This week in North Carolina, we are celebrating Sweet Potatoes. It is Eat Sweet Restaurant Week. What does that mean exactly? Well read on and I will tell you. In conjunction with North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission, several restaurants got together and are featuring dishes made with sweet potatoes. So since I was asked to go taste some yummy hummus from Sassool Cafe, I thought that it would be perfect to feature the sweet potato on the blog this week. I have already shared a recipe yesterday and I will be sharing more about this wonderful commodity from North Carolina and a personal story as well. But for now, on to my farm to table experience dining out.
If I am ever in the Raleigh/ Cary area, there are only two restaurants that I want to go to luckily in Cary they are in the same shopping center. Those two restaurants are Tijuana Flats and Sassool Cafe. But if I had to choose one over the other it would be Sassool Cafe hands down. Why because- they are a local and family-owned restaurant. Second, because their food is so amazing and I know that they make everything fresh and source from local farmers. How do I know that remember I told you about Chats From the Blog Cabin– Simone and Noelle, the sisters from Sassool have been on the show multiple times and I love working with them. ( I will post those interviews later this week for you to watch.)
So now you know the backstory so you can imagine my excitement when Simone messaged me on Instagram to see if I would be interested in stopping in and trying their Spicy Sweet Potato Hummus- that they would be featuring during Make It Sweet Week. I didn’t hesitate to answer back and tell her I was on board.
So Friday afternoon, after doing a little bit of research for a future article at the North Carolina Museum of Art, my youngest daughter Gracie and I headed to Sassool’s Cary Location to try out the hummus.
A little Background about the Hummus
I already mentioned that they source from local farmers, but did I mention that each year they host a competition for foodies aka food bloggers to enter their recipes for hummus. The hummus recipe for Sweet Week came out of that competition. I love that they are always so involved in the community and I also love that they gave credit to the recipe. I love that!! If you can’t tell by my writing I really love this place.
Trying out the Sweet Potato Hummus
Once we got to Sassool, we ordered our food. I will admit that I was a little bummed that I didn’t get my favorite hummus which is their cilantro jalapeno hummus ( but don’t worry I still got some to take home.) I ordered the chicken kabob platter and got Lebanese green beans and the Spicy Sweet Potato Hummus as sides. Gracie got a chicken salad pita. She doesn’t like to be adventurous with food. I had to take a picture of the pita because it looked so yummy and there were walnuts in it.
Insiders Tip: If you go no matter what you order get the fresh from the oven pita bread. It is so good.
So now to try the hummus. I will admit that I didn’t think I would another hummus. I kinda felt like I was cheating on the jalapeno hummus but I thought I have to at least try it. After all, that was what I was there to try. From the first bite to the very last scrape from the take-home container- there wasn’t a bite that I regretted.
I tried it dipping the fresh pita bread into it. Yummy- from the first taste there was a flavor explosion in my mouth. Then as I was eating the rest of my food, I thought to myself what would the chicken from the chicken kabob taste like if I dipped it into the hummus. Y’all that took that chicken kabob to the next level.
I never knew that Sweet Potatoes could taste so good in hummus form. I am so glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone with this hummus and that I was able to not only support a local restaurant but also support a local farmer that they source the menu items from.
The only thing I regret is that I can’t share this taste experience with you but I hope the pictures look as good to you as the hummus tasted for me.
[…] on many other ag-related trips. She was even responsible for hooking me up with the sisters from Sassool Cafe. She works with a lot of restaurants as well as some agriculture-related businesses. In fact, it […]