Plates Cafe

Where can you dine on a delicious veggie sandwich and support a great cause, all at the same time? Plates Cafe, of course!

Plates Cafe, which is operated by St. John's Shelter for Women and Children, offers on-the-job training for formerly homeless women with children. Working as servers, dishwashers, hostesses, cashiers, or kitchen staff, participants in this program develop valuable job skills that help them find employment when they complete the program.

I stopped in for lunch last week to see if the Plates Cafe menu contained any vegan options, and here's what I found:

* The Vegetarian Sandwich is vegan if you omit the feta cheese and substitute sourdough bread for the nine grain bread, which contains honey. The sandwich ingredients are spicy hummus, roasted red peppers, English cucumbers, baby spinach, and balsamic vinaigrette. It comes with a choice of side dishes. I ordered fresh fruit with mine.

* The Organic Baby Greens salad is vegan without the goat cheese crumbles. This salad consists of baby greens, roasted red beets, orange supremes, toasted pecans, and citrus-sherry vinaigrette.

* "Your Choice" lets you have a salad created just for you with your selection of salad greens, dressing, and six ingredients. The salad dressings that are vegan are the ginger-sesame-soy vinaigrette, the citrus-sherry vinaigrette, and the whole-grain mustard balsamic vinaigrette.

Plates Cafe is located in South Sacramento's Depot Park at 14 Business Park Way, Building 149, and their telephone number is 916-381-2233. The restaurant's website address is http://www.eatatplates.com/, and their Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/platescafe. Plates Cafe is open for lunch only Monday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

More information about St. John's Shelter for Women and Children can be found at http://stjohnsshelter.org.