• Eating: Bear Naked granola & yogurt. My latest breakfast of choice.
• Listening to: Grizzly Bear. It’s a bear kind of morning.
• Wearing: ’50s getup for a friend’s photo project.

Hello, cheri, & welcome to the Red Door Café!

Located in the sleepy city, if it could be called a city, of Humboldt, Tennessee, Red Door is a brand new café with an artful air & ultra-local ingredients. In a town filled to the brim with chain restaurants and a serious lack of native flavor, it’s just what we needed.

I joined up with a passel of pretty ladies to check the place out. After making the quick 20-minute drive to the town next door, we stepped through the fire-engine entrance & into a line the length of the restaurant. Always a good sign.

I opted to order the vegetarian pesto sandwich, cause sometimes you’re just in the mood for some really good greens. Unfortunately for me, the ‘wich was a bit a low on veggies. The hummus they lathered on thick, though, & was off the charts good. On the side I ordered their homemade potato salad, & have been craving it ever since. It was one of those potato salads with an irresistibly smokey flavor, tiny bits of bacon (but not bacon bits) & just the right amount of mustard. In other words, I was in potato salad paradise.

Did I mention how much I loved the interior? Dark & moody, the place had an air that is usually not found in cities this size. On the other hand, the owner, a trained sculptor, tones it down a few notches with eclectic-cool details, like a smattering of South American art on one wall, an intricate counter that could have only been the work of his hands & tables made of–you guessed it–more red doors. Ah, just talking about it makes me want to go back!

So, Jacksonites, make the trip to the Red Door Café. Support your city. You won’t be disappointed.