crack the plates

When you visit Atlanta, you shouldn’t just eat: you should do things. Does that sound obvious? Maybe, but it’s something I have to remind myself, as all too often I make the mistake of travelling just to eat. I might get a museum in, but I’m so in love with food and hospitality that I write my lists around restaurants. (See NYC 2011: Kajitsu, HanGawi, Terri, Foodswings, Lula’s… I could go on. I’ll spare you.) And sure – you can totally make an Atlanta vacation out of skipping from meal to meal. But if you did that, you’d miss two of our treasures: the High Museum of Art and the Center for Puppetry Arts.

First, the High. Yeah, yeah – it’s kind of small as major art museums go.

It doesn’t have the most highfalutin’ permanent collections. But it’s our art museum, dammit, and I’m going to defend it! (With this post and my $150 Young Patron membership, of  course.) Today my oldest friend Jessica came into town with her two kids. For the first time – and without having to travel to NYC – they got to see Matisse’s Dance (I), Mondrian’s Trafalgar Square, Picasso’s Girl before a mirror, Warhol’s self portraits, Calder’s spider, and Jackson Pollock’s giant Number 1A. They enjoyed running around the giant sculptures on the second floor, and circled KAWS/Brian Connelly’s works with curiosity and appreciation.

we took MARTA cuz it's SMARTA...

a curiously small door on the second floor.

G. beholds the KAWS wall.

Spencer Finch's "Bright Star (Sirius)"; fluorescent lamps, fixtures, filters, aluminum

Without the MoMA partnership, area families would have to have the time and means to travel to NYC to see these works. A lot of us don’t have either of those luxuries. The High brings the world to us, piece by piece, year after year. We might have to do a lot of borrowing to put on a good show, but hey, it works for us! (I featured the last MoMA series, Modern By Design, in another post.)

If you can make it out on a Thursday, tickets are half-price from 4-8pm. One adult ticket, usually $18, is $9; seniors and students, usually $15, $7.50; children (6 – 17), usually $11, are $5.50; children 5 and under always free. Fulton county residents get free admission on the first Saturday of the month. Caution: the museum’s hours are fairly limited – 10am – 5pm Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10am – 8pm Thursday; 12pm – 5pm Sunday. Closed on Monday. Nothing stinks more than making the trip to discover they’re closed. :-(

If you’re used to having access to a great art museum, you might skip the High. But one you shouldn’t miss is the Center for Puppetry Arts! The Center opened in September 1978, with Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog cutting the ceremonial ribbon. Recently, the Center was gifted with the bulk of Henson’s permanent collection, and the plan is to build a giant Jim Henson wing. Currently, though, the museum is split between a historical tour of puppetry throughout the world, a large Henson exhibit which features the Muppets (Rolf, the Swedish Chef, and Ernie are just a few), The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Emmet Otter, and more. It’s a small but fascinating place, one of my favorites for out of town visitors.

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an old picture (2008) of me with the Chef. BORK BORK BORK!

The CfPA has a regular schedule of seasonal shows, but I highly recommend one of the guided tours. The World of Puppetry tour of the permanent collection is given Tuesday – Friday at 1pm. The Life and Legacy of Jim Henson is a special in-depth Henson tour given on weekends at 2pm. There’s also a Behind the Scenes tour on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 11am. I’ve been to the first two and enthusiastically recommend both. The tour guide was approachable, well-paced, and knowledgeable.

there's an interactive area where kids can put on several different types of puppet show, including shadow with dinosaurs.

G seemed most excited to learn about Labyrinth and, especially, the Dark Crystal. He kept asking about the Dark Crystal, the issues between the Skeksis and mystics, and made up lots of whimsical extratextual Skeksis stories. :-)

horrible Skeksis

When we got home I showed them the trailer for The Dark Crystal and insisted upon ordering the DVD for them immediately. (C’mon, it’s just $7.49!) I hope it’s not too scary for the younger one. She found the skeksis appropriately disgusting, but seemed to enjoy the trailer!

Interestingly, the highlight of the day – apart from the Dulce Vegan cupcakes afterwards – seemed to be riding on MARTA. My favorite is this shot of G. lost in thought as we zoom past Streetela. Their first trip, but likely not the last!

