New Deal Cafe News – October 2017

Chef Carrie Megginson Comes to the Café

We’re excited to introduce the Cafe’s new executive chef!

Chef Carrie cultivates her life-long engagement with food, its history, systems, preparation protocols, fads and flavors, both in her home and her workplace.

She started a bread-baking business at eight, washed dishes for tuition scholarship in high school, worked through graduate school as a pub cook, cooked privately for families with multiple special dietary needs, sold home kitchen gear. She became a food co-op buyer and manager, a vegan catering chef, a CSA and heritage pig farmer, a restaurant manager, and a food desert warrior.

Now she will be bringing delicious, inclusive, seasonal cuisine to Greenbelt’s de facto community living room – the New Deal Café.

Chef Carrie pursues quality time with her dog and has a passion for exploring ancient archetypes when she isn’t cooking.

Coming up – the Greenbelt JazzFest October 14

The all-day Jazz Festival starts at 1 pm in Roosevelt Center and moves to the New Deal at 8 pm.

October 16 Reel and Meal Features Coal

BURNED tells the little-known story of the accelerating destruction of our forests for fuel, and probes the policy loopholes, huge subsidies, and blatant green washing of the burgeoning biomass power industry.

More details and trailer.

Puppet Show October 15

Thanks to a generous grant from the Greenbelt Community Foundation, Milo the Magnificent and friends will make their first Greenbelt appearance at the New Deal Café on Sunday, October 15 from 2 to 4 pm. This FREE show is for children of all ages. Accompanying Milo will be the creators, builders and master puppeteers – Alex and Olmsted. Q&A will follow the performance.

Café Named One of the Best Folk Music Venues in the U.S.!

News of the Cafe’s great music went national this week after it was named one of the 35 Best Folk Music Venues in the U.S. (and the only one in Maryland). We recognized some big names on the list and are honored to be in such esteemed company.

The Café owes it all to our amazing music coordinator, Amethyst Dwyer, who knows the local music scene and books the very best among the hundreds of groups that want to perform here.

New Café Clothes Have Arrived

More of the popular New Deal wearables are now available, including:

  • Classic Café logo style in all sizes
  • New “Good Vibes” style in all sizes
  • T-shirts in PURPLE!
  • Sweatshirts, just in time for fall

October is National Co-op Month

The New Deal Café is a proud member coop and here’s how we’re celebrating:

Sunday October 8 from 2 to 4 pm is our big Coop event – a Co-opology Game! It works much like regular Monopoly, but more cooperative. Enter a free raffle to win a gift basket valued at $125.

But there’s more – Greenbelt’s Cooperative Alliance has created this cool Treasure Map, showing which days you can claim your treasure at each of Greenbelt’s coops. Our day is October 8, so stop by any time that day to claim your Café treasure.

And every Sunday in October, Café members get 10% off brunch, and members of any coop anywhere get 5% off.

Kitchen Korner with Chef Carrie

It’s a new day in the kitchen at the New Deal Café. Look for the launch of our Waffle Bar Brunch on weekends. The brunch is vegan and paleo friendly, too!

Look for paleo squash waffles, vegan banana waffles, and cornmeal waffles with sausage and “snausage” gravies, fruit compotes, fresh yogurt, and syrups, as well as salads and savory casseroles.

For the brunch, New Deal Café co-op members will see 10% off during the rest of October— National Cooperative Month.

We’re also putting together a bar snacks menu for quick and tasty accompaniment to any beverage: sesame noodles, buffalo falafels, queso with chips, mix ‘n’ match mezze plates and more!

Brunch Menu October 8

Basic Brunch: $12

Waffle Bar – Paleo Pumpkin Spice, Cornmeal, Vegan
Sausage Gravy
Snausage Gravy
Hot Curried Fruit
Vanilla Pear Compote
Apple Cider Syrup
Yogurt & Vegan Coconut Yogurt
Butter
Bacon, Sausage, Turkey Sausage
Home Fries
Massaged Kale Salad w/ Roast Squash, Toasted Pepitas Tahini-Apple Cider dressing
Soup: Cream Corn or White Bean & Kale
Fresh Fruit Platter
1 Hot Beverage: Coffee, Tea, Hot Chocolate (Hot Cider)

Bottomless Brunch Hot Beverage $5.00 (ends at 2 when brunch ends)

Deluxe Menu: $14.99

All of the items on the basic brunch PLUS:
Enchilada Casserole: Vegan or Chicken
Quiche Lorraine
Vegan Mushroom Besan Quiche
Apple Crisp

Celebration Beverage package $14

(No brunch purchase required, but only available during brunch hours)
3 Drinks (yes three!) of our tasty Micheladas and Mimosas

Art at the Café

Enjoy the works of artists Heather Joi Tennant and Samantha Stewart now on exhibit in the Café.

Employee Feature – Heather Brooks

You may know Heather from responses to your feedback, her posts on social media, or maybe she’s served you up a beer as a volunteer bartender.

Perhaps you’ve seen her doing all sorts of manager-type things at the Café. Heather has been an interim manager at the Café since February of this year, helping it prepare for the next big thing.

Maybe what you don’t know is that Heather is also supernatural fiction author H.L. Brooks. You can find her books on Amazon in both paperback and ebook format. Heather can be seen at various book events and reading throughout the year. Her next event is this weekend…

Yes, as H.L. Brooks she’ll be giving a reading following a historic house tour (with mention of some ghostly encounters) at Marietta House in Glenn Dale on Saturday October 7th at 2:30 pm. After the reading there will be refreshments and a costume contest with prizes for those who would like to dress up as a werewolf, vampire, or a character from the Vitaortus or Red August book series. Authors of both series will have books and merchandise available for purchase (cash, check, credit cards accepted). This event is FREE. However, it’s requested that you RSVP to Stacey at 301-464-5291. This event is not recommended for children.

Financial Report

In September the Cafe’s total sales were up – $54,000. However, payroll costs were high enough to produce a net loss of $3,000 for the month.