Common Table

Volunteering leads to great things!

zhancock — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:33:47 +0000

Everyday I work with volunteers at the Common Table. I am a self
proclaimed “Volun-steerer”. I see new people all the time and each has there own
personal reason to volunteer. Studies say that to give of your self reduces your own
stresses and life challenges and actually leads to a more fulfilling life. I truly
believe this to be true!

One evening I was working with a very polite young man who was volunteering.
I did my usual check-in with him and asked about his life and what he was doing to keep
himself busy. He shared that he wasn’t stoked on his job and was challenged to find a
worthy job here in Bend. He was currently subjected to graveyards shifts at a local fast
food restaurant.

I shared with him some of my fine dining experience and showed him a couple
tricks of the trade. I was so impressed at his natural ability with our guests and his drive
to take the initiative to deep clean the service area and he even scrubbed the table bases!
Later that evening, he shared with me that he had little experience in the business and it
was hurting his chances that he didn’t have a solid references to call on. After working
with this driven young man and being very impressed with his go getter attitude I offered
my contact information as a personal reference.

Three days later I received a call asking me to give a reference
for this same young man. I relayed to this employer my experience with him and
explained how driven and well mannered this guy was. I was very excited after talking to
this nice down town restaurant. It was my first personal reference for a volunteer via
the Common Table.

A few more days passed and I was starting to wonder what had happened with
the job. I clocked in and started my evening shift when in walks our hero! He runs up to me,
gives me a great big hug and literally and says “thank you so much, I GOT THE JOB!!!”
I felt so proud to help out some one who is so giving of their selves and to the Bend
Community! See volunteering does lead to good things!

-Darla Turk

Hearts Warmed

zhancock — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:37:21 +0000

Get your Heart warmed at the Common Table!

Last Sunday on a snowy morning at the Common Table as I opened up for brunch

six ladies came in and asked for a menu. I gently explained that on Sundays we do brunch

in a buffet style. The women took a seat and one woman came up to the counter asking

what the price was for brunch? I replied that it was $15 and came with coffee and tea.

Still damp from the snow falling outside she hesitated then said, “well, my girlfriends

and I always go out for breakfast and we never pay more than $10! “Well,” I said not

wanting her party to leave, ”Where do you all go”? I added that our brunch was local

and organic, having everything from lox to fresh fruit and spinach salads, not to mention

the awesome Pumpkin Coconut French toast, veggie Bennies and regular Benedicts.

I quietly added that I felt we offered a comparable product as other restaurants here in

Bend such as the McKay Cottage and Victorian Café. The party decided to stay and I was

pleased to see them giving us a try.

Their table happily giggled for it was one of the ladies birthdays. I continued

with my usual tasks when I noticed three young street kids heading in our doors to warm up

a bit from a cold night out in the snow. I knew the boys and said hello, one of them

asked for our bathroom key. Just as I was going to bring them some donated grace tea,

I noticed the record needed flipping (yes! We have an awesome record player too!).

I ran over, and as I was flipping the record the women who had nearly walked out, snuck up and whispered “Do

you know these boys?” I said yes, they were good people just really economically challenged

and homeless at this time. The woman hesitated and looked very deep into my eyes, then

stated quietly, “I want to buy the three of them brunch, but don’t tell them it’s me. I

just want to see their face when you give it to them, but please don’t make a big deal

out of it, they don’t need to know its me.”

The young man came out of the bathroom to join his two friends, one of them was

a little wet from the conditions he had endured all night. I gave them a moment as they

sat down at the common table to warm up some more. I came over and told them that a

wonderful patron of the Common Table wanted to buy the three of them brunch. They

literally squealed with excitement and one guy said “we get coffee too?” I said you

bet you do, go wash up and grab a plate. I had never seen kids move so fast. It was a

beautiful moment for humanity, tears almost came to my eyes as I watched them pile

up there plates with our healthy organic local breakfast. Their smiles warmed the heart of

the woman who had anonymously paid for the meal, and mine too! With all the crazy happenings

and struggles challenging America right now, at least for today I knew our world was going to be all right here in

Bend . Thank you Common Table for inspiring us all to be better people.

