Couscous salad, Bahn Mi and scones in the name of Friendship

The Story

Friendship Trays is one of my favorite local charities because it efficiently feeds hundreds of people a day and it’s always coming up with clever ideas to raise money. On Wednesday, its latest good idea had a grand-opening: The Friendship Market, a cozy cafe that serves a good cause.

The Concept

Friendship Trays is Charlotte’s Meals on Wheels. Healthy meals are prepared in their industrial kitchen and delivered by a corps of volunteers all over the county, every single weekday. It’s a Herculean effort and it works.

Friendship Market is a new cafe serving up healthy sandwiches, salads, soups and pastries. All proceeds will benefit Friendship Trays.

The Vibe

To get there, let’s just say it’s tucked away off South Boulevard. You have to work a bit to find it. Call it a hidden gem.

Inside, it’s incredible what the staff cobbled together (from their own belongings, no less!). Cafe-style tables, magazines for perusing, classical music playing. There’s even a conference room you can rent for small meetings.

The Food

Local chef Thomas Landers prepares the food, sometimes with help from the staff-in-training from the Friendship Trays kitchen. He’s legit.

I tried pretty much all the baked goods available for tasting: the cheese and herb scones, banana bread and my favorite, the gluten-free blueberry pecan bars.

The menu will change somewhat according to what’s fresh, but this week there was a thai chicken wrap with pickled ginger and sesame-flavored marinated cabbage, carrots, peppers and onions; low and slow-cooked pulled pork sandwich on a brioche roll with classic Carolina slaw; and Bahn Mi salad with marinated carrots and daikon radishes, jalapenos, peanuts or cashews on the side and Bahn Mi dressing.

All were $6/each.

I sampled the orzo salad and ended up buying a quart to take home.

If you can’t stay for lunch or want to bring something home for later, you can pull something pre-packaged from a refrigerator. I also grabbed some pimento cheese.

The details

While Friendship Market isn’t a quick walk from anybody’s office, it’s worth the short car drive. The food often features local ingredients and is utterly delicious. The atmosphere is adorable. And, of course, you’re eating for a good cause.

Friendship Market is open M/W/F from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This story was originally published March 5, 2015 at 1:25 AM with the headline "Couscous salad, Bahn Mi and scones in the name of Friendship."