Soul Cafe Moves to a New Venue – Traditions

The concept of a Soul Cafe is to represent a place, a container, for people to gather and receive nourishment on a soul level through authentic relating and inspired connections. When my husband and I opened Soul Cafe in late summer of 2022, more than anything else, this was the call that we felt compelled to answer. 

 Coming out of lockdowns, communities were fractured while we were thrown further into deep social divisions, chronic loneliness and stress. Plus, the face of our community had quite literally changed. Many had quietly moved away while we received an influx of new faces, in many cases, of people who had been living here for years in isolation without enough opportunities for social integration. And, as a whole, we felt it was important to throw a lot of support towards opportunities for healing and (re)integration for all. 

 So our decision to take on this incredible risk during uncertain times was to take a stand for a healthy community, while our mission, at its core, is to get medicine to people.

 On the most basic level, food is medicine -when it’s made of fresh, nutrient-rich ingredients, and most particularly when it’s grown within our own local biome. Soul Cafe has a strong emphasis on local organic produce and ingredients, within about an 80%-90% margin of achievement. The only lunch meat we serve is made in-house and from scratch using meat from local free-range chicken. 

 Eating food grown from local soil is the best way to build a relationship between our bodies, local microbials, and the land we are tasked to steward. Also, by supporting our local organic growers, we are taking responsibility for this stewardship through the impact of our choices. Accountability is medicine. 

 Authentic relating and making personal connections is medicine. Community is medicine. Music and artistic expression are medicine. Dance and play are medicine. A sense of acceptance for being ourselves is potent, potent medicine. These are all things we use the cafe as a platform for promoting. 

 During the short two years since we first opened our tiny cafe with a big heart, we were constantly in awe with how quickly it had built up a life of its own. Growing through word-of-mouth meant like-minded individuals bringing each other into the fold, establishing a sense of resonance that could be felt. Tucked away on the Westside and downright hard to find, we liked to think of it as a secret club that any and everyone was welcome to join. 

 Thoroughly inspired, we’re seeking to expand this vision with hopes of opening a central location with adjoining music and dance venue, offering ongoing nightlife with an elixir bar serving invigorating tonics that are all soul, without the spirits. 

 While we know this ultimate incarnation will happen in due time, we are incredibly grateful, if not humbled, for our current opportunity to step up our capacity to serve, in our recent move into the Traditions space at 300 5th Ave, where the cafe side is now Soul Cafe. With this move, we’ve expanded our gathering space (with beautiful outdoor seating to come), moved into a location of greater visibility and accessibility (not to mention an incredible view!), we get to be connected to the coolest shop around, and, most notably, get to be a part of supporting and sustaining a most long-standing and exemplary community-centric space. 

Traditions had functioned for 3 decades as a cafe, fair-trade shop and event center working in tandem. Nearly at the same time as we had opened our cafe on the Westside, Traditions officially closed their cafe due to lockdown strain. Since closing their cafe, the space has continued to thrive in its capacity for holding community events, which we are excited to be a part of going forward.

 Jody, the beautiful and beloved owner of Traditions, has shown us exactly the level of welcome and love that we hope to hold for the bringing together of our communities. We’re excited to be officially open in our new home, though still easing in. We’re open between 10-4, every day except Wednesdays. 

 If you don’t know me already, my name is Prism. I’m the silly one. My husband is Devon, and, if I told you he was the extra special one, you could probably figure out who I’m talking about. We’d love to meet you so feel free to say hi! In truth, our whole crew is pretty special and would all love to meet you. 

 And people say they really like the food too! The Raspberry Gruyere Grilled Cheese is my favorite Panini, with the Lavender Blueberry Milkshake. Oh, and we make our own ice cream from scratch, which we use in our milkshakes. It’s vegan and coconut based but you wouldn’t know it. We also default to our house-made cashew milk, with grass-fed cow available on request, for our shakes and specialty lattes brewed with rich organic beans from local roaster Wobbly Cup Cooperative. 

 We make our own organic drink syrups from scratch as well, and organic probiotic sodas with flavors like Watermelon Sage and Tulsi Cola. We make most things from scratch. Soul Cafe Menu

 Everything on the menu can be made gluten-free and has a vegan counterpart. We actually won the most votes in the vegan chef challenge out of 12 local participating restaurants, as well as best sandwich and best milkshake!! We don’t shy away from accommodating special diets so don’t feel shy about asking for what you need. 

We hope to see you there.

Soul Cafe offers nourishing food and drink in a nurturing environment. As a guiding principle for serving the community, their motto is local, organic, fresh and fair

Prism is a lover of nature, believer in magic, and an entrepreneur of businesses aimed at supporting meaning opportunities to engage the authentic self.