Darla Turk 3/25/11 Bend, Oregon

3/26/11 – chores

zhancock — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 04:20:30 +0000

Owning a cafe is a dream of many folks. A place to let your creativity and soul shine. The ultimate venue of hosting people.
After six months in the business, it is my observation that running a cafe is more like being a farmer than hosting a fabulous dinner party for friends. Everyday is long hours and countless chores. Last night I left the cafe at midnight, put the cloth napkins in the wash, and awoke needing to put the napkins in the dryer. This morning when I arrived at the cafe at 9am, my to do list included mounting a light for the specials chalkboard (the battery operated model I mounted was junk), and installing a shelf in the kitchen. As I attended to these chores in the quiet hours before opening, the beer line cleaner named April arrived. She had trouble reinserting the Guinness tap, and in the process of helping fix the problem, I sprayed enough stout on my sweater to smell like beer the rest of the day.
It is just before 9pm as I sit at the bar writing the cafe blog and I am experiencing the reason why people dream of opening a cafe – the and energy of people gathering and sharing around food and drink.
The books from the day will need to be balanced at closing and the napkins put into the wash at midnight, and 7am will be wake-up time – be careful what you dream for.

jimmy buffet

zhancock — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:11:25 +0000

Changes in Latitudes Changes in Attitudes —
Get into Common Table for Jimmy Buffet night – we will be spinning JB Lps – and do a little chuggin’ for charity tonight. Cheeseburgers on the menu for sure.

pig to market

zhancock — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:38:40 +0000

For an omnivorous cafe, what could be better than a donated pig from a small local farm? Loading the pig and delivering it to market.
Last week I went out to Glen Raven Farm to load the donated pig into the horse trailer of David Hatfield, pig farmer and owner/chef of Cafe 3546.
Dave and I spent two hours cajoling the pig into the trailer, to no avail. The pig had drank all of our bribe milk and was not about to enter the trailer. You can’t lasso a pig, you can’t wrestle a pig, you can only encourage a pig. We had run out of ideas. We left the trailer covered in pig mud, defeated and waiting for a bright idea.
I called Sean and Jerre of Dancing Cow Farm the night before I needed the pig to go to the butcher. I explained the now complicated situation: the horse trailer was in front of the gate and was now hemmed in by a trash bin. Jerre said it wouldn’t be a problem. It wouldn’t be a problem? I asked what kind of magic they knew. No magic involved Jerre said, just experience with moving a lot of animals. She said not to worry, it was time for the pig to go, and it would.
Jerre called me this morning to let me know the pig was in the trailer.
Thank you Glen Raven. Thank You Sean and Jerre of Dancing Cow. Thank you pig.
When you eat at Common Table, especially when you eat the meat, say a word of thanks to the animals.

wet snow 2/15

zhancock — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:31:54 +0000

Snow fell on Bend wet and heavy, breaking trees, downing power, and making life slow for all.

Common Table is serving three meals only, as we are short on staff: crab meat sandwich, salmon sandwich, and minestrone soup served with Sparrow bread. Come and eat with us, the power is on!

I’m thankful today for warmth and dryness.

Buffet

zhancock — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:09:09 +0000

Buffets. They remind me of the South. Vegas. Chinese restaurants. They remind me of my childhood, going to Furr’s cafeteria with my grandmother, where you picked up a plastic tray and walked along the chrome bar sliders perusing stewed green beans, bbq chicken. Common Table is doing a version of the buffet, sans plastic tray, with an array of gussied up bloody marys and bubbly mimosas, come and see. Sundays 10-2.30.

Listen

zhancock — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:46:57 +0000

Writing a blog post on listening is ironic. Yet, a blog functioning well is a listening tool. I write, you consider and respond, we engage. Listening to one another.

It is the challenge of our day to listen and engage meaningfully with one another.

Common Table intends to make the table available for meaningful engagement.

City Club meets at CT every Friday 10am-12 for dialogue around the issues of our day.

The Common Table is open every day for the practice of gathering around the table and listening to one another.

grebe or merganser? grab the binoculars – it’s a duck.

zhancock — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 05:16:18 +0000

The start-up of anything significant takes an enormous amount of energy, time, inspiration, resilience, determination, thick skin, cooperation, courage, and maybe most of all – revitalization, that is, if the project is to continue well with energy and imagination. Today I took a run for the first time in a long time. Running is one thing that comes easy to me. I can go out for an hour run after a few months break, just as easily as I can get back on my bicycle and pedal. So today I went for a rejuvenating run in the fresh snow with my dog Bela. From my house just across the street from the Deschutes River, Bela and I ran up the canyon trail along the river bank. At first I was simply trying to remember what it is like to run, forcing myself not to turn around, perhaps to attend to something more productive or eat something tasty. After twenty minutes or so I began getting into a rhythm and after a ways we turned around and began back the way we had come. I noticed the geese fishing quite near the river bank, and I was amused by their head first dives into the water with their tail in the air, feet pedaling for equanimity. I then noticed a small black water fowl with a crest at the back of its head. I wasn’t wearing my glasses, but supposed the duck had a red eye, and it dove into the water out of sight for several moments, and then popped out of the water with a little shake of the crest. Each time the duck dove I imagined what it was doing under water, maybe chasing small fish, or canoodling for creatures hiding under rocks. After a few moments of watching, and wondering and squinting over just what sort of fowl this was and considering its fascinating life, I began to realize that being outdoors along the river was exactly what I should be doing more of.

