I had the good luck to spend the whole day in Dahlonega last Saturday. Laura, Kay, Deb and I wanted to go see the Southern Living Idea house in the afternoon, then Larry came up to meet me for dinner and music.

You've probably heard that there's gold in them thar hills and for my money it can be found right on the square at Crimson Moon. I don't get to Dahlonega very often so I made up for it by eating at Crimson Moon twice in the same day, in additon to an afternoon stop for a cool drink when the girls handed me off to Larry after touring the house.



Lunch was a flavorful veggie plate made up from the side dishes and it was fabulous. The spicey collard greens alone were worth the trip and the sweet potato souffle was...well...saw-weet. I was happy to see a message printed on the menu that informs diners that "nearly all of the restaurant's paper products are made from post consumer, recycled products, and the vast majority of all the glass, plastic, paper, paste board and aluminum cans are recycled." Way to go, moonies.

Back for a snack in the afternoon, we learned that all of the Crimson Moon's coffees and teas are organic, shade-grown, fairly traded and fairly delicious. The frappe moche, a cool, refreshing, chocolate coffee, was especially a treat.



After the girls left for ATL, Larry and I walked around the square, listened to bluegrass and window shopped. Then we headed back to the Moon to hang out with Dave, the bartender, and have dinner. We remembered Dave from a previous visit and it was good to chat with him and all the other friendly folks who were hanging out and waiting for the sold-out show to start. We had dinner at the bar and I got the falafel sandwich Deb had recomended after having it for lunch. Mmmmm---mmmm!

It's good to have friends you can trust to tell you the truth about food.