Every Wednesday evening we go to drum lessons with Chuck Cogliandro in Candler Park. Since our lives are too busy to practice very often, we're getting ready to take the beginners class for the third time (there is no remedial class). In spite of our lack of skill, banging on those djembes is a real rush.

It's also quite a rush to fly from work to home and then to town for the lesson.On Wednesdays, this schedule makes it hard to sandwich eating into the agenda.

Enter the Mercantile.

Larry found this small specialty grocery/deli/restaurant one Wednesday as he zoomed in from West Point to meet me at drumming. He couldn't wait to tell me about it, complete with oooh-ing and ahh-ing.

I know that Larry knows a good thing when he eats one, so the following week we rode together and I got to experience the Mercantile for the first time. It's now part of our Wednesday routine.

Not only is the food delicious, the people are conscientious about where they get it, how they prepare it, and what to do with the mess once the party is over.

The first thing we noticed was the compostable flatware. We've seen these vegetable based utensils at Radial and Metro Fresh, as well. Although I haven't researched this product thoroughly to see how well it breaks down in the landfill, at the very least it's not one more petroleum product that lasts forever. 

At the Mercantile, they don't even make it to the landfill. The utensils, along with other compostable items, go to the Dekalb County Farmers Market compost site.
 
We always eat the Inman, the only vegetarian sandwich on the menu, but so good we'd probably choose it even if there were more. We've had the Mercantile's soup, too, which is likewise delicious.

We spoke with Mercantile manager Gloria and told her what we were doing and she shared more about what they were doing to offer food with integrity to the Candler Park Community. She told us that all of their meats are purchased from farmers who treat their animals with kindness, feed them chemical-free food and abstain from the use of antibiotics.

Their eggs are supplied by Jenny-Jack Sun Farms in Pine Mountain. The chickens at Jenny-Jack are moved from pasture to pasture to fertilize the soil the natural way, with their...well...soil. Relieved that we had found a product that was not based on dangerous, cruel and polluting practices, we bought eggs for the first time in months.

Thanks for the omelets, Lar.