Clogtown: Trio Plant-Based - Good For Your Body and Soul Food

I was hanging out with friends in Venice a couple of years ago when they had friends in visiting from Minneapolis. I met Louis Hunter, who was going through a hard time back in Minnesota. His cousin was Philando Castile, who was murdered by police in front of his partner and child and it was all streamed live on Facebook Live. Hunter was involved in the protests that shut down a local freeway, falsely accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at the cops (who were acquitted, of course), and was now facing his own charge with a potential of twenty years in prison. Heavy stuff. He had never seen the ocean, so we took him down to shoot pool at The Townhouse, and then out to the sand. It happened to be a rare night of the incredible phosphorescence that turns the waves neon blue in the dark. Incredible! I told Hunter that this was a fantastic omen for him - who gets to see phosphorescence the first time they see the ocean?! Well ... that turned out to be true, as Hunter is now the sole proprietor of the first black-owned 100% plant-based soul food restaurant in Minneapolis (and maybe the country), Trio Plant Based.

While I'm in Minneapolis helping out my Mom, it was high on my list to visit Hunter at Trio and hear his story. We met up last week on a rainy evening to catch up, and to try out his plant-based menu. I'll be honest ... I was less excited about the food than the chat, as I'm not afraid to eat real meat. My brother, Paul, was with me, and he leans pretty veg already, so Trio had already been on his list also. Being the only black-owned, plant-based soul food spot in town causes a great deal of interest, so Hunter was being interviewed by someone else on camera when we got there, so we took our time to peruse the menu and figure out what we wanted to try. Basically, all of it (there's another side to the menu too!).

Located on the busy intersection of Lake Street and Lyndale Avenue, Trio provides great people watching from its light, airy location, and the dining room decked out entirely by Hunter and his brother is a great place to just kick it. We were wise to come early before the dinner rush began, as it was nice to sit down and have the time to chat with Hunter. After our greetings and re-living of the charmed phosphorescence night, Hunter told us how hard it had been when facing those serious charges. He had lost his home, his landscaping job, his truck ... pretty much everything but his spirit. His community put together a house party and a documentary to raise funds for his legal fees, and his story touched a couple named Sarah and Dan Woodcock. They rallied on Hunter's behalf, reached out to different organizations like Black Lives Matter to get support. Hunter went to church one Sunday,  and his Pastor told him that God told him his charges would be dropped that week. And they were. Then it was time to figure out what he was going to do next.

Raised around soul food all of his life, Hunter had the idea for a soul-food food truck, and the Woodcocks wanted in on that if it was a vegan food truck. Hmmm. Hunter was intrigued, but insisted that it would have to have "Seasoning and flavor!" as that was what he felt was missing in any vegan food he had tried. He set out to figure out how to adapt his family's soul food recipes but with plant-based ingredients ("I just did my home thing here"), and soon they were doing pop-ups at (now closed) Breaking Bread Café. The soul food night's pre-sale sold out, there was a line around the block, and they had exactly zero food left at the end of the night. They did a Kickstarter that raised $65,000 in one month. They knew they were on to something.

The food truck dream was skipped over for a brick and mortar restaurant when an investor suggested that she would give them money for a real spot, because it was that good. We know, because Hunter ordered for us, and WOW. I had the cheeseburger and my brother had the soul food platter, and we were both like, WHOA. It was SO good, and immediately made me un-crinkle my nose to the whole idea of plant-based burgers. You miss nothing, and with all the health issues like diabetes and obesity, and all the climate issues like methane gas from beef cows (never mind burning down the Amazon for it), it really is just a better, smarter way to go (though I will always return to Matt's for my Jucy Lucy, sorry).

Paul's soul food platter of all the greatest hits like ribs (jackfruit), mac and cheese, greens, yams, corn bread (with amazing maple butter) and Paul cleaned that plate. Hunter told us that he's had guests in from the deep South, telling us, "SOUTHERN people have come in and said it was smackin'!" And they were right. The ribs were a little weird texturally to me if I'm honest, but the flavor was there, and the yams were DELICIOUS. You can also get it all as a "Bowl for your Soul". And you should. "It's comfort food ... but healthy," as Hunter puts it.

