hippy restaurants

kinda fun piece on some of my favorite places. especially the heartland cafe, which i have recently come to appreciate.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0507-hippie-foodmay07,0,7542638.story

All those old hippie places really are the same, aren't they?

One of the things that always broke me up was that a place in DC called Yes!, maybe the first vegetarian restaurant in Washington - this is back in the mid-seventies - was always getting closed down for health violations. Bugs in the kitchen, all sorts of filth, but they sure didn't serve animal products. It was a very lovely place, now gone.

My then-husband and I dined at RJ Grunt's the day it opened. We lived a block or two away, at Clark and Armitage. Man, I loved that place, that incredible salad bar (I think it was the first salad bar ever........).

last i knew they still had the original bartender, a guy i worked with on some amateur theater things. that was a while ago, tho.

the impetuous for the article was the closing of the Heartland. i never used to go there. i took my then toddler oldest son there once, and the slow service and the fussy baby was making for an excruciating experience. while rolling my eyes to the point of looking up at the ceiling, i saw the the large glass globes on the light fixtures were filled with flies.
the health department recently shut them down. the "few people who don't like us" is quite the understatement. there is a kinda freeper blogger whose blog is named the broken heart as a direct dig at them. there is another that is a full out freeper who picks up everything that starts on the broken heart.
i, for one, suspect that the original complaint that sent the health department there (as well as a glitch in their liquor license last year) was this clown, but at any rate, they were shut down. there are one or two such actions a week, and never a mention in the press, but with these clowns flogging the story, you would think they had closed down the four seasons or something.
recently i have gotten to know the owners, tho, and have made myself somewhat at home. the food is warm and homey, and sometimes really good. i know i can eat there without compromising my health.
they also sell a lot of buttons for me.

Do you like hippie restaurants?

Yes (18 responses)............54.5%

No (15 responses).............45.5%

* 33 total responses (Results not scientific)

Oh, you meant "hippie."

My favorite was the Five Seasons in Jamaica Plain (Four Seasons was taken), a place that served macrobiotic plus fish cuisine. The decor was thrift shop, the service was quick and efficient, and the food was wonderful.

There was a Golden Temple place on Mass. Ave. that was blissfully short lived, the cuisine much the way the author of the article describes, bland to the point of tasting like the dirt it was grown in.

The there was The Restaurant in Cambridge, emphasis on whole foods cuisine, served family style. Tables seated eight and the order was arrived at by negotiation with strangers. The food was good and the service was adequate and some of the unintentional theater was excellent.

So I'd have to say yes, I pretty much do like hippie restaurants. Here in NM, they mainly run to juice and sandwich bars and I miss hippie health food dinners unless I cook them myself.

I went to a place in downtown Frederick MD called The Orchard. They do have meat dishes but it's very popular with vegetarians/vegans because they do those dishes well and have options other than salads. I had a wonderful stir fry- a little chicken, a little rice, and lots of veggies. They also don't serve and sodas and their bread was wonderful (whole wheat).

hippie restaurant called "Cornucopia". It's been out of business for years and the founder just died a week or two ago (long obit in the paper). It was a great place for vegetarians and I still remember the soybean stroganoff over bulghur dish :-).

Hope they're still there.

www.moosewoodrestaurant.com

I thought I died and went to heaven when I finally ate there back in 1993 :-).

Can't think of any similar in Hyde Park, but couldn't afford to eat out much at the time.

:(

But circa 1986 there was a little lunch place on Haight St. not far from the Army/Navy supply shop. They had a patio/deck in the back yard, and the owner's cat was allowed to wander around the tables and mingle.

I loved it.

sorry. cannot stop brain train.:hippie: