Pink Noodle Vegan Cuisine Pop-up

Y'all know my friend Cassi, right?

Well, this weekend, she was part of the MemSHOP program's Soulsville Saturday pop-up shop fest. MemSHOP is an initiative launched by Memphis Mayor A C Wharton's office to encourage aspiring indie business owners to open pop-up shops in up-and-coming neighborhoods. They offer marketing, advice, etc., and in return, the business owner gets to hold a one-day pop-up or be part of one of their longer six-month pop-up programs.

Soulsville Saturday is a pop-up fest, and would-be business owners get to operate for the day. Cassi applied for the program and was chosen. So on Saturday, she set up shop at the corner of Mississippi and Walker in Soulsville, a neighborhood made famous by the legendary Stax Records (now home of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music).

You may have read previous posts about Cassi's efforts to open a vegan restaurant called Pink Noodle. She's still working on it, but these things take time. So this was excellent branding and a great way for folks to get a sneak peek of her food. On Friday night, a group of friends (myself included) went over to Cassi's and helped her package and prep. So I knew what would be on the menu, but it was still so cool to see it all written out in chalk, pink of course.

I wanted to try everything, but I started with the Neyagawa Salad — romaine, pinto beans, chickpeas, brown rice, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and a homemade ginger dressing. This was so good, and surprisingly my favorite thing on the menu. For this, Cassi recreated the first salad she ate while visiting Japan earlier this year, hence the very Japanese-sounding name. I just loved the brown rice and artichokes with that dressing!

Next, I ordered the Spaghetti Squash with Tempeh. The sauce was a yummy marinara with crumbled tempeh "meat." Healthy and delicious. I love how you can eat a shit-ton of spaghetti squash for almost no calories compared to wheat pasta.

By this point, I was getting full. But I saved room for dessert. On Friday, one of the things I helped with was making chocolates. And I'd been waiting since then to try these Almond Butter Cups. They got a little melty in the heat even though Cassi was trying to keep them on ice as much as possible. So they're a little misshapen. But they tasted amazing!

She also had Quinoa Chocolates, Cookie Butter Chocolates, and Sea Salt Chocolates. I got some of the leftovers of those later, but I haven't eaten them yet.

And she had her famous Pantry Cookies made with almonds and coconut. I also got one of the leftover cookies to take home.

Before I left on Saturday to head to our Memphis gay pride parade, I grabbed a couple items to go since I knew I wouldn't have time to cook dinner. I got some Vegan Lasagna. It didn't plate so pretty, but it was ooey-gooey and delicious with vegan cheese, tofu ricotta, spinach, and mushrooms. I have a theory that good lasagna should never be pretty on a plate. If it looks like a perfect slice, it's probably dry and gross. Gooey-ness is a good lasagna requisite.

And I got some of her Spring Rolls made with rice noodles, bean sprouts, cabbage, and carrots. There was a soy dipping sauce on the side (not pictured).

Overall, it was a great day. Cassi exposed lots of non-vegans to delicious vegan food, and she got the Pink Noodle name out there some more. Team Pink Noodle! 

If you're local and you missed it, never fear. Cassi will be popping up again at Rickie & Aimee's Rock-n-Roll Carnival at the Broad Avenue Water Tower Pavilion on October 25th from 2 to 6 p.m. The event is held at the corner of Mississippi and Walker in South Memphis.

Vegan Fun in Little Rock!

My best friend Sheridan's birthday was August 8th, but she and her partner Drew traveled to Hot Springs, Arkansas on her birthday weekend. So we planned a celebration for the weekend after her birthday, which was last weekend. On Saturday morning, I got up early and made the two-and-a-half hour (but really three hours with construction traffic) drive to Little Rock, where they live.

We had a super-fun time, and as always, everything centered around eating (and drinking). Because isn't that all that really matters? I arrived just a little after lunch, so we had a late lunch at Little Rock's new totally vegan restaurant, The Veg LLC.

It's actually a booth inside the Rivermarket Food Pavilion. There are all these booths, many with vegan options, and communal seating in the center. Look at their adorable MC Hammer doll!

I was super excited to finally try an all-vegan place in Little Rock! The menu rotates daily, but on Saturday, they were offering BBQ Nacho Bowls. But rather than traditional nacho chips, this was a burrito bowl stuffed with BBQ lentils, sweet potatoes, lettuce, and Tofutti sour cream. The combo of lentils and sweet potatoes with BBQ was really lovely. And it was fun eating an open-faced burrito.

I also ordered the Peach-Ginger-Cayenne Punch, a naturally sweet and spicy juice with a hint of rosemary. It was perfect for the scorching afternoon.

Drew ordered some Pink Spring Rolls for us to share (the pinkness made me think of my friend Cassi and her upcoming Pink Noodle vegan restaurant in Memphis!). These were fresh and crispy and were served with a yummy sauce. The pinkness came from red cabbage tucked inside these rolls.

And they gave us free Chocolate Chip Cookies! These were chewy and cakey. Yum!

After lunch, we headed back to Sheridan's for birthday cupcake time!

Stephanie (aka Poopie Bitch) baked cupcakes as her birthday gift to Sheridan. She sent me to Little Rock with Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes and Vegan Maple Bacon Cupcakes, and Kristie from Imagine threw in some Fauxstess Cupcakes (also baked by Stephanie) just for fun. I had the chocolate strawberry and the maple bacon and OMG! Cupcake coma. For realz.

After eating cake, it was time to eat again! This time, we headed to the Arkansas Alehouse, home of Little Rock's Diamond Bear microbrewery.

I started with a Paradise Porter. Love a good dark beer, no matter what time of year.

I followed that with Diamond Bear's Pale Ale, definitely my fave beer of the night. It seemed less hoppy than most pale ales, and I liked that.

Our friend Dana of Vanishing Veggie had raved about the Veggie Sandwich here on her blog. And while I don't typically get excited about a veggie sandwich, we knew that if Dana loved it, it had to be good. This wasn't your usual veggie sandwich, folks.

BEST DAMN VEGGIE SANDWICH I'VE EVER HAD. And I mean that. Like ALL CAPS mean that. And here's why: The roasted squash and tomatoes and other veggies are topped with oniony fig preserves. See the figs!

Wow. Just wow. I will be recreating this at home.

After dinner, we went back to Sheridan and Drew's apartment and swam in their pool for a bit. Then we crashed so we could get up early and eat more food. On Sunday, Solfood Catering was hosting a special vegan brunch at the Veg LLC. There were two options — Banana Pancakes with Blueberry-Pear Compote and Apple-Sage Sausage or Buddha's Delight Vegetable Fried Rice with Potstickers. 

Pancakes sounded awfully good, and Sheridan got those. I took a couple bites, and they were fantastic. Love the compote, and the sausage was homemade and delicious. Pancakes don't really photograph well (and my pic is out of focus), but I promise they were delicious.

But I couldn't resist fried rice for breakfast. This was perfect fried rice chock full of veggies and with just the right amount of oil for a Sunday morning hangover. And the potstickers were pan-fried, which I prefer over streaming. And they had a lovely pear sauce.

While were stuffing our faces, Dana of Vanishing Veggie came in for brunch too. She had a big group of friends to entertain, but she stopped by to chat and get a picture.

After brunch, it was pretty much time to drive back to Memphis. I had a maple bacon cupcake before I hit the road though because maple bacon cupcakes.

Happy birthday, best friend!!