The name says it all, Good Intentions Market & Café. The building itself sits in the crook of state Route 7 and Kinsman Road NE in Kinsman, like a pristine white church from an antique era.
It’s actually a refurbished town hall, the effort of local farmers and an inn owner who share an agenda. “We really wanted to grow our own community,” owner and entrepreneur Amy Davis says, “and that’s where you see so many people supporting local businesses. And that’s where you see a lot of the local goods on our shelves.”
Davis grew up in Warren and has deep local roots. Her husband and business partner, Floyd Davis, is from Hartford. Together they captain Red Basket Farm which provides the majority of the produce for Good Intentions farm-to-table café. The café offers familiar comfort food with a twist.
A breakfast croissant sandwich ($10) includes a “Local Egg,” choice of ham or bacon, cheddar, and smoked mayo. The Red Basket farm omelet ($12) likewise includes “Local Eggs,” peppers, candy sweet onions, potatoes, chorizo, cheddar, and Parmesan, and served with a side of toast. The “Perfect Pear & Apple Salad” is also made from “Local Apples & Pears,” Romaine, grilled chicken, walnuts, and “Wicked Sweet Honey Balsamic Dressing.” The “Seasonal Rice Bowl” ($12) includes “Local Mixed Greens,” chickpeas and avocado served over a rice and quinoa mix and flavored by a lemon vinaigrette dressing. Chicken can be added for $5 more, salmon or steak for $6.
As should be apparent, the cafe’s emphasis is on good food sourced locally.
“This is a staple kind of place,” Davis says. “Our customers want basic sorts of things but really good.” For this reason, ingredients are same-day fresh because they literally come from the neighborhood, and orders are homegrown recipes of traditional favorites. The big picture is support for local businesses. “My burgers are grass fed from a local farm,” Davis adds.
“We make our own dressings. We make our mayo, so everything has a little touch of local made special.” As example she adds, “Our Ultimate Chicken Salad” ($13) “is a chicken/bacon/ranch salad and we pickle an egg in banana pepper juice”—an innovation particular to Good Intentions. “I like pickled stuff,” Davis explains.
Sweet, pickled onions are what give the quinoa and vegetables in the “Asian Buddha Bowl” ($12) a sudden pop, and they can be found in the Café’s omelets, hamburgers, salads, and the “Crispy Chopped Veggie Sandwich” ($9), a savory mix of chickpeas, spices, mayonnaise, and seasonal vegetables. Other offerings include salads, bagels, a vegetarian black bean burger, chili and “Stuffed Roasted Pepper Soup,” which contains pickled onions, for $5 a cup or $7 a bowl.
The food is just as Davis described it, hearty and familiar yet with a homespun goodness.
The apples are from a local orchard. The vegetables come from Red Basket Farms, and the restaurant uses honey from a local apiary. “We are a true farm-to-table establishment,” Davis says. “Once we get into the season, everything on the menu will be ours,” she adds. This includes the pickles which are made from Red Farm’s own cucumbers. “It takes extra effort and extra staff, but it does make a difference,” Davis says.
The Red Basket Farm grows their specialty crops year-round —beans and produce—which fills out the Good Intensions menu. The Davis family also works with 40 different businesses, all from around the region. These include local apiaries, coffee roasters, and farms.
The cooks are all local people. Amy and husband come up with the stuff they really like. They “hash it out,” says Davis, with the help of Chef Ricardo Sandoval, chef-owner of Fat Cats restaurant in the Tremont district of Cleveland.
Good Intentions opened in June of 2020, three months after many businesses shuttered because of COVID.The shutdown made business difficult, but having little other choice, the Davis family soldiered on.
These days Good Intentions is virtually always busy. The fare creates repeat customers, and the building, located at the nexus of both car and bicycle traffic, is a natural stopping point for travelers.
Thompson restored the building which she rents from Richard Thompson, owner of the Peter Allen Inn, who provided financial backing and many of the materials. “When you look at it on the outside it has a very historical character,” Davis says, “but when you see the inside it has a modern feeling mixed with rustic appeal.”
While the exterior of Good Intentions suggests a formal past, the aesthetics inside are a blend of modern and rustic. The dining area has a high ceiling and open floorplan, including a loft where customers can retreat to look out the upstairs windows or play board games. Gilmore Designs out of Cortland designed the renovation.
“This was our vision,” Davis says, “our ability to get this building restored and to have people use it, and the renovation has created something in our community that was so needed—another place to go and another thing to do.”
Good Intentions is also a market for unique regional products with names such as Miller Mico Farms handmade goat milk lotion, Russell’s Dam Good Beef Rub, and G.R.A.C.E.’s cinnamon elderberry syrup populating its shelves.
In addition, the Café hosts a brunch every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
As always, the emphasis is upon community and the feeling it engenders. “It’s about how you feel when you leave here,” Davis says.
Good Intentions Market & Cafe – 6635 Ohio-87, Kinsman 44428. 330-355-2500. Website: goodintentionsmarket.com….
Good Intentions Market & Café
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