September 30th is the one year anniversary of Trio Plant-Based, and Hunter is now the sole owner after parting ways with the Woodcocks as his partners. His daughter was our waitress, and you could feel the pride Hunter has in the fact that his restaurant gave his daughter her first paycheck. He stressed that Trio is plant-based, not vegan as there are people that that matters to, and not all is strictly vegan ... but it is all delicious.

There is now a Go Fund Me for Trio, as they want to continue to thrive, but also expand (LA NEEDS THIS!!!) and do things like add a little farm to the roof so they can grow their own produce. "There has been a tree of people who have helped me," explained Hunter as both fact and as the look of the place with all of its leaves theme. Local artists' work lines the walls, and the entire operation really is a fine example of community. "I want this to be a lovely community spot that you can come and have a plant-based meal, and leave feeling good about it." We talked about how diabetes affects the Black community (and everyone these days in America) and the changes that need to happen for that, and also how really good plant based food is - "as long as it's seasoned!"

What a powerful example of how faith and hard work can transform a life in such a short amount of time. Hunter went from really having almost nothing to owning a trend-setting, first of its kind restaurant that helps people live healthier in a matter of just a couple of years! Congratulations, my friend! It's exciting, and encouraging, and really speaks to the power of community and humanity. Please visit Trio Plant-Based for yourself and get what we're talking about - and tell Louis CJ sent you! Enjoy!


Trio Plant Based
610 West Lake Street
Minneapolis, MN 55408
#612-326-1326
Tuesday - Sunday 11-9/11-11 weekends
Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: TrioPlantBased

The Hills Are Alive ... With The Sound Of Wildfires

California is on fire. Again. It's pretty close to Venice this time, like you can see it in Malibu from the beach. It's super hot. The air is of poor quality. People have been evacuated ... my friend didn't even have time to grab her toothbrush. Shops are closed. Schools are closed. Animals are being evacuated from the L.A. Zoo in Griffith Park. And it's just another day in Southern California in 2018.

A friend of mine posted today that wildfires are terrorist acts. The devastating damage they do starts somewhere ... and it's usually because of an idiot who doesn't know better than to not smoke and toss out your butt. Or make any sparks anywhere when it's dry and windy and prime kindling for a massive fire. We should be better at avoiding wildfires by now.

This has already been an intense week, with the midterm elections (where basically no candidate but Bernie even discussed climate change and the results of it that we see and feel daily), yet another mass shooting (this one not far from the area being evacuated for the fires, as if they haven't suffered enough), and now all of this natural (but most likely man-made) disaster. THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY. Geez.

Get out there and enjoy the hell out of yourself, because we all deserve it. Be safe. Be smart. Be kind. Look out for each other. Love.

No Planet B!

I'm back in Venice after a quick fall run to Minnesota (where it snowed on Sunday!), and it is HOT. I'm not mad at it at all, but some people are. Some people want to wear their sweaters and sit by a fire. I moved to a beach town to enjoy the beach, so I'm good ... but it IS unseasonably warm.

On my Venice Appreciation walk upon my return, I saw this sign on Venezia ... with among the other statements that I don't really get why (Free Candy?!  - kind of creepy. Wall Street?! - super creepy) the sign read "No Planet B". I've been talking about that a lot lately, like it doesn't really matter who is in the Supreme Court, who is the jackass President, who wins the midterm elections, etc ... if we're no longer able to sustain human LIFE on THIS planet. Of course, the Supreme Court, President, and winners of midterm elections have some say as to how we go about saving this planet, so it IS all important ... but I think we're losing sight of the massive problem that climate change is - and aren't really doing much about it.

Each of us can do our part to try to turn things around, but I fear we may already be past the tipping point. But I hope not. If nothing else, let it be a reminder to enjoy TODAY ... because it's really all we've got.

Live it up TODAY!

Save The Shasta Crayfish! And Ourselves.

I don't know know the Shasta Crayfish well, but it is apparently critically endangered.

A new mural by Louis Masai, The Art Of Beeing, is now on the back of the G2 Gallery, and features this fish and a bee, and now I'm glad to know about it. The Shasta Crayfish is not the only thing critically endangered these days. We all are. Please watch the climate change documentary Before The Flood (from Leo DiCaprio) and realize that it doesn't matter at all who political leaders are if there is no human life left to lead. It's seriously coming to that.

