The Many Adventures of Vegan Guinea Pig and The Park Grounds Thief

Just 8 days into Vegan Mofo and my dreams of blogging for 30 straight days have been thwarted. I had the best intentions of blogging this weekend but with less than 6 weeks left in the semester school has taken over my life even more completely than usual. In fact, at this very moment I'm sitting in my research class pretending to type notes furiously while I write this blog - now that's mulit-tasking.

This weekend I had one of the most interesting experiences I've ever had when doing a restaurant review. In fact, I must warn you, this review is not so much about the food but the atmosphere on my latest voyage to discover what's new and wonderful in the kingdom of vegan. My latest trip took me to Park Grounds in the Cabbage Town neighborhood of Atlanta. My classmates and I agreed on it as the perfect place to get some work done, enjoy good food, a little caffeine and even bring our dogs (they have a great little dog park). As usual, I checked out their menu online before hand and was thrilled to see they had an extensive list of vegan breakfast, lunch and desserts items. A vegan breakfast sandwich with tofu, greens, lettuce and guacamole, a vegan breakfast burrito (which i was dying to try!) that is stuffed with tofu, hashbrowns, lettuce, tomato, onion, guacamole and pico de gallo, vegan pancakes, PG-VG Sandwich made with tofu, lettuce, onion, cucumbers and sriarcha on marble rye, a hummus veggie wrap, and of course a big veggie salad.

When I arrived at Park Grounds I was thrilled to see that the two speciality items of the day were vegan as well including vegan chocolate chip pancakes. I was too excited for words. Until I gave my order and they informed me the kitchen was closed. I tried to hide my disappointment but it was difficult, I came ready to eat and at only 2pm the kitchen was already closed for the day. I don't drink coffee on an empty stomach so I was stuck sipping on a grapefruit Izze, which was great, but doesn't compare to chocolate chip pancakes and hashbrowns.

Unfortunately, I will never get a chance to try the food at Park Grounds. I'm sure it's amazing but within an hour of sitting down with my classmates, with very empty belly's, trying to concentrate on our work a man came into the cafe and tried to rob a man of his laptop, while the man was still holding and using his laptop. It was such a jarring experience that everyone was pretty much speechless, well everyone except the barista running down the street chasing after the would-be robber. It's really a shame because I've been meaning to take my dogs down to Park Grounds and grab a little something to eat while studying there for over a year now. Unfortunately, after watching someone being robbed right in front of me in broad daylight I won't be able to go back there without constantly looking over my shoulder in fear and I definitely wouldn't bring anything I hold valuable there. I'm sure that Park Grounds is a wonderful place, and I hate to judge it based on the actions of others but for me it's not a place I would be able to go again. If you've ever tried the food please feel free to chime in with a comment and let me know how it is, and also, if you know what the hours of their kitchen are since they clearly aren't the same hours that are printed on their menus or online.