Sweet Water Cafe

The first time I ever went into Sweet Water, I was a freshman in college. I took my parents there because they wanted to eat at a local restaurant that wasn't a chain. The restaurant was suggested by my friend Jeneka, who kept raving about how delicious all the food was. Since eating out at that point in college is a treat that only my parents can award, I thought that I would give Sweet Water a shot.

I didn't know about Sweet Water's policies or where their food came from. All I took away from my first experience was how tasty the food was and my mother saying, "It's a little overpriced. This would be a good place to take Uncle Rick." Not said specifically in that order, and certainly there was more to the conversation than just that, but my overall memory of this event isn't lucid. Also not to imply that my uncle only eats at expensive restaurants, it just had this atmosphere that he would like.

Two years later, I returned with Dr. A and some other Science Olympiad volunteers for a lunch promised by Dr. A. This was when I first learned that Sweet Water uses local farmer's foods. The food was still delicious.

The purchase of almost exclusively local food also explained the higher prices. Now the prices didn't seem outrageously high, as my mother first implied. The restaurant wants to support eating locally, which required fair prices to local growers for them to grow and live off the food they grow.

In the fall of my first senior year (yes I had two senior years), I took my former Theatre Director, his girlfriend, and my parents there to eat before my choir concert. I stressed how everything was locally grown/purchased, possibly to the point of annoyance but I really wanted them to see it as an environmentally responsible restaurant as opposed to this overpriced quirky local restaurant.

I knew that my Theatre Director was impressed when he got a sip of his girlfriend's orange juice. It was not that horrible mix from the box or from concentrate, nor simple fresh squeezed orange juice. It's traditionally made orange juice with all the flavor and worth every penny.

I could even see the transitioning opinions etched onto both of my parents' faces and how a simple glass of orange juice gave them a throwback to their childhood.

My latest trip to Sweet Water was after a trip to the Farmer's Market. I was with a group of friends and it seemed like a good day to treat myself. I got the orange juice and a vegetarian quesadilla.

I'm not a vegetarian but I am extremely pick about how my quesadillas are made. Though on this particular day I didn't nitpick about my food I just took it as is. It was one of the best quesadillas I've had all year. In the future, I would remove the olives off of it but their presence on this particular day didn't phase me.

This final experience caused me to look up their mission statement online. Turns out they use traditional ethnic food methods as a starting point for their food and then make it their own. Their ingredients are purchased in their "nearest to their natural state". The result isn't this horrible Americanized monstrosity but a delicious meal that I'd eat repeatedly, if I had the money to do so.