Let's focus on what is truly Important. Life on this planet.

Venice Does Fall

It's always kind of hard to tell what time of year it is in Southern California. You have to really pay attention to the sunlight, the evening air, what blossom's fragrance is wafting over everything ... it's subtle. This year has been especially tough to discern where in the calendar we are, with record heat still blasting us at the tail end of November. That's when you have to go by the Venice sign.

Our banner over Windward Avenue is all decked out in orange and white for the Fall season, and under the still almost full moon last night, it looked appropriately down for Halloween.

I went along with my homies in National Anthem to their gig at The Townhouse downstairs in the Del Monte Speakeasy last night, and as we walked along under the sign, it finally kind of felt like Autumn.

Then they rocked so hard it was right back to Summer down there. And we were all fine with it.

Happy Halloween to one and all from Venice!
(where it's so hot it blew my idea of wearing a bubble wrap suit)

On The Road - Venice At The Races

My Venice friend Sally and I just zoomed down to Atlanta to take in the drag races for her birthday. That's all she wanted to do, and I'm always game for something new, so off we went, for less than 48 hours. Which was plenty of time for me to realize that a lot of Georgia seems to be all about the races ... both auto and genetics. Whoa.

We live in quite a bubble here in Venice and you really do forget just how real all the race stuff is in other places. It's downright shocking, actually. The NHRA drag race nationals were on in a town called Commerce, Georgia, about an hour outside of Atlanta. I know absolutely nothing about this sport. The nice thing about things like this is that everyone around you wants to teach you and be the expert, which I was happy to let them be. But when the crowd roared extra loud for a car that pulled up to the starting line, I asked the lady next to me what the deal was. She said, "Oh, he's one of the best right now, and can you believe he's BLACK?!" I almost fell off the bleachers. Before I knew it, I'd replied, "Oh, so is my husband." (He's not. I don't currently have one. But he could be.) Because I didn't want to be shocked alone. Her response? After a searching pause, "Well, I think it's nice that he drives a white car." Yep. Gross.

I've never heard anything louder than the approximately 3 seconds that it takes for the car to fly by, and that was with ear cans on. People loved it, black and white. Imagine!

It was also very green there, as it rained on and off the whole time, and Hotlanta was actually freezing. But Pat Sajack says climate change believers are "Unpatriotic racists," so I don't want to be that. I bet many at these races would have agreed with sad, misguided Pat though. Still?! In 2014?! I guess so.

We got back to the city later than planned, and as our hotel was downtown, not much was open. The concierge recommended a Mexican place next door, but you don't come from Los Angeles to Georgia to eat Mexican. She then rather stiffly said that there was a place across the street that was still open, but "They just serve typical Southern food." Perfect. I'm going. Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint is a place fashioned after The Color Purple, with the food and drinks named after characters from the film, like "Miss Celie's Punch." I can assure you that I was the only Norwegian in there celebrating the Motherland's Bicentennial that very day. There was a 2 hour wait, unless you could find a seat at the bar, I was told in a tone like "Good luck, white girl." In fact, I was called White Girl quite a few times in there. It was odd to feel like such a sore thumb sticking out, but I'm here to build bridges, and undaunted, I saw two guys sitting at a four top. I thought it might be nice if they scooted over so we could share the spot, as there were no other options. They were gracious and let us sit down, but I could tell the ladies at the next table were absolutely not thrilled. I was going to win them over.

...

After a complete blast of a time, eating fried chicken, cheese grits and fried green tomatoes, having the owner buy us shots of blackberry moonshine (!), serious chats about why someone would say, "They don't want the black guy in the picture" in this day and age, making friends with our great server, Toi (who makes purple bottomed high heels!) and finding out that the guy next to Sally was actually in charge of parking enforcement for Venice (!!!), well, by the time we left, there were hugs all around, emails exchanged and it felt like maybe some actual progress in the world ... if a bit alcohol induced.

