Little Grill Collective Serves Inexpensive International Foods

Photo by Rhoda Shirk

A customer sits in the Little Grill's colorfully decorated dining room. The Little Grill, a worker owned restuarant, offers more than just affordable food with live entertainment many weekends.

The Little Grill Collective, a restaurant owned by its workers, located at 621 North Main Street, is a small colorful building amongst drab warehouses. Even disregarding looks, it is still truly one-of-a-kind.

Since opening in the '40s, it has been through many changes to become the worker-owned restaurant it is today. In June 2003, a group of workers bought the restaurant and began to share all the costs and profits equally, based on the amount of time they work.

The Little Grill is an example of an almost idealistically run restaurant. Besides the fact that there are no bosses and all the worker-owners have equal say in decisions, the foods that are not made on site are bought from local bakeries and farms. Many are organic and hormone-free. The chicken and eggs are all locally raised free-range, meaning that they are given room to roam and not confined to small cages. The bread and bagels that they do not make themselves come from Robert Eberly's local bakery or from Mr. J's. They have even eliminated large multi-national corporations such as Coca-Cola, Millers, Coors, and Folgers from their menu. Instead they serve Equal Exchange coffee, which is grown on small farms that pay livable wages and do not exploit workers. Soft drinks and beer come from small companies like Blue Sky root beer, Reed's ginger ale, and Sierra Nevada.

They are locally known for their all-you-can-eat Mexi-Night, every Tuesday for only $6.75. The meal is vegetarian and features homemade black bean and/or potato fold-up quesadillas, cheese enchiladas, potato roll-ups, brown-beans and brown rice. It is also available vegan style. They offer many vegetarian and vegan options.

Other specials include Wednesday's International Night, which exhibites a different featured country each week. The featured foods include Jamaican, Indian, Mediterranean, and Senegalese. Every Thursday night, the whole breakfast menu is available while on Fridays, make room for old-fashioned Southern flavors on "Down Home Night". Monday may be the most unique; the Little Grill closes to host a free soup kitchen.

The collective often offers live music performances. Almost every weekend, one or two acts perform, while performances are sporadic on weeknights. Prices vary, from $5 to pass-the-hat to free depending on the performance.

The Little Grill Collective is a restaurant with a lot of style. The walls are covered with bright artwork sold by local artists. The staff are friendly and provide quick service. Even with the tables, booths, and bar, seating can be unavailable during common meal times especially on the well-known feature nights.

Anyone looking for a great meal that doesn't include your standard burger and fries should try the Little Grill Collective. As a bonus, know that you are supporting a truly unique restaurant that has set itself above others both in quality of food and quality of practices.