A heaping helping of soul bowl from The Community Table will sort you out—in public. - Zane Fischer
My thoughts about Santa Fe’s newest vegetarian and vegan lunch spot have to begin with a list of complaints.
No. 1: With a name like The Community Table Café, the joint ought to have more than just the one community table; three big, shared tables would drive the point home more effectively than the smattering of utterly noncommunity tables. I mean, some people are forced to sit alone in the corner, which just seems mean.
No. 2: The Design Center gives me the heebie-jeebies. It just does. It smells like defeat. It has a haze of bankruptcy about it. Hopefully, with Pizza Centro’s move to a bigger, better location within the center and the addition of The Community Table, the place is ready for revolution.
No. 3: Only open for lunch and only on the weekdays? Ouch. I mean, I support quality of life versus workaholism, but with surprisingly limited options for fresh, flavorful vegetarian fare, The Community Table may be missing out on some impressive dinnertime revenue. Or, put another way, I hope never to identify as a vegetarian and I still suspect soy beans are made from meat, but if The Community Table were among my dinner options, it would rank pretty well.
No. 4: Don’t put canned black olives on anything—ever. I’m serious; I’ll punch you.
And that’s the end of my complaints. I could niggle about this and that or wish the owners had the time and the courage, in the face of restrictive regulations, to go on fermentation binges and other wildly inventive meatless romps, but that wouldn’t be as fun or as satisfying as tucking into a "soul bowl." This flagship dish comes in small and large sizes (either $6 or $7) and is a heaping pile of rice, beans, avocado, cheese, tomato, chile and a tasty coconut milk-based (I’m guessing) sauce.
The rest of the menu is smallish, but diverse and enticing for that. There’s a weekly entrée that changes up. Fuel is a classic bowl of rice and beans for $3.50 (or $4.50 with the addition of hearty, cooked greens). Oodles of Noodles is a rice noodle platter with fresh vegetables, well-portioned herbs, tofu and vegan nut sauce. The house and Caesar salads are accompanied by a selection of shifting, seasonally inspired side salads (I had a cucumber vinaigrette salad that was refreshing on a hot day and energizing with its light dressing and exuberant flavoring). There’s also a “burger” made primarily of beets, grains and beans, and a “fajita” burrito that’s available, like any good Norteño burrito, either smothered or handheld.
In addition to the soul bowl, I can recommend from experience both the kale, potato and chickpea soup ($3.50) and the tempeh Reuben ($7.50). As a starter, the soup—with its fine, clear broth and accompanying tomato—is simple but satisfying. As for the sandwich, I have equal environmental guilt about eating soy products as I do about corned beef or pastrami, but The Community Table’s adapted Reuben was filthy and delicious enough to assuage any regrets. I don’t know if they’re whipping up a Russian dressing with Vegenaise or what, but it does the trick.
One final note on the sappy-but-cool entrepreneurial spirit of joint owners Christopher and Reingard Kolon: Every day, one of the regular menu items is designated as a “plate of love.” If you don’t have the dosh to pay the going rate, you may simply pay what you wish.
The Community Table has REAL food that satisfies in more ways than one. The taste is great, the portions are generous, and none of that silly trendy seaweedy and air-based menu that most vegetarian restaurants sport. I, too, am not a vegetarian, but The Community Table hits the mark with me. And one must remember, not EVERYONE wants to share a table with a dozen people, some of whom might be food critics whose missions seem always to be to find fault. I for one like a quiet lunch.
If doing something concrete to address the issue of hunger in our community is “sappy” as Zane Fischer implies in his August 10 review of The Community Table Café, then we will wear that badge proudly. It is that faux-urban hipster attitude (read “too cool to care”) that frequently gets in the way of people trying to make real, positive change. As members of the One World Everybody Eats Foundation, we take the issue of food insecurity seriously and are not too sappy to care.
By the way, Zane got our phone number wrong (it should be 995-0191), and there is no coconut milk in the soul sauce, which he would of known had he called us to check his facts.
Christopher and Reingard Kolon,
Owners of The Community Table Cafe
I'm sorry that you guys are missing that this is a positive review of a great new restaurant.
I think you're tricking yourselves into thinking it's negative--there's a writing trick in their to shift things around--but the content is all positive.
Apparently I need to be more literal for some folks.
I recently had the opportunity to spend some time with Chris and Reingard Kolon. They are two of the nicest people who care deeply about their community. They have chosen not only to provide FRESH, LOCAL, ORGANIC food through The Community Table Cafe but to creativly and sensitively take on the issue of food insecurity by providing an opportunity for someone to eat a healthy meal without shame in a socially acceptable venue through their daily pay what you can "Plate of Love". You both have my complete admiration and I cannot wait to get back to Santa Fe to have some of your delicious, homemade, heartfelt food!
Denise Cerreta
Founder, One World Everybody Eats Foundation
I do get it, Zane, and do appreciate the kind words. You are right, it is a positive review. We just hope that peope will realize that the "Plate of Love" is the real deal and feeding people -- all people -- is just as important as making an awesome Reuben.