Simple food is simply the best food. Rustic Ogden restaurant A Good Life Cafe serves standard cafe fare, but the owners—Gloria Bartlett and Gary Greenwood—subscribe to this notion, and offer refined sandwiches, soups and juices made with fresh, preservative-free ingredients.
The business was a leap of faith, requiring a cross-country move and a prayer that such a shop would take in Ogden. A friend and yoga instructor, Stephanie DeTar, called Bartlett and Greenwood, then living in Asheville, N.C., when this space—a former New Age-y-goods store—became available. The couple decided to move without even having visited Ogden. “We were just itching to do something,” Bartlett says. “Gary’s always had this dream.”
The second-floor spot, with overflow tables downstairs among tapestries and assorted imports, is warm and inviting—the food even more so. Two soups are made fresh daily; the heirloom tomato and peach gazpacho is bright and fragrant. And the fresh mozzarella sandwich is the best sandwich I’ve eaten in Ogden.
The impassioned couple finishes each other’s sentences as we talk and eat:
Bartlett: “This menu is, well, how we want to eat. We’re not vegan or vegetarian ...”
Greenwood: “We’re just tired of eating really crappy food …”
Bartlett: “And feeling terrible after …”
Greenwood: “… nitrates and MSG and all that …”
Bartlett: “Yeah, we wanted to have food available that we wanted to eat …”
Greenwood: “We eat here six nights a week.”
Greenwood’s creativity flows forth when concocting the daily specials, like off-the-wall varieties of mac & cheese or chilled summer soups. “That’s usually our before-bed conversation,” Bartlett says. “I’ve just got food on the brain—all the time,” Greenwood adds.
A GOOD LIFE CAFE
107 25th St., Ogden
801-394-1020
AGoodLifeCafe.com
Speaking of Food & Drink, ,
-
Walk of Shame, The Lego Movie
New DVD/VOD Tuesday, June 17
- Jun 16, 2014
-
Drinking-Class Zero
Following a night of drinking, Wendy Simpson, 25, walked to a McDonald’s restaurant in West Yorkshire, England, where she was told that the counter was closed and only the drive-through was open but that she couldn’t be served
- Jun 16, 2014
-
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Dragon 2 shows DreamWorks is still willing to be daring
- Jun 13, 2014
- More »
More by Austen Diamond
-
FLASHBACK 2010: How 9 Utahns survived being shot
Nine Lives
- Jul 29, 2024
- More »
Latest in Dining
