i have a serious brain disease. please bring me a cat.
If you haven’t been to Healthful Essence yet, you should get on that. This is the $8.50 box. I’ve got rice and peas, BBQ tofu and greens with a few plantain slices on top. That fried thing on top is an unfish that Kevin ordered separately. The food here always feels like it’s pretty healthy, if you ignore that fried thing there. It’s always full of flavor without being oily or fatty. Again, don’t look at that fried thing.
You know where we don’t go enough? Healthful Essence.Vegan Caribbean food and raw items served cafeteria style. We would totally eat here more if it wasn’t a special trip kind of out-of-the-way. At least it isn’t far, but it’s not an area of town we generally have any other business in, the West side. But the folks are really nice and the food is delicious.
This is the $8.xx plate plus a lil something extra. I’ve got BBQ tofu, some black beans and greens. The extra part is the plantains you see on top. Bonus! She also gave Kevin this patty for everyone to share that tasted like Thanksgiving. Have no idea what it was. I’ve had their unfish before and it’s also really good. If you like mock fish stuff. The ginger beer, they make it there, had quite the bite to it so if you are a fan of spicy ginger, get it!
And, I hit up Chat Patti again for lunch. This is what appeared when I ordered the veggie platter, no dairy, with bread instead of rice. Loved it. Turned out to be the perfect amount of food. Also got 2 samosas to go. Total was $10 and some change.
It would be lovely if every restaurant was as ready to serve vegans as Woodfire Grill. And not something half-assed either. This was a full 5 course tasting menu every bit as complex and interesting as the meaty one looked to be. If you need a fancy special occasion option in Atlanta, give it a try. It’s expensive, but worth it. Be sure to call first and ask to make sure they can do a vegan menu for you.
Amuse: pickled cherry, avocado, oil cured olive
First course: local cucumber and athena melon, avocado, crispy bread, aged sherry, olive oil
Second course: local tomato salad, fennel, oil cured olive, marcona almonds, micro basil, olive oil
Taste: white gazpacho with golden raisin puree, espelette, and lemon oil
Third course: roasted mushroom and dried fig risotto, fresh fig compote
Fourth course: roasted spaghetti squash, toasted pecans, local peaches, smoked emulsion, green beans
Dessert: rich chocolate pudding and a blueberry/cherry sorbet (the dessert was different than what they had on the nice sheet they gave us with the menu, so the description isn’t as accurate or nice)
Oh, and if you’re like me, clean your car so the valet doesn’t feel the need to wear a hazard suit to park your car. 🙂
How have I lived in Atlanta for 13 years without ever having gone to Ria’s Bluebird? Well, I fixed that Saturday morning. Got there bright and early to mostly beat the crowds and tried the Bionic Breakfast with a side of spicy tofu. It was delicious especially topped with sriracha. The tofu was good, but ended up making it too much food for me. It made me sad to leave some behind but we were headed out for a bike ride afterwards and I didn’t want to carry leftovers.
After eating, just outside, we found this. Looks like something that could be explained by alcohol.
Jared and I headed out on a bike ride. We kept out Memorial towards downtown, then headed North, took Marietta St., cut back across 17th St. and headed to the new section of Piedmont Park. Looks like it is no longer a secret.
It was HOT, so a visit to King of Pops was sounding good. Except he wasn’t on the corner yet. We thought about heading to the Ponce festival, but headed to The Porter instead. They open at 11am on Saturdays. Yay! Apparently beer makes a great recovery drink because I felt awesome the rest of the ride home. I ended up riding a total of about 24 miles. I forgot to set my bike computer and only got a few legs on map my ride. I really wish that app didn’t eat so much of my iPhone’s battery.