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Just down the Hill, Flora marks 25 years as Seattle’s iconic vegetarian cafe

The Flora crew in 1991 (Image: Cafe Flora with permission to CHS)

The Flora crew in 1991 (Image: Cafe Flora with permission to CHS)

Young CHS reader, hard as it may be to believe, there was a time when vegetarian cuisine was trendy – a sort of specialty food scoffed at by squares the same way your grandpa sniffs at “vegan” and “gluten free.” His scare quotes, not ours. In 1991, Café Flora sought to change that when it opened in an old laundromat on Madison. While it wasn’t the first vegetarian restaurant in town, it’s ridden the growth of the vegetarian lifestyle and is now celebrating its 25th anniversary.

In the years since, vegetarian, and even vegan restaurants have become commonplace, Seattle consistently ranks among the top veg-friendly cities in America, and Café Flora’s owner, Nat Stratton Clarke, welcomes the growth.

“It’s so great. For me, I really welcome that there are more options that are vegetarian or vegan and are terrific,” he said.

Stratton-Clarke wasn’t there at the beginning. He came to the Madison Valley restaurant about 10 years ago, after one of the original owners died. About two years later, the other two originals owners retired, selling Café Flora in 2008.

The legendary Oaxaca Tacos (Images: Cafe Flora)

The legendary Oaxaca Tacos (Images: Cafe Flora)

In an industry of slim profit margins and frequent closures, Stratton-Clarke credits the restaurant staff for Café Flora’s perseverance, noting that some people have worked there for five, 10, or even 20 years.

While he doesn’t get behind the line as a cook much, he ends up doing a bit of everything. His favorite part of the job is heading to the farmer’s markets to buy food. Most of the neighborhood markets allow restaurants to come early, since they buy in quantities (like the 150 pounds of pears he purchased recently) that would make it difficult to navigate the crowded sidewalks with people doing household shopping.

Sometimes these orders happen in advance, but sometimes it’s the farmers themselves who note something coming in that’s looking like a good crop. When that happens, Stratton-Clarke, along with Chef Janine Doran and the rest of the kitchen staff come up with dishes to make use of the seasonal ingredients.

“It’s really kind of a collaborative process,” Stratton-Clare said. “It’s not just one palate.”

The process became even more of a collaboration when the restaurant started preparing for its 25th anniversary celebration. They went through 25 years’ worth of menus to find some special dishes to feature. Part of the fun was watching how tastes have changed over the past two-and-a-half decades.

“It really is an evolution of vegetarian cuisine, seen through menus,” Stratton-Clarke said.

The menus were full of surprises. Some included dishes that still seemed delicious. “Some were like, ‘we’d never serve this in a million years,’” Stratton-Clarke said. ‘Though, in 1993, I’m sure it was the most cutting edge thing.”

They also reached out to past chefs to ask them about favorites they’d made. One in particular, the Oaxaca Tacos crafted by the restaurant’s original chef, Jim Watkins, has been on the menu from the beginning. The tacos have been so popular that in the late 90s when they were taken from the menu, guests started a petition – on actual paper, this was pre Internet – to keep them around.

The tacos, along with a selection of other greatest hits from the past, are going to be part of the celebration. From October 2nd to 6th, the restaurant will be featuring a special menu with these dishes and a wine pairing alongside its regular menu. On the first night only, they will be selling the items at 1991 prices.

Café Flora is located at 2901 E. Madison St. For hours and other details, visit cafeflora.com.

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Max
Max
7 years ago

Wow, that’s a lot of salt.

Nom Nom Nom
Nom Nom Nom
7 years ago
Reply to  Max

that’s not salt it’s cojhita cheese or however you spell it.

i’m not vegetarian and i love the food at cafe flora.

cottree
7 years ago

We loved Café Flora until they put peanut butter in their kids’ pancakes without mention in the menu and my kid ended up in the hospital.