Paleos

Yeeeeeessssss.  So our friends and I occasionally adhere to the Paleo diet which is fruit, veggies, nuts, and meat.  More strict than gluten free because it's dairy free, grain free, and soy free.  It's incredibly hard to go out to eat and stick to this diet.  Even a lot of salads come with cheese.  The idea is that it's allergen free (especially if you ditch the nuts and only have seeds) and can reset your immune system and help the body heal.  Anyway, when we "go Paleo", we usually just invite each other over for dinner and make a meal from one of our Paleo cookbooks (I personally like "Against All Grain" from Danielle Walker).  What a treat it was when I learned that the Metro's first Paleo restaurant opened up.  But why is it all the way up north in Lino Lakes?  With such a specific menu, I'm a little concerned about Lino Lakes being a viable location.

We met at Paleos for lunch.  We didn't really know what to expect, but were excited to check it out.  I had the avocado eggs benedict.  Basically a poached egg over avocado, chicken, cauliflower rice, spinach, and tomato.  It was honestly delicious.  I'm a little weirded out by eating chicken and eggs together so I never included them in the same bite, but everything was really good.  I also had the paleo-friendly bloody mary.  Well I guess alcohol really isn't Paleo, but that really just meant that there weren't any preservatives - herbs, olives, tomato, vodka.  Then a gluten-free beer chaser.  My husband had the pumpkin pancakes and syrup.  The pancakes were made with coconut flour and pumpkin puree.  They were pretty good, but definitely more dense and moist than normal pancakes.  Then our friend had the portobello mushroom burger.  Yes, the ginormous mushroom was the bun.  We thought the food was good, prices were reasonable, we felt good about eating healthy at a restaurant.  What we thought was a miss was the location and the lack of more baked goods.  There are a bunch of bread, pastries, and bun recipes in Paleo cookbooks that call for coconut flour, coconut oil, and almond flour.  It would have been nice to have more of these options in the restaurant because they can be tedious to make at home.   There were also some non-Paleo things on the menu.  Mostly the alcohol.  I think they needed more of a draw to get people in the door.  I kind of wonder what people who don't know what the Paleo diet is think when they look at the menu.

Bloody Mary

Avocado Eggs Benedict with coconut flour muffin

Pumpkin Pancakes

Portobello Burger

You can still eat normal to some extent with Paleo by getting creative with ingredients.  I think that's partly why I like the diet.  Makes you think a lot more and use things in different ways.  Best lesson I learned - avocado can sub out cheese in most situations.  Anyway, I hope the restaurant succeeds.  I think it's awesome that they took a risk with such a specific niche.