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However, its owners recently made the decision to be a tri-tip quesadilla or corned beef and potatoes
City Light’s Café once again open City Lights’ doors to the public, whereas the next day the menu could feature chicken
Keeping quaint, simple interior with yellow walls and about each day’s meals based on which fresh ingredients
salad, tomato soup, and red velvet cake. Chris crafts
offering lunch four days a week. The café has a
he has at his disposal, and he rotates menu items
a half-dozen indoor tables. It has a miniature
library on one side (filled with enough books and
around frequently in order to keep repeat customers
magazines to keep you there for weeks). It also has
interested. Each day, all of City Lights’ salads,
the dozens of old black and white photos of Vallejo sandwiches, and treats are lined up in their glass
counter, and what you see is what you get. Chris also
during the past decades. The new City Lights café,
say its owners, is inspired by the European concept
limits the number of items on the menu each day, so
of fast food where “fast” doesn’t have to mean
their tastiest meals tend to move fast.
“greasy and fatty.”
Here’s a little pointer for new customers: arrive
Lights salad with oranges and varieties of egg early, as each day you’re going to be competing
In fact, City Lights makes a point of
against a steady stream of regular customers,
ensuring its meals are seasonally fresh,
healthy, and low in fat. It has a variety
some of whom have been coming to City Lights
of salads, including a popular kale
for decades. I wish someone had told me that, as
when I arrived at around 1:30 p.m., most of
on salads that evolve with time. sauce and decked out with mozzarella cheese. I
the menu was cleaned out. But luckily, one
chicken sandwich—a local favorite—was
still waiting. The chicken was nice and tender,
served on a sweet roll and flavored with pesto

threw in a flavorful bowl of turkey soup, a couple
homemade chocolate chip cookies and a fresh glass
of lemonade. I was full until late that evening.

By Nate Gartrell Chris In addition to full-service lunch and dinner, City
Warnshuis Lights offers private banquets, corporate lunches,
For decades, City Lights Café and Catering in Vallejo has been a mainstay of the local heads most of City and a host of other offsite catering events.
community. From its Tennessee Street location—and despite being open only two and a half Lights’ operations; he has
hours per day, four days a week—City Lights has served thousands of local Vallejo residents been the cafe’s owner, operator, City Lights is located at 1515 Tennessee Street
and remains atop the list of many folks’ favorite spots to grab lunch. Its menu changes not head chef, and a lot more since in Vallejo. It is open from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.,
only seasonally, but also daily. However, customers continue to show up—even when they’re day one. Chris is still out there daily, Monday through Thursday, and it is closed Friday
not quite sure what they’ll be eating that day—because they’ve come to rely on the high preparing and delivering meals every through Sunday.
quality of the meals. step of the way. He personally selects
ingredients from local sources, from the For additional information and to schedule catering
City Lights has been a part of Vallejo for 32 years this year, and veggies for salads to the bread and pasta or take out orders, call (707) 557-9200. You can
if you think the cafe’s 32-year milestone is impressive, City Lights’ that goes into many of City Lights’ most also reach them by email at citylights1515@gmail.
founders—Chris and Lesley Warnshuis—recently celebrated their popular dishes. com. Visit facebook.com/CityLights1515 to like their
40th anniversary. When they created City Lights on New Year’s Facebook page, view photos of daily specials, and
Eve back in 1985, it was a European-style espresso bar and When I visited City Lights, my eyes get other updates about this longtime Vallejo eatery.
lunch counter, headquartered down by the waterfront on Virginia instinctively darted around the wall behind the
Street. Soon, its founders say, City Lights’ popularity became cash register, searching in vain for a menu. However,
too much for a restaurant to contain, and it expanded into offsite I soon learned that isn’t how they do things over there;
catering as well. In 2008, City Lights moved from downtown Vallejo their menu changes each day, so nothing is ever quite
to its current home on Tennessee Street, where it became exclusively set in stone (or ink). One day, the main dish could Nate Gartrell grew up in Benicia, studied
journalism in college, and has written for a
a catering business. handful of media outlets since age 15. He aspires
to visit all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums
and to hit the trifecta at the horse track.