An excerpt from her website indicates that her first paid gig was at the Greenfield Street Restaurant.
"...the first paid gig I ever did was at the Eighth Step Coffeehouse in Albany, NY, but in fact perusal of the records shows that it was at Buffalo's Greenfield Street Restaurant, March 25, 1975."If anyone knows the exact address of the original restaurant, please email me. I would like to get some more information about this.
Here is more information from Kathy Peterson - PCA Executive Director:
I believe the Greenfield Street restaurant was 25 Greenfield St. It is the building on your left as you head towards Main Street that is a brick building with the downstairs large windows covered with painted wood. I use to frequent the cafe and often feel that if was here today their business would be booming. It was really the first veggie restaurant. This was in the mid 70's when there was alot of people who wanted to change the world! We see this more now with the move for urban gardens and green building. This is also when the food coops became popular.
It would have been similar to the Moosewood Restaurant still operating in Ithaca New York.
Thank you Kathy!
I ate the Greenfield Street Cafe in the mid 1970s when I attended SUNY@Buffalo. I loved the place. I was from Brooklyn, NY and never had fresh vegetables while growing up. String beans were green and from a can. The closest I got to fresh was frozen. So, imagine my surprise on tasting the delicious and huge Greenfield salad that also included seeds, raisins, and sprouts. I kind of remember hanging plants. What a great experience. How long did it last?
ReplyDeleteRich D
Indeed, you have the right building. The man who owns the building now is a metal worker/artist, and what used to be the restaurant proper is his shop. He bought the building in 1985, I believe. He lives in the apartment upstairs and used to have a sign from the restaurant advertising some of the offerings in his kitchen as part of the decor. It's a really cool building.
ReplyDeleteI use to live across the street from the resturant and loved when my mother would take me for lunch or dinner. I remember I always had the Greenfield St salad for lunch and the Veg Lasagna on , I believe it was tuesdays, for dinner. I have tried to make it the same way , but have never gotten it just right (working from the memory of a 8 - 10 yr old), it would be great to find that recipe. I miss that place! My mother still lives in that house and the man that bought the building is named Bob.
ReplyDeleteI lived in a Women's collective above the restaurant in the 70s. We had a great back staircase into the restaurant fir late night ice cream runs. Heady days for all of us. The restaurant was collectively run by grads and students at UB who decided to stay in Buffalo. It was one of the first of its kind and very popular. It was a fabulous place to live as well.
ReplyDelete25 Greenfield St Buffalo, NY 14214. 836-9035. I bought a delicious Chumus Sandwich from them back in the 70's and have the recipe that was printed on the package. I have kept in on my refrigerator door and make this periodically: ground chick peas, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, cayenne, garlic, salt with lettuce and tomato on Yeast-West whole wheat bread. Made for you the folks at Greenfield St. Restaurant. Vegetarian Natural Foods. They sold their sandwiches at all kinds of places in Buffalo during including shops at the Main Place Mall, North Buffalo Co-op on Main. Miss those good old days with healthy foods.
ReplyDeleteI was one of the original members of the Greenfield Street Restaurant collective and was both surprised and excited to come across this blog posting. GSR was a collectively run, vegetarian, natural foods restaurant that opened in March 1974 and closed around 1980. It was the successor to the New Age Natural Foods Restaurant, which operated from 1971 - 1972 on Grider Street in Buffalo. Working at the NAR and GSR was a formative experience for many, primarily young, people who were part of the broadly defined counterculture at that time. Our goals were to serve high quality, inexpensive, healthy, vegetarian food and to build a community based on the values of egalitarianism, cooperation and shared work. We used all fresh produce, local or organic if possible, and prepared most everything from scratch. The menu was very eclectic and international, with recipes developed by collective members, gathered from friends, or taken from cookbooks. We each did many different jobs: cooking, cleaning, shopping, keeping the books, managing etc. The restaurant closed on Monday nights for a weekly meeting in which we solved problems and made decisions. In addition to the collective members, there was a broader group of volunteers who worked in the kitchen for meal credit.
