Why Community Food & Juice
Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve recently (in the last year or so) adopted food choices that favor locally and/or organically grown foods because I believe in “voting with my fork”. By choosing to spend my money to support local farmers and local markets whenever possible, I’m showing them that I believe in their efforts for helping to build a sustainable food supply and that I DON’T support the awful giant industrial food corporations who seem to care more about increasing their profit margin than protecting the health of the consumers and the environment.
I have always been interested in nutrition and health, but I have never felt stronger about these issues than after I took a Nutritional Ecology course last semester and my Community Nutrition course right now. So, when looking for a restaurant to celebrate our completion of our time-consuming semester-long group project for Community Nutrition, it seemed obscenely appropriate to go to Community Food & Juice, located on Broadway between W 111th & 112th Streets in Manhattan.
Community Food & Juice boasts a menu that features foods that are locally grown and use organic/sustainable methods of production, whenever possible. Foods are seasonal since they obtain whatever foods can be locally grown and are not imported from long distances away, which is a practice that has a heavy carbon footprint.
After selecting a table outside, we began with a few celebratory drinks.
Many of the drinks on the cocktails menu feature organic liquor, which was intriguing. Mine was what I believe was called an Iced Green Agave. I don’t remember what the alcohol in it was, but it had cucumber and agave nectar. It was quite delicious. And strong. My friends commented that their drinks were quite strong as well.
The Food
Then, we ordered a couple appetizers to share. The first we chose was the Zucchini-Scallion Pancakes.
The Zucchini-Scallion Pancakes came with a black vinegar dipping sauce. The pancakes themselves were delightfully very crisp on the outside, and the inside was very soft and moist. Not too greasy at all. This ended up being my favorite dish that I tried that evening.
The other appetizer we got to share was the Curried Chickpea Fritters.
The fritters (very similar to falafel) were not heavy and were actually quite light. They were served with a tamarind chutney, which provided a nice hint of sweetness that offset the bit of spice from the curry seasoning in the fritters themselves, and a yogurt dressing, which was cool and refreshing. Also a very delicious dish.
Before getting our main entrées, the sun had set and it got rather windy and chilly so we decided to move inside. Luckily, the host and waiters were very accommodating, and luckily there was one table inside that was open that could seat four. One of the waiters even brought in our glasses of water and knew whose glasses belonged to whom.
The entrée I selected (although, some might argue whether or not it could be classified as an entrée) was the Spring Market Salad.
The Spring Market Salad had leafy green lettuce, mache, spring onions, poached baby carrots, English peas, melted shallots, and a crispy goat cheese disc, with a walnut vinaigrette that I asked for on the side. A very nice combination of flavors. The peas had been sautéed with some herbs and/or spices that lightly came through and the goat cheese added a little bit of creaminess that brought the dish together very well.
My friends ordered, from top to bottom:
The Bowl o’ Beets (local heirloom beets, orange balsamic reduction, whipped goat scheese, toasted pistachios).
The Bowl o’ Rice (bean sprouts, carrot, cucumber, radicchio, peanuts, cilantro & mint with sesame lime dressing, served over warm brown rice).
The Bowl o’ Rice with wild king salmon.
Overall, a very good dining experience. Our servers were attentive and helpful in choosing dishes. The food was very fresh and tasted very flavorful. The prices were a little on the pricier side — but for quality organically grown local food, which you can feel good about for yourself, the environment, and the local economy, it is worth it.
We need more restaurants like this.
Community Food & Juice
2893 Broadway (between 112th & 113th Streets)
Morningside Heights
New York, NY
http://www.communityrestaurant.com