Belated ‘A Bowl Of Good’ post
Brent Finnegan -- September 11th, 2009
I had intended to write a short entry about this two weeks ago, but never did. A Bowl of Good, a soup/locavore/health food/catering company that’s been around Harrisonburg for years now has a location of their own — a breakfast and lunch cafe near Gift & Thrift on the north side of town.
The chatter on Twitter has been mostly positive, and a local blogger wrote a glowing review two weeks ago. If you’ve been, share your thoughts below.
Tags: abog, Harrisonburg, soup
I went on Tuesday for lunch, and really enjoyed the Tom Kha Gai. A more mellow (less spicy) version of some of the Thai dishes I’ve had at the local Thai restaurants.
Also had a curry-chicken-apple wrap that reminded me of chicken divan with a tangier twist.
I had lunch there early last week. Good food – fun choices (and names) of the dishes. (Plus I was able to pick up my 9-grain bread that I usually get at the Farmers’ Market.) They were pretty crowded when I was there – seems like a popular spot. I was impressed that they had recycling and composting options.
Along with the restaurant they have a fully equipped conference room which you can rent to give presentations to go with the soup. Very nice.
I had a lunch bowl there (forgot the name, but it was the black bean one with tortillas and I added chicken) the day after they opened. They were sill working out the kinks and didn’t have enough rice ready when I ordered, so we had to wait, but it was worth it!
The black beans weren’t spicy as I had expected, but they had hot sauce which remedied that just fine. The ingredients taste so fresh and healthy, you don’t feel guilty eating out! The meal was very filling, too.
I tried the African soup that my friend was having and that was delicious, too. Also, they have some neat old-fashioned sodas in the cooler that were fun to try.
I hope to go back for breakfast sometime!
Oh, and the bread was good, too!
I also liked how the plastic cups were biodegradable, and they had a recycle bin and a compost bin next to the trash cans, with nice instructions about what could be composted instead of thrown away.
I’ve been twice now, once for breakfast and once for lunch. I think the food is pretty solid, “everyday good” (versus “destination great”). Not the kind of place you go for a special occasion, but the kind of place you could go a few times per week and know what you’re getting.
Their sustainability efforts are admirable. Those efforts are passed along in their prices, but where else in town can you get things like local granola for breakfast (besides the farmer’s market)?
Josh nailed it. I totally agree. As someone who lives in the EMU area, I am thrilled about the recent appearance of not only Bowl of Good but several other quality restaurants with quick-not-fast food. Organic Grounds and Artiles Cuban Restaurant probably deserve posts of their own, but for now suffice it to say they are definitely worth checking out!
wow, another boring commercial hang out spot.
i just can’t wait to go.
what next: an indy rock club?
Explain what you mean by “commercial,” clyde.
Harrisonburg already has an indy [sic] rock club. It’s called the Blue Nile downstairs. Welcome to Harrisonburg.
by “commercial”, i mean another capitalist enterprise, oriented towards, the accumulation of capital through the exploitation of human labor and the circulation of commodities.
what we need in Harrisonburg, ( and elsewhere for that matter), is the creation of spaces outside the destructive logic of economic relations, which provide for the needs of the community, and are under the directly democratic control of the people as a whole.
as for “indy rock”, well what can i say, i think its boring.
In that case, welcome to America.
Why don’t you start one of these anti-capitalist stores, so I can write a post about it.
As you have most likely noticed, i am not in love with capitalism.
but i think, the facts that commercial transactions alone, do not make for a strong community, and that self-governing public spaces are a positive asset, are base lines that we can agree upon.
Can you provide some examples of self-governing public spaces?
Whatever happened to the Rocktown Infoshop? Maybe that’s the sort of space Clyde is thinking of.
http://www.myspace.com/rocktowninfoshop
http://www.rocktownweekly.com/rocktown/search_rockdetails.php?AID=555&key=rocktown%20infoshop&title=&author=&date1=&date2=
http://www.schuminweb.com/schumin-web/journal/permalink.php?id=674
http://www.schuminweb.com/schumin-web/journal/permalink.php?id=689
I thought they were no longer around but then I read:
http://www.dnronline.com/details.php?AID=3138&CHID=2
self governing public spaces, range from the commons and communal lands of pre-modern rural Europe, to the town halls of new england.
more recent examples include the squatters movement in west germany in the eighties, and the popular assemblies in Argentina after the 2001 economic crisis.
i think the current economic and ecological crisis, highlights the need for a move beyond the capitalist model, towards local self determination.
but this is getting well beyond the confines of the snarky comment, i made with reference to the issue at hand.