How From the Garden Take-Out gave me something to believe in.

words: Jeremy Brasher
photos: Laura Grenard

     Some people dedicate their time to furthering an ideal, others work to spread the word of their religion. They take this stuff pretty seriously: preaching and proselytizing to the masses on behalf of a cause or entity. Usually I am not one to go in for this type of thing, but in the past month or so, I've found myself exhibiting some of these tendencies. I haven't found any divine truth or enlightenment. I found something better than all that mess.
     I found a restaurant.
     The nuanced world of comestibles is a strange and alien one to me. This is why I typically don't discuss food. A longtime vegetarian if left to my own devices, I eat crap, pretty much. I can't cook to save my life, and luckily I haven't been in a circumstance requiring me to do so as of yet, because I would die. To put it another way, if the human race's progenitors came from the sea, I would have evolved from some sort of prehistoric catfish, heralded in the South as legendary eaters of...pretty much crap. Honestly, I have little to no enlightened tastes, and usually I stick to what I know, but to my credit I will try almost anything once, except weird fruit that smells.
     Despite my unrefined palate, I do know what is exceptionally tasty, and occasionally I find food so good I probably don't deserve to eat it. This is one of those cases.
     On the corner of Wright (18 th Street) and Izard sits a tiny pink cottagy thing. It's small—and I mean really small. But do not be deceived by its diminutive stature. Surely there is some kind of parable that offers such advice. So heed that well, and enter: From the Garden Take-Out restaurant.
     Walk in the door and you are in a space just large enough to contain a bench and three bright yellow stools. Get to know them well because you'll be coming back. A lot. To the left of the order window is a menu and the list of the day's specials, which rotate frequently. Maybe today it's barbeque tofu, black-eyed pea patties, or vegan pizza. Or it could be cornbread dressing, barbeque cauliflower, lasagna, or tacos. I have been in here quite a bit and I can safely say: It is all good, and it's all vegetarian.
     But enough about all that, because now we get to the part where my life gets changed: The barbeque seitan sandwich. Seitan is a meaty, textured substance made from wheat gluten—the bread ingredient which gives dough its elasticity—and spices. Cook wheat gluten and then you have seitan. So take that, add barbeque sauce, pickles, and bread and there you have the object of my fanaticism. It's so simple, but the result is a messy (get napkins), savory, benevolent, all-powerful barbeque sandwich that is there for you in your darkest hour.
     Inspired, I spread the word with great efficacy to everyone I ran into for weeks, as well as unleashing the good word upon the virtual community at arkansasrockers.com, thus bringing more converts into the fold. Then, just when I thought the barbeque action couldn't get any better, Pow! The barbeque cauliflower—one of their specials—came into my world. I discovered this in my attempt to try everything on the menu, which is going swimmingly, thank you. Like a lot of people, cauliflower was never a favorite of mine. I turned my back on it for years and consumed other vegetables and grains, but with the saving power of the barbeque sauce and batter, behold! It is transfigured into the majestic delicacy that perhaps it had always been, but I had previously neglected.
     The prices are better than reasonable: an entire meal with entree, two vegetable side dishes, and either a clover roll or corn pone is just under $7. Pretty much unheard of as far as cooked-to-order hot meals go. The sandwiches and burgers are $3.50, as are entrees without sides. The Tuesday Special is tacos, and two of these packed with goodies are $3.50. In fact, Tuesday is now known as Taco Tuesday to me. If someone tells me some event is happening on “Tuesday,” it's hard not to chime in with, “don't you mean...Taco Tuesday?”
     The people responsible for all this deliciousness are a skilled team of cooks and Theodis and Gloria Kitchen, the owners of From the Garden. More often than not, Theodis will be taking your order, and after visiting their restaurant a few times you feel like these are friends of yours and you are stopping in to say hello and maybe eat while doing it. Indeed, a lot of people must feel like that because there is no shortage of patrons chatting up the owners, the cooks, and one another, and waiting for your order is a great opportunity to meet a lot of friendly people or run into ones you already know.
     Possibly the only downside is that due to its small size and limited kitchen space, the wait on orders when From the Garden is packed can be significant, so for those in a hurry (or with short lunch breaks) I suggest calling in orders in advance. Then you can get there, scoot to the widow, pick up your stuff and the other patrons will be like, “aaahaaah” as they realize what a clever one you were to have the foresight to call it in. This ain't fast food; this is a take out hot food restaurant, and quality can't be rushed, nor would I want them to.
     Go, my child, and get barbequized.