It’s easy and wise to use MARTA to get to both museums. From Five Points (the center/connecting station for all lines), you’ll just go North on the red line to Arts Center Station. Arts Center Station is right across from the High Museum. It’s less than a ten minute walk (with kids, faster with adults) to the Puppetry Arts museum. Then it’s less than ten minutes back to Arts Center Station. Check out a map here if you’re unfamiliar.

Today I had the pleasure of meeting up with two Atlanta vegans who blog, Rachel of Former Fish Taco Fanatic and K. of Luminous Vegans. Perhaps you’ve already made acquaintance? If not, hop to it! I love their posts for their honesty, simplicity, and beautiful pictures. They enthusiastically share recipes/resources and musings from daily life. This appeals to me as a fellow vegan who seeks blogs that show lives rather than ads for veganism.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s important to demonstrate how easy, appetizing, and fun veganism can be in a world that summarily writes it off as bereft of fun, flavor, and convenience. But I’m already batting for the V team, y’all. To me, a successful blog has way more to do with cultivating community around compelling personal content and creative recipes than with proving (or selling, ugh!) something. For these reasons and others, LV and FFTF are definitely among my faves.

We met up at Takorea on Juniper Street in midtown. I was embarrassingly – ok, mortifyingly – late, and had to barter with the surprise valet to get my car parked. (Take note: arrive with $3 cash if you want to park in their lot, or be prepared to surrender your keys as collateral til you can get to an ATM.) Thankfully, R & K turned out to be total dears about my social misstep, and R even loaned me the $3 to cover parking. (I’ll pay you back in baked goods, promise!)

Our server was wonderful, waiting patiently and checking in unobtrusively as we chatted oblivious of the menu. In due time we put in orders for three tofu tacos, bibimbap, and a giant salad with sesame-soy dressing.

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I didn’t get a picture of the bibimbap, but it’s just as well – hopefully K or R will post one! I recommend Takorea to midtown-bound vegans. The kimchi isn’t veg-friendly (boo!) but the service was quick and attentive, and the food was tasty. Plus, there’s a Scoutmob for it through June 4, so you can try all the vegan items at 50% off! And if you manage to secure splendid company like I did today? Icing on the cake.

Whaddaya say? Triple A! April: Atlanta’s Awesome (Returns!)

Remember how last October I participated in VeganMoFo and shared, for the first three weeks, about how awesome Atlanta is for vegans? I featured one of the US’ most beloved pubs, our extraordinary in-town co-op Sevananda, my favorite restaurant Sauced, our Chinese vegan options, and even our bloggers! But then I stopped and promised to resume the theme at some point? Well… it has taken me four months, but I think I’m finally ready!

One of the motivating factors for the return to a focus on Atlanta is the awesome popularity of the newly-added “ATLANTA” tab at Cracktheplates.com. When a dear friend asked for Atlanta-area veg-friendly recommendations, it finally clicked: I needed to write a city-specific dining guide. Since I’d already done a lot of work to that effect just by blogging, I compiled the ATLANTA resource based on previous posts, and then added a few other places friends suggested. And I’m still adding! It’s a work in progress, so keep checking back for updates.

My hope is that by sorting through backlog of pictures on my desktop and meditating on all that Atlanta has to offer vegans this month, I’ll find a fun and easy to update the ATLANTA resource page. To me, it’s one thing to give a list of names and addresses of restaurants that accommodate vegans. What really helps me out when I venture to a new city are personalized recommendations (and pictures!) from folks-in-the-know. For example, I wouldn’t know the first thing about Memphis, Tennessee’s abundant vegan friendliness without Bianca’s exuberant documentation at Vegan Crunk. Reading through her posts not only gave me the confidence that Memphis would treat me kindly, but it inspired to start making a list of the “not-to-be-missed” places. I hope I can do something similar here at cracktheplates for my dear City in the Forest.

