“Chaos Café” serves vegan fare near Cleveland High

By Rita A. Leonard

The Bee, Sep 5, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Inasmuch as in the past couple of years THE BEE has profiled two previous restaurants in the small wedge-shaped building just across Powell Boulevard from Cleveland High, one might conclude there must be chaos there. One would be right – but not in the usual sense.

The “chaos” across from Cleveland High School this fall is actually the new name of the new restaurant in the space: “Chaos Café & Parlor”, newly-opened at the corner of S.E. 26th Avenue and Powell Boulevard.

The business is already open, specializing in vegan and vegetarian food, but it will remain to be seen after school has gotten underway how the high school students will react to it.

The restaurant’s mission, as the staff describes it, is to provide a healthy and entertaining place for people to “just be”, while enjoying “delicious, energizing, whole foods meals”.

“We want to create space for the Arts to meet the Eats; to support and hold events that help foster community and interpersonal connection,” says Manager Bobbie Davis.

Chaos has 3 chefs and 7 servers, who plan to offer brown bag specials for Cleveland High students, as well as meals for the public. Owner Marcee Meijer also operates “The Village Merchant Thrift Shop” on S.E. Division Street. Meijer has decorated Chaos Café with a colorful and funky collection of thrift store treasures, artwork, and furniture. “It just felt like chaos when we started,” says Davis. “We thought the name seemed fitting. We’ll paint the definition of ‘Chaos Theory’ up on our wall.”

The staff tells us it has created new combinations of foods to showcase freshness and palatability. Lunches feature the Nutty Beet Burger, a veggie burger supreme; and The Moroccan, which includes hummus, cucumbers, cheese, and assorted vegetables.

“We have a large commercial fruit juicer, and offer fresh fruit juices such as Go Green (apple, lemon & greens), and fruit smoothies,” says Davis. “Our Red Velvet smoothie is a combination of beet, banana, blueberry and apple juice. You’d be surprised at how many people we’ve been getting to drink beets in one of our combos.”

Appetizers include sunflower paté and yo-yo’s (herbed roasted potatoes). Breakfast, served all day, offers a choice of tempeh, eggs, burritos, yogurt, or gorp. A favorite salad is “The Wild Beet”: Roasted beets, goat cheese, greens, pecans, and a garlicky house dressing called Chaos Tahini.

“It’s exciting to expose people to all the different healthy foods that we offer, such as quinoa, spelt, tempeh, and Kombucha (fermented tea),” says Davis. “Our staff is trained to explain the benefits of each ingredient we use.”

For lunch, Chaos serves the Moonbeam (grilled cheddar with tomato and red onion on sourdough); Afterschool Special (grilled peanut butter, banana, and honey or jelly on wheat); or Signature Wraps, sprouted wheat tortillas with fruit, salad or “side of the day”. The Nutty Green Cheese wrap is made of herbed cream cheese, walnuts, spinach, shredded carrot, parsley and avocado. “Check with your server for our nightly Dinner specials and basic sides,” suggests Davis. “All our chefs have their own creative specialties.”

Salads include such items as the Cosmos Salad, in which ‘the elements come together with mixed greens, seasonal veggies, sunflower seeds, choice of tempeh or baked tofu, and sesame ginger dressing.’ “We had fun brainstorming names for the menu items,” says Davis. “Many of them include puns, or have special meaning to the staff. For dessert we have fruit crisp, Mexican Chocolate ice cream, Mango sorbet, and our special ‘Midnight Madness’, a rich chocolate mousse with raspberry-ginger drizzle in a cashew crust.”

At Chaos Café, Davis says, you can develop an interest in vegetarian food and learn about options to fast food. Although a trip to Chaos won’t necessarily make an instant vegan of you, becoming familiar with new tastes and healthful choices could be a step forward.

The Café portion of Chaos has room for about 40 customers, while the Parlor area, still being developed, serves around 50. “We’re envisioning the Parlor as a multi-functional venue, available for such activities as morning yoga, study space, open mics, discussion groups, and meetings,” says Davis. “We’re open to suggestions from our customers. We want this to be a useful and inviting community space, as well as a Café.”

For diners, Chaos occurs Monday through Saturday from 7 am to 7 pm.