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Susanna’s Cafe: A Local Business Spotlight

By Veronica Maciag

Susanna’s Café, in Hough’s MidTown community, is a café located inside the new Cleveland Foundation headquarters. It has been running for just a few months.

Susanna’s offers everything one would expect a café to have—but with a unique twist. Partnering with HELP Harvest, the café food creates a distinct “seed to table” atmosphere. Specifically, due to the HELP Harvest Greenhouse, Susanna’s is privy to a personal supplier of fresh produce and, courtesy of the HELP Harvest Kitchen, uniquely packaged meals as well.

Besides the food they produce themselves, the café actively partners with local food vendors in the MidTown district. By offering a wide variety of Cleveland’s food scene, the café has found a wonderful way to grow in just a brief time.

Susanna’s goes beyond just feeding the community. As an independent organization, HELP Harvest acts as a stepping-stone toward community employment for select Clevelanders. Susanna’s, in turn, supports this vision by employing individuals with intellectual and physical challenges. By working in the café, or the two HELP Harvest facilities, these individuals receive vocational training in preparing, cooking, and packing the food Susanna’s offers.

Ultimately, Susanna’s Café represents a business that feeds the community, while also making the area that much more inclusive and vibrant. It’s a place you truly need to see in action the next time you’re in the area.

Angie’s Soul Cafe Feeds the Soul and Cleveland

By Lisa O’Brien

Angie’s Soul Cafe, located at 7815 Carnegie Avenue, has been filled with warm people and good food for over thirty years.

The soul food kitchen has a homey interior with metal chairs that are perfect for kicking back and enjoying some fried catfish.

I had a chance to speak to Destiny, the General Manager at Angie’s Soul Cafe. I learned more about the restaurant and its history, which I am excited to share with all of you readers.

 

Interviewer: Thank you so much for speaking with me. To start, would you like to tell our readers a little bit about yourself, maybe how long you’ve been working here at Angie’s?

 

Destiny: My name is Destiny. Angie is actually my great-aunt. This was my first job around Cornell and Cedar when I was fourteen. It was a job with the family, and I worked on and off since I was fourteen. I just recently came back as a General Manager last year. I went from a cashier as a little girl, and now I’m keeping the business going.

 

Interviewer: What, in your opinion, makes Angie’s so special that it has been able to be a Cleveland staple as long as it has?

 

Destiny: Angie’s has been around for so long; we’re family. We are a family-owned business. We treat our customers like family. We are family in the kitchen; you’d think we all were related. All the customers feel welcome. We feed the soul. Soul food!

 

Interviewer: What is one thing you would like people to know about the restaurant? Not necessarily a secret, I wouldn’t want you giving away any secret recipes, but something you would like our readers to know that they maybe don’t.

 

Destiny: I want everyone to know, because everyone comes in and asks the questions “is Angie real? Is Angie still around?” Yes, Angie is still around! She still comes in, and she bakes our pies, peach cobblers, and cakes and stuff. I just want everyone to know that Angie is real, she is not a made-up name, and she is still here.

 

Interviewer: That’s good to hear! What is your favorite thing on the menu? I’m not sure if it changes, but if you had to pick…

 

Destiny: That’s horrible! What’s my favorite thing on the menu? I’ll just have to say fried pork chops, macaroni, and yams.

 

Interviewer: Lastly, how do you think Angie’s has served the community in Cleveland specifically? Or in what ways do you observe that community coming together here?

 

Destiny: We’ve done a lot of donating to various causes. We just fed the homeless with The Browns a few months ago. Stuff like that. We just give back to the community. We feed the people who come in and just say “I’m hungry.” I’ll be sure to give them something out of the kitchen; it won’t hurt us. 

I had a wonderful time at Angie’s Soul Cafe and came away with two containers of their signature peach cobbler, and mac and cheese. If you are looking for food to feed your soul look no further than Angie’s!