Some summer days you can’t even think of going into the kitchen. But that doesn’t mean you’re not hungry. Some summer days serendipitously an invitation arrives from friends to check out a new café. Choosing a sit down meal over a piece of watermelon eaten over the kitchen sink you head out the door and welcome in a new eatery, called Manifesto Café.

Naming itself a social enterprise Manifesto Café thus differentiates itself from the standard neighborhood café via its current partnership with Restaurant Opportunities Center of Los Angeles. Through this partnership they provide job training for burgeoning chefs and other employees so that they can move onto living wage jobs in the food industry including fine dining wait staff and management positions. Their website proclaims more community-oriented actions “to come.” Not waiting for the café to create more community-oriented events we went ahead and ordered lunch.

If Manifesto Café is all about doing good they first thing they seem to be "doing good" is serving delicious food. On this particular day my friends ordered the grilled cheese while I chose more exotic fare ~ The Thai Burrito. I wouldn't call myself a diehard purist when it comes to burritos but I’m sometimes wary of cuisine which combines cultures, a la 'fusion" style. Yet when the rainbow wrapped in a tortilla arrived at our table, and promptly, it was a sight to behold and any wariness was left on the floor.

Inside the tortilla was a delicious mix of Thai brown rice, ground beef, fresh coconut, shredded carrots, purple cabbage, beans sprouts, and cilantro, with a curry coconut red sauce. I particularly liked the fresh coconut.

As tasty as the burrito was, I still had my share of plate envy. My friends’ grilled cheese looked just as good.

We’re friends but sadly not close enough for me to ask for a bite. Thus, I am forced to wait for the next trip to the Manifesto Café to order the grilled cheese on my own. As they seem to have a fair share of breakfast items, including a breakfast sandwich which sounds hearty enough to be breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I’m certain to have more than a few return trips. I can easily justify these trips as I’ll be doing it for the sake of building better community and helping others, one grilled cheese sandwich at a time.