THE SPOT: Books Inc. upstairs cafe THE SPOT: Books Inc. upstairs cafe (July 01, 2005)

THE DISH: The cafÈ in Books Inc., run by Mountain View Bakery, offers both cafÈ food -- pastries and coffee -- and full meals. The breakfast menu includes croissant sandwiches and granola; for lunch and dinner you have a choice of sandwiches, salads and quiche. The cafÈ, which overlooks the bookstore, is the kind of place where people linger for the afternoon, but it's also good for a quick sandwich or snack.

THE DIGS: The bookstore mezzanine is an ideal spot for reading, studying or working. It's far enough removed from Castro Street that it doesn't get the traffic noise, and patrons tend to be solitary diners, so there are few conversations. Plenty of tables let you find a corner to yourself. It's also fun to look down on people browsing books or flipping through magazines.

THE DINERS: Stanford grad students and self-employed types with laptops park themselves at tables for hours. Moms with young kids hop in for a quick cookie and lemonade. Book browsers find their way upstairs for a leisurely lunch while they read their purchases.

THE SERVICE: You order from and pay at the counter. Pull cold drinks from a cooler in front of the counter; wait a minute or two for your coffee or hot tea. If you order just pastries, the server will hand them to you. If you're going for a meal, find a table and wait for the servers to bring your food to you. It usually takes about five minutes, but when the cafÈ gets busy, service slows down.

I TRIED: The day's special-a bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado (BLTA) on toasted nine-grain bread; tuna salad sandwich (both $6.50) on wheat; sesame bagel with cream cheese ($1.75); fruit salad and side green salad (came with sandwiches); Swedish princess cake and mocha cake ($3.25); and apple turnover.

THE BEST WAS: The BLTA featured good-quality, thick bacon along with plenty lettuce, ripe tomato and buttery avocado. The bread was hearty, chewy nine-grain, and lightly toasted. The cafÈ adds just enough mayonnaise to moisten the bread. The only downer was that there was a tad too much mustard, which overwhelmed the veggies. I had the sandwich with a side salad of fresh red-leaf lettuce and shredded carrots in a well-balanced dressing flavored with sesame oil.

THE WORST WAS: The bagel was stale and the cream cheese, served on the side in a small cup, was of poor quality. There also wasn't enough of it to adequately cover the bagel.

ON THE SIDE: A bowl of fruit salad ($2.95) was a simple mix of melon and pineapple, but everything was fresh and flavorful. The Swedish princess cake, a sponge cake filled with pastry cream, spread with raspberry jam and topped with a thin layer of marzipan, was the best of the pastries. Moist and sweet, its flavors held their own yet married well. The mocha cake, chocolate layers with mocha icing, was disappointingly dry with an overly sweet frosting.

THIRST QUENCHERS: Cold drinks include sodas, juices and ice tea (85 cents to $2.75). The cafÈ's regular coffee ($1.46) was serviceable, but its decaf version, at least in the mid-afternoon, proved to be quite bitter.

BANG FOR THE BUCK: The sandwich platter is a good deal -- the cafÈ doesn't scrimp on fillings or the side salads, so at $6.50 it's a full meal for even a hearty appetite.

THE DETAILS: Books Inc. Cafe ADDRESS: 301 Castro Street PHONE: 691-9715 HOURS: 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day

--Mandy Erickson

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