"It's run by the people who actually spend money here," bar manager Renea told the Greenbelt News Review in late September. "The people who want to keep the doors open. They're not just eating here."
That describes the arrangement at 113 Centerway since July. The New Deal Café's board decided not to extend its contract with its food and beverage vendor past July 23. Since then, board members and volunteers have been running the kitchen and the bar themselves. In its July announcement, quoted by the News Review, the board said the café "has been challenged by an operating model based on partnership between a for-profit and [a] nonprofit organization."
The change shows up in the schedule. Under a contracted operator, a business plan decided when the café was open. Now the hours are set by how many people can work a shift, and the café says so openly.
Mornings came back because regulars brought their own coffee
The morning hours did not start with a board decision. Peter Teuben, who sits on the café's audit committee with Teresa Petrovic and Rex Wingerter, used to meet friends there for mahjong over breakfast every week. According to the Greenbelt News Review, when the café cut its hours, Teuben and others "couldn't fathom an empty Café in the morning." They started bringing in their own coffee and trying out different drinks together. Teuben started that coffee klatch in August.
A volunteer named David Whiteman learned to run the espresso machine and then taught others how to use it. Several volunteers now work both the register and the barista station. In mid-September, The Banner reported that the café was ramping up morning coffee service while it worked out a revised dinner menu and kept the bar running.
The pastries are made in-house by Stephanie Rizk, the café's board president, according to Chef Derrelle Magee. Jeannette Holman has been coming to the café since 2003 and is both a board member and a volunteer. She told the News Review that her shifts include "washing dishes, serving, bussing." All board members are volunteers, she said.
The posted hours show where the volunteer time goes
The café's website calls its morning coffee service "a slow launch" and says it "may add more hours as we staff up." Here is the current schedule as posted:
| Day | Coffee, espresso and pastries | Midday | Full menu | Late night menu |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday to Thursday | 8 to 11 a.m. | Closed 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. | 5 to 8:30 p.m. | 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. |
| Friday | 8 to 11 a.m. | Closed 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. | 5 to 11 p.m. | 11 p.m. to midnight |
| Saturday | 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Closed 1 to 5 p.m. | 5 to 11 p.m. | 11 p.m. to midnight |
| Sunday | 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Closed 1 to 5 p.m. | 5 to 8 p.m. | 8 to 9 p.m. |
| Monday | Closed except for calendar events |
The midday gap is the practical detail to know. The New Deal does not serve lunch right now. If you walk over from the Co-op at noon on a Wednesday, the door will be locked until 5. Saturdays and Sundays may open for extra hours when events are scheduled. Monday is closed unless the calendar lists something. The café asks people to check its Facebook group and Instagram for last-minute changes.
These hours have already moved once. At the end of September, the News Review reported that mornings would run every day except Sunday and Monday. By early October, the posted schedule had added Sunday mornings from 9 to 1. The café's ad in the October 22 News Review listed the same Tuesday through Sunday morning hours. A whole new morning was added within a few weeks, and the volunteers had to cover it.
After 5, the kitchen serves a menu built for a smaller crew
The dinner menu was written by Chef Derrelle Magee. He has been connected to the café in one way or another for about 15 years and was one of the chefs under the previous vendor. He worked with Aaron Mengel of Generous Joe's on what the Greenbelt News Review described as simple, light meals, with vegetarian and vegan options built in. "This is my goal: try and reinvent the New Deal," Magee told the paper. "It's on my shoulders, so you know I gotta do it. I've got big shoulders, so I can carry it."
The posted menu includes:
- Small plates: salmon bites, tortillas with pico and elote dip, tots, fries, and hummus with vegetables
- Mains: herb-crusted salmon, grilled chicken, eggplant pasta cannoli, burgers and black-bean burgers
- Pasta: with chicken, tofu or vegetables
- Non-alcoholic drinks: soda, flavored seltzer and kombucha
The menu is short, and Magee has used it for specials. During the 23rd annual Greenbelt Blues Festival in late September, rain moved the outdoor acts inside. The kitchen served Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Bean Burger with blueberry barbecue sauce, plus blue corn chips with pico de gallo and elote.
The November calendar is full
The volunteers can cover a long stage calendar because the music runs on the performers and hosts. The café's ad in the October 22 Greenbelt News Review reminded readers that tips are "the only way they're paid." Here is what the New Deal's event calendar shows for the rest of November:
- Thursday, November 5: Wolf's Thursday Blues Show and Sit-In Jam, hosted by Wolf Crescenze, 6:30 to 10 p.m.
- Saturday, November 7: Proverbs Reggae Band, 8 to 11 p.m.
- Sunday, November 8: Grateful Sunday with Great Northern, 6 to 8 p.m. The café notes it falls on a different week than usual this month.
- Tuesdays: open mics, including the New Deal Open Mic with Tom Gleason on November 10 and with Joey Campfire on November 17. Sign-ups start at 6 p.m.
- Saturday, November 14: a community drum circle with Katy Gaughan, outside in Roosevelt Center, 3:30 to 5 p.m. It's open to all ages, drums are provided, and no experience is needed.
- Sunday, November 15: Reel and Meal at the New Deal, the monthly film series, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, November 18: Pub Quiz, $1 per player, with the pot going to the winning team.
- Thursday, November 19: the Classic Jam with The Low Rent Quartet. The calendar describes it as a long-running jam from the Old Bowie Town Grille that has found a new home here.
- Saturday, November 21: Poetry Open Mic, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with featured poet Pamela Murray Winters, then Dance Little Sister, 8 to 11 p.m.
- Sunday, November 22: Kim's Grand Rounds songwriters' circle, moved from its usual Wednesday because of Thanksgiving week.
- Thursday, November 26: closed for Thanksgiving.
- Saturday, November 28: 4th Saturday Jazz Jam, 2 to 5 p.m.
The schedule rests on the regulars more than ever. Teuben's audit committee reviews the café's finances and gives a community report every Sunday.
What has not been decided yet
The café opened on December 30, 1995. Its 30th-anniversary celebrations ran from September 29 to October 5, 2025. This fall's newspaper ads still use the line "Celebrating 30 Years in Greenbelt! Try Our New Menu & Drinks!" According to the Greenbelt News Review, the café has gone through several food operators since 2016. Those include a period of self-management, a three-year run by Pianta and a contract with the Greenbelt Co-op Supermarket that began in 2021.
The Banner reported that Rizk has set out a transition plan for the next few months. She and the board are looking at other ways to run the café, including a worker-owned business or kitchen apprenticeships. No final model has been announced. Until one is, the café's homepage says morning hours may grow as it staffs up, so that page is where any expansion will show first.
The first weekend of December fills the rest of Old Greenbelt too. Sparkle Mart, Greenbelt's annual juried art and craft fair, is at the Community Center on December 5 and 6, according to the Greenbelt News Review. A Greenbelt Recreation youth craft sale runs on Sunday, December 6, alongside the fair's second day, in the Community Center at 15 Crescent Road. The Greenbelt Farmers Market holiday market runs the same Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 25 Crescent Road. The market is closed November 29 for Thanksgiving weekend. Sunday morning coffee at the New Deal runs from 9 to 1, so it overlaps both.
If you'd like to talk about life around Roosevelt Center, GHI or a move within Greenbelt, Kim Kash is glad to compare notes over coffee. Let's connect.