First Public Day for CT

zhancock — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 17:46:46 +0000

I arrived at Common Table at 6 a.m. this morning to write-up the days menus in consultation with our chef, Matt Mulder. Here is what we came up with for today:
Common Table
Farmhouse Cooking

Breakfast Plates
All Common Table Breakfasts come with choice of house potatoes, toast, biscuit or grits

Common Table Eggs, any style 6
Common Table Porridge, steel cut oats with baked boche pears 6

Common Table Parmesan Cheese Grits, with bacon (veg option) 8
Egg and Bacon, with roasted balsamic tomato on local baguette 7

Char-grilled vegetable salad with eggs in bread case 7

Simple Breakfast Burrito, with roasted potatoes, beans, chile,
sour-cream and cilantro 9
Croque Madame, challa bread, Juniper Grove otentique goat cheese, sliced ham, Dijon mustard topped with poached egg and house made hollandaise 10
Basil Scrambled Eggs, with Juniper Grove otentique goat cheese 7

Common Table Daily Quiche, house made whole wheat and butter crust, whipped eggs and three seasonal ingredients 7

Sides
House-potatoes 3, seasonal fruit 3, toast 2, scones, nitrate free bacon 3, ham 3, grits 2, pancake 3, one egg any style 2, slice of quiche 4, corn bread 3

Drinks
Coffee 2
Tea 2
Orange Juice 2/3
Cranberry 2/3
Tomato 2/3
Grapefruit 2/3
Milk 2/3

Common Table Bloody Mary 6.5
Screwdriver 5.50
Mimosa 6
Bellini (peach schnapps, pomegranate, ½ shot vodka) 6.50
Kir Royale (champagne, sugar, bitters, lemon twist) 6

Common Table
Rustic Farm to Table Cooking

Lunch Plates
All Common Table lunches come with choice of fruit, salad, potato torta (thin layered potatoes with cheese)

Roast Beef Sandwich, with onions on toasted local bread 10

Simple Ham and Cheese Sandwich, with tomato, onions, and greens, topped with rosemary aioli (oil and garlic) 9

Bacon Lettuce Tomato, on toasted fresh local bread, with house-made mayonnaise 9

Chicken Coleslaw Sandwich, open face on fresh local bread 9

Croque Madame, challa bread, Juniper Grove Farm otentique goat cheese, sliced ham, Dijon mustard topped with poached egg and house made hollandaise 10

Daily Quiche, whole wheat and butter crust, whipped eggs and three seasonal ingredients 7

Simple Burrito, with roasted potatoes, beans, chile,
sour-cream and cilantro 9

Pizzette, olive-oil and garlic base, cherry tomato, fresh herbs, ricotta, finely grated parmesan 5

Pizzette, olive-oil and garlic base, ham, morenay (béchamel and gruyere), sage pesto 5

Salad

Brown rice salad with soy dressing 7

Red cabbage, Spanish onion and seasonal fruit 7

‘Wild Weed’ salad with parmesan 7

Chicken, apple & hazelnut salad 8

Simple green house salad 4

Drinks

Ice-tea 2
Pepsi 1.50
Diet Pepsi 1.50
Sierra Mist 1.50
Cranberry 1.50
Orange 1.50
Grapefruit 1.50
Tomato 1.50
Coffee 2
Tea 2

Fermented Drinks

Draft
Pabst Blue Ribbon 1.75/2.25
Mirror Pond 3.50/4.75
Bend Brewery Seasonal 3.25/4.75
Three Creeks IPA 3.25/4.75
Boneyard Black 13 3.25/4.75

Bottles
Dog Fish 60 minute IPA 4.50
Paulaner Oktoberfest 4
Rogue Dead Guy Ale 4
Mirror Pond 3.50
Coors Light 2.50
Kaliber (non-alcoholic) 3.00