Community Matters Cafe

Community Matters Cafe is the breakfast and lunch cafe in Third Ward, west of Uptown, run as a life skills training program for graduates of the Charlotte Rescue Mission’s recovery program. Tips are donations to the mission, the staff explain the concept at the table, and the food is far better than a cause needs it to be.

A seasonal menu of breakfast bowls, peach toast, fruit shortcake pancakes, hearty lunch plates, loose leaf tea and coffee roasted in house, in a bright room with a patio. It is weekday only, closes early in the afternoon, and repeat visitors call it the highlight of a Charlotte trip.

What to know

• Breakfast and lunch that supports a recovery program.
• Seasonal menu; the breakfast bowl and pancakes are favorites.
• Coffee roasted on site.
• Weekdays only.