The Green Room Cafe | The Beachside Resident

Tobin Bennison

Article Category: Restaurant Review 2 Comments

Ideally, good restaurants should provide something much more than just edible sustenance.

Our favorite eateries certainly serve food we like, but we often return to the same place for a great many other reasons — the atmosphere, the people, and the comfort and sense of community they offer. We go to them to get our bellies filled of course, but we also go to feed our spirits.

Scores of locals and returning tourists agree that the Green Room Café in downtown Cocoa Beach is one such restaurant. More than just a place to grab a quick smoothie or healthy organic wrap, the Green Room is also a vibrant social hub, somewhere families can go for a meal, where school teams relax post-practice, or where yoga groups or vegan clubs gather for convivial meetings. The lure, it seems, stems from the positive energy the Green Room and its staff exude.

Message cards distributed inside explain the Green Room’s philosophy: that simple acts of kindness are contagious, and that however insignificant they may at first seem, they also have a wonderful habit of reverberating and multiplying. Recounting a time when a usually cheerful regular came in rather downcast, the card describes a Green Room server taking notice and buying the customer’s meal for him. Owner Deborah Wright noticed the transformation in his demeanor and seized on the idea of making up cards commemorating the moment to promote the café’s devotion to spreading positivity.

To Deborah, this event is part of the Green Room’s adherence to “the big picture.” “It’s about making the extra effort,” she explains. “It starts with the organic ingredients we use and the time we take to prepare the food, but it’s also about being kind to one another — both our staff and our customers. Much of what we do is not cost-effective from a business standpoint, but everything — from the preparation, the serving, and the locally, hand-crafted bowls we use and to all the recycling we do — is all integrated into the bigger picture here.”

This “all-in” sustainable approach has proved successful, given what Deborah reckons is “easily an 80% rate” of return customers. “We want people to come in and have a good time,” she says, “and to leave feeling full of warmth.”

That the Green Room serves some highly creative and healthy, organic-based dishes certainly helps as well. With an emphasis on sandwiches, wraps, homemade soups, salads, and real fruit smoothies, the Green Room goes the extra mile by providing tasty vegetarian and vegan choices and wheat- and gluten-free alternatives of each — including organic baked desserts from Heavenly Bake Shop.

Both filling and surprisingly light, Green Room wraps are what most folks come for. And though the lone true-meat wrap, “The Secret Spot” (made with black beans, brown rice, cheese, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, and seasoned organic chicken), is easily its most popular, cranky carnivores are easily swayed by the vegetarian options that make up the fresh soul of the Green Room’s menu.

“The Yogi” (hummus, avocado, cheese, and fresh vegetables) runs a close second in popularity, but the six other versions (all of which are served with tortilla chips and salsa) are just as delicious. There’s “The Golden Fold” (brown rice, carrots, pineapple, sesame seeds, spinach, cabbage, and tofu); “Mavericks” (vegetarian chili, brown rice, and tomato and cheese); “The J-Bay” (corn, peppers, zucchini, black beans, brown rice and cheese); “The Bendalong” (grilled with cheese, spinach, tomato, carrot and mushrooms, and served with honey mustard); and “The Pure Life” (hummus, tomato, carrot, cucumber, spinach, cabbage, mushrooms, and baby greens). Another excellent choice is “The Bondi,” which derives much of its rich flavor from seasoned Quorn beef. Made from mycoprotein, Quorn does an excellent job of approximating the texture and flavor of ground beef. When its joined, as it is here, with black beans, brown rice and cheese, even the most avowed meat eaters will fall for its tasty charm.

Fresh sandwiches include “The Viejo” (a veggie patty topped with cheese, tomatoes, sprouts, carrots, cucumbers, and mayonnaise and mustard); “The Inlet” (Quorn chicken substitute, mayo, lettuce, sprouts, and tomato and carrots); “Spanish House” (grilled smoky tofu, Provolone, tomatoes, chipotle mustard, and veggies); two tuna choices in “The Oceanside” and “The Sunset”; “The Ruebio,” the Green Room’s tofu-based take on the classic Reuben, and the excellent “Local,” served with yogurt and built with peanut butter, banana, pineapple, cinnamon, brown sugar, and granola.

The Green Room wouldn’t be green without a selection of fresh salads, and there are five types to choose from. Our personal favorite is “The Zimzala,” comprised of baby greens, celery, Mandarin orange segments, and walnuts topped with slices of meatless chicken filet, goat cheese, and poppy seed dressing. They also serve fresh-squeezed juices, wheat grass shakes, coffee drinks, and house-brewed tea, and 13 styles of smoothies made on the spot, seven of which are prepared with Sambazon acai berries. Acai also plays a big role in the Green Room’s berry bowls, which are always a great way to start the day.

You can look forward to a new selection of “Weekend Changeup” specials on Fridays and Saturdays, but kids can always rely on the favorites made just for them — things like the “Go Bananas” (peanut butter, banana, and honey), “The Gidget” (cheese quesadilla with or without meatless chicken), and the “Lil’ Gremmie” (imitation chicken soft taco with cheese, lettuce, and tomato). Children here aren’t simply catered to as they are elsewhere in deference to their parents; they’re counted as customers themselves.

Much more than your average restaurant, the Green Room Café puts the “neighbor” back in neighborhood in ways you’ll be surprised to discover.

The Green Room Café is located at 222 1st St. N. in downtown Cocoa Beach. They’re open Monday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Green Room also serves beer and wine and can cater for special events. Call 868-0203, or visit www.greenroomcafecocoabeach.com

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