lent a helping hand, and the artists in town, once again, turned their visions into reality. It’s been hard work though, for the most often asked questions they’ve had from longtime guests are, “Will it still look like Green Springs; will it be the same?” Paul and Kris have worked diligently to see to it that the new Green Springs Bistro has the same vibrancy in look and feel and the same quality of food and service as the old Green Springs Cafe. As they see it, Green Springs is all grown up. “Our little house on Third Avenue saw Green Springs through its birth and childhood. Hopefully now, our little house on Fourth Avenue will see it through its adulthood. Regardless of ‘Cafe’ or ‘Bistro,’ it will always be Green Springs.”