Cass B Chickpea

In honor of today being my 24th birthday, I wanted to share my favorite local restaurant for brunch, lunch, and celebrations: Café Sunflower. It is a 100% vegan restaurant with a super cute ambiance located in Atlanta, GA. It had 2 locations (Sandy Springs and Buckhead), but unfortunately the Sandy Springs location closed due to the impact of coronavirus.  I prefer to eat foods that are cashew based as opposed to soy based, and this restaurant has a combination of both to make everyone happy. Their dishes can be a little pricey, but it is definitely worth the cost for the quality and portion size, especially for a special occassion.  My favorite dishes on their lunch and dinner menus include their Nachos Supreme, Fettuccine Alfredo, and their Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake. They also have items like spring rolls, salads, hummus, pad thai, etc. They have a special menu for weekend brunch which includes pancakes, homestyle fries, and chick'n and waffles.  I convinced my cowor...

One of my favorite ingredients to cook with right now is chickpeas. I have enjoyed making hummus, nuggets, pastas, etc., but one recipe that I have not perfected is falafel. After 3 failed attempts at making homemade falafel, I embarked on a journey to find the best falafel in Atlanta. Basically this means I have eaten A LOT of falafel recently.  To start, I googled falafel places near my condo in Atlanta and looked for a variety of chain restaurants and local shops. I selected 5 similarly priced restaurants to try and over a few weeks ordered either a side of falafel with tahini or tried the falafel gyro. I also got hummus with most of my orders, but I'll leave finding the best hummus in Atlanta to another compeition that includes homemade and store bought. I graded (1- 5 best) the falafel based on 4 criteria - shape, color, crunch, taste.  The first falafel place I tried during my competition was Gyro Bros. It is very close to my place, and I ordered a gyro with a side of fr...