As beautiful as the patio was and friendly the service, we weren't so thrilled with our brunch at Clementine Cafe last Sunday. James Madison University graduate and fellow vegan blogger,
Jared, recommended we try
The Little Grill instead.
I'd never heard of this restaurant before. There is a lot of vegan stuff on the Little Grill's menu and I had to try as much of it as I could. That meant ordering the 'Lambert’s Platter' $8.50 Tofu Scrambler, Soysage, and Fried Potatoes covered in Groovy Gravy. Choice of bread, too. The Gravy covered Potatoes were the best part of this meal....
The Soysage appeared to be made in house...
My side order of a 'Short Stack' of 'Flaxjacks' $5.00 made with Whole Wheat and Unbleached Flours, Soy Milk and Flax Seed Egg Replacer. It took me a few bites to appreciate these, but I saw the light. Great restaurant rec, Jared, thank you!
En route home: we stopped to view a cheesy statue of a great man:
Johnny Appleseed. Sacrilege!
About 20 minutes later, we plucked this very aggressive turtle off the middle of a two lane highway and then released it further away from civilization. Here it is speeding off. Oh, you're welcome! Buh bye!
At another stop, a member of
Brood II
landed on Mr. SV
egetarian's leg....
while I was trying to photograph a
Northern Crescent Butterfly perched on a cigarette butt. I was hoping for a 'Cigabutterfly' type caption...
but none of the pics came out very well due too Cicada-induced excitement.
Dinner was a
Tofurky Kielbasa with
Glazed Hakurei Turnips. I still prefer Potatoes over Turnips, but these little Root Vegetables were pleasant enough. It's part of what joining a CSA is all about, eating Turnips when you would ordinarily eat Tots.
This morning by the register at
The Little Grill was a display of Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies of which I bought two. Below is half of one that I had for dessert. I mention this because it appeared to be more Oatmeal Raisin than Chocolate Chip, but I believe there was a Chocolate Chip in there somewhere so I'm hoping the entire Cookie was vegan.
Good grief, what a long post! Great food day and lots of road trip experiences.
9 comments:
Actually, Shen, you're batting in the MILLIONS. Soooo good.
Also you're like Elnora from Girl of the Limberlost.
Fun times! I'm glad you had a good experience at the new restaurant. Very cool that another blogger recommended it!
I love cicadas. One time when we were taking a road trip through Chicago there were swarms of them. They were everywhere!
That Johnny Appleseed statue is something I'd pull over, too, but like you said, sacrilege!
Lots of great stuff in this post! Trying out new restaurants is so much fun, and I'm glad you enjoyed this one. So few places make their own vegan sausage.
I think the butterfly pictures turned out really well! Lucky turtle, he/she didn't realize how fortunate they were to have you drive by.
Honestly, I've never tried turnips. Definitely being part of a CSA is trying new produce!
Ooooh what a great post!!! So many fun things happening! What a great rec by Jared and your brunch looks amazing. The potatoes smothered in gravy looks delicious and sounds really interesting.
How sweet that you saved the turtle! If I remember correctly, this isn't the first turtle you've returned to safety. Great pic of the butterfly and cool pic of the cicada... even though i think they are gross :X I love animals and all but I can't get behind bugs. I won't kill em but I don't have to like em either ;)
Great looking plate of brunching! Especially that potato pile....When your post yesterday said no food plans this weekend i giggled a little, in my head that meant you were not planning to have food..... (!)
Very adventurous with the turnips, the tots are probably glad to have the night off.
Ttrockwood
That butterfly is so beautiful!! wow!! and btw your camera takes great pics! i love finding a hidden gem of a restaurant.
Hey Now!!!
Hannah, I WISH I was like Elnora.
RVs, it was your influence that impelled me to finally stop and look at the statue. Too bad it was so poorly done.
Ingrid, Turnips might be your thing cuz of the Swedish heritage, but if I never have another one, it wont be a tragedy.
VaVa, we've managed to get a good number of Turtles off the road, but it's always a conundrum, because who knows where they go after that. Brood II should be coming to your area soon;-)
Unknown, Tots are a lot tastier than Turnips. The Turnip Greens were good though.
GFHTummy, I like finding a hidden gem of a restaurant too. Hard to do these days with the internet.
This is an awesome post! I'm still waiting for the cicadas to descend here, wtf!
Are they sweet potatoes covered in gravy? That DOES sound incredible. Hakurei turnips were one of the veggies I learned about while doing the food pantry thing. Glad you found a way to enjoy them and expand yr horizons.
It's such an awesome find, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I've had the cookie once or twice and it's good. They advertise it as vegan so I'm sure they use semi-sweet. Try heating it up slightly next time before you enjoy it: it tastes so great when warm.
Most of the staff/owners of the co-op are actually vegan, too -- and really friendly. I should mention that I usually went on Tuesday nights, they do an $8 all-you-can-eat mexican night.
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