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What's cookin'? Hard work, hope New S.F. cafe staffed by people with mental illnesses
Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, June 7, 2003
©2003 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/07/MN210677.DTL
San Francisco -- At Cafe Phoenix, the tidy new cafe on the southeast side of Potrero Hill, you'll find three things on the menu, and the most important one isn't written down.
First there's the gourmet food, from tender chicken pesto to a sirloin burger so juicy it leaps into your mouth. Then there are the prices so low you have to check the map to make sure you're in San Francisco -- $4.95 for the burger, $5.95 for the pesto dish.
And then there is the offering not written: hope for the people who work there, folks with mental problems.
The cafe opened Friday, and except for the chef, it is staffed entirely by mentally ill people who are either homeless or at the risk of becoming that way. It's the latest venture by Hire-Ability, a nonprofit organization that gives vocational training to people with mental illnesses. But, except for the program sign for the cafe, you'd never know there was anything special about this place.
"This is the best burger I've had in months," said Bob Onodera, who walked over from his loft a few blocks away to try the new food at 1234 Indiana St. His sirloin plate, with potato salad, disappeared almost as fast as he sat down.
"It's a nice addition to the neighborhood," Onodera said. "We need more like it."
STRIVING FOR INDEPENDENCE
Jeff Rey couldn't agree more. Schizophrenic and enrolled in Hire-Ability for eight years, he wants more than anything to get back out there pulling a full paycheck and living as independently as possible.
Cafe Phoenix could be his ticket out, he said Friday as he downed one of the cafe's chicken dishes after the lunch rush. He's helping clean up the building and taking other Hire-Ability courses, and he believes working at the cafe could help get him on his feet quickly.
"The cafe is beautiful," Rey said. "All the people you see here have issues,
and we're working as hard as we can on them. All we need is a little help.
"I come to work every day," Rey said. "I put everything into my work, and I will make it."
Surrounding the cafe is a mix of industrial shops, housing and Interstate 280 cutting the air not far away. Inside, chef Onyx Walker whipped pans of sauteed onions and pastrami off and on the stove like lightning, dashing into the pantry for supplies in between.
Service at the counter was brisk and polite. The cafe was whistle-clean, from the container holding the bright-purple menus to the shiny white floor.
"I've always tried to help, and help some more, and I saw this opportunity, " said Walker, who ran the now-closed Third Street Cafe in the late 1990s and founded Onnie's Pies, which sells pies to gourmet grocery stores. "This is the only way to end homelessness -- give people a chance.
"Not all of us are strong enough to cross the river," Walker, 41, said with a grin. "Some of us just need a hand."
FINDING JOBS
Hire-Ability Director Daniel Michael said the idea for the cafe came principally from Evelyn Lee, who ran Hire-Ability's parent organization, RAMS Inc., until she died in March.
"Whenever she asked our clients what they wanted most, they would say, 'Help us find a job,' " Michael said. "This cafe is in that spirit."
Cafe Phoenix will train about 60 people a year as cooks, bakers, hosts, cashiers, baristas and cleanup workers, Michael said.
"We are careful and complete," Michael said -- a reference to the challenges, and potential pitfalls if things don't go well, of mixing the mentally ill with people walking into a cafe looking for a bite to eat.
Hire-Ability stresses keeping the job simple and the staff on point. Counselors look in on the cafe from time to time, and the Hire-Ability offices are in the same building.
Potential employees are screened, take classes on how to cope with stress and communicate calmly with customers and are checked to make sure they're taking their medications.
"Can I tell you honestly?" said chef Walker. "These are the best workers I've ever had. They are very, very patient people, and they appreciate what we're trying to do."
E-mail Kevin Fagan at kfagan@sfchronicle.com.