Ambitious, Nutritious, and Delicious: How Coterie Redefines the Culinary Possibilities of Senior Living

“We want to provide a culinary and social experience that can compete with anywhere else you could go,” says Executive Chef Chad Welch. “We want our Coterie restaurants to feel like destination dining even though you don’t have to leave home to enjoy it.”

To this end, he and his elite team have designed a culinary program that most upscale restaurants would envy, with cuisine crafted around local, seasonal ingredients. Welch loves coming up with creative dishes that go beyond what most people can make for themselves at home. By pairing his culinary techniques with premier service and a sophisticated atmosphere, Coterie offers residents a genuine fine dining experience unmatched in the assisted living industry.

Welch’s menu items are also informed by the latest in senior nutritional science. When developing his recipes, he works closely with Mayo Clinic Wellness Chef Jennifer Welper, who specializes in crafting flavorful, healthy dietary plans.

“We know the culinary choices that can add longevity to people’s lives,” Welper says, noting that the right ingredients can decrease the risks of heart disease and certain cancers while also helping to prevent conditions like osteoporosis, high blood pressure, and diabetes. “And it can absolutely be accomplished without taking the pleasures and goodness out of good food.”

Welch agrees that the collaboration has been a success.

“Not only do we have access to the full library of Mayo Clinic recipes, but we have Jen and her expertise to consult with when building our menus,” Welch says. “She’ll have suggestions, like using a different cooking oil or adding walnuts, which are high in antioxidants, to a salad. Working in conjunction results in menus that are fresh and highly nutritious.”

The thoroughness that goes into every part of the Coterie culinary program also helps elevate the dining experience for residents of Coterie’s memory care neighborhoods. For example, the kitchen staff takes care to fragrance the air with fresh food aromas at every mealtime to arouse residents’ appetites.

“Our memory care dining is completely bespoke,” Welch says. “We have a full gourmet kitchen dedicated to the memory care floor, so we can customize and personalize their meals. If one of our residents is in the mood for tortellini on Tuesday, we’re going to make them tortellini on Tuesday.”

Each Coterie community features its own personalized twists on luxury dining, but they all share Welch’s commitment to high quality, innovative menus, and an indelible experience for residents and their guests.

Cathedral Hill

Coterie’s Cathedral Hill community benefits from Welch’s knowledge of the region’s culinary resources – he was born and raised in the Bay Area, which he calls “the mecca of all things” when it comes to food and drink.

Under Welch’s guidance, Coterie has developed partnerships with some of the top farms and farmers’ markets in the region, giving his team access to fresh seasonal fruits, vegetables, and proteins, not to mention some of the best wineries in the country. The restaurants at Cathedral Hill make for the perfect venues to enjoy the culinary offerings of Welch and his team.

Seven x Seven Grille

Seven x Seven Grille provides residents with a perfect start to their day. The casual but stylish bistro features floor-to-ceiling windows with gorgeous city views. Coffee, espresso drinks, and fresh-pressed juices are made to order.

The menu features healthful offerings that blend nutrition and flavor, like the Acai Bowl (blueberries, bananas, spinach, almonds, and chia seeds) and the Sonoma Kale Salad (quinoa, goat cheese, cranberries, and candied walnuts, dressed in a tangy Meyer lemon-shallot vinaigrette).

Residents seeking a heartier morning meal can enjoy a classic breakfast of two cage-free eggs in any style, hash browns, crisp bacon or juicy sausage, and a wide array of toasts. And the scrumptious Coterie BLT features candied bacon, butter lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, and fresh avocado on toasted sourdough.

Karl’s Lounge

As cocktail hour rolls around, residents can gather in Karl’s, an elegant lounge featuring hand-crafted cocktails, inventive appetizers, and live piano music. Classic drinks and fine wines share the menu with Coterie beverage creations like the Mission Honeymoon, featuring Corralejo Reposado tequila, chili coriander corn syrup, aquafaba, paprika, and lime.

The small plates on offer include deviled eggs with smoked trout and caviar atop a bed of arugula; snap peas sautéed with lemongrass and ginger; and cold tofu with white shoyu, furikake, and chives.

The Monarch Room restaurant

For Cathedral Hill residents who love fine dining, the only thing better than a night out in San Francisco is a night in at the Monarch Room. The restaurant’s refined, modern design creates the ideal atmosphere for the chef-crafted lunch and dinner menus full of locally sourced ingredients.