ReplyDeleteThe GSR sponsored a coffee house on Saturday nights, hosted by Ros Magorian, who still is active in the folk music world. This was the venue that Wendy Grossman played in, and I probably was at the event. In addition to this performance being the first in Wendy's career, for many of the collective members Restaurant Partner, Manager, or Cook was the first item on their resume early in their career. Although we didn't have as great an impact on the wider world of food as Chez Panisse or Moosewood, I think that we were doing something very important for our workers and customers that helped new ideas about eating percolate through the culture.
I remember the restaurant I used to order their vegggie burger. I was big and fantastic! I often thought about that burger trying fo figure out what was in it. I am now living in Jacksonville Fl, those were the days!
DeleteMy name's Clinton and I've been involved in the coop movement for some 5+ years. I've been trying to pull together involved in the various cooperative and community projects over time in Buffalo (like Yeast West and the Buffalo Rainy Day Sun). I heard of the Greenfield St Restaurant and have been trying to track down some of the original members to talk to. If you could contact me that would be amazing! My email is clintonjparker(at)me.com.
DeleteSomeone please say you have the recipe for the veggie burger !!! spinepop3@aol.com,livingdollshoppe@gmail.com will be forever in your debt!!! thank you, Linda
DeleteSomeone please say you have the recipe for the veggie burger !!! spinepop3@aol.com,livingdollshoppe@gmail.com will be forever in your debt!!! thank you, Linda
Deletei'm writing a narrative history of Buffalo during the 1970s and would love more information on the Cafe if anybody wants to share. thanks
ReplyDeleteI ate at The Greenfield when I first became vegetarian in 1973 and I'm still vegetarian. Great place, good food and atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteMark Goldman, if you are still at it, I was a member of the Greenfield Street restaurant collective, so feel free to be in touch via my email: JeffreyBenson61@Hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteSo loved this restaurant! Really wish we could have
ReplyDeleteanother 1 popped up in Buffalo somewhere like this one. Delicious vegetarian food!
Now is the time for the macro burger recipe
ReplyDeleteMACROBURGERS
ReplyDelete5 cups cooked soybeans (2 ½ cups dry)
3 cups cooked millet (1 cup dry to 3 cups water)
1 ½ cups toasted oats
½ cup toasted wheat germ
1 onion, minced
1 carrot, grated
1 stalk celery, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup tamari
1/3 cup oil
¼ tsp cayenne
½ tsp powdered mustard
½ tsp chili powder
1 ½ tsp thyme
1 ½ tsp cumin seed
1 ½ tsp dill seed
1 ½ tsp celery seed
Parsley
Paprika
Salt & pepper
2 or 3 eggs, lightly beaten
Cook soybeans. Cook millet.
Process soybeans in food processor until of desired coarseness. Grate carrot. Mince onion, celery & garlic. Toast wheat germ and oats. Grind cumin seed, dill seed, and celery seed. Mix all ingredients together except for eggs. Taste and season with salt & pepper, parsley & paprika. Add eggs. Form into patties.
OMG I LOVED macroburgers!!
DeleteGreenfield Street Restaurant! What amazing memories. My favorite item was the absolutely delicious Maple Syrup, so fresh on my real banana pancakes. My dad worked at the North Buffalo Food Co-op and the Yeast West Bakery from late 70's through closing for one and 1991 for the other. Needless to say, the Eating was Good!!!
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention the most important, my dad also cooked at The Greenfield Street Restaurant. Along with Yeast West Bakery and worked any years North Buffalo Food Co-op alongside some wonderful folks.
DeleteDoes anyone have the recipe for the garlic dressing??? I’ve tried endlessly to reproduce it, but to no avail. Also, GSR’s blue cheese dressing was also the best. I’ve also tried to reproduce the salad, sprinkling in the raisins and the seeds, but it’s never tasted the same. ;) Ellen Greenberg
ReplyDeleteI vaguely recall my dad working there in the 70s. We lived right up the street for a few years
ReplyDelete