Café Reconcile

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

I found Café Reconcile on maps. It is a few blocks from where we are staying – definitely on the seedier side of the neighborhood.

From their website:

In 1996, Rev. Harry Tompson, S.J., then pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, joined with community members Craig Cuccia and Tim Falcon to bring a safe space for school children and their families to the historic Central City neighborhood in New Orleans. Gathering with likeminded community activists in prayer, research, and dialogue, the group worked hard to understand the needs of the neighborhood and its community members.

Using funds from generous donors, the founders purchased a blighted, historic five-story building at the corner of Oretha Castle Haley Blvd and Euterpe to serve as the center of Reconcile’s operations and be the cornerstone for the broader rehabilitation of the neighborhood.

Reconcile New Orleans’ Workforce Development Program has graduated more than 2,000 youth between the ages of 16 and 24 in its more than 20 year history.  Participants leave with new confidence, connected to a community that believes in them, and tools and resources that empower them to navigate their personal and professional ambitions beginning with a meaningful employment experience.

Reconcile’s three main priorities for their program participants are:

• to support them in the development of their self-confidence
• that they feel financially stable as a result of their participation
• that they earn an educational or employment opportunity suited to their abilities and pursuits

• Cafe’ Reconcile’s paid workforce training program in Hospitality prepares young adults age 16 – 24 years old with the skills and support services any professional needs to be successful.
• Our FREE training program includes:
• Competitive stipend up to $3,000
• Occupational skills training leading to industry-recognized credentials
• Industry-specific uniforms
• Daily meals
• Career exploration and coaching
• College prep and exploration
• Support services (transportation, mental health counseling, child care assistance, housing assistance, legal aid, and healthcare navigation)
• What will you learn?
• Foundational life skills
• Career preparation techniques
• Occupational skills in Hospitality

The café is only open Tuesday – Friday 11-2:30. The Tuesday special of smothered chicken intrigued me, so today was the day. I know you are tired of hearing it, but the food was incredible. Keith started with a cup of gumbo – and pronounced it the best gumbo he has ever had. And he eats gumbo every chance he gets. I had some. And then I had some more. We ordered two bowls to go, so we can have it for lunch tomorrow.

The smothered chicken (your choice of white or dark meat) was baked chicken smothered (had to use the word) in gravy on a bed of rice. The chicken was moist and delicious, but whatever the gravy was was the thing. The flavors were very intense – the way I want gravy to be when I make, but it rarely is. I chose macaroni and cheese as my side item, because apparently no one doesn’t make great mac and cheese in this town. The bread was called Leidenheimer french bread. It had an incredibly thin, crackling crisp crust and then the bread was light as air. Very good. Very cool. I looked it up – Leidenheimer Baking Company has been “good to the last crumb since 1896”.

Keith ordered chili glazed salmon, with onion rings and sweet potato crumble (his two choices of the many side options). The salmon was cooked perfectly and the chili glaze lick-the-plate good (although, surprisingly, he did not lick the plate). As good as that was, the homemade onion rings may have been the highlight of the meal. You know it’s a great meal when the weakest part of the meal (the sweet potato crumble) was better than any sweet potato thing we’ve made.

Our waitress had a trainee with her, who was pretty adorably trying to keep up. Our food was brought to us by different kids, each of whom were carrying the individual dishes like they were bowls of liquid gold (in other words: verrrrry carefully with two hands. That made it very hard to set things down.) All of the prices were so reasonable, and the food was so good, that we absolutely had to order dessert. I had Bananas Foster bread pudding and Keith had Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I didn’t think there was a prayer I could eat it all, but I persevered! There were strangely no bananas on/in mine, but the Foster sauce was front and center.

We walked down the street on the way back and saw a few interesting things.

I don’t know if this was a store or a museum or what, but it was filled with neon signs. I really liked both of these:

There are flowers blooming here.

We liked this old Chevy pickup.

There was water just gushing out of the ground here.

I read all afternoon, because it was windy and cool. We were watching TV in the early evening and got a text from the front desk that there was a tornado warning. It said we should close the curtains and stay away from the windows. We checked the local weather and radar and it seemed like all the storm action was to the north of us. We put our shoes on, because that seemed the safety thing to do.

We did NOT get any dinner. Seriously, it catches up with you. You just can’t eat any more. Well, at 9:00 we microwaved some Jose Ole Chimichangas that I made Keith get from Walgreens the other night. It struck me that we might need emergency food, or something. I was hungry. Stop judging me. They looked good. AND THEY WERE! Oh, my goodness, I haven’t had one in so, so, so long. They tasted like college. I loved it.