Oh my darlin’ Clementine
New café makes downtown a little sweeter with unique cuisine, atmosphere
Posted on March 17, 2008
For JMU students accustomed to an annually increasing freshman class, it’s hard to distinguish new faces from old. For downtown businesses, on the other hand, it’s pretty obvious when there’s a new kid in town.
Clementine Café, located on South Main Street in the space formerly occupied by the Main Street Bar & Grill, is a budding asset to the local community. General manager Jeremiah Jenkins said he and owner Clay Clark saw the venture as “breathing new life into a space that at other times had been seen as a blight on the community.” Clementine has the “same culinary aesthetic that drives [Clark’s] other operations, which is simple food made well,” said Jenkins. “[You can] come in with five dollars or twenty-five dollars and leave satisfied.”
Clementine’s owners are dedicated to bridging the gap between the city of Harrisonburg and JMU, as well as the other colleges in the Shenandoah Valley. Clementine is geared toward trying to get people who are willing to “relax judgment for a moment and find that they have a lot in common with each other,” according to Jenkins. While lunch and dinner are currently reserved for the main floor, the basement area features a bar and lounge space that can be used free of charge for community events such as the EARTH club’s recent screening of the documentary “Garbage.”
“We want people to enjoy the food, but during that people can see a film about not throwing away food or recycling,” said JMU alumnus and waiter Josh Diamond. “It is definitely more of a concept than it is just food.”
Jenkins, who has a master’s degree in community development, suggested the name Clementine because it is “southern, sweet and fresh and that’s what we wanted to be...we liked that it projected those kinds of traits. ‘Keep it sweet’ is kind of our motto.”
The menu, which Jenkins said will constantly evolve, features Mediterranean-inspired fare with a Californian edge. The moderately sized portions correlate with the prices, which fluctuate in accord with the customer’s hunger pangs. Offerings currently include vegan soups and turkey wraps accented with crème fraîche and avocado, as well as juicy burgers and shrimp Po-Boys. The dessert menu includes locally made truffles and baklava from Shank’s bakery. Jenkins commented that, “it’s hard to do organic and local and keep prices down.”
Diamond understands the need to be community friendly as well.
“We don’t want to come off snobby or pretentious,” Diamond said. “[We’re] trying to be as inclusive as possible.”
One may notice a few similarities between the menu and what is currently offered at Cally’s or The Earth and Tea Café, but Diamond emphasized that he “100 percent views it as something different.”
Jenkins doesn’t see competition as an issue either.
“Everyone understands it’s the more the merrier. We want downtown to be viable for other organizations, nonprofit or not,” he said.
Clementine’s focus on fresh, affordable food and a fulfilling social climate cultivate a new kind of culture for downtown Harrisonburg in which students should be ready to participate.
