The non-profit enterprise in the Downtown Eastside serves great ‘stick-to-your-ribs type food’
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Chef Johnny Perry at the Potluck Cafe, which serves breakfast and lunch. Photograph by : Glenn Baglo, Vancouver Sun
Oh boy, if friends saw me now! Standing with a group of people scoring drugs on a street corner in the Downtown Eastside doesn’t offer my best side. But really, I was just standing there, waiting for the light to turn green.
I had intended to go to the Potluck Cafe on Hastings, an oasis of cheer in a jagged environment. It was on a Saturday, and I discovered it was closed, so I went with a colleague during the week.
“I don’t think I’ll come back here for lunch,” she remarked, walking down the gritty street. But after a few bites into her quesadilla and twinkly-fresh salad, she changed her tune. “Hmm, I think I will come back! This is good!” (And it was. I took a bite of both.)
My omelette was so large, it was Dali-esque, drooping over the side of my plate. Its yum factor kept me eating well past my full point. It came with thick slices of multi-grain bread and roasted potatoes. If I’d ordered coffee, it would have been fair trade Saltspring Island brand.
It’s hard to believe Potluck Cafe is a non-profit enterprise, staffed by hard-to-employ citizens of the Downtown Eastside.
It offers catering services, breakfast and lunch as well as 36,000 to 48,000 free meals every year to the needy. As well, it offers job training, and more often than not, jobs. It’s a clean, cheerful spot with sunny yellow walls (sporting Joe Average art and black and white photographs of the neighbourhood).
Customers are a mixed group of suits, local office workers and residents. The chef, Johnny Perry, previously worked at Capers as well as Delta Hotel Whistler. At Potluck, he’s catered functions with up to a thousand guests.
“I actually feel very fortunate to work here,” says Perry. “I make a small
difference. Everybody has a right to eat. That’s what it all boils down to.”
The breakfast menu offers a full slate, including the Big Trucker with the works for $6. Lunch is more about panini, soups, wraps, burgers and an entree special for $6 to $6.50 with dishes like butter chicken, a Reuben sandwich or chicken souvlaki.
“It’s stick-to-your-ribs type food,” says Scott Fitzsimmons, a director of the non-profit organization.
On March 30, Vancouver firefighters take over the cafe. They’re cooking at this year’s annual fundraiser and dishes will be from Pot on The Stove, a cookbook they published to raise funds for B.C. Childrens’ Hospital. The $125-dinner features wines from Wild Horse Canyon and a copy of the cookbook.
POTLUCK CAFE
30 West Hastings St., 604-609-7368, www.potluckcatering.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2007