Everything Else I Ate in Atlanta (and Nashville!)

If you've been following along, you know that I did a cooking demo and booksigning at Atlanta VegFest this past weekend. And I ate an incredible and impressive vegan meal at Herban Fix Vegan Kitchen in Atlanta on Saturday night. Tonight, I'm sharing all of the random meals I ate on the way to (and from) Atlanta and everything else I ate there.

I left Memphis on Friday morning around 8 a.m. because it was imperative that I make it to Nashville before my favorite vegan bakery — Vegan Vee — closed at 1 p.m. Vegan Vee is a gluten-free, vegan bakery with AMAZING doughnuts and other baked goods. I'm not gluten-free, but this stuff could turn me that way. Seriously that good. I grabbed a Lemon Blueberry Muffin for the road.

And a couple of doughnuts to snack on throughout the trip. Lemon Blueberry (I was really in a lemon blueberry mood, I guess) and Snickerdoodle. I enjoyed these as snacks in our hotel room in Atlanta. Note: these doughnuts were much prettier on the day I purchased them, but I failed to photograph them until a couple days later.

Then I met up with Paul, who is currently living in Hendersonville (just outside Nashville) for work. We hit the road for Atlanta!

We arrived just in time to check into the hotel and grab some dinner. We met up with Dave from Book Publishing Company and went to dinner at Bamboo Chinese Bistro. It was near our suburban hotel in Kennesaw, and I saw on Happy Cow that they had a special vegetarian plant meat menu. I started with the Vegetarian Pork BBQ Buns. These steamed buns were stuffed with a vegan shredded BBQ.

For my entree, I went with the Vegetarian Kung Pao Chicken. Very good! The chicken was definitely seitan-based, and the veggies were crisp and fresh.

We were so tired from the drive, and I had a big day ahead with VegFest, so we just went back to the hotel, drank some wine, and crashed out early. The next day, I ate ALL THE FOOD at Atlanta VegFest, and an amazing meal at Herban Fix Vegan Kitchen. You can find those pics here and here.

On Sunday, I woke up super-early and squeezed in a 12-mile run before Paul woke. The scenery in Kennesaw left much to be desired (just big box stores and bland suburban neighborhoods), but I had to get that long run in since my marathon is just a couple weeks away. Afterward, I had a protein shake and my Vegan Vee doughnuts as I got dressed.

Then we checked out of the hotel and headed to Go Vegetarian, where they serve vegan brunch all day on Sunday. This is an awesome mom-and-pop restaurant with some very inventive menu items.

They make their Vegan Omelets using soymilk curds! I got the Down South Omelet with vegan cheese, veggie bacon, collards, tomato, and onion, and a side of grits and home fries. AMAZING.

Paul got the vegan country fried steak, and it was fantastic as well. He loved it, but he packed some up for leftovers since his plate was so huge. I ate those leftovers for dinner that night!

Before leaving Atlanta, we just HAD to stop at Revolution Coffee & Doughnuts, a vegan-friendly doughnut shop. Hey, check out my cool "Vegan for the Animals" sweatshirt from Compassion Clothing! I got it at the VegFest.

Y'all, I've had a lot of vegan doughnuts, and these are the best. Even better than Voodoo. I got the Yeasted Vanilla Glazed and the Almond Cake Doughnut. I wish I could eat about 10 more of each.

Then, we stopped into Ale Yeah! Craft Beer Market next door and grabbed some local souvenir beer. Does anyone else do this? I ALWAYS bring back local beers and wines when I travel. A stop by Whole Foods (for a few items I can't get in Memphis) was next, and then we were headed back to Nashville.

Rather than make the drive from Nashville to Memphis on Sunday night, I opted to stay at Paul's place and drive home Monday afternoon. That meant one final vacay meal in Nashville. We stopped into Wild Cow — an all-veg cafe in East Nashville — for lunch.

I needed something wholesome after all those doughnuts, so I opted for the Lentil Stew Bowl with Tofu and Avocado (lentil stew, brown rice, sauteed tofu, avo, and Wild Cow's mouth-watering garlic aioli).

That's it! So much good food! Such a great time! I'm glad to be back home and back to my routine, but I'm still dreaming of those doughnuts.