What will these posts be like? Some will be long, others will be short. Most will focus on food, although I have at least one post lined up that is an interview with the only area vegan I know who is a licensed real estate agent. My purpose is to help fill in the gaps of the resource page, so sometimes that might just mean offering a picture of one of my favorite things to eat at a particular restaurant. That’s what I’m up to today, so get to droolin’ over these photos of Dulce Vegan breakfast sandwiches:

Giant fluffy biscuit with bean-based sausage, “egg”, and cheese. Everything is freshly made in-house except the Daiya cheese. (My hope is that they come up with their own replacement soon. Daiya’s fine and all, but I’d love to see a totally DV sandwich.)

Another view.

Homemade sourdough english muffin with house “egg”, tempeh bacon, and chipotle aioli. Everything on this sandwich was made by the wizards at Dulce Vegan –  no tempeh bacon-from-a-bag here.

In case it’s not evident by the photos: these are GIANT sandwiches. I have a hearty vegan appetite, but one (especially made with a biscuit or bagel) will fill you up completely.

So, how do you get one of these amazing sandwiches? Dulce Vegan is located at 1994 Hosea L. Williams Dr. NE Atlanta, GA 30317. Their hours are Tuesday – Friday 7:30am – 6pm, Saturday 8am – 6pm, and Sunday 8am – 2pm, CLOSED Mondays. Breakfast sandwiches are served all day. For around $5 for a basic sandwich, choose your bread: biscuit, english muffin, or bagel. Pick two of the following: bacon, egg, Daiya, sausage. You can pay extra and add more of the first list, or do other add-ons for about .50 each: tomato, chipotle aioli, even arugula! Ingredients are locally-sourced with a strong commitment to organics – last time I checked, DV used almost exclusively organic ingredients.

Dulce Vegan is definitely a must-add to your “must-go” list when visiting Atlanta. When Isa (Queen of Veganism) and John (Lord of the Laziest Vegans) flew here last October for a visit/booksigning, it was on their last stop before heading back, and they seemed to really enjoy everything. Be cool like Isa and John – and all of us in Atlanta, of course – don’t miss DV!

Happy Chinese New Year! ‘Tis the year of the Dragon, and it just so happens that I live with one. Yup, it’s Nate’s time to shine! And why not? I read yesterday that “dragons…tend to be brave, innovative and highly driven, regularly making it to the top of their profession.” Now, I don’t put much stock into anything that purports to define 6.8 billion individuals according to a handful of categories, but that sounds a lot like Nate to me. He was recently promoted to Lead Developer at his company (there are only two!) and just yesterday he gave a big scary 1.5 hour talk to all of technology (around 60 people) about one of his (incredibly important game-changing) projects. He’s always thinking, dreaming, creating… and while he may be gentle and soft-spoken in general, at work he’s confident, assertive, and usually right. He inspires me!

Papacat and babycat... taken this morning!

I decided to do a special dinner to celebrate yesterday’s big accomplishment. Neither of us have been all that tempted by comfort food lately, but last night he requested an old favorite: smothered-bbq-baked tofu. Dinner was great but didn’t seem enough of a tribute to his awesomeness, so I made cupcakes, too. I served them on the little dish he gave me at Christmas: a customized cupcake stand by Jeanette Zeis Ceramics. Jeanette is an Atlanta-based artist and vegan, known throughout the country for her careful, detailed work. Why, just recently her work popped up on theppk.com’s recipe for caramelized beets!

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It says “Your Smile Makes Me Smile”, which is one of our little sayings. :-) You can order your own customized cake stand from Jeanette at her Etsy shop. Sure would make a sweet little Valentine’s present, especially when topped with a home-baked vegan treat!

The final weeks of 2011 were good ones for the meal delivery. I aimed to show my enthusiasm and gratitude for my loyal clientele by putting together some prettier-than-usual food. Serenbe Farms made this easier by providing a complimentary share of produce for the first delivery.

Note: authors’ names are included because I value giving credit. I didn’t go to culinary school; everything I know about cooking I learned from others (mostly their cookbooks). As a creative and competent cook I rarely follow a recipe to the letter, but the hard work of the individuals listed form the foundation of & inspiration for “my” variations.

