Feeling Hungry and Healthy? Purée Café Is Your Place.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been head over heels in love. But no, not for a boy. For a restaurant! Purée Café in Mt. Pleasant is a new gem that you must check out. Purée caters to those health-conscious individuals like myself, but will surely please the appetites of anyone smart enough to eat there. The menu is vegetarian, with many vegan and gluten-free options. Fillers, preservatives, artificial colors, and GMOs are no no’s at this joint. Go in hungry and leave feeling happy and healthy!

My first visit to Puree was with my friend Eric, a meat-loving man, who worried the vegetarian menu wouldn’t satisfy him. While we glanced over the menu, we ordered two juices: the Green Clean (spinach, kale, cucumber, celery, parsley, apple, and lemon)  and The Vitality (kale, beet, carrot, and peach).

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We also couldn’t pass up the White Bean Dip with pita chips as an appetizer. I could not stop eating the dip!

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We shared a salad too. Hey, we saw a lot of things we liked…The arugula, goat cheese, & roasted beet salad with toasted nuts & berries was another great starter -- sweet, savory, and summery. Pretty, isn’t it?

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The meat-eater immediately spotted two items that intrigued him:  the Blackened Jalapeno Cheddar Burger and the BBQ Tempeh Sausage Burger. Jenan, the owner, stopped at our table and convinced him to go with the latter. Wise choice – the burger was huge and topped with sautéed onions, avocado, and melted cashew cheese

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I chose the Mediterranean platter:  falafel  & hummus, served with mixed green tahini salad & toasted pita. I loved this dish because I got to try a little bit of everything. The falafel is a family recipe and the roasted red pepper hummus is better than anything you could buy in a store.

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After my visit with Eric, I was hooked. Thankfully, so is my good friend Danielle, and we’ve been going pretty often. One day we didn’t tell each other we were going for lunch and happened to go at the exact same time. I’m not sure if we were more embarrassed or amused that we caught each other. :)

On more than one occasion (like four, sue me), I’ve had the Black Bean Burrito. I can’t stop! Jenan urges me to try new things, but I keep going back to it. The whole wheat wrap is filled with black beans, greens, pico de gallo, and avocado.

One afternoon, Danielle and I decided a cocktail with lunch was necessary. She got a margarita with organic tequila and I got a mixed drink with organic vodka, beet juice, strawberries, and lime. These were probably the healthiest cocktails we’ve ever encountered, ha!

My most recent visit (when I spilled the beet juice everywhere) was for brunch. I had the The scrambler: tofu with cheese, tomatoes, kale, sweet & Yukon gold potatoes wrapped up in a whole wheat tortilla and a side of pesto. The tofu tasted pretty darn similar to eggs and I loved that there were two kinds of potato.

Locals, please check out this adorable café! Vegetarian or not, I know you’ll find something delicious. Stop in for a juice, eat one of the awesome entrees, chat w/ the sweet owner, and leave with a freshly-baked dessert. The vegan chocolate chip cookies are ridiculously good. Trust me, I’ve had a couple. ;)

Check out Purée on their website, facebook, or twitter. Tell Jenan I sent you!!

Do you often find yourself ordering the same thing over and over because it’s so good or do you like to always try new things?

What’s your favorite vegetarian dish?

Sunday Funday: Brittlebank Brunch in the Park

I’m aware it’s Tuesday. I’m a couple days late. Things were happening! No time to blog. Who am I?

Sunday was an afternoon of sunshine, friends, music, and food trucks at the  Brunch on Brittlebank Park. 

Our first snack was gator bites with a honey chipotle sauce from Carolina Creole Food Truck. Mmm.

We later stopped by the Roti Rolls food truck.

I took way, WAY too long to try their food. It is damn good. No wonder they won the CCP award for Best Food Truck.

Recognize that plaque?

Boding got the Korean tacos with braised beef, citrus slaw, kimchi, and rice. Amazing.

I had the Mother Clucker, an incredibly delicious roll full of Korean BBQ grilled chicken, arugula, and kimchi topped with pimento cheese.

Woah. Unbelievable flavors. I’d eat one every day and be a happy girl. Roti Rolls, can you PLEASE roll up to my house? Every evening around 7pm? Please and thank you.

After the brunch party, we stopped by The Macintosh (favorite bar!) for some more fun. I love this bar, because the bartenders really get to know you and remember what you like in a drink. They’re all so creative, and when they have time, they’ll make you a unique cocktail! Jackson made me a spicy drink  with tequila, lime juice, mint and habañero St. Germain.

I also had the Gin Gin Juice (gin, grapefruit, mint ginger syrup). Both were excellent.

You know what else Jackson happily gave me? A plate of their homemade pickles. Get some if you go! They won’t look at you weird, I promise. Just tell them Christina told you to ask.

On Monday morning, Boding alerted me to a Post & Courier article on the brunch in the park. At one point a P&C writer came over to our group to talk about the event. 

I almost died. Did they really quote that?

