"The third place," just like in the old television show Cheers, is a place where everybody knows your name. It’s not home—where they have to take you in. It’s not work (or school), where we spend many hours, but don’t necessarily find emotional sustenance. It’s that other place—where you feel comfortable, at ease and welcome. That’s the third place.
For me, that place is Baker’s Table in Santa Ynez. There, since 2012, proprietor Amy Dixon has created a warm environment for eating, grabbing a cup of good coffee and, likely or not, finding a familiar face for a quick hello and smile or maybe even a longer conversation when you pull up a chair and share some delicious food with a friend.
The pandemic meant that Baker’s Table had to close its doors to in-house dining these past few months. Take-out and delivery continued, but until this past week, there was no chance to sit and enjoy in the traditional sense of a restaurant. Even now, as it re-opened for in-house dining, Baker’s Table, like all other restaurants in the Santa Ynez Valley, doesn’t really look like it did pre-pandemic. Masks cover our facial expressions; tapes on the floor measure out space required to maintain social distance. People can no longer linger and kibbutz.
But, this column isn’t really about what we’re missing in these strange times of the pandemic. That list is endless and includes our sense of safety and security. What I want to describe is another role that Amy Dixon and the Baker’s Table has taken on in this time.
Having moved here in 1998, after previously attending culinary academy in San Francisco, the Santa Ynez Valley became the place where she raised her daughter and which she fervently calls home.
Two years ago, she expanded the bakery, more than doubling its size when the wine tasting room next door to Baker’s Table became available. But to Amy, Baker’s Table means more than turning a financial profit. She very deliberately wants to create a sense of community with her establishment.
She says this community nourishes both herself as well as her customers. Six days a week (she’s closed on Mondays), Dixon could be seen walking between tables, greeting her regulars by name and introducing herself to newcomers. She quickly learns everyone’s likes and dislikes. I never have to tell Amy that I want my Café Americano with almond milk. She automatically reaches inside the cooler to get the almond milk.
So, when the pandemic hit in March, Dixon realized she could not simply sit by and wait idly for her restaurant and her bread delivery service to reopen. Who knew when that would be? After taking care of her employees as best she could, laying off as few as she could, Amy decided that she’d do what she does best—feed people.
She began a Facebook campaign to raise money to feed families who were in need. Our Valley, as bucolic as it is, has suffered from cases of COVID-19, though relatively few. Yet the economic effect of shuttered businesses has been devastating.
Initially, Dixon wasn’t sure how her feeding program would look. She first imagined that she’d put together boxes for a family of four to eat for a week, and then distribute them herself from her restaurant. However, after successfully receiving generous contributions from her many loyal customers and friends, Dixon realized that distributing the food herself was neither practical nor necessary.
Instead, Dixon teamed up with St. Mark’s Church, which already had a feeding distribution program in place. On Tuesdays and Fridays, Dixon delivers at total of 80 hefty boxes to St. Mark’s, where the food is handed out, without question, to families needing extra help. In each box Dixon, with the assistance of volunteers (from her loyal customer and employee base), packs: a half-gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, a pound of butter, beans and rice. There are also fresh vegetables—potatoes, onions, lettuces. Last week, beef bones were included—enough to make a pretty fine soup.
Her fundraising efforts, as well as donations of produce, allow her to fill these boxes generously. Funds, as well as produce, are still welcome for this program. They can be brought to Baker’s Table on Numancia Street in Santa Ynez. Dixon plans to continue providing boxes of food to needy people until the end of June, at the very least.
Amy is an unusual businesswoman. She started Baker’s Table wanting to create a comfortable gathering spot for the community she loves. She wanted to serve delicious breakfasts and lunches—and become a welcoming third place for locals to meet and get their fix of coffee and croissants and pastries, salads and sandwiches. However, during this emergency, Dixon has done much more. She looked beyond her original goal and pivoted, still providing good food and comfort— but this time for those in the community who are struggling from the effects of the pandemic.