JULY 21 • 2022 | 43
restaurant skills at Soul
Café, or the bakery trade at
Dakota Bread-Friendship
Circle on Orchard Lake
Road in West Bloomfield.
Friendship Circle purchased
the popular gourmet Jewish
bakery in October 2020
from its retiring owners. Job
training is currently offered
to “15 Soul Center clients,
with another 21 on a waiting
list,” Shomer said.
Bassie Shemtov is
executive director of
Friendship Circle, founded
in 1994 with her husband,
Rabbi Levi Shemtov, and
eight volunteers. She
oversees Soul Center and
with Shomer, Soul Café.
“We offer healthy, fresh
kosher food for everyone
in a warm, nonjudgmental
environment,” Bassie said.
NEW ON THE MENU
New breakfast-type items on
the Soul Café menu include
Smoked Fish Plate; Crepe
filled with lox, scrambled
egg, spinach, mushrooms
and feta; and a colorful
Breakfast Bowl. I went with
everything offered in the
bowl but the poached egg (a
personal dislike). Otherwise,
I enjoyed the assortment of
crumbly coconut “bacon,”
red cabbage, avocado slices,
spinach, house potato cubes
and rainbow carrot ribbons,
plus savory kale-walnut
pesto. Sweet choices newly
introduced are Lemon
Ricotta Pancakes and
Cinnamon Sugar French
Toast Sticks.
The “Lunch Starters” list
includes a new Cheeseboard
and my next choice: General
Tso’s Cauliflower Bites. The
lightly battered and slightly
spicy chunks were served
with an Asian-style dipping
sauce. New salads to try
include Ginger Garden,
Greek and Power Bowl,
including barbecued tofu.
Under “Sandwiches,”
diners can now choose Mahi
Taco — two corn tortillas
filled with nice-sized pieces
of the tasty fish and flavorful
lime cilantro slaw, pico
de gallo and salsa verde.
I really liked these.
Pesto and Cajun Salmon
Alfredo are new pastas
this season.
Dessert eaters may
fancy the addition of
soft-serve ice cream in
flavors of chocolate,
vanilla and both in a
swirl.
Accompanying meals,
or to enjoy separately, are
non-alcoholic beverages
that include Chazzano
Coffee Roasters, Starbucks
Coffee, espresso drinks and
smoothies.
Note that Soul Café retains
the most popular items on its
changing menus. My favorite,
Ancient Grain Salad, has
dates, apples, caramelized
onion, sweet potato, quinoa,
seeds and greens, with a silan
(sweet syrup made from
dates) vinaigrette. For more
complexity, add optional
avocado, salmon and/or tuna
salad.
The appealing, beautiful
lineup of items at Soul Café
makes deciding difficult.
After ordering, food and
beverages can be enjoyed
in the white main dining
room. The rotating artwork
of Soul Studio artists gives
the airy space the feeling of a
gallery. In addition to regular
tables, as many as 12 diners
may gather at a high-top
communal table toward the
back wall. A separate carpeted
room handles overflow dining,
usually on busy Sundays, and
may be rented for business
meetings, bridal showers and
other events.
For anyone wanting a little
fresh air this summer, Soul
Café also offers seating on its
large covered patio.
Soul Café
at Friendship Circle’s
Farber Soul Center
5586 Drake Road
West Bloomfield, MI 48322
(248) 788-7400
friendshipcircle.org/soul/cafe/
$$$½ out of $$$$$
Executive Chef Tim Maraj, left,
and Director Shalom Shomer
PHOTOS BY ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER
General Tso’s Cauliflower
with Asian-style dipping
sauce