"Setback for Sustainability"

"Setback for Sustainability"
Will this be the last chapter in the bittersweet saga of Green Street Cafe?
Valley Advocate
By Mary Nelen
July 30, 2009

In Northampton, Green Street Cafe is being evicted from its place of business by Smith College.
Green Street Cafe, an earnest, passionately French restaurant with the best risotto in town, had a handshake deal with Smith College for years. Parties, lunches, seminars and other college-related functions took place at Green Street, loved by many for its food, its fireplace and its irascible front-of-the-house guy.

Owners John Sielski and Jim Dozmati are the kind of people who treated staff and customers like family. Many young chefs who were trained at Green Street Cafe went on to open their own restaurants in the area. John, who grew up in Hatfield, grew the veggies for the restaurant in his garden in Easthampton. Just last month, when risotto with fresh peas was on the menu, those were John's peas. It was the kind of place where the owners' devotion to food went so far beyond the bottom line that as a diner there, you always felt a little bit guilty that the quality was so high and their dedication was so evident in the attention to detail; fresh flowers, handwritten menus, house-made deserts.

More than a few years ago it was announced that Smith College would be making room for its latest vision, an engineering school for women—the first in the country! Not unlike the original vision of Smith, a college for women! Eventually the school got built and one by one the tenants on the little block crawled away. But not Green Street Cafe. In the shadow of the wrecking ball, the owners hung on, doing anything they could to keep going. They served lunch. They did a Sunday brunch. They tried a subscription pay-up-front system and because of a very loyal following, they managed to hang on for longer than most would have. After many setbacks and a lost opportunity to relocate, they hired a PR consultant from Boston and got a blog, but last week they were served final eviction papers once again. This time it is for back rent of $5,566. A patron offered to pay the tab but lawyers from Smith are saying the payment is not a sustainable solution to the problem.