Soul Vegetarian 2 in Atlanta

If you've been reading along over the past couple days, you know that I spent the weekend at Atlanta VegFest. You can read all about the awesome festival here. And you can see what I ate on the road trip to Atlanta and dinner in the city on Friday here.

Tonight's post is dedicated to my very favorite restaurant in Atlanta — Soul Vegetarian! There's nothing more soulful than collard greens, so there was no way I'd be skipping out on a dinner at Soul Veg, where everything is vegan. And everything is crunk. Last year, we hit up Soul Veg for brunch, so this time, I just had to try their dinner menu.

After the VegFest ended (and Cassi and I made one last pit stop to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's for food souvenirs), we drove to Soul Vegetarian 2 in the Poncey-Highlands area. There are two locations, but this one is the only one I've been to.

It didn't take me long to settle on the Divine Feast (one vegan meat, 2 sides, cornbread, and a salad). First up was the Side Salad with a mustardy dressing.

For my main course, I had a hard time choosing between the BBQ Kalebone Twists or the Country Baked Steak (also made with Kalebone). Don't worry — Kalebone doesn't mean kale stems, as I worried at first. It's the cute name they use for their homemade seitan. Get it? Like neckbone? Anyway, I settled on the Country Baked Steak, Vegan Mac & Cheese, and Collard Greens.

Best thing I ate all weekend! The kalebone was chewy and tender. The brown gravy was savory and creamy. The mac & cheese was pure magic. I've had a lot of vegan mac & cheese, and this one was out of this world. No idea what kind of vegan cheese sauce this was made from, but I'd swear it had a base of vegan cream cheese.

And the collard greens! I can make some serious collards myself, but these put my skills to shame. The cornbread was soft and sweet, just like cornbread should be. Don't let anyone tell you that Southerners don't put sugar in their cornbread. I've heard that's a Northern thing and that traditional Southern cornbread is salty. But in the part of the South where I grew up, we put sugar in everything, especially our cornbread.

Anyway, this meal was delightful. And even better, the Soul Veg 2 guy (whose name I cannot spell!) who was there last year when my mama and I ate there was there again this time. And he even asked how my mama was doing. What a nice dude! (Btw, notice the DreamKream sign in the background. They make their own ice cream! But I was way too full to eat any. Sadness.).

Just for fun, here's a picture of the brunch we had last year.

We didn't eat this again this time because we went to Dough Bakery for brunch (you'll see those pics tomorrow in my last Atlanta post). But if I'd stayed another day, I would have certainly found time to eat brunch at Soul Veg again.