Tuesday 6 December – primarily local, almost totally organic, & completely vegan

Mains

• pumpkin cream farfalle with double “peas” (chickpeas and petits pois), a variation on EA’s recipe
• red beans and seitan bourguignonne (Robin Robertson, variation)
• Serenbe sweet potato stew
• crimson cabbage borscht (Myra Kornfeld)
• sweet chili lime tofu over lime-scented collards and cardamom quinoa (VeganYumYum)

Sides

• shaved local fennel, organic satsuma, and pomegranate salad (Myra Kornfeld)
• maple-braised carrots with sea salt and maple sugar
• string beans and pickled onions in agave-lemon-dijon vinaigrette (Peter Berley)
• creamy kenyan curried cabbage with peas
• Hungarian cabbage with noodles (Robin Robertson)

Other

• roasted delicata squash chowder “three sisters”-style with organic corn and pintos
• sanctuary dressing, from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Moskowitz
• Cowboy Cookies, from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa & Terry

Serenbe sweet potato stew

seitan and red beans bourguignonne

sweet chili lime tofu with lime-scented collards and cardamom quinoa

fennel, satsuma, pomegranate salad dressed with five-year-aged balsamic

string beans with pickled onions

crimson cabbage borscht featuring local beets & their greens

cowboy cookies

Tuesday 13 December – locally-sourced vegetables, 85%+ organic ingredients, totally vegan

Mains

• seitan pot roast with local vegetables (Robin Robertson, variation)
• red thai tofu with bok choy
• shepherd’s pie with tofu
• ye’miser w’et – red lentils in a spicy gravy (Kittee Berns)
• tempeh & locally, hardwood-grown shiitake stew (Bryant Terry)

Sides

• roasted delicata squash
• nepalese green beans with coconut and mustard seeds (Bryanna Clark Grogan, World Vegan Feast)
• Christmas couscous: with dried cranberries and pepitas
• ethiopian cabbage, featuring handmade berbere and nitter kibbeh
• local beets with their greens in a five-year-aged balsamic reduction (Peter Berley)

Other

• chick’n noodle soup
• balsamic dressing
• chocolate chip cookies

locally log-grown shiitakes from organic Love is Love Farm; organic shallots, organic leeks

tempeh shiitake stew, a modification of Bryant Terry's recipe from Vegan Soul Kitchen

another view of this sumptuous stew.

ye-miser w'et: Kittee Berns' ethiopian lentils in a spicy red gravy. made with homemade nitter kibbeh (seasoned "butter") and berbere (wet spice mix)

red thai tofu with local bok choi

parting with these four bowls was slightly difficult, as the recipe was one of the best I've made all year.

prep for the beets: red onions, beets, beet greens; tarragon.

vegan pot roast, or, one of the most delicious things ever.

four sides: nepalese green beans, aged balsamic beets, nitter kibbeh cabbage, christmas couscous with pepitas "presents".

I’m looking forward to resuming cooking-for-my-friends again soon. Crack the Plates is a deeply fulfilling exercise, one that gives me purpose and the ability to work with some of the finest ingredients in Atlanta, in the service of truly delightful people. The last four months of 2011 were an experiment: a gamble on something new and wild and exciting. Pushing through made me a stronger, more creative cook and a more organized person. With this teaspoon of experience I welcome the challenges and joys of 2012.

exciting things are happening! Metro-Atlanta counties will be getting 3.2 billion for schools, Sunday liquor sales for the first time in over a century (except in Forest Park), Ohio voters ‘emphatically’ reject Kasich’s anti-union law, and the crazies in Mississippi won’t get their way.

Meanwhile, Nate and I spend the evening doing crafty things: making video game/8-bit Perler art, or “sprites“. We wanted to DO something – not just sit around and worry. Create, not imbibe. And time really flies when you’re making sprites, all the better for those of us keeping an eye on returns.

First, I cooked a mostly from-scratch meal for the first time in possibly two weeks? Intense emergency dentalwork + the worst cold in years put me out of commission… but I’ll be back in time for Crack the Plates deliveries on Tuesday, hooray! Tonight, just a simple homemade tomato sauce with sauteed seasoned soy curls over tortiglioni – easy, but still with a sense of accomplishment. Mostly, though, we made things:

Nate finishing a project.

