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diversions
Kiwe Café
offers healthy eats and vegan treats
By Alisha Gomez
On-line Forty-Niner
The new year is
almost here and you know what that means - New Year's resolutions.
So maybe, last year you promised yourself all kinds of things
that you never kept. Well, if your resolution is eating better,
you will have some help for 2002.
Opening shortly
after Jan. 1, Kiwe Cafe Vibrant Happy Food will be devoted
to providing healthy foods.
Located on Fourth
street between Junipero and Cherry Avenue, Kiwe's owner Jolie
Hindman is proud to have her health-conscious cafe next to
the World Evolution yoga center.
Hindman's contractor
Frank Hannemann lost 30 pounds in three months after Hindman
fed him. Hannemann says Hindman's food is great and now he
is eating differently because of all this.
"It's not like
you are eating bland foods," Hannemann said about Hindman's
dishes.
Inside the cafe
is a deli case which will feature regular items as well as
specials. The tiny sitting room has been freshly painted and
will have rotating art from local artists; some on sale and
some not.
Hindman had special
lights put into the cafe that will enhance featured pieces.
Make sure to check out the bathroom; it gives you an idea
of how important everything is to her.
"I want people
to feel like they can interact with another," Hindman said,
referring to the big round table that seats about six to eight
people and takes center stage in the quaint dining area. "I
want my restaurant to be a place where people come and share
themselves."
Hindman plans on
preparing mostly vegetarian and some vegan dishes and devoting
her cafe to people with health concerns and health commitments.
"Food is fuel and
thoughts come from food," she said about how what we put into
our bodies is important.
Kiwe Cafe will
serve breakfast and lunch only when it first opens. Hindman
hopes to eventually start up a dinner menu as well.
Some menu items
will include freshly squeezed juices for breakfast and scrambles
(similar to an omelet), sandwiches such as tuna and tamale
lasagna (a specialty of hers), and the deli case will carry
items such as Greek pasta salad and humus.
Hindman plans on
having all world foods and not restricting her menu to one
specific type of cooking.
"I want the cafe
to be like Fourth Street, relaxed and community-oriented,"
Hindman said. "I'll accommodate special requests for people
who have health concerns."
Kiwe Cafe will
also carry vegan-style desserts, a chocolate tort cake which
actually only has six grams of fat and pineapple carrot cake.
Organic coffees from Venice (that are certified from Smithsonian)
is another item Hindman will offer.
For those who are
less health conscious, but do want to make a little change,
Hindman said she will have dishes like macaroni and cheese
and other items.
It all comes to
this: food is Hindman's passion, her love.
"I like to put
my whole self into my food because I am nourishing people."
Hindman does not believe in diets and confronts eating bad
foods by saying, "It's OK to have this and that, but just
not everyday of your life."
Her work ethic
shows that Kiwe Cafe is going to be a success. She believes
in giving customers quality on the first time around and that
attention to details (like clean window shades) do matter.
"I want people
to feel that they are here for (their own) betterment," Hindman
said. She will have a community board put up in her cafe,
which will have business cards of specialists in different
categories.
Another plus is
Hindman plans on keeping her prices down.
"I want to be super
reasonable, even though I am going to be cooking with pure
organic products, which are expensive," she said. "But I want
to have repeat customers; have it be cost-effective and convenient
for them."
There will be a
bookshelf for people to read books on the different history
of food and the origins of tradition.
"Really, I want
the cafe to reflect the balance of Long Beach," she said.
"Long Beach is a very chill beach community."
With the opening
of Kiwe Café, there's no excuse to not start 2002 healthy.
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