The drag races were rained out on Sunday, forcing us to seek out solace with more fried chicken at what my Georgia-born and bred friend, Brian Dunsmoor, told me was the very best place for real deal Southern cookin' - The Busy Bee. Again, when I asked the concierge about it, she majorly hesitated, and said, "It's a bit ... Urban." Herself being "Urban". She said it was the kind of place where we'd leave smelling like it, a hole in the wall. Again - Perfect. I like legit. I believe I was the first person ever staying at the Ritz-Carlton Atlanta to ask for directions to The Busy Bee. The staff all had a conference about sending me there, truly not thinking it was safe. I only care if my presence would offend someone else by being there, and that's it. I live in Venice, where you could get smashed in the head with a skateboard for $20 by someone to buy their meth, and I ride my bike right by. You don't bother me, I don't bother you style. I'm not scared, and made that clear. I finally got the very sweet and kindly concerned concierge's blessing only when I said I'd email or call her to tell her I was fine. Which I did. I was SO fine ... It truly was the very best fried chicken I've ever had. The people were wonderful in the tiny, packed for Sunday supper and every college graduate in town's lunch, where I was again the only (natural) blonde. There was an armed policeman standing behind the bustling, cramped counter where we sat, but he seemed unnecessary. We ate til we couldn't move, and our massive thing of leftovers was later given to a stoked homeless man. We again left with hugs, and this time, some peach cobbler for the plane ride back to Venice.

Even after such a short, whirlwind weekend, it's still always a true pleasure to come back to Venice (Hey, even from Hollywood!), where yeah, maybe it's a bubble, but it's one I want to live in. Freedom. Love. Acceptance. Creativity. Go wherever you want without thinking about it. Color blindness (I'd like to think). But it's really good to venture out and spread it around a bit when you can ... A lot of the rest of the country can certainly use a dose of all that.

But I'll give them the fried chicken.

Venice Eco-Fest!

This past Saturday saw Venice become even greener than normal, with the 2010 Venice Eco-Fest setting up shop down at The Boardwalk & Windward. It's L.A.'s largest free outdoor Green Festival, and everyone seemed to be real into it ... and the timing couldn't be better, as our Earth continues to scream out for our help amid disasters both natural and man-made.

There were some 150 Booths and displays, all showcasing ways to be more gentle with our precious Earth. I chilled at the Free Venice Beachhead booth (who I also write for), and saw a ton of familiar faces, and met a bunch of new ones, as tourist season is in full-swing (even if the sunshine hasn't yet caught up). Everyone was very receptive, and inquisitive too, about new technologies and ideas to green up our lifestyles. Indulging in free samples of stuff never hurts either.


There was a Green Parade, an Eco Art Show, an Eco-Apparel Fashion show (bamboo is about the softest fabric ever ... get yourself something made out of bamboo, it will be your favorite thing you wear), a vegetarian food court, some kind of magic water booth that claimed to cure every ailment possible (I felt pretty good after a swig, but then I'd also just sampled some organic vodka, so ??), an eco-kid zone, and even a health and fitness stage at Muscle Beach. My favorite was a SOLAR Sound Stage, where I took a break from handshakes and paper distribution to catch the madcap antics of The Superbroke Brass and Tin and Strings Electric Marching Band Ensemble, who stand for "Truth, justice and the elevation of the human spirit", which I can totally get behind. Venice's own Suzy Williams also graced the crowd with one of her festive, jazzy sets of pure love and fun.


I saw my pals from Baykeeper, where we discussed me joining them for an eco-dive soon for a cool story. (If I put it in writing, it will come, right?) You could learn a whole lot walking around this festival celebrating Earth and our part in preserving it ... and people were. It was encouraging just to see that it's penetrating peoples' minds more. Many were the folks carrying cotton bags and aluminum water bottles, perhaps a tangible sign that it's all catching on.


A sudden - and completely weird, out of character, freaky for July (!) - rainstorm blew through the Festival towards the end, which was strangely appropriate considering the topic of the day. Climate change is no joke, and it really is now or never. I heard one scientist guy say that it's 10 years (10!) until the Earth might just kick us out (if 2012 doesn't go down first, as predicted). That's scary, and every time I see the giant gas-powered SUV drivers (Still, People?) and the balloon shards and bottles roll ashore, I think, Man. We might just have to have a weekly Eco-Fest just to drill it deeper into some of the thicker skulls.


All in all, it was a highly successful and great day, both for seeing your friends and neighbors, and for sounding the alarm about the absolute necessity of a Green Revolution.

VIVA VERDE!!!