Author: Teresa Eilers
Four Café is transforming what it means to eat out.
Unlike most meals available to American restaurant-goers, the majority of the food that Four offers is local and organic. The café’s owners have consciously strived to support a more self-sufficient and whole food-based economy. With every meal they serve, they seek to adhere to the principles of the local and organic food movement which part of the more inclusive sustainability trend.
A young, local Eagle Rock couple, chef/owner Michelle Wilton and artist/owner Corey Wilton, opened Four Café in 2009 with a progressive mission statement: to provide seasonal dishes with as many local and organic ingredients as possible.
Organic food differs from conventionally grown/raised food in that it does not use additives that will harm the human body and our planet. Such additives include pesticides and injected hormones.
However, Four’s owners have more than your physical well-being in mind. What first caught my eye at the café is the 100 percent in-house-made pastries and cupcakes. Beneath the apricot cobblers and cupcakes is a deli case filled with chilled watermelon salad, lemony quinoa corn salad and other freshly prepared salads.
From the entrée menu, Four’s Hawaiian BBQ pork sandwich and Jerk Tempeh sandwich burst with flavor; one dripping and sweet, the other the best vegan sandwich in the city.
The restaurant’s earthy ambiance compliments the food’s character perfectly. A panel of mismatched pieces of reclaimed wood adorn the light green walls, and plants are scattered throughout the restaurant. The tables are made of the same reused wood topped with small succulents.
The mixture of light greens and rich browns compliment the freshness of the locally grown produce, reminding diners that it’s nice to eat food that hasn’t been covered in carcinogenic pesticides that hasn’t traveled extensively by train and truck to get to your table or your eco-friendly to-go box.
The owners of Four also follow the principle that eating seasonal food is healthier for the body, better for the environment and helps to create a sustainable food chain.
Much of the produce we consume grows out of genetically modified seeds that now have the ability to grow year-round, but that is not how food was meant to be cultivated. It is with this knowledge that Four’s owners dedicate their restaurant to a seasonally changing menu, serving food that is best for us and best for the planet.
Though you can eat lunch and dinner at Four all seven days of the week, they only offer breakfast and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. The average price is about $10 a meal.
Although two Double-Doubles at In-N-Out are cheaper than a meal here, Four Café promotes social and economic justice while providing you with fresh and flavorful taste. An added perk of being an Occidental student is the 10 percent discount on any meal.
This past weekend marked the ending of the summer menu and the appearance of the fall menu. Though the menus are changing, Four Café will ensure to continue providing multiple options for vegans, vegetarians and carnivores.
Four Café is a 15 minute walk from campus, located on 2122 1/2 Colorado Blvd.
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