My Mario garden. Interested in perler crafts? Learn more here.

Perl lookin’ pretty.

Taking note of her father perilously balancing a netbook, Unix decided she just had to join him. He was not so pleased.

“What, papa? Dis are problem?” “Ok, I are guess not Unix.”

And that’s how we spent election night 2011.

(October is VeganMoFo and I’m blogging about why more vegans should move to Atlanta, Georgia – a diamond in the dirty south. See the first post for more info.)

Reason 5: Sevananda Natural Foods Market

I wasn’t planning on blogging about my favorite small grocery store, Sevananda, when I stopped in earlier this afternoon to pick up a few on-sale staples. But when I turned a corner with a cart full of organic coconut milk, organic mushroom stock, and cheap-o local potatoes only to see one of my favorite Atlanta chefs, Ria Pell, studyin’ the non-dairy milk options, I knew I had no choice.

Ria in signature overalls with a case of unsweetened rice milk for bechamel.

Catching a celebrity chef stocking up for one of her menu’s new entirely vegan options (the fantastic root vegetable shepherd’s pie at Sauced restaurant and lounge, the subject of a future post!) is just one reason Sevananda rocks. Let’s consider a few others with a photo-tour of the store!

Walking in, you’re greeted with a tent where folks often hang out to answer questions about membership. The customer service desk, not pictured, is to the far right, as is the fresh juice case.

From the entrance you can see the produce section, which is just out of frame of the picture above. Produce is sourced locally and is exclusively organically grown. Move forward towards the salad & hot bars…

Swing around to the side for daily hot bar selections.

Mmmmm.

Produce view from where you’re standing now (by the hot bar).

Turn around and you’re looking at the prepared foods grab-and-go case, situated in the back of the store near the freezers (on the left) and the refrigerated display (on the right). Let’s see what our options are today!

vegan quiche

yum.

super yum.

haven’t tried this one yet, but I’m sure it’s good!

You can even pick up a whole cake or pie!

Two important things about Sevananda’s prepared foods selection: 1) everything is vegan. (Well, almost everything – every once in a while eggrolls make an appearance, and the wrappers contain egg.) 2) everything is really cheap! Weighed items are $5.69 per pound – compare that to Whole Foods’ $7.99 and $8.99/per pound prices. You can really fill up at Sevananda for less than $10 – and have plenty of leftovers.

Nate & I couldn’t resist the savory crabfakes with a creamy dipping sauce.

Walking away from the grab-and-go case on the opposite side of the store as the produce, you approach the vast bulk section.

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Parents should keep an eye on their children, especially in the low-lying chocolate and candy section. :)

In the middle of the bulk section there’s a place to buy smaller packaged bulk items (like raisins and raw cocoa) as well as a handy housewares aisle. Sevananda stocks only vegetarian (mostly vegan) cookbooks, too. Notice any of your favorites?

Leaving the bulk section you come to the front corner of the store opposite the entrance, where all manner of herbal tonics, personal care items, and bulk herbs are found.

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almost every kind of herb & spice (organic and conventionally grown, depending on what’s available) you could imagine, ready for purchase in any quantity. need a teaspoon of agar? you got it! a quarter-cup of dried thyme? that’s there, too. beet powder for natural food coloring? yup.

Leaving the bulk section you can either go browse the middle section (laid out like a typical grocery store, with aisles for all your staples) or head to a friendly front-service clerk with all of your purchases. Checking out at Sevananda is always easy and fun because the people who work there are either working members or volunteers. The other night I got into a long, supportive conversation with a new friend who had just been to Troy Davis’ funeral. We commiserated til closing time (I was there a little late, getting last-minute meal delivery items). Everyone always has something interesting to say, so don’t be afraid to get conversational! It’s the southern way.

If you’ve got prepared foods, or even just a coffee, go sit in the colorful cafe right inside the entrance.

That’s where Nate & I enjoyed our crabfakes and did a little people-watching.

