l oc al e at s: Community Tables
“We’re providing the table where you can either run into some-
ily-style meal with on- and off-menu dishes for 12 adventurous
one and find a place to sit together or meet someone at the
diners. (Reservations can be made by calling 423-2020.)
table and strike up a conversation,” Davis notes while Paul McCartney appropriately belts “Come Together” over the restaurant’s speaker system.
In a time when our eyes
“It could be great for people who are new to town and are looking to make new friends in a new place,” says Soif’s general manager, Christian Groon.
Large, shared dining tables
are often fixed on screens,
are nothing new—the trend
In a time when our eyes are often fixed on screens, and we tweet,
are communal tables
can be traced back to the
post and like in order to feel some sense of connection, are com-
French Revolution, and ta-
munal tables part of a renaissance of interaction—an antidote
bles that involve eating with
that has surfaced to counterbalance our tech-induced seclusion?
strangers have peppered res-
Are they a symbol of the human spirit fighting back—of claiming
taurant floors in the foodiest
our place at the table, so to speak?
part of a renaissance of interaction?
of American foodie cities for years. Now, they are part of
Perhaps.
the culinary zeitgeist in any town with a high enough concentration of kale- and pour-over coffee-obsessed denizens—as expected
In the very least, they are a recipe for food envy-inspired ordering.
as seasonal ingredients on a menu and food trucks serving Korean
Even the least sociable diners at a community table will inevitably
tacos. Here in Santa Cruz County, flocks of breakfast lovers roost
feast their hungry eyes on the parade of dishes being delivered to
at the communal tables at Silver Spur in Soquel, in a scene that
their neighbors; influenced, consciously or not, by the pouring of a
one Yelp reviewer paints as “a never-ending carousel.” About a mile
ruby-red wine, the presence of a frosty beer, the wafting aromas of a
away, the after-work crowd clinks pints at Beer Thirty Bottle Shop
savory appetizer or the arrival of a chocolaty dessert.
& Pour House’s extensive picnic tables. For Davis, the tables are an opportunity for diners who At Soif Wine Bar, a few blocks away from Assembly, a 12-person community table gets diners in the mood
desire closeness to their food to find closeness through food, as well.
for the wine bar’s menu, which encourages trying wines by the glass and sharing small plates. “I wanted people to experiment and try new things," explains owner Patrice Boyle, "and having a table like this where they don’t know exactly what’s going to happen when they sit down allows them to feel free to experiment and be a little bit more open with their experience.” Soif is taking its experiment one step further with a weekly community dinner that they launched in January. Every
Wednesday
evening, the big table hosts a prix fixe, fam-
1 04
|
s anta c ruz WaVe s Magaz i n e
“I absolutely think there is a relationship between wanting to know about your food, where it’s sourced from, the path of travel it had, and then what the dining experience is like and how you share it,” says Davis. “If you don’t believe in the importance of the sourcing and how food is raised, how it’s prepared and delivered, if you’re just eating for subsistence, then there’s not a whole lot to share. People who seek out a place like this are seeking to engage on all of those levels. And I think that spirit is catching.”