Every once in a while I stumble upon some good old anarchists that remind me of a time in my life when I was at my hippie tree hugger prime and actually had time and energy to care about things other than when I was going to buy my next fabulous pair of shoes. I miss those days of social consciousness (I'm not parting with my shoes), but I'm not here to discuss my falling victim to capitalism. My purpose here is to talk about the food and this is what I'll do.
Today's trip to St. Louis MO, "The Home of American Brewing" brought me to a little cafe just blocks from the Busch Tour Center. The Black Bear Bakery and Cafe is a small empty looking store front that I surely would have never found without a little pre-trip research. As their website states: "Environmental sustainability, neighborhood support, as well as quality, local, and organic ingredients are at the center of Black Bear Bakery's mission." They are not even slightly kidding. Everything here is organic, locally grown, free-traded, or a combination of the three. WhenI went to the counter, the guy in front of me was filling out the "Barter/Trade Log" before walking out with his muffin. Yes, forms of payment accepted are cash, check, EBT (food stamps), or bartering. Grocery items are not accepted as a form of trade so you will have to be more creative than that.
Every single thing on the menu here is vegetarian. Not all vegan, but there is no meat in this place. You can buy fresh baked breads, muffins, brownies, cookies, etc. In addition, they have an eat-in lunch cafe. They are only open for breakfast and lunch. I came for lunch and my choices included the Black Bear Burger (black bean patty with cheese), BBQ Tofu (tofu sauteed with onions and bbq sauce topped with greens and served on a roll), and a Vegetarian Muffaletta (house made vegetarian sausage, roasted red peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, sundried tomato cream cheese on bread). Almost everything on the menu can be prepared vegan by request. I went all out and got the Tempeh Ruben.
Now it has been over 10 years since I have intentionally eaten meat (everyone that tells you that there is no meat in something is not telling the truth). When I was a meat eater I don't think that I ever ate rubens so it is difficult to really gauge its ruben-ness. I will say that I was pleased but not over the moon. The pumpernickle bread it was served on was great, the tempeh itself was cooked well and tasted very good. I think what lost me was the sauerkraut. I don't think this was at the fault of the establishment so much as maybe I'm just not a huge sauerkraut fan. What I am a fan of is this place's creativity and willingness to step out side of the box and offer such a rarity. I will definitely come back if given the opportunity and sample some of the other options for sure.
So, overall, I recommend it. I'm still happier to have eaten something with imagination that I wasn't 100% in love with than the same old same old. And they were playing Nina Simone, super extra bonus points there.
Trip to St. Louis= successful eating. Oh yeah, and I saw that arch thing too :-).
here's the website: http://www.blackbearbakery.org/
Today's trip to St. Louis MO, "The Home of American Brewing" brought me to a little cafe just blocks from the Busch Tour Center. The Black Bear Bakery and Cafe is a small empty looking store front that I surely would have never found without a little pre-trip research. As their website states: "Environmental sustainability, neighborhood support, as well as quality, local, and organic ingredients are at the center of Black Bear Bakery's mission." They are not even slightly kidding. Everything here is organic, locally grown, free-traded, or a combination of the three. WhenI went to the counter, the guy in front of me was filling out the "Barter/Trade Log" before walking out with his muffin. Yes, forms of payment accepted are cash, check, EBT (food stamps), or bartering. Grocery items are not accepted as a form of trade so you will have to be more creative than that.
Every single thing on the menu here is vegetarian. Not all vegan, but there is no meat in this place. You can buy fresh baked breads, muffins, brownies, cookies, etc. In addition, they have an eat-in lunch cafe. They are only open for breakfast and lunch. I came for lunch and my choices included the Black Bear Burger (black bean patty with cheese), BBQ Tofu (tofu sauteed with onions and bbq sauce topped with greens and served on a roll), and a Vegetarian Muffaletta (house made vegetarian sausage, roasted red peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, sundried tomato cream cheese on bread). Almost everything on the menu can be prepared vegan by request. I went all out and got the Tempeh Ruben.
Now it has been over 10 years since I have intentionally eaten meat (everyone that tells you that there is no meat in something is not telling the truth). When I was a meat eater I don't think that I ever ate rubens so it is difficult to really gauge its ruben-ness. I will say that I was pleased but not over the moon. The pumpernickle bread it was served on was great, the tempeh itself was cooked well and tasted very good. I think what lost me was the sauerkraut. I don't think this was at the fault of the establishment so much as maybe I'm just not a huge sauerkraut fan. What I am a fan of is this place's creativity and willingness to step out side of the box and offer such a rarity. I will definitely come back if given the opportunity and sample some of the other options for sure.
So, overall, I recommend it. I'm still happier to have eaten something with imagination that I wasn't 100% in love with than the same old same old. And they were playing Nina Simone, super extra bonus points there.
Trip to St. Louis= successful eating. Oh yeah, and I saw that arch thing too :-).
here's the website: http://www.blackbearbakery.org/
The Ruben should have had cole slaw, not saur Kraut;that was the problem.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see this place and eat here....carnivores have conscience too.