09 April 2009

Quick note on GRO (that's Grass Roots Organics)

I dropped in to Grass Roots Organics yesterday to check out Portland's new raw food, vegan cafe. The guy who owns the place has his brain chemistry turned up to 11. He talked the ears off Avery Yale Kamila for a long time; it was funny. The chef is way more mild-mannered.

Things we liked: the almond, cacao, banana and nut milk smoothy; a miso sea veggie "soup" with shitaakes; an excellent sea veggie salad with ginger-miso dressing; the dog that hangs out on the sofa.

Things we didn't like: the burger was hard, dry and had an strongly unpleasant flavor and the raw "bread" was still a bit wet, so I had a sort of bizzaro-upside-down-world burger that was dry on the inside and wet and slimy on the outside.

Things we haven't tried yet: the chocolates.

The place is still coming together. Give them some support.

Updated thoughts here.

5 comments:

Avery Yale Kamila said...

How funny that we were there at the same time! I wish I had known, as I would have introduced myself. Maybe I'll see you at the next new restaurant to open?

The story from my interview will be in the April 16 edition of Switch.

Brad said...

I was going to introduce myself, but I didn't want to interrupt the owner's stream of consciousness! I look forward to your review.

Meg Wolff said...

My husband Tom was reading aloud to me today (from Switch) about GRO. I said I know, I already heard about it from Avery Kamila online.

I'll definitely give it a try sometimes.

My guess is the owner was either nervous or on caffiene, or both, ha!

Great to see another Maine blog!

Brad said...

It's sort of who he is, but it's a very positive energy. Thanks for visiting, Meg!

Brad said...

Meg, by the way, I really enjoy Becoming Whole. Keep up the great work.