Love Dog Café offers 'life sustaining' meals

By Anthony FydenPrint Story | Email Story
LENOX — People want more from food these days. They want food that’s natural, food that’s not filled with chemicals and preservatives, food that’s not only nutritious but also healthful. Oh, and they want it to taste great. Too much to ask? Not at all, says Deb Howard, who owns and operates the Love Dog Café and Herbal Apothecary in Lenox with her husband, Dan Howard. The couple opened the organic café in June 2003, quietly building a solid base of support from both visitors and locals. Serving lunch and dinner, the café offers organic salads, soups and entrees, catering to both vegetarian and carnivorous diners. Feel like a big salad? Try the Chef’s Special, with organic greens, hormone- and nitrate-free sliced turkey and ham, organic cheddar, grilled onions and other veggies. Want a burger you can feel good about? The Love Dog offers a special Vegan Burger, an organic beef burger or a free-range turkey burger. Kids can choose from classics such as grilled cheese or chicken strips (with goddess dressing), or barbecue sticks made from grilled tofu baked with barbecue sauce and served with celery sticks and ranch dressing. Currently, the grilled vegetable and cheese wrap, made with lightly seasoned and grilled vegetables and melted cheese and served with salad greens and sesame shitake dressing, is a favorite among many customers. “What I like to say is that we’re an organic café with something for everyone,” Howard said. “Our philosophy is serving food that I would call life-sustaining food. It’s everyday people food that people really want to eat, without all kinds of chemicals and preservatives.” Located in the Lenox Shops on Route 7, the Love Dog provides a comfortable setting for casual dining. A winding bar, where folks can sample the café’s many teas or enjoy lunch, fronts the kitchen. The café does not serve beer or other alcohol, but may consider it in the future, Howard said. The décor, created with the help of Lenox Designs, is contemporary but definitely not pretentious. The owners said they wanted an atmosphere that would allow Gen-X vegans or day-tripping grandparents to feel comfortable while eating lunch side by side. Howard emphasized that the organic specialties, while slightly more expensive than a traditional sandwich or sub shop, are affordable. Most lunch sandwiches and wraps are in the $8 range; salads start at $4.50; and children’s items range from $3.50 to $6. A section to the left of the bar houses the café’s herbal apothecary, where visitors can browse a large selection of specialty teas, herbal and homeopathic remedies and therapeutic oils. The two offerings — organic entrees and an herbal. Apothecary — are a natural match, as more consumers seek foods and health products that support their choices and lifestyles, Howard said. In fact, she said, making informed decisions is what the organic and homeopathic movement is all about. “Every day, more people are saying that they want an alternative,” she said. “A big part of the organic and herbal movement is that people are taking responsibility for their own health. You become an active participant in your health.” As people learn more about the food and health products, Howard said, they choose more carefully, believing that it matters where and how the ingredients were grown, what was added to them in the processing and how long they have been stored before being served. That explains why the market for conventional foods has been mostly stagnant, while total organic food sales have been growing at a rate of about 20 annually for more than a decade, according to the Organic Trade Association. Sales for herbal and botanical products are also growing rapidly, as people seek an alternative to traditional medical treatment. The herbs, botanical products, teas and oils offered at the Love Dog provide psychological as well as physical, benefits, Howard said: Flower essences, for example, can help people regain a feeling of “groundedness” in an often-chaotic world. People throughout the area are also recognizing the Love Dog as a bulk supplier of many popular tea varieties. An herb garden, now covered with snow, underscores the connection between the food on the plate and its source, Howard said. In warmer months, guests can eat outdoors in a small patio area. Howard is a Pennsylvania native and her husband is from Florida. They met at Kripalu, where Deb Howard ran the kitchen for about four years. The Love Dog Café has fulfilled a longtime goal of both of them, she said. The café opened with little fanfare early last summer, welcoming a steady stream of visitors. While business has slowed over the winter, the café served nearly 100 lunches on a frigid Tuesday afternoon this week. The café employs between 10 and 20 people, depending on the season. The Howards recently applied for an entertainment license and are considering offering live music at some point, although no plans are imminent. The café will host workshops over the winter, to introduce people to the products offered at the apothecary. What is a love dog? The name was plucked from a poem by 13th-century poet, Mevlana Rumi, who wrote, "There are love dogs in this world no one knows the names of. Give your life to be one." “Being a love dog means giving yourself so fully to what you do, that you wouldn’t want to do it any other way,” Howard said.
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Friends of Great Barrington Libraries Holiday Book Sale

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Friends of Great Barrington Libraries invite the community to shop their annual Holiday Good-as-New Book Sale, happening now through the end of the year at the Mason Library, 231 Main Street. 
 
With hundreds of curated gently used books to choose from—fiction, nonfiction, children's favorites, gift-quality selections, cookbooks, and more—it's the perfect local stop for holiday gifting.
 
This year's sale is an addition to the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce's Holiday Stroll on this Saturday, Dec. 13, 3–8 PM. Visitors can swing by the Mason Library for early parking, browse the sale until 3:00 PM, then meet Pete the Cat on the front lawn before heading downtown for the Stroll's shopping, music, and festive eats.
 
Can't make the Holiday Stroll? The book sale is open during regular Mason Library hours throughout December.
 
Proceeds support free library programming and events for all ages.
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