On the way out, we talked to Jed, a working member-owner who often seems to be wrangling shopping carts. He gave me a few tips for future themes and we laughed over a new installment in Sevananda’s foyer:

This is what separates your corporate grocery store from your community co-op, I guess. :)

Sevananda is a stone’s throw from the gloriously green Freedom Park. Why not have a picnic with Sevananda goodies there?

For those in the Atlanta area, it’s easy to become a member-owner. From the literature: “The cost of a Full Share (membership) is $120, and we allow annual payments of $20 per year until you are at the $120 level.” (So, at least $20 per year over the course of six years. So cheap!!) If you pay annually, there is a service-fee of $2 per year in addition to the $20 payment. (Okay, so $22 per year/six years. Still!!) Joining gets you:

• Discounts to our School of Commonhealth classes (yoga, cooking, etc)
• Free admission to Sev’s monthly mixers and other Sevananda-sponsored events
• Free admission to bi-annual Member meetings
• Receive the monthly newsletter, Co-Options, in the mail or online
• Financial updates in Co-Options
• Eligible for the Working Member program where you give your time in exchange for a greater discount (a really good deal – you work a certain number of hours a week (not too many!) in exchange for 20% off your purchases EVERY TIME YOU SHOP.)
• Elect the members of the Board of Directors
• Participate in Board-sponsored committees
• Adopt or change Co-op bylaws
• A share of the Co-ops profits

So what are you waiting for? Oh… you don’t live here yet? Give me a few more posts and you’ll be convinced! Til then…

Happy October, friends! This month I’ve joined eight hundred bloggers from around the world to post as often as possible about the glory that is the vegan life. VeganMoFo, the vegan month of food writing – a delicious answer to NaNoWriMo – is here again!

A bit of history, before we get down & dirty: VeganMoFo is actually REALLY SPECIAL to Crack the Plates because – hold onto your hats – it launched my entire blogging project! In the fall of 2009 I had just moved into a new house in Richmond, Indiana and was toying with the idea of starting a blog as a nice distraction during my final year of Master’s thesis writing. My sweetie Nate & I were really into 1977 Rankin & Bass production of The Hobbit at the time, so he made a tech blog called chiptheglasses.com & I set up cracktheplates, threats lifted from one of the dwarves’ songs. My first ambitious post was about trying out Angel Food’s marshmallow kit, and my very first commenter was the ever-supportive Kittee of Papa Tofu fame!

And ah, how far we’ve come. Since that first post in October 2009, I’ve nabbed my Master’s degree, moved from the midwest to the deep south (my home), adopted another abandoned tortoiseshell cat, and so much more. Food-wise, I’ve launched two small businesses, Kandai Cakery and Crack the Plates meal delivery, been featured on my favorite Vegansaurus.com a handful of times, taken two major vegan road trips (San Francisco in 2010 and New York in 2011), and made so many new, inspirational – if often far-off – friends. VeganMoFo: for these reasons and many others, you’ll forever be dear.

But enough about me! Let’s get to the food!

I’m theme-blogging this MoFo about the great city of ATLANTA, Georgia. As I wrote to the MoFo wizards in my proposal, I wasn’t planning on doing a theme this year til I took the VegNews survey and came to the question about vegan-friendliest cities. Not a SINGLE Southern-US city was featured on the “Favorite veg-friendly city” list! Aghast, I wrote in some of Atlanta’s treasures: our vegan meat company (Gutenfleischers), our organic vegan bakery & fair-trade cafe (Dulce Vegan), our weekly organic vegan meal delivery service (you know, my project), our two meet-ups (Vegan Drinks and the Atlanta Vegan Lunch Group), more than a handful of vegan restaurants and LOTS of vegetarian ones. (Even our food trucks cater to vegans, even though we don’t yet have an entirely vegan food truck.) Finally, we’re home to one of the most beloved and well-stocked online vegan shops in the country, Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe!

