Writer & Photographer / Kathi Moore
Ezra was a Biblical prophet and scribe named for the Hebrew word meaning “God’s help.” In Broad Ripple, Ezra is the infant son of restaurant owner Audrey Barron and the inspiration for her new Ezra’s Enlightened Café. The unique mission of the café is to “offer enlightened food, wellness products and education to our customers, our community and the planet, serving awareness, happiness, vibrant health and culinary bliss—one beautiful person at a time.”
The café, opening in August just behind The Playful Soul boutique on Ferguson, is completely gluten- and dairy-free and no animal products are used except for honey. Barron and her head chef Allie McFee call it Bee-gan, recognizing the many healing and health benefits of local raw honey. The menu is also mostly raw and 99 percent organic and GMO-free.
If that doesn’t sound appetizing enough to you, you will be relieved to know they will feature a large selection of fresh desserts like “cheesecake” (sweetened with coconut oil, nuts and dates), brownies, chocolate mousse, “ice cream,” cookies and tarts. That is all in addition to an organic menu of breakfasts and lunches. If you’re in a hurry you’ll find a lot of grab-and-go items like muffins, juice, smoothies, fair-trade coffee, herbal elixirs, herbal teas and infusion bars with a wide variety of offerings.
The freshest local produce is stocked in a large walk-in refrigerator in the back and many of the herbs will come from Barron’s own garden next to the outdoor seating area.
Barron’s background is in herbalism and she is enthusiastic about the healing power of plants. She has extensive experience with organic cooking and wellness consulting. In 2009, she was certified as a Raw Food Chef and Instructor at the world-renowned Living Light Culinary Institute, and she has taught hundreds of classes.
She commented, “Our menu will help people navigate the benefits of certain ingredients. A big part of our mission is education.” The café will also sell herbs and specialty books from trusted quality resources, helping you learn to be ‘the healthiest you.’
Expect to see two or more classes offered each month, covering topics such as raw food, detox, how to make dairy-free cheeses, dehydrating foods, and more. Both Audrey and Chef Allie are looking forward to extending the concept of “healthy eating to feel better” to an ever-growing audience.
Whole foods that are detoxifying, rejuvenating, refreshing, rehydrating, energy-producing, digestion-assisting, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, nutritious, raw, brain-boosting, healing…this is what Ezra’s Enlightened Café is all about.
Perhaps Hippocrates said it best when he said, “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine thy food.”
