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The Bronze Café at the LGBTQ Center

I adore the Bronze Café for so many reasons, the food is just one of many. This may imply that Bronze Cafe is a gathering place and not a restaurant. But let me assure you, it is a cafe, a gathering place, and a restaurant where it’s nice to hang out.. Bottom line, the food is extraordinarily delightful. The staff is always friendly and seems genuinely happy to work here. Everything they serve is consistently delicious, the menu is varied but not overwhelming, the chef is constantly coming up with creative ways to make healthy food delightful, AND you can come with your laptop and sit/eat for hours (this place may be heaven). Today, Cinnamon and I only went to eat lunch and celebrate her raise! #getitgurrrrl

The “Bizness” is my usual order because it’s customizable, healthy and is enough food for one to three meals (depending on my level of hunger). And I love when the server asks me “what would you like in your Bizness?”  (how cute is that?). The Bizness is simply a bed of raw, chopped kale tossed in an amazing lemon vinaigrette. You (the diner) select three of Bronze Café’s signature sides to suit your taste and/or mood. This time, I chose the Agrodolce (Italian sweet and sour sauce) Brussels Sprouts, the beet quinoa salad, and the lentil and carrot salad. The Agrodolce Brussel Sprouts are roasted in a slightly sweet and acidic garlic sauce that really accentuates the sprouts’ earthy flavor. The beet and quinoa salad is pleasantly acidic, slightly chewy because of the al dente quinoa and naturally sweet from the beets. The lentil salad contains ultra savory (cooked) green lentils and carrots and a strong herb and garlic flavor. And, if my choices don’t sound appealing, there are twelve more sides that you could choose to put all up in your Bizness…all of which I’ve had and enjoyed. Other options include (but are not limited to): chicken, bacon, avocado, roasted sweet potatoes, homemade hummus, curried quinoa, spiced chickpeas, Greek couscous, roasted broccoli with hemp hearts, and baba ganoush.

Cinnamon and I split the “Just too good for you” smoothie and a slice of the mochanut espresso vegan “cheesecake.” The smoothie was great; it was loaded with kale, apple, chia seeds, vegan vanilla protein powder, and house-made almond “mylk.” It is substantial enough to be a full meal, and off the charts in terms of healthiness, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it from the taste. The “cheesecake” was amazing. This  dynamo of a dessert is made with a blended cashew butter base. To me, it was more of a dense mousse than cheesecake, crazy super rich, flavorful and delicious, but not too heavy. I especially loved the homemade crust which consisted of almonds and dates— or maybe almonds and something else. On other occasions I’ve had the blueberry and strawberry cheesecakes and they are also mind-blowingly good.

For her entrée, Cinnamon ordered the Tree of Life Pita and generously shared a bite with me. It was deliciously complex and loaded with veggies—roasted red peppers, pickled onions, tomatoes, greens, and avocado.

Other items I love here will be featured in a future post, but I’d like to recommend the LGBTQ (their playful version of a BLT–the Q stands for cucumber. It’s the BEST bacon experience I’ve ever had), the matcha blended latte, the vegan strawberry cookie and the superfoods smoothie…and if your mouth isn’t watering based on the names alone, oh, they will be.