The East West Cafe in Sebastopol has been part of my life for 33 years, and it is closed. A new restaurant called The Lunch Box is moving into that Main Street space in the center of the block.
The cafe served Mediterranean food and California cuisine. It was where I got introduced to falafel. When possible, they used organic ingredients. I liked their salads, based usually on spring mix and filled with tomatoes and crunchy veggies–but mostly I liked their dressings, especially the oil-free orange basil.
Long ago, my Sunday routine for a while was this; go to the farmers market and load up my bag with veggies; walk across the street to Copperfields Used Books (I told you it was long ago) and buy a paperback mystery, SFF or interesting general fiction novel; stroll down the block to East-West and have a smoked salmon benedict brunch while I read the first few chapters.
East-West wasn’t really about the food for me, though. Located in nearly the exact center of the central block of Main Street, it was easy to find, and sometimes people with cars could even find parking. It was a gathering place. For me, it was the place I met people before we walked over to the Rialto to see a movie. Kathleen and I nearly always started or ended there when we ventured out on Art Trails. Even when I was by myself, the space felt like a center, a hub. The peach-colored walls with the slightly strange Egyptian-ish murals were familiar and comforting. I’d almost always meet at least one person I knew. I saw one favorite server and her kids every year at the Apple Blossom Parade. I met another server, Karinna, in Ragle Park first, then she waited on me and told me about her thesis on women apothecaries. The place rotated local artwork to give emerging artists a place to be seen. I’d see one of the owners around town, and we’d smile and say Hi.
The pandemic didn’t do the place any favors, and I think the decision to close was helped along by the past two years. As far as I know the Santa Rosa cafe (which I think they own) is still open. That’s not my cafe though.
Once again the landscape changes. I’ve changed too, of course, found new meeting places and hangouts–or I will. For now, I say good-bye to a big, social part of my life. I’ll miss you, East-West.