Cat & Craft: Vista Cafe Opens With a “Purrfect” Atmosphere

Sammi Cox

March 5, 2019

Cat lounges along the window separating the cat section from the cafe. Sukhi Heumann/The Telescope

Story by Katy Lynn

On Jan. 12, 2019, Cat & Craft, a modern cafe with a unique cat lounge, opened up in Vista. With a more artistic vibe and look compared to other places, Cat & Craft give customers the opportunity to eat some delicious food, pet cats and even adopt one of your own!

Cat and Craft use a high quality espresso machine to make top-qualty coffee. Sukhi Heumann / The Telescope

Founded in 2018 by Caroline Vaught and her husband, Andrew, this special cafe was the result of their shared passions of business and animal rescue. After years of endless effort and planning, they were finally able to start up their dream career, a restaurant and an adoption center.

The cafe is complete with beautiful, eye-catching murals of felines on the walls and simple decor to suit those who want to peacefully enjoy their day.

Cat & Craft’s menu consists of specialty beverages, such as espresso, cold brew, Kombucha and a variety of tea. They also offer a one-of-a-kind “Purr’ Over Coffee”, which consists of unique flavor combinations such as juicy peach with fudge, and baking spice with creamy cranberry!

Croissants available for sale to customers. Sukhi Heumann / The Telescope

Food items include “quiche of the day” and toast plates that come with your choice of bread, and different spreads to enjoy it with (pesto, avocado, local jams, fresh fruit and many other options, including vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free.)

Furthermore, the cafe offers “jars”, which are their own version of acai bowls made with all-natural ingredients, and pastry case to fix that after breakfast/lunch sweet tooth.

After enjoying a tasty and healthy meal, customers have the option to pay $12 for an hour visit in the cat lounge, a room dedicated to fostering cats and kittens until visitors find their forever friend! If you visit, you have the choice to observe and pet the cats, or even better, take one home. In addition to their regular days, they offer 21+ events and ones for the kiddos, too.

Two kittens explore and play early in the morning on February 13, 2019. Sukhi Heumann / The Telescope

Make a reservation here!

The cats located at Cat & Craft are all fosters from LYFF (Love Your Feral Felines) Rescue Organization, which aims to save as many cats from euthanasia as they can. Every feline adopted from them gives them space to save another one. Since opening up in January, the cafe has adopted out 24 cats!

Cat & Craft cafe is only 15 minutes from the San Marcos Campus, and the cat lounge is open Tuesday through Sundays, from 9am-7pm. It gets busy on the weekends, so it is recommended to call in or make a reservation prior!