By Morgan M. Hurley | Editor

New Little Italy restaurant seeks to change the world, one meal at a time

Imagine entering a restaurant where the food is 100 percent organic and plant-based and its sources are all from local farmers who support sustainable agriculture, and they only use environmentally friendly products.

Then imagine the staff at that place metaphorically sweeping you off your feet the moment you walk in the door; you’re greeted tenderly and asked how you are feeling and are really listened to; each item on the menu is referenced as an affirmation that is then replied back to you when you order; its serving dishes ask you to reflect; a place where each member of the staff meditate and “clear” their thoughts just minutes after clocking in to ensure they in are in the right mindset to interact with customers; where the management tells you the food is made with love and their goal is to have you leave feeling nourished and more grateful and appreciative and overall in a much better place than the moment you walked in.

Sounds all too unfamiliar, like some futuristic utopian society, right?

Café Gratitude — which just opened its doors July 29 in the Broadstone mixed-use building in Little Italy — is indeed that place.

Husband and wife team Matthew and Terces Engelhart opened the first Café Gratitude in San Francisco in 2004 and although that location has since closed, the new 4,000-square-foot location San Diego location is one of many, including those in Santa Cruz, Berkeley, West Hollywood, Downtown Los Angeles (Arts District), Venice Beach and Kansas City.

Chief Inspiration Officer Ryland Engelhart described how the business got started and said his parents — his father Matthew and stepmother Terces — were looking forward at the second half of their lives and wanted to do something positive that had an impact outside of themselves.

“They had a continuous impulse to give people the simple practice of gratitude,” Engelhart said. “Actually practicing being grateful is one of the most amazing, rewarding transformative tools that we have within in our own psychology — mostly we looking at what’s wrong or what is missing.

“Café Gratitude is a place that from its inception was designed to be a space where the public could come in for the practical reason of not only their hunger, but the intention was bring them into an environment where we can plant seeds of gratitude in their hearts through our service and our food and our kindness and our presence,” Engelhart continued. “That we could create a little ripple effect that would have them spend the rest of the day saying, ‘wow, what am I grateful for?’”

The concept sounds daunting but this family, which also includes Engelhart’s stepbrother Cary Mosier, a San Diego resident who lives near the new restaurant, is undeterred and “all in.”

Since 2004 the senior Engelharts have branched off into various other projects, including a business model they call Sacred Commerce, books on living well, cookbooks, a game, their own farm and some that show their activist nature, like their Kissing the Ground project where they work with musician Jason Mraz to lobby for funding to enhance California’s agricultural soil.

And Mraz, a resident of North San Diego County, was instrumental in getting Café Gratitude to migrate south to San Diego, Engelhart said.

But despite some naysayers who question their motives or try to connect the culture at Café Gratitude with Scientology or other cults, Engelhart emphasizes that their true intention is merely spreading gratefulness, love and positive thinking.

“It is an environment where not only do the staff have to learn how to do their job, they have to learn how to be the presence of gratitude as they are serving,” Engelhart said. “If the customer is a prickly pear, and very demanding — they see it as an opportunity not to react, but to offer love — it is easy to love the lovable, but the real work is can we actually love and be present and serve people who are challenged or having a hard time?”

The menus are a wealth of knowledge should you wish to know more about the culture of Café Gratitude before the staff exudes it by example.

Information about their sprouted grains, great detail about the contents of every food and drink item — including organic beers and wines — notes about the type of farmers they deal with and even some words of wisdom: “We invite you to step inside and enjoy being someone who chooses: loving your life, adoring yourself, accepting the world, being generous and grateful for every day, and experiencing being provided for. Have fun and enjoy being nourished.”

Staff are instructed to ask each guest a “question of the day,” but the standard mantra, no surprise, is “What are you grateful for?” which is emblazoned on many of their plates to remind you while you are eating to consider your choices.

With an ambitious plant-based menu with Executive Chef Dreux Ellis at the helm and containing items named things such as Glorious, Liberated, Warm Hearted, Fulfilled, Dazzling, Comforted, Vivacious and dozens more, it’s hard not to get caught up in the lighthearted feeling of it all and leave feeling just a little bit differently.

Café Gratitude is located at 1980 Kettner Blvd., #20, in Little Italy. It is open for breakfast at starting at 8 a.m., lunch starting at 11 a.m. (Saturday and Sunday breakfast overlaps until 1 p.m.), and the lights turn down at 5 p.m. for dinner, with standard fare or a prix fixe Chef’s tasting menu.
Learn more at cafegratitude.com, follow them on Facebook and Twitter @CafeGratitudeSD, or Instagram @CafeGratitude.

—Morgan M. Hurley can be reached at [email protected].