Starting courses include a lobster bisque flavored with Osetra caviar quenelle and a little gem salad with parmesan tulle, lemon green goddess dressing, and fresh lettuce from Ouroboros Farms. The beautifully plated entrée selections range from grilled wild salmon with garlic-herb butter, grilled fennel, and mushrooms, to a mouthwatering double-cut Berkshire pork chop brined in brown sugar and served with cherry mostarda and a side of roasted parsnip purée.

One popular recent entrée featured lamb from Superior Farms in Sacramento with peppercress grown for Coterie by Lonely Mountain Farms.

“The lamb was so fresh, never frozen, and it was so good we didn’t even have to do anything extra to it,” Welch says.

Diners can end their meal with a variety of expresso drinks, aperitifs, and rich desserts like the Valrhona bittersweet chocolate soufflé.

Hudson Yards

Coterie’s New York City community is situated in the heart of Manhattan’s vibrant Hudson Yards neighborhood, right upstairs from Greywind, the acclaimed new restaurant and bakery by James Beard Award-winning chef Dan Kluger. Welch has partnered with Kluger to procure fresh ingredients from farms in upstate New York and New Jersey. Hand-picked fruits and vegetables are delivered directly to Coterie’s kitchen from places like Upstate Farms, just a few hours away in Tivoli, New York. And Greywind’s bakery provides fresh bread and pastries every day, straight from their ovens to Coterie’s dining rooms.

Hudson Yards residents confirm that the commitment to freshness and quality has paid off.

“I had no idea the food here would be so good,” says resident Ellen Diamond. “I don’t think we’ve been out to dinner since we arrived. Our friends and family like coming here to dine with us. The pies are so good, they should be illegal.”

The Brass Room restaurant

The Brass Room gives residents an elegantly designed contemporary dining experience with spectacular panoramic views of the New York skyline.

Residents can start their mornings with inventive takes on NYC breakfast favorites. Fresh bagels are provided by Hudson Yards’ Finn’s Bagels and can be ordered with toppings of salmon and cream cheese. The 10th Ave Breakfast special serves up two farm-fresh eggs with hash browns, toast, and a choice of thick-cut bacon or chicken apple sausage. The summer menu features a seasonal quiche with Gruyere, caramelized onions, and fresh asparagus. And there are always Belgian waffles on the menu, served with warm berries and bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup.

The lunch menu offers a savory French onion soup and a Maison salad with Bibb lettuce, anchovy vinaigrette, and dukkah. The delectable Hudson Yards duck egg burger tops a 3 oz. Wagyu beef patty with Dijon, tomato jam, and a sunny-side-up duck egg.

As the sun goes down and the Manhattan skyline lights up, residents and their guests can choose from a sumptuous array of dinner appetizers and entrées. Seafood lovers will want to try the roasted branzino with heirloom lentils, pistachios, tomatoes, and salsa verde, while the duck confit with pan-fried smashed fingerlings, sunchokes, and mustard greens will satisfy any meat lover’s palate. Seasonal dishes like the saffron risotto, with head-on prawns, peas, and spring onions, share the menu with year-round classics like the juicy NY strip steak au poivre with spinach and pommes frites.

For dessert, seasonal crème brûlées, thoughtfully curated cheese plates, light and crisp pavlovas, and beignets are just a few of the irresistible treats residents can choose from.

Lena’s Lounge

Lena’s Lounge provides a lively, sophisticated bar and lounge environment where residents can enjoy signature cocktails and seasonal hors d’oeuvres like escargot with tarragon butter and hot chicken wings with house pickles, Tabasco aioli, roasted peanuts, and scallions.

But Lena’s Lounge offers more than just an exquisite setting for wining, dining, and socializing. It also provides top-notch entertainment and cultural experiences, with live music performances happening four nights a week.

With the greatest theater district in the world right around the corner, Coterie welcomes some of the brightest talents in the city to perform for and mingle with residents. The biweekly Broadway Through The Ages program features performances by Jelani Remy (The Lion King and Ain’t Too Proud); Brennyn Lark (Les Miserables); Kara Lindsay (Wicked and Newsies); and Kevin Massey (Tarzan and Wicked).

The lounge also hosts holiday events, such as a Cinco de Mayo-themed dance performance and an Oktoberfest celebration with German beer and giant pretzels.

A culture of culinary excellence

Coterie’s commitment to providing its residents with superior dining possibilities has indelibly set a new standard for senior living, and Welch looks forward to building on their success by continuing to reinvent what luxury senior dining can be.

“I’m proud of what my team and I have been able to accomplish at Coterie,” says Welch. “To open actual upscale restaurants in senior living communities and achieve such high-quality results for our residents to enjoy – that means the world to us.”