Tassili's Raw Reality

Tassili's Raw Reality is a dining experience located in the historic West End of Atlanta, that raw enthusiasts and those curious about raw eating should try.  Spurred on by an expiring Scout Mob offer, my vegan friend Sara and ventured there this past Friday for a memorable meal.

After doing my research and reading all the praise for Tassili's spicy kale "wrawp", I was pretty much sold on it.  I also wanted to try a Nori Roll, a concoction of sunflower and pumpkin seed, wakame seaweed and scotch bonnet peppers which sounded most intriguing.  The restaurant is located in an old yellow two story duplex on Ralph David Abernathy Road, which you might pass by if you were not looking for it, since Tassili's signage is very subtle.  A small dining room leads to an even smaller room with a display case, cooler and counter where you place your order.  Service is dine in or take out.

We were good to go on the Spicy Kale Wrawps but I was informed that Nori Rolls had not been prepared yet, so I opted for the Sweet Coconut Corn, instead.  Sara went with the edemame medley as her side.
Settling in the small dining area, me nursing a bottle of spring water, we waited for our meals to be prepared.   Let me just warn you to be prepared for a wait.  The staff is small and the restaurant gets crowded.  On a Friday at noon we waited approximately 35 minutes for our lunch.  When our order was finally up we dug in.

Sara and I decided to each get half of a Wrawp and the woman taking our order was gracious enough to inform us that it would be cheaper to order a whole Wrawp and split it which we did.  Our whole wheat Wrawps were stuffed with kale, red onion, sun dried tomatoes, all dressed in a soy mayo. Fresh tomatoes and avocado rounded everything out.  I was truly impressed with the flavors that Tassili coxes out of plain, old, ordinary kale and that bright burst of heat at the end of every bite was mesmerizing.  I also enjoyed my Sweet Coconut Corn which was bathed in sweet coconut milk and dotted with scallions and peppers. It was like a sweet dessert soup.  The corn was amazingly plump, fresh and sweet.  Sara enjoyed her edemame, which included carrots, spinach, snow peas and broccoli in a soy sauce with her only complaint being that it was a bit too salty.

All in all we were very pleased and the bountiful menu had a few selections we mentally made note of for our next visit.  I will note for all the omnivores out there myself included, raw "cooking" takes some getting use to.  Within a few hours of consuming the Kale Wrawp, I experienced some rather painful gas which was relived by an OTC remedy,  however I did some sleuthing on the Internet and read that my reaction is not unusual.  It seems humans do not have the enzyme needed to digest raw foods like Kale which is a brassica- a genus of plants in the mustard family. The members of the genus are collectively known as cruciferous vegetables, cabbages, or mustards.  So buyer beware or opt for some of the other yummy options that Tassili makes available.