haley house bakery cafe

THE CAFE IN DUDLEY SQ.


the haley house bakery cafe is an inspiring blend of all things that i love and care about - good people bringing greater good to society through good food. over the weekend, this unique little cafe, which opened in roxbury's dudley square last september, was selected as one of the "best of the new" in 2005 by the boston globe.

"Best of the New", Boston Globe Magazine

the haley house bakery cafe is a social enterprise run by boston's nonprofit organization, haley house. this retail and wholesale bakery cafe runs a training program that teaches underemployed individual basic job skills in the baking industry. the goal is to help trainees obtain and succeed in full-time jobs upon graduating from the 6-month program.

while the program has been in existence for 10 years, this expansion of the enterprise from a little corner bakery in the south end into a full-scale business and training program is recent, and i spent much of my time in 2004 and 2005 working on the business plan that stood behind this transformation process.

chef didi emmons now runs the Bakery Cafe. you may know her as the owner of Veggie Planet in harvard square, or for her stints at Pho Republique, Centre Street Cafe, Delux Cafe, and Hamersley's Bistro, among other well-known Boston restaurants. she has also authored cookbooks Vegetarian Planet and Entertaining for a Vegetarian Planet. didi has infused her passion for the creative use of locally produced and organic ingredients into both the bakery and cafe. vegan berry muffin anyone?

when you visit, you may hear sous chef rod singing opera as he tosses fresh mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, and grated carrots with anything else that arrived earlier that morning - beets, red onion, arugula - then shaking in a generous drizzle of thick balsamic vinaigrette. he caps the end of your plate with a square of warm, buttery cornbread, made with whole bits of corn kernels.

others who i love to see at the Bakery Cafe are bing and kathe, and christian, whom i miss dearly (after doing so much for Haley House, she has gone on to seek good beyond all the baked goodness).

HALEY HOUSE BAKERY CAFÉ
2139 Washington Street
Dudley Square, Roxbury
(617) 445-0900
Monday to Saturday 7AM - 4PM
http://www.haleyhouse.org/cafe/index.htm

by the way, you can also find haley house baked goods at a variety of cafes and specialty markets throughout boston, cambridge, and somerville - like toscanini's, 1369, diesel cafe, and b. good.

BANANA WALNUT MUFFIN