 In these tough economic times, the last thing you'd think you'd see someone doing would be to open a new restaurant, especially a fancy one. If you heard someone was doing this, in a new, untested location, and had spent a million bucks on tenant improvements to a newly-constructed ultra-green office building over the past year, you might start to question their sanity.
But then, you'd have to come and experience the vision and nearly-ready-to-open reality of Gather, an organic cafe and restaurant providing access for all to the sustainable food movement, "Seasonal farm food among friends... where people can always find something healthy, reasonably priced and deeply satisfying to eat."
Follow me over the fold for a sneak peek from last night's preview tasting, some background about the setting and the vision, and how we can bring about a revolution, one bite at a time. |
Full disclosure: I know the folks who are starting the restaurant, and they gave me a meal's worth of free samples (but I tipped heavily) last night at a tasting session, as they were doing for about 100 people considering setting up pre-paid discount accounts, which I am planning on doing. I have made a minor investment (<1%) as part of their "friends and family" outreach (oversubscribed and now closed, so please do not interpret this as a solicitation for investment), so I stand to lose some money (my wife is betting on this outcome) or make a little bit based on how well the restaurant does. I work in the building the restaurant is in, and plan to be a regular patron, for myself and my clients. That said, I believe in the vision and feel that sharing it has value in and of itself for DK GreenRoots readers, as an inspiration for local action and an expression of the power of community. I'll draw from what others have said about the people and the place so you don't have to rely on my biased point of view.
Welcome to the Tuesday DK GreenRoots guest diary, running about 13.5 hours late, cross-posted here because it seemed relevant.
So how is it that anyone would think that such a bold new venture would have any chance of success, today, economically speaking?
 Well, the restaurant business, like any type of retail enterprise, is a form of Real Estate. And as the maxim goes, the three most important factors in that realm are Location, Location, Location. So it helps if you start out by selecting a town known as the birthplace of California Cuisine: Berkeley, California, home to the Gourmet Ghetto, where Chez Panisse set the standard for fresh, local, quality food. Setting up shop downtown, a block from the subway station ( 25 minutes from downtown San Francisco), across the street from a 30,000-student educational institution, isn't a bad move either.
The real secret sauce though, is in the building: The David Brower Center, completed this year, is Berkeley's greenest building, constructed to LEED Platinum standards, headquarters or regional offices for dozens of social-venture entrepreneurs and innovative environmental-movement nonprofits (NGO's), including:  - 350.org
- Center for Ecoliteracy
- Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF)
- Earth Island Institute (an anchor tenant for the building)
- The Hub, a social-venture coworking community
(where my wife and I run our little community-organizing consultancy, Planning for Sustainable Communities)
- The Redford Center
- SAGE (Sustainable Agriculture Education)
- Slow Money
- Women's Earth Alliance
The building includes extensive meeting and performance space, already heavily booked for all kinds of events. I love working there because I keep running into fascinating people doing interesting, inspirational things.
So who would feel inspired to set up shop in such a spot? Ari Derfel and Eric Fenster, founders of a pioneering Bay Area organic caterer Back to Earth, had the vision over a decade to do more than just events, to create a community where people could come to experience food as a privilege: Simple, delicious, farm food picked and prepared at the peak of its season. Sourced locally. Traded fairly. Prepared thoughtfully.
The space itself is a marvel of recycling and re-use, according to Vera of Nourish the Spirit:
 Its interior is being built with reclaimed wood and as much recycled material as you can imagine. Even the lamps will be hanging inside old organic vodka bottles! [Gather] will include a full bar for night time, as well as a cafe. Its menu will feature a great brunch and an omnivore-friendly menu with plenty of choices for both vegans and conscious carnivores.
While the regular menu is still being finalized and will change based on local farm offerings through the seasons, here's what was offered last night:  - Warm root vegetables and beans
- Watermelon radish salad
- Various pizzas (including vegan - about half the menu will be vegetarian, and a quarter vegan)
- Saucy quinoa
- Charcuterie (made in house)
- Halibut over turnip puree and pesto
- Chicken
- Pumpkin and cranberry dessert
 By day, there will be an informal cafe out front, with restaurant seating at the back. At night, the whole space becomes a traditional restaurant. The business plan calls for inexpensive breakfasts and lunch options, to help green the diet and reduce the carbon impacts of people of all income levels.
For me, the attraction of Gather is several-fold: it's the quality of the food, the relationship with the sources, and the community that forms around it.
Gather will open for dinner December 15; lunch will start in January ( once students return to town from their winter break) and breakfast and brunch February 1.
You can follow their website, twitter feed, or become a fan on FaceBook to learn more.
 DK GreenRoots is a new environmental series created by Meteor Blades and Patriot Daily for Daily Kos. This series provides a forum for the discussion of all environmental issues, including the need for sustainability and the interrelationship between environment and salient issues of our lives, including health care, family, food, economy, jobs, labor, poverty, equal justice, human rights, political stability, national security and war.
Please join a variety of hosts on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday afternoons and early evenings. Each Wednesday is hosted by FishOutofWater.
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