Scene: A sign at the new Urbandale location of Cozy Cafe advises that its maximum occupancy is 49 people, and despite torrential rains on the day we visited, the place was well on its way to capacity by 11:30 a.m. The café truly is cozy, with paintings of coffee cups on one brick-red wall and a mix of fun, colored tiles accenting two others. Seating consists of a handful of booths, tables and counter seats.Food: Like its counterpart in Clive, the Urbandale Cozy Cafe offers breakfast only until 11 a.m. weekdays. For lunch (and dinner), choices include a variety of 1/3-pound burgers, several salads and soups and a refreshing assortment of sandwiches, such as BLT, chicken, hot dogs (with chili or not), barbecue beef and pulled pork, chicken salad, Graziano’s sausage or homemade meatball. There are also Blue Plate Specials, pizzas and pastas, including cavatelli, which the cafe brands “Our Specialty!” – pretty bold for a place whose neighbor is Mama Lacona’s Italian restaurant. (On a separate visit, we tried two types of cavatelli – of the old Helen and Pat’s restaurant lineage – and they were indeed delicious.) There’s also a long list of made-from-scratch cakes, pies and other desserts, plus Grounds for Celebration’s full drink menu.

Our choices: I ordered one of the daily specials, a homemade hand-breaded tenderloin sandwich and beverage for $5.95. The sandwich was a huge, don’t-tell-the-cardiologist offering, with thick, moist meat twice as big as the bun. My companion had the 9-inch Cozy House Special pizza, a thin-crust “supreme” pie with Graziano’s Italian sausage, pepperoni, onions, mushrooms, black olives and green peppers for $8.95. We appreciated the option of enjoying healthful sides of coleslaw, applesauce, cottage cheese, fresh fruit or vanilla yogurt. But instead, we split a half-order of onion rings.

Leftovers: Several menu items are offered in half-orders or small sizes, but we wanted leftovers and took home half my sandwich and half the pizza. We noticed lots of diners doing the same.On the clock: We dined inside in 45 minutes, but Cozy Cafe also offers a drive-up window for convenient take-out.

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