nice

"Mr. Ennes, a former English major who reads Thomas Paine and wears a black and white neckerchief with a turquoise clasp, might be the best soup kitchen chef in New York City. On Thanksgiving, when most of the cooks at the city’s other 470-some soup kitchens simply roasted turkey, he prepared “turkey four ways,” including one with mango-ginger glaze and tropical fruit stuffing.

There will be no canned green beans or bologna sandwiches. Mr. Ennes insists on homemade stocks, oils without trans fats, organic peanut butter and local produce when he can get it. (That’s not to say he won’t stretch a meal with some frozen turkey patties or use a little powdered soup base in a pinch.)

Despite the care he puts into his cooking, he doesn’t mind a little criticism.

“They’re still customers, whether they’re paying $100 a plate or nothing,” Mr. Ennes said. “One thing we do here is listen to people and let them complain. Where else can a homeless person get someone to listen to them?”

Mr. Ennes, 55, cooks about 500 meals a week for people who come to the church on the corner of Broadway and 114th Street in search of a free breakfast or lunch. At night, a handful of women in need of shelter sleep upstairs. He feeds them, too."
Kim Severson, nytimes.com