Need fiber, sugar, and to feel good about frivolous health claims?

So there's not much I can dig up on the place, just a colsunderground forum on it, but this may be my new lunch/afternoon pick-me-up. It's called Flaxella Cafe, and looks like some place that a gas-station burnt-coffee connoisseur would stop in at if they were looking for something healthy. I like having pick-me-ups for all sorts of funk. My penultimate has got to be the rad cafe brioso and a lovely cubano with soy milk (as I'm sure has been evident from numerous posts).

Still, coffee only gets you everywhere, and every now and then it gets you some low blood sugar. What then? Trapped in a twenty story building with three hours left in the day, crappy Starbucks and uninteresting salads in the lobby, no likely vegan snacks in the vending machine a few floors up. How about some ramshackle shed-looking storefront with a thrown together coffee dive look?

Check out Flax Cafe on Third & Long! It doesn't look like much but they have things you can put in your face that keeps you alive a little while longer!

Flaxella Cafe has my lunch smoothie feel good

People driving past the corners of Third and Long have long wondered what the point of that little building would be. I'm happy to report that it is a nice little juice bar. Seems odd that their motif centers around a superfood, or more modestly a tasty, high fiber and Omega-3 packed seed. Legally speaking, I don't know if flax would pass muster and be permitted to reference itself with the term 'superfood'; however, I don't see many flax seeds walking around with much to say anyway.

So today I was walking around the warehouse district downtown. Encountered this cute place called the Warehouse District Cafe. They had a nice menu with some interesting and some obnoxiously American options (Buffalo Philly Gyro?), good offerings of breakfast and lunch and soup and prepared dishes (mustard potato salad, sounds like my recipe?) and baked goods; but alas, no vegan food. So on I went. I thought I just wouldn't get any food and just tough it out instead. But then I saw a hawk (or some other bird, I'm not really ever sure) circling that abandoned building next to B1 bikes.

Upon seeing that harbinger of my likely death on this 23rd of August, I figured that I must likely die if I go back to my office without eating any food, right? Well like any reasonable person who expects to die if they don't eat in the next 60-90 minutes, I started adding up my options. I'm so sick of subway avocado subs (they're fucking awful and over-priced, that's why). And for as much as I like Tip Top, their menu is an abominable mess of vegan options presented in no coherent manner (seriously, too much head scratching in that). I was loved the entiocement of the menu when I could eat anything then note the options inconsequentially after the fact; but perusing a menu and needing to configure something is just painful. Brioso only has gazpatcho today.

Then I saw that Flaxella was open. I stood on the opposite side of the road, reading their spare banner affixed to the side of the building. It promised Flax Seed Smoothies, Flax Seed Juices, and other items. I don't know what a flax seed juice tastes like, but I did not order one. Assuming they include actual juice, I bet it would be great or healthy or something. I went with a large strawberry banana smoothie, to which three large scoops of milled flax seed were added with empirical indifference. The smoothie was six to eight strawberries and two or three bananas and a good splash of soy milk. Cool-with-me.

The first question once you say smoothie is "soy or dairy?" The fruit was good and fresh, the owner (clerk, random guy, flax group-member?) offered to sweeten the drink. I am not sure with what, but it was plenty sweet for me raw. Some maple syrup or agave might have added to massing health claims, but just plain was chocolately and fruity and smooth and full-bodied. Just like I like my telephones.

And there's more! They have a cooler of over-priced flax chips! I mean, they're not overpriced relative to what they are; raw/live food crackers at some random coffee dive downtown? Seven bucks? That may actually be reasonable, and (remember) I was going to die if I didn't eat something, so what the hell I bought a pricey bag of crackers made of out seeds. I got the Mexican Harvest Organic Flax Crackers from Foods Alive. (Cool thing about these? You don't get crumbs at the bottom; rather a handful of spicey seeds!) They're definitely a palatable bagwith respect to the munching. However, they're gooey side makes an appearance if you can't get them all out of your mouth fast enough.

So seriously though, no sarcasm whatsoever, cool place for a good drink. An awesome pick-me-up for diving sugar levels. I will likely not get the chips again and hope they start carrying some more food items. If not, I still ate a bunch of fruit.

Anyway, I am now tough enough to take on a monster truck at checkers. Thanks Flax!

Notes:

• they serve Cafe Brioso Coffee, or at least were doing so for cheap today, period.
• no credit cards, but theres a Huntington ATM on the corner of High & Long, the end.

Update on 2:39PM by mfg

So for the second day in a row, as is my wont for newly discovered pick-me-ups, I got a flaxella smoothie. Same deal as before; bananas, strawberries, big scoops of milled flax AND THIS TIME a punch of good ol' cacao!

The guy has some nice big bags of cacao and maca powder (and mesquite, though I'm not sure why) on the shelves with the flax seed. I don't know if he normally charges for scoops of those or not, but I am definitely psyched about getting some cacao and or maca in the afternoon.

Yes, dubious health claims aside, I dig the flavor of cacao straight up and so might you!

Update on 11:56AM by mfg

Well Flaxella Cafe's SEO just bumped up as apparently Flaxella Cafe, in the L'Appat mushroom coffee hut building, had another article posted about it at the Dispatch.

I'm very sad to hear a taxi drove through the front of the joint. I'm feeling a need for smoothies today and my man with the mixer had a vehicle plow his shop.

Here's hoping that Mr. Flaxella can get his business up and running again. Actually, they may not necessarily be shut down, but I hope this guy success.