Want that coffee with a shot of community goodness? Feeling charitable, Munch and Lawyer Friend of Munch ambled into the Eat UP Cafe in Highland Park, part of the Union Project that restored and reclaimed the formerly abandoned Union Baptist Church.

The Union Project was founded in 2001 to be all that it could be to the Highland Park/East Liberty area, offering not just rental space for meetings, concerts and weddings, but also ceramics studios and classes and a stained glass window restoration operation.

The cafe, which opened in 2006 (then called Union Station), is partially staffed with students from the Peabody High School culinary arts academy.

Eat UP Cafe is at 801 N. Negley Ave. in Highland Park. Call 412-363-4550 or visit www.unionproject.org/CAFE.

Last year, the cafe also entered into a "Youth Barista" partnership with Starbucks to train and employ 30 teenagers about to age out of foster care.

And while Munch is just as jaded and cynical as your average journalist, even Munch is a sucker for a well-intentioned youth program.

In the past, Munch not only got a nice little caffeine buzz going from the Starbucks-provided coffee served at Eat UP, but also a sense of doing one tiny thing that was right for the world. Kind of like when Munch actually remembers to turn off the light in Munch's closet in the morning. But the food?

Well, Munch had never thought to try it.

Eat UP offers a limited but substantive menu for lunch and dinner: a few sandwiches, a salad, fresh baked cookies and pastries and assorted specials. Munch chose the turkey sandwich ($6.25) and LFOM, who is currently in the midst of a kitchen renovation and craving hot foods of all shapes and sizes, chose the bacon, cheese and egg breakfast sandwich ($3.25).

Not to partake in the soft bigotry of low expectations, but Munch was prepared to be pretty darn pleased with whatever half-baked sandwich landed on Munch's handsome ceramic plate. Sure, Munch can be critical at times, but dashing the hopes of industrious high school students and foster children isn't Munch's cup of tea.

So Munch took a routine bite of the turkey sandwich and -- wait just one minute here -- it was flat-out fantastic.

The ciabatta was perfectly crusty on the outside, its chewy inside melting into the sharp cheddar cheese.

The turkey was a full thick slab, topped with a nice variety of greens and a wedge of red pepper.

But the best part was the spicy mayo -- which, expecting a goopy white mess, Munch had almost asked the clerk to leave off. Talk about dodging a bullet.

The mayo was spread extremely thin, yet imparted enough flavor to season every bite. Quite simply, it was the best sandwich Munch has had in a long time.

Munch and LFOM spurned the comfy chairs and charming mosaic tables inside the cafe for a simple picnic table on the outside front patio for a sunny view of an un-scenic stretch of Negley Avenue.

LFOM could have done without the microwaved egg on her sandwich, but was every bit as enamored with the perfect bread as Munch was. LFOM gave "better than average" marks to her latte (similar to Starbucks but pleasantly free of the "typical burnt taste").

LFOM's only regret was that she saw the artichoke panini on the special board only after she ordered the breakfast sandwich -- darn that hidden special board, which Munch will make a special point to find before ordering next time.

And oh yes, there will be a next time.

Munch isn't proud to admit this, but Munch is salivating just writing about that sandwich, in a manner not unlike how Munch's dog drools on the kitchen floor when Munch scoops out his food. Munch might have come for the do-gooderness of it all, but Munch will come back for the food.