For years, 18 Tanner Street was a place for Thai food. It was Sanook Thai first and Sang Tong Thai after that. This fall it gets a new name over the door. The Haddonfield Historic Preservation Commission took up Four Green Cats Café's business sign application at its August 12 meeting, and the borough's 2026 commission records list it as approved with conditions.
The café calls the new space The Grand Salon. Its owners set the grand opening for October 30. This is a different kind of business from the quick counter it ran for six years in Mount Laurel, and the change is worth understanding. Downtown Haddonfield lost two sweet shops this year, and the account of one of those closings puts the café's sit-down plan in context.
From a counter at Rancocas Woods to table service on Tanner Street
Four Green Cats has been a European-style bakery and coffee shop in the Village at Rancocas Woods in Mount Laurel. NJ.com reported in September that the landlord declined to renew the lease and told the owners only that it had "other plans" for the space.
Haddonfield was not a last-minute pick. Founder and executive chef Nadia Vasa had spent at least two years looking for a bigger space with more seating and a fully equipped commercial kitchen, NJ.com reported. In South Jersey Food Scene's profile, Tanner Street is described as the planned second location that is now becoming the flagship.
The biggest change is the service model. Rancocas Woods was quick service. Haddonfield will be full service, set up on purpose as a place to sit. According to South Jersey Food Scene, Nadia wants a vintage room modeled on the traditional cafés of Prague and Vienna, and she describes the Grand Salon as "an authentic Czech cultural embassy in South Jersey." Her husband, Mila Vasa, has been managing the buildout and will be Managing Director.
The café's own announcement says it is adding a patio "approximately the size of our entire current café." So the old café's entire footprint will now fit outside the new one.
What carries over and what's new
Regulars from Mount Laurel will see familiar items. The bigger kitchen also makes room for food the old counter couldn't handle.
| Coming from Mount Laurel | New or expanded at the Grand Salon |
|---|---|
| Bohemian donuts | A larger breakfast menu |
| Traditional kolaches | New lunches built on traditional home-cooked Czech dishes |
| Johnny Biscuits | Savory and sweet Czech specialties that are hard to find elsewhere in South Jersey |
| Apple strudel | More scratch-made cakes and strudels |
| German bread pudding | Full table service |
| Babka | A patio about the size of the old café |
Earlier coverage from WhatNow Philadelphia listed open-faced Czech party sandwiches, dumplings and potato salad among the light lunches.
The baking style stays the same. South Jersey Food Scene says the recipes come from the cooking of Nadia's great-grandmother, Katerina. The kitchen uses imported European flour, good butter and ghee, and no preservatives. Natural sourdough fermentation goes into many of the doughs, and the pastries are known for light spice and only moderate sweetness. Nadia has also talked about champagne with strawberries and breakfast mimosas, but only if the right wine partnership comes together. Plan around coffee for now.
The café hasn't published final Haddonfield hours or a complete menu. Its social media accounts are the place to check before you go.
Two counters closed this year
The full-service plan makes more sense next to what happened a few blocks away. Cacia's Bakery opened at 26 S. Haddon Ave., across from the post office, in summer 2024. In September, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported a "closed" sign on the door, a dark storefront, and a sign offering the 1,100-square-foot building and its equipment for sale.
Sam Cacia is a third-generation owner of the original South Philadelphia bakery, and his family taught the Haddonfield owner how to bake. He told the Inquirer the Haddonfield closing came partly from the parking situation and partly from competition with downtown's sit-down restaurants. "When you ride around the block looking for a spot, it becomes a bit of a challenge. It just came to, like, there wasn't enough demand," he said in the Inquirer story. That is his account of what happened at one shop.
Downtown Cookies at 123 Kings Highway East closed at the end of August, and its owner gave her own reason. South Jersey Food Scene reported that she was stepping away to focus on her family. That one wasn't about the business model. It did leave one fewer counter on Kings Highway.
So the downtown that lost two counters this year is getting a café designed for sitting down, the same kind of dining Sam Cacia said the bakery was competing with. You go to the Grand Salon to sit down, order a Czech lunch, stay through a strudel and maybe come back for a concert. Its Tanner Street neighbors include Pink Tax Co Boutique at 16 Tanner, so a visit can be part of a walk downtown instead of a single stop.
A cultural calendar that hasn't been written yet
The patio and dining room aren't only for meals. The café's announcement promises "a Czech cultural and community home for concerts, special events, and inspiring guests."
That programming will be run by Nadia's daughter, Katerina Crawford, a teacher and the founder of the Comenium Czech-Slovak School. She is the family's cultural manager and plans events that celebrate and keep up Czech and Slovak traditions and customs, according to South Jersey Food Scene.
No dated concerts or holiday events have been announced for the new location. The café has held a "Czech Christmas" event before, but that was in Mount Laurel in December 2021, so it doesn't promise anything for this year. If a Czech holiday gathering on Tanner Street sounds like your kind of December evening, follow the café's accounts and watch for an announcement.
Where the Grand Salon fits in the holiday weeks
The opening comes just before downtown Haddonfield's busiest weeks. The Downtown Haddonfield 2026 events calendar lists two big dates.
- November 27: Candlelight Shopping, the Tree Lighting, the Santa Parade and the Cocoa Walk all kick off.
- December 4: The Yule Night Market, with holiday-themed vendors and roaming entertainment.
Times, locations and any street closures for both nights hadn't been posted yet, so check the Downtown Haddonfield events page as the dates get closer. A café built for lingering, with a big patio, is a natural place to warm up before or after a cold night of shopping, as long as its holiday hours line up.
For anyone who already knows Four Green Cats from Rancocas Woods, the Mount Laurel café is staying open through the end of 2026. Its November hours may be limited while the move finishes, and NJ.com reported that the Mount Laurel shop may move to a smaller menu as the baking equipment goes to the new kitchen. During the transition, NJ.com reported, pastries will be baked at the new location and delivered to the Mount Laurel shop every day.
The café is also hiring baristas, pastry chefs and savory chefs, according to NJ.com. Anyone in your house looking for kitchen or counter work close to home this season can check the café's posts for openings.
If you're new to the borough or getting someone settled here, The Colleen Hadden Group is happy to put together a guided town tour that includes the Grand Salon's patio, the Kings Highway shops and the spots our neighbors love.
