At this Sacramento cafe, you can support people with disabilities by buying vegan pastries

Tone Martinez had struggled to hold down jobs throughout adulthood. At Purple Tree Cafe, he’s finally found the right fit.

After years of selling tea and vegan baked goods at the Davis Farmers Market, Purple Tree Cafe opened a brick-and-mortar coffee shop in April on the cafe on the second floor of UC Davis’ MIND Institute.

Nineteen of the Tahoe Park cafe’s 21 employees have mental, physical and/or developmental disabilities. That includes Martinez, who, like many of the MIND Institute’s patients, is on the autism spectrum and also suffers from social anxiety.

Working at Purple Tree Cafe means enough to Martinez that he takes a bus from Davis to fulfill customers’ orders, heat up pastries and wipe down tables for seven to nine hours per week. Once at work, he’s surrounded by co-workers with similar lived experiences and managers who treat him generously, he said.

“They’re the one (group of) people that have been willing to have the patience to work with me on a lot of my problems,” Martinez said. “They’re very attentive, very different from the other employers I’ve had in the past where there’s so much pressure. That’s how I get better. (I) need somebody to have some patience and show some care.”

Founded by attorney Pam Cohen in 2018, Purple Tree Cafe hosts community events for disabled and non-disabled people, including a monthly concert dubbed the “Davis Hootenanny” at downtown restaurant Delta of Venus.

Most cafe employees are paid California’s $16-per-hour minimum wage plus tips, and the waitlist of would-be employees only figures to grow with the MIND Institute storefront now open, associate director and operations manager Kelsey Fortune said.

“A patient who may be here getting a diagnosis for the first time could come upstairs, see someone — maybe with a similar diagnosis — holding this job, this meaningful employment, and having this successful future (when) they may not see that for themselves in that moment,” Fortune said.

Most Purple Tree Cafe pastries are wheat-free in addition to being vegan, such as peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies and coconut macaroons, and all cost less than $4. They’re prepared off-site at Davis Community Church’s commissary kitchen, which continues to supply the Davis Farmers Market stand on Saturday mornings.

A similarly mission-oriented group ran the MIND Institute’s cafeteria before the COVID-19 pandemic, interim director Dr. Marjorie Solomon said. The MIND Institute allows Purple Tree Cafe to use that space rent-free, an essential benefit for the nonprofit.

Purple Tree Cafe is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday at 2825 50th St. in Sacramento. It’s on the MIND Institute’s second floor but open to the public, though parking can be difficult due to nearby construction.

What I’m Eating

Hawks Public House is the closest restaurant to The Sacramento Bee’s newsroom, yet I hadn’t been since our offices moved into The Cannery development in 2021. Molly Hawks and Michael Fagnoni’s nine-year-old New American restaurant has undergone changes as well during that time, installing Francisco Rivera as the chef de cuisine after predecessor Derek Sawyer left for Allora.

A comparatively-casual-but-still-plenty-fancy offshoot of Hawks in Granite Bay, the public house has absorbed the Hawks Provisions, a pre-pandemic option for bites in an adjoined building. The menu today simply includes a “Provisions” category, nibbles such as duck liver mousse ($14) sealed in a maple apertif and black pepper gelée, that pair well with cocktails or mocktails during the weekday happy hour from 2:30-5 p.m.

Those provisions can also function as entryways to a larger dinner. That’s what my cousin and I did with a delightful mortadella tartine ($16), topped with wild arugula, pistachio crumbles, aged balsamic vinegar, cherries from Saeng’s Strawberry Stand in Granite Bay and the Italian cheese stracchino (also known as crescenza). Textures playfully contrasted throughout, and the sweet-savory flavors came together harmoniously.

Dried eucalyptus hangs in the gateway to Hawks Public House’s open kitchen, and other herbs including thyme, rosemary and tarragon season the herb-roasted chicken ($36). The excellently-cooked airline breast and thigh were enhanced by a mole negro that came out light brown but still had the flavor complexity one would want.

A tightly-wrapped heap of spaghetti fra diavolo ($35) took its heat not from traditional red pepper flakes but from Calabrian chile oil. While not uncomfortably spicy, that permeating burn overshadowed the more delicate Maine lobster vainly trying to stand out in the pasta.

Hawks Public House

Address: 1525 Alhambra Blvd., Sacramento.

Hours: 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday, 5-10 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday.

Phone: (916) 588-4440

Website: https://hawkspublichouse.com/

Drinks: Full bar.

Vegetarian options: A few options, including a crispy Delta asparagus starter, strawberry-jalapeño gazpacho and risotto with snap peas and assorted alliums.

Noise level: Loud.

Outdoor seating: Several tables across two patios.

Openings & Closings

▪ Society Bistro began its soft opening on June 6 at 1331 O St. in downtown Sacramento. Breakfast tacos, grain bowls, gyros and more are available at Nubia Murillo’s aesthetically charming cafe.

▪ Akira Japanese Restaurant also opened June 6 at 6191 Greenback Lane, Suite C in Citrus Heights. Bento boxes and teriyaki are points of emphasis, along with sushi such as the baked Akira Roll (spicy salmon, asparagus and cream cheese inside; unagi, sesame seeds and two sauces on top).

▪ The Underground Tasting Room will close for good Sunday at 900 2nd St., Suite A in Old Sacramento. It’s served pours of Fenton Herriot Vineyards, an El Dorado County winery east of Placerville, along with small bites since 2012.

This story was originally published June 13, 2024 at 5:00 AM.