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After a hiatus during the pandemic, the Cool Cafe is closing at Stanford University’s Cantor Arts Center. Run by educator and culinary activist Jesse Cool, the cafe introduced organic food options to campus in 2000.
The Cool Cafe concept was, well, Cool, with a capital “C”. Cool’s philosophy permeated the menu with an emphasis on fresh, ingredient-focused flavors, as well as how the team worked, advocating for justice and kindness for those who produce, cook and serve the food. Together, the Cool Cafe team has raised the organic food approach and raised the bar for the way people are treated in the food industry.
“It was the meeting between food and art,” says Cool. “We made everything from scratch. It was delicious and beautiful food.”
Now Cool is turning his attention to other irons in the fire, including his Flea Street restaurant in Menlo Park.
“It was bittersweet, but I chose not to renew the lease,” Cool said of the Cool Cafe closing. “COVID has been tough, and I’m getting older… We had the lease in front of us and I decided it was the best time to end a good 20 years. We are starting in a very positive way. “
At the turn of the millennium, when Cantor Arts Center’s Tom Seligman first approached Cool about the prospect of a cafe in the museum, she was skeptical. She had just launched her jZcool Eatery & Catering Company and didn’t think she had the money or the bandwidth to do more.
“I was constantly working,” says Cool. “I said, ‘No way. I can barely do what I’m doing now.”
But a friend walked with her to the museum, just to check it out. From this visit, he convinced her to try the coffee.
He said, ‘You have to do it. You have to bring organic coffee to campus and uplift what this place is, “Cool recalls. So she took out a loan and opened.
“I have no idea how I did it,” Cool says. “I actually do – I’ve had a lot of help. I’ve always had amazing people supporting us.”
With this support, the Cool Cafe continued to serve fresh salads, sandwiches and soups.
“It wasn’t easy back then. People came and wanted Diet Coke. People wanted Sweet’n Low,” Cool says. “We didn’t have Diet Coke. We didn’t have Sweet’n Low.”
The Cool Cafe offered something else. A sandwich was not just a sandwich. A salad was more than the sum of its parts.
“It was an old-fashioned kitchen, simple, but cleverly done. It was always garnished. There was color and dynamism because we cooked with the seasons. Because of this, the food tasted better.
Soon, students, museum members, and other guests sought out the Cool Cafe as a restaurant and caterer.
“I had to learn how to take care of five to 1,000 people,” Cool says.
What she learned she put into practice for a party for Chelsea Clinton, as well as themed events in museums. At an event for the art of the “Wild West”, the Cool Cafe prepared a Western-inspired menu for 600 people.
“We greeted them with a shot of bourbon,” says Cool.
One of Cool’s most memorable coffee memories was when she met a “disheveled cashier man.”
“He had dust all over him,” Cool recalls. “I said, ‘Hi, how are you doing, are they taking care of you?'”
The man explained that he was installing a work of art. It turned out that Cool was face to face with one of his favorite artists, who works with natural materials like leaves and stones.
“It was Andy Goldsworthy, one of my favorite artists on the planet, “says Cool.” For me it was like meeting a rockstar. “
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cool took advantage of the kitchen at Cool Cafe and worked with his team to help provide 29,000 meals to frontline workers via the Gratitude meal program.
Now Cool says she plans to focus on other things and let the next generation take over the museum’s coffee.
“I decided, why don’t we say our goodbyes on a really sweet note. Thanks for the memories, and let someone else try.
Want to eat fresh? Check out Jesse Cool’s Flea Street restaurant in Menlo Park.
Flea Street is located at 3607 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park. For more information call 650-854-1226 or visit cooleatz.com.
Sara Hayden writes for TheSixFifty.com is a sister post to Palo Alto Online, covering what to eat, see and do in Silicon Valley.
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