Kaia Cafe Makes You Say, "Om, Om, Good"

Husband and wife team, Stan Woodman and Gina Norman, have been bringing their studied philosophy on holistic living to Fairfield County for three years. Their latest endeavor, Kaia Café and Organic Juice Bar, is an annex to their mind and body health studio, Kaia Yoga Complete Wellness Center in Westport.

“It all started with yoga,” says Stan. “We opened our first studio in Greenwich right around the time Kaia was born.” Kaia is their playful three-year-old daughter with a particularly precocious palate, for whom the studio is named. As Stan, Gina and I are talking, Kaia bounces around the café, drinking from a cup of freshly squeezed Daily Greens, a lemon and ginger infused juice with kale, parsley, celery and cucumber.

“Once she was born, I became even more aware of what I was putting in my body,” says Gina. “And I realized there was so much out there I didn’t want to put in my body, or into her body.”

And so the concept of Kaia Café was born.

“We worked with a nutritionist out of New York, Manu Dawson,” says Stan. “He helped us develop the menu, to make sure that we had the right enzymes, enough protein, and to make it taste good.”

That’s really what I’m there to find out: How’s the food?

As menu samples arrive on the small table, I eye the hummus, which is always a favorite starting point for me. I dig in with a flax seed cracker and am stunned at how smooth and absolutely delicious the chick pea-based delicacy is. I then taste a black bean salad with feta cheese sprinkled over the top. The red onion works with the feta beautifully and I decide I want to stay for lunch. Once I taste the guacamole, I’m totally hooked. This isn’t your mother’s health food café.

“We make everything in-house daily,” says Gina, “with fresh, organic products.”

I’m unable to mask my surprise at how good everything tastes. There’s not a single alfalfa sprout in sight. The little flavor explosions in every bite make me want to stand up and do sun salutations.

“This is how we eat every day,” Gina laughs. “We like our food to taste good. Healthy and delicious are not mutually exclusive.”

If that’s not a belief you currently hold, then you’re due for a visit to Kaia Café. In addition to fresh salads and wraps, they offer a full juice bar, fair trade coffees and teas and an entire line of customized cleansing juice blends. They even make their own almond milk daily. It’s a not-too-sweet cinnamony treat that Stan tells me is packed with protein.

Head over to Kaia Café for lunch, located at 1200 Post Road East, in Westport, behind Crate and Barrel. It’s a mind, body and taste bud oasis.

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