Detroit Wrap Up – Avalon Bakery, Inn Season Cafe, and Whole Foods extravaganza

On Sunday Morning we woke up too early and started our day as early as possible. I had wanted to catch Vegan Brunch, but it just wasn’t possible. So instead we found Avalon Bakery on the interwebs, and drove over. It was totally full of people, but the service was quick and friendly. I overheard (was eavesdropping on) someone asking about vegan focaccia, so we bought two pieces. Fluffy, and covered in fresh sweet tomatos, basil, and diaya. But then there was more to order. Chocolate cake, cookies, soy latte, and there was our perfect brunch. Avalon is not entirely vegan, but everything is clearly labelled. They had beautiful loaves of bread available, but we didn’t pick any up. Maybe next time.

After a failed trip to the Detroit Art Gallery (no parking), we decided itwas time to start taking care of our to do list. One of those items was going to a Whole Foods and using up all the free product coupons I had acquired during Vida Vegan Con last year. Unfortunately, Coconut Earth Balance has not really spilled into the Toronto market that much, and not in any of the big stores. I’ve seen it at Evergreen on Roncy, Essence of Life in Kensington Market, Panacea near Bathurst, and Qi Market near Christie, but I try to avoid using coupons at smaller places (and the Mindful Mayo is still not here yet anyway.) So we drove down to the Whole Foods Market in Troy.

USA Stores are always a unique shopping experience. All of a sudden, occasionally limited vegan options become endless. So we picked up all the Earth Balance stuff we set out to find, some Cultured Coconut Milk from So Delicious, mini Clif Bars, Jalapeno Popchips, Dr.Sevia Sevia soda, Almond Bites, Candle 79 frozen Dinners (?!?!?!?), Field roast sausages, Teese from Chicago Soydairy, and Uptons Naturals seitan. All of these things are not in Canada, or at least, not in Toronto (*tear*).

You’d think after this shopping extravaganza, we’d be ready to go home. Nope! It was off to find some free wifi somewhere (the only thing I enjoy from MacDonalds), so we could grab our final meal in Michigan.

Inn Season Cafe was still serving brunch so we zoomed over, and got a table. I have two words for you that might just sum things up – Vegan Omelette.

And if that’s not enough, maple tempeh?

How about… vegan cinnamon bun?

Jordan got the Rising Sun, which was a udon noodlely dish an a bunch of julienned veggies with nori, ginger and sesame oil. I’m pretty convinced I won at breakfast that day.

And finally, one of my favourite pictures from our trip to Detroit – proving that Michigan civil engineers/planners have a sense of humour – or simply that my mind is in gutter.