Every day, hundreds of people race to the station to pack into the commuter rail and then race home from their stop to try to rush together a “home-cooked” meal.

Seems a shame when there is such a great stop right at the stop!

Tucked in behind the hair salons and banks along Great Plain Avenue, just across from the new Needham Farmers Market site and alongside the train tracks is the Center Café (www.thecentercafe.com), a family-run, family-focused eatery that offers food like you would make if you had not been so late getting home.

After passing by the open kitchen, where chefs Vanessa Cortesi and Jon Taufman are likely to welcome you before you even reach the host desk, you can grab a high seat in the front area, land a coveted bar stool to watch the game or catch up with friends and fellow commuters, or continue on to the cozy but open main dining area. With its homey corner of exposed stone, its slim mirrored rail along the walls, glass tiles that let in light while dampening the occasional locomotive roar, hanging flowers and floral-themed booth cushions and the rotating canvassed photographs that are taken by the family, the space is comfortable and inviting, like any good home-cooked meal should be.

Among the various menus are the main dining selections, an entire set of gluten-free fare, a beer selection and ample wine list, and a specialty cocktail set that includes the popular Absolut, Chambord and Midori combo called Sand in Your Shorts (it can be a good thing!), the appropriately-named Joytini, which mixes Grey Gooe orange with Cointreau and fresh juices, and the also appropriately-named Track 9 and Locomotive No. 15, a pair of bourbon-based beverages both of which connect the Café even more firmly to its neighborhood.

As you sip whatever it is you choose, enjoy the fresh-baked bread and hospitality of the staff and your neighbors. The family vibe is so complete that the Café even offers an entire menu for “young persons” that includes pasta twists, grilled chicken breast, mini fish & chips and even a smaller-sized steak, as opposed to the greasy chicken fingers and lumpy PB&J offered elsewhere. In addition to scaled-to-fit forks for smaller mouths, the friendly staff is more than happy to bring by crayons and old menus to be used for drawing and games, thereby making your family meal out perhaps even more successful than one at home!

For the not-so-younger persons, the Café offers a wide array of locally-sourced and inspired favorites that range from a Farmer’s Market fresh gazpacho and creamy clam chowder to a trio of salads and a pair of handmade Angus or black bean burgers that can, like most everything else, be customized down to the onion slice. With all the add-ons and available sides, such as firm and flavorful sweet potato fries, potato onion hash, sautéed spinach and other seasonal vegetables, pretty much any selection can become a meal. Among the larger entrees (some of which are offered in a petite size to make them even more appetizing for certain patrons) are a hearty portion of sushi-grade seared tuna with a tangy tomato-lime vinaigrette, duck breast with a Port wine sauce, pan fried veal cutlet with a piccata sauce, and a half or full rack of ribs with the Café’s own sauce and fries that have been called by many younger persons “better than McDonald’s.”

No matter what you order, the portion size may become pivotal as the desserts are surely one of the many highpoints of the meal. From an imported chocolate lava cake to a house-made brownie sundae that will put your grandmother’s recipe to shame to a selection of ice creams that can be mixed and matched with sauces and fruit toppings to your sweet tooth’s content, the slim dessert menu (which also offers flavored coffees and dessert wines) is a great way to send you home from your home-cooked meal.

So next time you are in Needham –either headed home or passing through – hop off at Needham Center and find your way to the Center Café. Both your family and theirs will be glad you did!

The Center Café

1027 Great Plain Avenue
Needham, MA 02492

781 455 8800