SENIOR DINING
Western Home Communities’ Table 1912 gives diners a taste of the seasons with a rotating farm-to-table menu
The restaurant recently reopened with a reimagined menu after being closed due to COVID-19.
BY BENITA GINGERELLA
A t Western Home Com- munities, a 177-acre non- profit senior living com - munity in Cedar Falls, Iowa, feeding others has been a priority since day one. The nonprofit was founded in 1912 when Christian missionaries came from Canada and opened a senior living com- munity in the area which also contained a farm. “They had animals and vegetables, and they fed the residents from that farm,” says Food Service Director Ran- dall Carlson. Western Home’s mission of feeding others is still present today and is on full display at Table 1912, a restaurant inside the senior living community that is open to both residents and the general public. The space recently re-opened after being closed due to COVID-19 and is described by Carlson as offering guests “approachable, upscale dining.” Along with serving diners a seasonal menu, Table 1912 also gives the Thom- as Cuisine dining team a chance to show their stuff. “I’ve got a huge commercial kitchen
and a great staff and they’re very tal- ented,” says Carlson. “All of our chefs have come up and trained in house. This kind of really showcases their talent.” As a homage to farm that the mission- aries built when they first opened the nonprofit, Table 1912’s menu centers around farm to table ingredients. For example, all the beef on the menu comes from a local cattle farmer. “We buy a cow at a time, and we ca- ter the menu around how we use that product,” says Carlson. The dining team has also started to play around with hydroponics and is currently building a hydroponic farm on its campus to grow local produce. “Before long, we’ll have a free- standing building where we’ll grow our vegetables for everything,” Carlson adds. Since Table 1912’s re-opening in May, there have already been some standouts on the menu. The salmon roulade and skirt steak salad have both been popular with diners, Carlson says. The lamb rack has also been a hit. “It’s beautifully done, medium rare with a mushroom strudel, and it’s got a mint chimichurri that goes with it,” he
adds. Table 1912’s menu will change about every four to six weeks. One way the dining team will test out potential future menu items is through hosting special monthly dinners built around a theme. “We’ll do a monthly dinner on one of our off days, where we might do a Blue Zone Diet, we might do Japanese cuisine, you know, so forth. And when we do that, that’s when we’ll try new menu items to put on the menu.” The reimagined concept has been well received, says Carlson. Around 40% of Table 1912’s business comes from Western Home Residents and the rest from the general public. Serving those outside of the Western Homes goes hand-in-hand with the senior living community’s mission to feed those in the community. That mission holds real meaning for Carlson who looks forward to serving people tasty meals daily. “There’s a quote that I’ve been obsessed with recently, and it’s, ‘We’re all just walking each other home,’” he says. “And the fact that we get to feed people every day is a real, real blessing to all.”
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QUARTERLY | Q3
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