When you meet Alexander, the owner of Alexander’s Cafe, you will almost certainly be surprised his youth, especially considering how good the food there is. The Restaurant Week menu for the cafe appears to be that of some health-food freak at first glance, but even in the opinion of someone like me, who counts hot dogs among her favorite foods, it ended up being delicious despite all of the vegetables.

The cafe itself is oddly set up in comparison to similar restaurants in the city of Binghamton. The restaurant, located on Chenango Street near the bus station, is split in two, with the seating area separate from the counter at which you order and the kitchen area. The seating area has huge windows with excellent views of historic buildings across the street. Alexander’s Cafe is offering a three-course lunch menu for restaurant week for $12.

The options for the first course are limited to two: pumpkin soup and broccoli salad, but my photographer, Sam, and I each ordered one of them. I was surprised by how much I liked the broccoli salad, considering the fact that I hate sunflower seeds (which it contained). Some of the broccoli pieces were really large, but it only served to slightly slow me down as I shoveled it into my mouth. The craisins and the honey-lemon dressing were the perfect compliment to the bacon. The pumpkin soup was a bright orange and topped with toasted pumpkin seeds, adding a necessary crunch to an otherwise smooth soup.

For the second course, all four of the options are sandwiches, but it was still hard to choose between them. I ended up ordering the power panini, with roast beef, purple kale slaw, American cheese and aioli. It was the perfect size for physically fitting it in my mouth, but the kale overpowered the other flavors at some points. The roast beef, which Alexander informed me is roasted in house, was more thickly cut than grocery store deli meat, but it serves the sandwich well. Sam ordered the Mediterranean Chicken Wrap, which was generously portioned and stuffed with a mix of olives.

The dessert options we selected were the s’more brownie and the mini cheesecake, though an assortment of Italian cookies was also available as a nod to the owner’s Endicott roots. The cheesecake was delicious, and the only issue I had with it is that I was not expecting it to be lemon-flavored and it was. However, the s’more brownie was amazing and blew the cheesecake out of the water. It tasted like chocolate cake, but had the texture of a perfect brownie, and the marshmallows were just the right amount of sticky.

Overall, the food at Alexander’s Cafe is really delicious and surprisingly so for being healthy. The Restaurant Week menu is perfect for a date, or even just a pair of friends wanting to split lunch at a place off of the beaten path.