The best part is that I realized I may or may not be the only person in America that uses the term “babes” for men. I had no idea most people considered babes to be females! I like men, darn it! Oh well. It made everyone laugh.

Hope you’re all having a great week!

Weekend Highlights

Aziz!!! Oh  my gosh, he was funny. My face still hurts from smiling so much.

Sunday’s weather was glorious. There was absolutely no reason to stay indoors. Well, except for brunch. Rewind to Saturday night. After the Aziz show, Boding and I went to The Macintosh  for drinks. I go in there pretty regularly and last night got to hang out with Jacob, one of the chefs. It was really cool to talk to someone who is so passionate about food, being a chef, and the Indigo Road restaurant group. We were quickly convinced to come back the next day for brunch, but I told him I would be ordering “the healthiest thing he could come up with.”

The bartender was a little puzzled by me requesting “the healthiest thing he can come up with” but Jacob did an excellent job of coming up with just that. I had an incredibly delicious plate of  butternut squash, brussels sprouts, onions, mushrooms, micro greens, and quinoa with a parsnip puree. Ahhhhh, everything needs to be dipped in this puree. Everything.

Guess who ate the mushrooms! This girl. Unbelievable.

My beverage of choice at The Macintosh is something one of the bartenders came up with for me a while back. He named it The Xtina: Corazon tequila, ghost pepper-infused St. Germain, lime juice, and agave. It’s like a spicy margarita.

Boding had the Chicken and Waffles. At first I was skeptical of waffles that aren’t served with maple syrup but then I tried a bite. They do not need a single drop of anything. They are perfect, as was the chicken.

Jacob later sent out a gift to be funny. Fried dough. Quite comical after my healthy veggie plate. He’s got jokes.

I almost forgot! I had a side of their homemade pickles again. Mmmm!

After brunch settled, we poked around random stores downtown and played tourists. I met the dog of my dreams at Seeking Indigo. Meet Stella, the labradoodle.

Broad Street.

Later on, we went to Mt. Pleasant Waterfront Memorial Park.

For a little bit, I reverted from 27 years old to 7 years old. Swings! (I think that kid next to me might have been dying.)

Monkey bars!

And then I went from 7 all the way to 77. Reading a book with a giant blanket in a rocking chair is fiiiiiiiine.

Happy Monday! Have a great week!

Taco Mamacita, Ow Ow!

Yeah, that onomatopoeia was probably unnecessary but I just drank a bunch of coffee. On Sunday, Matt and I decided to continue our church hopping (chopping) adventures. We last went to Seacoast, which was a bit more contemporary than we like, but they also offer a traditional service in their chapel. We went to that service and it was much more our taste. Although I still found the music to be quite contemporary (can I get a choir?), I thoroughly enjoyed the sermon. Matt enjoyed the fact that the chapel wasn’t 800 degrees like the cove we sat in last time. Nobody wants to be sweating in church, and I surely don’t want to be smelling him.

After church, we decided to celebrate National Tequila Day. Church then tequila. Priorities, people! We went over to Sullivan's Island to try the new Taco Mamacita, which is based out of Tennessee.

The Mexican-themed menu has your standard chips, salsa, guac, tacos, enchiladas and MARGARITAS! Woop woop!

On the left you will see theand on the right is the
Can you guess whose is whose?

To start, we had the

I forgot to take a picture. I guess I was already tipsy. Just kidding.
As far as the tacos go, you can choose two of their twelve different tacos and add a side for $8.99. I ate this combo:
Pickles on a taco!!! Yum. The Caribbean Taco was better; it had a ton of flavor. The black bean & corn salad could have used some salt but I figured I was getting enough in my beverage.

Matt’s combo:

The picture is a bit blurry, but street corn had been grilled and topped with Mexican crema and cheese. Goodness. Way to fatten up a vegetable. Matt said he liked his Oy Vey taco better.
 
After lunch we drove to Costco, the store where we usually get in some kind of trouble. If you are a new reader, pleeeeeeeeeease check out the post where we purchased a giant 51” blow up ball. Sadly, we did not get into trouble this time. I did, however, take a bicycle for a spin down a few aisles. Matt looked at me like I was an idiot but I explained to him that this was Costco and I was just sampling it.
Matt bought stupid things like light bulbs and soap, while I bought necessities: pineapple and a lot of gum. At the rate I chew gum and share with the intern, this box will be gone in oh, two weeks?

The next stop on our (family?) adventure was Barnes & Noble so Matt could work and I could play. He gets mildly irritated when I take his picture while he’s trying to focus. This is just payback for things like decorating my room with my bras, making me sit in the trunk, hosing me down in the yard,  and stealing my phone to creep on my text messages.

My three brothers didn’t abuse me like this, so I guess I’m suffering now.

This is such a busy (but fun!) week for me. I will be:

• pickle dog tasting
• sampling new items on the Mustard Seed menu
• going to the grand opening of Trader Joe’s
• checking out the new J. Crew outlet
• possibly seeing Friends with Benefits

What fun activities are on your agenda this week?
What type of abuse do I owe Matt?