WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The Chameleon Cafe, a new breakfast and lunch spot on South Main Street, opened just a couple weeks ago, but the eatery already feels lived in, like it’s been there for years.
Well-worn couches line the walls near the entrance and a vintage fridge is stocked with sodas and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Then there’s the chameleon decor: plump blue reptiles painted on the bottom of the counter, lizard decals dotting the cafe’s white walls and thin plastic vines dangling from the ceiling.
All the cafe is missing is a live chameleon, said Charlie Fisher, a Newport resident who’d stopped by with a friend during a shopping trip in White River Junction on Monday.
The chameleon’s ability to adapt encapsulates owner Anna Magoon’s vision for the cafe. In the midst of a volatile market in which the cost of ingredients can skyrocket overnight, she’s created a rotating menu to respond to that volatility.
“Being able to adapt and being able to make changes in terms of the menu was really, really important to me because of the way everything fluctuates,” Magoon, 30, said in an interview at the cafe on Monday.
In an homage to Magoon’s Mexican heritage, that day’s breakfast offerings included $9 burritos loaded with beef chorizo, or bacon, potatoes, grilled onions and peppers, and cheese. Customers could also add a side of sour cream or Magoon’s mother’s salsa for 50 cents.
Lunch items ranged from a pesto chicken wrap, a sandwich layered with caramelized red onion, fig spread, cheese and hot honey, a chicken Caesar salad ($7 for a small; $9 for a large), and a pasta salad tossed with chickpeas, black olives, sun-dried tomatoes, cucumber feta and Italian dressing.
The menu also features a number of vegan and gluten free options, so customers with allergies don’t feel like “they’re picking and choosing,” Magoon said.
On Monday afternoon, customer Tay Bass settled on the pasta salad.
“It’s incredible on this hot day,” she said.
Bass is acting in Northern Stage’s production of “Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret,” just a short walk away, and she’d stopped into The Chameleon Cafe to get some work done.
Based in New York, she’s constantly looking for a cozy cafe amid the city’s hustle and bustle, and she was glad to have found one so close to where she’s performing in White River Junction.
To go with her pasta salad, Bass went for a guava pineapple lemonade, one of several agua frescas Magoon had made fresh that day, including a blueberry pomegranate flavor and freshly squeezed orange juice.
“Not too sweet,” Bass said, in praise of her drink.
As she tucked into her lunch, Mike Morris, a Hanover resident who works out of the White River Junction community workspace OnTrack, walked into the cafe for the second time that day.
Morris has been coming to The Chameleon Cafe since it opened on May 4.
“It’s adorable. And it feels a little bit sassy,” he said, referring to the cafe’s playful decor.
Before Magoon opened her business, finding a casual spot to get lunch in town was tough, he said. He’d been into Cappadocia Cafe, the Turkish eatery a few doors down, but was turned off by the business’ prices (a single dessert can go for around $12).
Morris often eats his lunch at his desk, but he enjoys the respite that The Chameleon Cafe offers in the middle of the workday.
“The people who work here, and Anna in particular, are just awesome,” he said.
On Monday, Morris got the $12 pesto chicken wrap, and a $3 banana muffin.
“Delicious muffin,” he said.
Keeping prices reasonable is important to Magoon, who lives a block away from the cafe, on Gates Street.
“I wanted to make sure that everybody around here felt like they could get something,” she said.
Magoon, who attended culinary school in New York City, has worked in fine dining restaurants and while she appreciates the craftsmanship and attention to detail, the fussiness “takes away a lot of that heart in my mind,” she said.
A Thetford native, Magoon practically came out of the womb dreaming of being a chef.
“When I was born, my brother wanted to call me ‘Cookbook’,” she said.
As a child, she marveled at Julia Child and Jacques Pépin’s cooking videos, which she watched with her dad.
After cooking school, she did an AmeriCorps program in Columbus, Ohio where she helped low-income families build grocery lists and cook healthy, affordable meals.
She moved back to the Upper Valley and worked in various restaurants before starting Dumps-A-GoGo, a dumpling catering business, in 2018.
The business took a back seat while Magoon looked after her dad, who died of renal failure last year. While caring for him, she worked on and off at Tuckerbox, the Turkish restaurant and sister business to Cappadocia.
She was recently managing Cappadocia when property owner David Briggs informed her that the 39 South Main St. space next to Hotel Coolidge was available, after the supplement shop and juice bar River Nutrition closed last December.
With only a month and a half to prepare the cafe, Magoon scrambled to find affordable furniture and equipment, scouring auctions and area thrift stores.
When the cafe opened she was still putting in shifts at Cappadocia and Tuckerbox, she said.
Magoon’s rent is based on a percentage, usually 6%, of her monthly earnings, meaning it will likely fluctuate between $600 and $1,200 a month, she said.
Currently, she only has a couple employees, plus occasional help from friends. She plans to hire more staff later on, and save up for an espresso machine so she can expand the cafe’s drinks selection, but for now, she’s starting small.
The cafe is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Wednesday, and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, starting May 24. On days when it’s open, Magoon arrives at the cafe early to start prep, then works until closing and returns in the evening to finish any outstanding tasks.
On Monday, she arrived around 5 a.m. It was a turbulent day. At one point the power went out, and later in the afternoon Magoon learned her beloved cat had died, but at closing she still had a smile on her face.
“I always said I wanted to own a cafe by the time I’m 32,” she said. “We’re doing it.”