These great examples and others are always on my mind, which is why I consider Atlanta a great place to be vegan. But with vegan meccas like Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, and Brookyln taking all the great press, Atlanta’s not just an afterthought – it’s given no thought. As a local, I want to do my part to take the wind out of the stereotype that the south is un-veg-friendly by featuring the deliciousness of Atlanta for an entire month. Not only will I highlight some of the folks listed above, but I’ll really dig into Atlanta and share the lesser-known treasures. For instance, we have SO MANY of Ethiopian restaurants around here, but which ones use a vegan nitter kibbeh, if any? (Hint: I know!) VeganMoFo seems to be the perfect platform for reaching the broader vegan community, who I’m counting on to help vegucate the rest of the world.

So yeah. That’s the deal – y’all. Atlanta’s awesome and you should know why. Come sit a spell.

This unassuming little spot in Decatur is not only the best place to hang out and drink beer in Atlanta, is the second best beer bar in the WORLD according to Beer Advocate magazine. It also holds the lifetime championship title of being the only place to serve beer that I actually enjoyed. (If you know me, you know I am not. a. beer. drinker. Close friends reading are, up to this point, totally baffled by my writing about a pub. Hang in there.)

Beer Advocate – and I! – give Brick Store an A+ rating for several reasons. Their awe-inspiring selection certainly helps – the beer menu is about ten pages long (small print). It’s updated frequently, too – the one I read today was dated yesterday. Check out the draught menu here and the bottle menu here.

my vegan sweetie, checkin' out his options.

The interior is cozy and all of the servers work together to make sure your glass is never more than half empty, your food comes out rapidly, and the check is taken away when you’re ready. Because I’m really unsophisticated, I felt like I’d walked into the Leaky Cauldron when I stepped inside the Brick Store, but it might just remind my more worldy friends of their European vacations.

view of the main hall from the entrance

view from the second floor

Vegan dining options are scant, but the one we had was solid – just a hummus sandwich piled with fresh vegetables and dressed with a house-made spicy vinegar. And those fries – oh my!

$8.50 and big enough for two people.

thanks for taking such great care of us.

my three tasters and nate's St. Bernadus

I wasn’t up-front about not liking beer, but when he heard me admit it, he couldn’t resist the challenge and brought down three tastes from the Belgian bar. To my great shock, I enjoyed every one! The Boon Kriek was nice and gently vinegary, but smooth, not punchy, like an older, gentler ferment instead of a young buck. The Scaldis Peche Mel, creamy and only gently peachy – overall, I called it “inoffensive”. The Bacchus was like Boon Kriek +1, and was called the most vinegary beer currently on tap. Apparently that’s a flavor I can get behind.

Only forty bucks? Perhaps it will soon be mine!

The pub is also full of art from Atlanta-based folks, like R. Land, featured here. You may know him as the Loss Cat guy! I think this riff on his iconic “Pray for Atl” hands is awwwwwesome.

If you’re planning on heading to the Brick Store soon, be sure to check out the menus online and use Barnivore if you’re unsure about a beer’s vegan-friendliness. It has been my exclusive experience that high-gravity true craft beers from Germany and Belgium are vegan (this blogger has a great explanation), but it’s always worth a double-check.

Oh, and be sure you take MARTA, cuz like our city’s unofficial public transit tagline goes, MARTA is Smarta! Mostly because the Brick Store sits atop the Decatur station. Honk honk!!!

It was such a treat to deliver the second week of meal deliveries! To be greeted by smiling, expectant faces, oohs and aahs – I can’t think of a better self-esteem boost for a hard-workin’ cook.

You might have read, heard, or seen details about the delivery. It’s one thing to read about it – it’s another entirely to see the pictures. Here are the pictures from week two!

All packed up and ready to go. Click “more…” to see what’s inside!

Atlanta Vegan Drinks‘ third meet-up was held Monday August 15 at a “sunny place for shady people” – East Atlanta’s own Graveyard Tavern (1245 Glenwood Ave). Thanks to affable Chef Justin Bright and the rest of the kind folks at the Graveyard for showin’ us vegans a good time.

The vegan wingz, a Tuesday night fixture, were a crowd favorite:

And why not? Pure vegan junk food deliciousness: crispy on the outside, tender on the in, drenched in homemade sauce and balanced on a sugarcane stick! Wings were served with an option of buffalo, BBQ, teriyaki, or lemon-pepper sauce. Click “more…” to see them with the vegan buffalo, and to keep reading this post: