Over the Moon

From the Food Vault Dept.: Against all odds, this unique little restaurant endures. It’s a world unto itself, offering creative vegan and vegetarian food choices in a place where you will like as not end up chatting with your table-neighbors – if you’re not digging the live music that’s a regular feature. Not a lot has changed since I wrote this piece 15 years ago except the prices. Check them out at this website.

                                                                                           

SHORTLY AFTER WE ARRIVED, a spirited discussion broke out at the counter about personal philosophy, reminding me that it’s been a dog’s age since I’ve heard any self-definition beyond “I’m a Mets a fan” or “Yeah, I’m a Democrat. Wanna make something of it?”

Photo by B. A. Nilsson

This discussion soon veered towards food, a natural segue both because of the good food served at Moon & River and because there’s something ’60s-enough about the vibe here that it should inspire one to recall that “you are what you eat.”

Moon & River Café opened three years ago at what was long ago a shabby deli on Front Street in Schenectady’s charming Stockade area. It’s been refurbished to a fare-thee-well and appointed with living room-like furnishings that should remind some customers of a place called Mother Earth Café that once thrived in Albany.

That’s because they’re the same furnishings. “I put them in storage when I closed Mother Earth,” says Richard Genest, “and now they’ve found a new home.” This means that you can sit at tables, at a counter, in an armchair; you can play board games, read the paper. You can observe, as we did, the darkening skies of a summer thunderstorm while nursing a good beverage (my own cup of tea was appropriately soothing, but my daughter’s cup of creamy, aromatic chocolatl ($2, styled as “Aztec hot cocoa with sweet spices”) seemed more appropriate to the changing weather.

Genest’s restaurants have been distinguished not only by their sociable natures, recalling the coffeehouses of the days of Addison and Steele (long before Starbucks plasticized the concept) but also by the vegetarian fare he offers. “I ran the Half Moon Café in the ‘80s,” he recalls, “and Mother Earth in the ’90s. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years, and I’m still doing it because this is my life.”

It’s a long room that seems narrow thanks to that length. Several tables fill the front, near the windows that look out on Front Street. Keep heading back and you pass a counter with a few stools and a deli case filled with fresh fruit and veggies, cheeses and desserts behind which the cooking occurs.

A few shelves sport packaged food items for sale, including good-for-you snacks and a line of Indian items. The walls are hung with an array of flyers and posters that give the place a clubhouse feel.

Don’t think in traditional restaurant terms when you get here. You can fashion an appetizer-entrée meal with what’s offered, but it’s more tapas-like in its cornucopia of smaller plates, none of which costs more than $8. And Genest has even sneaked in a few real-meat dishes this time, although I saw no reason to bother with them what with all the less-available fare that’s offered.

Photo by B. A. Nilsson

Beverages include good coffee, smoothies, shakes, a java flip with ices cream, coffee coolata, soy milk drinks, juices, ades, Italian sodas. The pot of tea I enjoyed ($3.50) was enough for four cups.

While awaiting my storm-delayed wife, I munched on a plate of veggies – fresh zucchini, carrots and broccoli – with hummus ($3.50). I noticed that bagels are offered with a tapenade spread, and, being a great fan of the chopped olive compote, I asked for a plate of tapenade and chips. No problem!

Sandwiches hot ($7) and cold ($6) dominate one page of the menu, with tofu, hummus, tempeh and cheese the dominant components. You can get a Reuben with tempeh, smoked tofu or real turkey. You can get a soy beef burger on bagel or bun.

Bagels also provide the foundation for pizza bagel melts ($7.50), which can be dolled up with pesto or salsa or much, much more.

At the heart of the meatless entrées are patties of wheat and soy fashioned, in many cases, to resemble meatstuffs. So you find a version of chicken tenders ($6.50), which may be the best thing ever to happen to the whole revolting chicken tenders concept.

Vegan spare ribs and vegetables ($6.50) was an instant choice for my daughter, who already is familiar with these pseudo-meats and loves the idea of replicating ribs with them. Although the alien look of them puts me in mind of the entrées cooked up by Randy Quaid in the movie “Parents,” you can’t deny their tastiness.

Ersatz chicken served with real pierogies ($8) was Susan’s dinner, and arrived on two plates, giving the pierogies their own little platter to keep the accompanying horseradish sauce confined. As she later described it, it was a satisfying dish that didn’t leave her with that logy, I’ve-just-eaten-too-much feeling thereafter.

Genest recently added many Mexican items to the menu, a good fit for vegetarian cooking. Although tempted by the Big Enchilada ($8), which gives you beans, potatoes, cheese, enchilada sauce and more, I’m a sucker for molé, the not-sweet Mexican chocolate sauce. Tacos molé ($7) puts it with a bean-and-cheese bed.

But Genest had stepped out for a moment when my order hit the kitchen, and his assistant, Kateri, confessed that the menu was so new she’d yet to cook this item. We discussed the molé concept and she decided simply to have a go at it – an approach absolutely appropriate to this place, and which fazed me not at all. Although Genest was back by the time she finished the dish, I enjoyed the idea of this fresh surge of creativity.

By the time we left, Genest was introducing a movie he was about to screen, a documentary about Cuba’s solution to its food crisis (a solution we’d do well to emulate). This is the kind of place where social change occurs, and it certainly doesn’t hurt to accompany such planning with a tasty, healthful meal.


Moon & River Café, 115 South Ferry St., Schenectady, 382-1938. A lively gathering place with a menu of mostly vegetarian and vegan fare, featuring sandwiches, salads and innovative entrées – including many Mexican dishes. Serving daily 9 AM-9 PM. Cash only.

– Metroland Magazine, 12 July 2007