Aroma Café and Catering has a new owner, but the cozy café at 3197-C E. 10th St. (beside A Cut Above salon) will continue to serve a similar menu of sandwiches, soups and salads.

Janice Dunham purchased the café — along with the logo, menu and recipes — from Greenville restaurateurs David and Becky Finelli, who opened the restaurant in November 2006. The Finellis said they sold the café because of the pressure of opening their large new Italian restaurant on Red Banks Road; the new restaurant is slated to open next month.

Dunham, who moved to Greenville to be closer to family and purchased Repeat Performance consignment shop, said she had eaten at Aroma Café.

"I loved the food, the atmosphere and the service," she said. "I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great to own something like this.'"

She sent her son to pick up lunch at Aroma Café one day, and he informed her that there was a "for sale" sign on the door. So, Dunham, who had retired from the hotel industry after 20 years, decided to purchase the café.

She said she's made few changes, apart from extending the café's hours, offering breakfast and putting her own spin on the menu.

The breakfast menu, which may be ordered and picked up at the restaurant's drive-through, includes bagels, breakfast sandwiches, muffins, cinnamon buns and croissants.The menu features soup of the day ($4.95 for an 8-ounce cup); salads ($5.95-$7.95) including pasta salad, fresh fruit salad, lemon pepper chicken salad and spinach salad; sandwiches in three sizes ($6.95-$10.95) including smoked turkey breast, Virginia ham and prime roast beef; and panini sandwiches ($7.95-$9.95) on rosemary foccacia bread.

Fresh baked desserts include pound cake, lemon meringue pie, lime cupcakes and cream cheese brownies. Flavored gourmet coffees are available, along with gourmet teas, juices and fountain soft drinks.

Manager is Amanda Henderson.

Hours are 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Mondays-Fridays. No smoking is allowed. Call 752-7662.

Boxed lunches and catering trays are available. Fax catering orders for five people or more to 752-ROMA and pick up your order at the drive-through later in the day.

Cliff's auction

Do you love Cliff's Seafood's homemade hot cocktail sauce?

On Aug. 8, you'll have the opportunity to bid on the recipe for that sauce — and other bits and pieces of the 60-year-old seafood restaurant, which closed its doors in early July.

Among the items up for auction will be booths, pots and pans, plates, cooking equipment and the oyster bar. The hot sauce recipe, developed by Cliff's founder Cliff Whitehurst and passed down to the next two owners, will be auctioned at noon.

Cliff's owner Stephen Tubaugh said the money raised through the sale of the hot sauce will be donated to a children's charity of the buyer's choice.

The cold cocktail sauce and tartar sauce Whitehurst created for the restaurant also will be auctioned.

The auction will take place at Cliff's Seafood and Oyster Bar, 3301 E. 10th St. Extension.

Farmers' market

Available this week at The Pitt County Farmers' Market, 4560 County Home Road: string beans, pole beans, bush beans, sweet corn, kohlrabi, swiss chard, pumpkins, collards, turnips, cucumbers, red tomatoes, green tomatoes, roma tomatoes, Japanese radishes, onions, carrots, peppers, a variety of squashes, sweet potatoes, new potatoes, butter beans, peas, kale, blueberries, peaches, cantaloupes, watermelon and plums. Fresh herbs and local honey also are available, along with molasses, sorghum, organic goat cheese and fresh eggs.

A food demonstration, from 9 a.m.-noon Saturday, will feature Chef Matt Smythe of Pitt County Memorial Hospital.

The Pitt County Farmers' Market is open from 8 a.m-1 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Fridays. A satellite farmers' market is now open from 3-6 p.m. Thursdays at Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church, 1095 Allen Road.

Nibbles

The new McDonald's restaurant on North Memorial Drive, besides Peaden's Cafeteria, is scheduled to open Thursday.

CPW's at Stanton Square, 2422 Stantonsburg Road, will be renovated and expanded soon.

Todd McGregor, who founded the restaurant in 1995 with partner Ralph Walton, said the dining room will be expanded into neighboring space that formerly housed H&R Block. The additional space will allow for a private dining area, he said.

Greenville restaurateur David Finelli said his new Italian restaurant, in the former location of Staccato's at 511-G Red Banks Road in Lynndale Shoppes, should open in mid-August. An outdoor marquee has been installed, and all the equipment has been ordered but not yet delivered, he said.

Pirate's Pub and Restaurant has a new late-night menu that features The Cannon, a pound-and-a-half sub with turkey, ham, bell peppers, lettuce, tomato and onion topped with Russian dressing; and mini burgers with fries. The late-night menu is available from 10 p.m. until close.

Beginning at 5 p.m. each Friday, Pirate's Pub will hold a beach party with crab legs ($9.95 for a bucket) and peel-and-eat-shrimp ($12.95 for a bucket).

Pirate's Pub is at 1914 Turnbury Drive. Call 355-7956 or visit the Web site www.piratespubrestaurant.net.

Hot Dish is a weekly column of restaurant and food news. To submit items for consideration, call Jane Hudson at 329-9577, fax 754-8140 or e-mail jhudson@coxnc.com.