LITTLE ROCK — A cafe in the Central Arkansas Library System’s Cox Creative Center, which houses River Market Books & Gifts and an art gallery, is a good idea.

It’s one more lunch option in the River Market District, and it’s a nice service for employees and patrons of the Main Library, across the parking lot.

It’s such a good idea that several professional cafes have taken a run at it, including Sufficient Grounds and Boulevard Bread, who managed it as a branch operation. It was also briefly the Farmer’s Daughter Cafe.

A good idea that hasn’t quite succeeded, at least so far. Commercial operations need to make money to survive, and the cafe hasn’t quite done that.

So the library folks decided they’d jettison the profit motive and run it themselves, in-house.

Now called Bookends, the cafe, which occupies a “corner” of the ground floor (the building isn’t square and the bookstore’s layout around the central elevator is kind of irregular), serves a jolly melange of java drinks, creatively compiled sandwiches and wraps (some with whimsical names), salads, a daily quiche and a host of peripheral items.

The cafe is a two-person operation most of the time, and both were friendly and helpful and suggested options that enhanced our choices.

As we might have expected, the Viva El Queso ($4) is a glorified grilled-cheese sandwich - choice of American, Swiss, cheddar and, if you want, even feta, press-grilled, panini-style, on sourdough or wheat bread. Our Swiss and cheddar blend on sourdough - the bread was the counter person’s recommendation - worked out very well. She would have gladly put tomato on it if we’d wanted, but we didn’t. We did accept her offer of a dill pickle spear and were glad we did.

We decided to eschew the lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on our Turkey and Pepperjack ($5) and just go with plain meat, cheese and bread (wheat this time), and had it press-grilled (you can also have it cold if you like). The pepperjack wasn’t as spicy as we’d expected but the sandwich was fairly tasty nonetheless.

Sides are a la carte. A side Caesar salad ($2.50) made a nice accompaniment to the Viva El Queso - fresh romaine, lots of grated Parmesan and a tangy Caesar dressing on the side. We also enjoyed a chunky ranch-based potato salad ($1).

The menu lists breakfast options, but it’d have to be a late breakfast, since the cafe runs on the bookstore hours and the bookstore doesn’t open until 9. However, they’re available all day.

Our Green Eggs and Ham ($4.75) would have made a nice meal anytime. Not at all what we thought, or you’d think - a sliced hard-boiled egg with a pile of thin-sliced ham and optional cheese (we added Swiss) in a light-green spinach wrap. And it was delightful.

Need dessert? Consider blowing $1.85 on one of the moderate-size chocolate chip brownies. The cafe also serves ice cream and milkshakes.

Just about everything is prepared to order and will take a few minutes. Napkins and plastic-ware are available around the corner from the counter. Most of the to-go packaging is “eco-friendly” and some of it would, in some areas, be recyclable. Members of the Friends of Central Arkansas Libraries get a discount.

Oh, and the Cox Center is offering free coffee and cookies to all patrons to mark its eighth anniversary Saturday.

Bookends Cafe Address: Cox Creative Center, Central Arkansas Library System campus, 120 Commerce St., Little Rock Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday Cuisine: Sandwiches, wraps, quiche, salads, coffee drinks Credit cards: V, MC, AE, D Alcoholic beverages: No Reservations: No Wheelchair accessible: Yes Carryout: Yes (501) 918-3091, cals.org/about/ locations/cox.php

Weekend, Pages 38 on 10/22/2009