If you are looking for a café that gives back, go no further than Crossroads Café, Bookstore & Art Gallery in the SoMa neighbourhood. Operated by the nonprofit Delancey Street Foundation, Crossroads helps distressed individuals in San Francisco rebuild their lives through work at the café, with revenue funding other programs under the Delancey Street umbrella that provide the likes of education to those who truly find themselves at a crossroads in their lives.
In addition to coffee sales, the café thrives on donations; one such came from Pottery Barn in the form of the café’s furniture. (The floors, shelves and counters in the café were crafted by those in the Crossroads program themselves.) Some other in-kind donations have been food. With all of the Sara Lee, Just Desserts and Snickers products that they received, Crossroads innovated with their menu to create a cheesecake-infused “Snickers pie” as a tribute.
Everyone loves a feel-good story, but items like the seared ahi tuna salad with mango salsa have been just as instrumental in making Crossroads such a success over the past decade and a half. Their affordable food selection is not tied down to a single cuisine. Their Mexican-style hot chocolate is a hit, as are their crêpes. They make standard fare like BLT sandwiches and mix it up with Cherry Crush smoothies, onion marmalade and sweet potato pie, to be ordered separately, of course. If something more substantial or fancy is what you desire, their afternoon high tea—with wine to drink perhaps—is just what the doctor ordered. Their most basic form of coffee is self-served at just a dollar.
Aside from that and the fountain pop and ice cream machine, Crossroads serves to the table. This service, as well as the decor and ambiance make for an unforgettable casual dining experience. There are board games, sprawling couches, signed Salvador Dali paintings hanging and most notably, an outdoor terrace complete with a fountain and wrought iron gates. Is it any surprise that voters consistently rank Crossroads in AOL’s top ten for family-friendly restaurants in the city?
699 Delancey Street (at Brannan Street), San Francisco, California (94107)
Open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays, 8:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday
http://www.delanceystreetfoundation.org/entercafe.php | 415-512-5111
