There’s a lot of talk recently with Whole Foods opening its first location in Nashville with wanting a Trader Joe’s to come here. For those who have never been to a Trader Joe’s you will find a plethora of goodies not easily found at other groceries at very low prices. There frozen and prepared foods are outstanding and they have a wide selection of cooking condiments, pastas, breads and snacks. Each trip I make I stock up on their super-cheap super-good organic ketchup, organic peanut butter and Joe’s Os for my daughter.

We love to travel and we love finding new places to eat, so eating out while traveling fits right in.   Our regular trips to Atlanta are scheduled around visits to Veggieland, Harmony Chinese, Sweet Tomatoes, Cafe Sunflower and Eats (mmm…collard greens).    We were told about a place we had never tried while on this trip and decided to see how it was.   My mother called and said she read on Citysearch about a restaurant called The Power Plant that had an entirely vegan menu.   At the same time my mother-in-law was researching the same place.  They both said it had great reviews for the food, but the service had horrible reviews.  I thought I could deal with having to get up to get someone to refill my drink a couple times in trade for an entirely vegan menu so we decided to give it a try.   My mother-in-law and my 2-year old daughter arrived ahead of us and got a table and waited as we found the place.  Once we arrived I saw “The Best Vegan Restaurant In the World” on the window and a huge banner hanging on the outside of the building advertising a $10 All-You-Can-Eat Vegan Brunch at which point I begin to loosen my belt and ready myself for the feedbag.  A brunch isn’t really something I strive to have every Sunday, and as far as I understand it’s for those people who want to sip a mimosa and eat croissants , not descriptive of me, but hey…this is FOOD!  When we entered and sat down in a small uncomfortable booth near the back of what is a very small dining  room I noticed that no one had any food on their table and I sturggled to keep my balance in a chair that seemed to want to sway to one side.   A smoothie was ordered for my daughter about 20 minutes prior to our walking in and at that point still nothing had been brought for her.   The menu was a copied paper which listed many great sounding items, all of which were faux-meat, BBQ ribs, “Shicken”, the obligatory veggie burgers, Philly Cheese Steak and many others I can remember now all for about $10 – $14 each  The brunch menu had “Shicken and Waffles”, French Toast, Sausage and Gravy and still other items not recalled.  Everything sounded good and I was debating between the BBQ and the brunch, if only someone would take our order.  I only saw two people working the floor while there and finally one lady came over.  She told us the had just become extremely busy (the restaurant was full, all 8 tables) and she promised excellent service if we were patient.  OK, I can wait a bit.  At one point a lady dropped a bottle of water off at our table, I don’t know why, but didn’t stop to ask if we were ready to order.  Still, no smoothie and at this point it has been about 15 minutes since we arrived and nearly and hour since my mother-in-law arrived.   This first plate of food I saw come out of the kitchen did so at this point, a “Sesame Shicken” plate for the table next to us.  It looked tasty with asparagus and a nice pile of “Shicken” (?) but the lady bringing it still did not stop to ask us about ordering.  When she left the person at the table next to us who had just received their sesame shicken tried to get her attention but to no avail.   A couple walked in and waited to be seated and we considered leaving at this point, something that always embarrasses me, I don’t know why.   When we left no one said anything to us, but then the two people who would were nowhere to be seen.  When we drove back by the restaurant after walking to our car about 15 minutes later I noticed to people who had just walked in were still waiting.

I have checked the reviews on Citysearch and found that, of course, we are not the only ones to get the same “service”.   Happy Cow reports the same.   I find it hard to believe this place has been open for more than a year!  I would try again but I just don’t think it is worth it.

Bar report – Today’s bar was a Think Organic Chocolate Coconut.   Actually, this one was a little filling, but that may have been because I ate it first thing this morning and I am not a breakfast eater.   Either way, it was slightly bitter and had a good coconut taste.  The chocolate was rich tasting but didn’t carry an aftertaste.  It is completely raw and, as the name implies, organic.   At $2.19 for 1.4oz it is a priced similarly to other raw bars.   I can recommend this one.

I was talking with an ex-manager of a Starbucks store recently and as he was telling me how much he hated Starbucks, which I hear often from ex-employees, he also told me how they burn their espresso roast and add oil to the beans. I have never heard of adding oil to coffee beans and can’t understand what effect this has on the product. I can find nothing online documenting this, I am not saying he is lying, but I would like to know why this is done. Any employees of Starbucks (ex or otherwise) or anyone else that might know the answer?

I have two plants growing in my yard, I have no idea what they are.   I have seen neither bloom so I can’t give blossom descriptions.  Does anyone have any ideas?