- April 26, 2024
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One of the perks of being a journalist is being able to choose my work location. On writing days, I don’t always have to be cramped up in my cube in the freezing office, which is bound to have distractions. On occasion, I even get to work from the comfort of my home in comfy clothes. But a lot of times, I try to go out and work somewhere in the community.
The BeachHouse Beanery is one of my favorite places to do that. I can opt for a quiet work space with my headphones in, or I can take out the buds for a chat with the abundance of community members coming in and out of the coffee house. There is always coffee available and tasty food, and I can have a view of the ocean.
In my book, that’s a win.
But let’s get back to the food. One of the reasons I enjoy working from “the Bean,” as I like to call it, is that owners Carol and Jeff Fisher make it a point to know their customers. They listen to their wants and needs and adjust their menu accordingly.
One of the big ways this can be seen is the increased number of vegan-friendly items on their menu. When long-time customer and vegan Josh Neimark requested almond milk for his coffee because he wasn’t drinking soy, the Fishers added almond milk as an option. But Neimark was still having trouble finding a place in town where he could get a vegan meal. As the creative director for Fix8 Media, Neimark likes to work out in the community. He said it’s good for business. But finding vegan choices for food was hard, until he told Carol about it.
“He helped us create something with vegetables that we already had use for,” Carol said.
Which was the key — creating a dish in which the ingredients could be used in other ways as well. The result was the Jack & Lu sandwich. The six-vegetable sandwich is piled high on Ezekiel bread with spring mix, tomato, sundried tomato, cucumber, sprouts and red onions, all on lightly toasted bread spread with homemade hummus as a binder.
From there, the Jack & Lu salad was created, with everything but the bread, and hummus became a menu item all on its own. The Beanery owners even took it a step further by beginning to grow their own sprouts.
“We were buying them at the store and then Josh said it was easy to grow your own,” Carol told me. “Now, we have a rotation of Mason jars of sprouts. Some are always ready and some will be ready the next day.”
The same thing happened with the hummus. Not only was it more cost effective to make their own, but it also cuts out the preservatives, making it healthier for customers.
“I’m thrilled that The Beanery has made a commitment to providing options for people with different lifestyles for whatever reason,” said Neimark, who is vegan by choice, not for health, but for the animals and the planet.
The simple sandwich idea has spread into 10 vegan menu items, including a green monster smoothie and a vegan chocolate cake, plus two vegan breads (pumpkin cranberry and banana nut.)
With the addition of vegan choices, Carol said that the response has been really surprising, in a good way. In fact, this past weekend they had a mini vegan invasion, selling out of their homemade black bean burgers.
“We’re just responding to people’s needs,” Carol said. “We’re a small town, but people visit. If you’re looking for healthy food, you don’t have to look far.”
