You can’t judge a book (or cafe) by it’s cover (or decor) guest blogger :: shanna scott

By now, y’all know Shanna – she needs little introduction but here are a few posts by and about her and her little girl.  She is really (really) pregnant with baby #2, so we are even more grateful to her for filling in our lack of posts lately.  Thank you Shanna!
Here’s a photo of her taking pictures at a baby shower this past weekend (post to come on that shower soon!)
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Hey, I'm guest blogging for the 2nd time. This is Shanna. Hope everyone is having a wonderful spring (FINALLY!) day.  Here's my story...
Much like you can't judge a book by its cover, you can't judge a cafe by its decor. Yesterday, I heard of a new lunch spot in Albany. I was told that the food was so good, like Lola's in Thomasville, a place I used to frequent for lunch when I was working in Thomasville for the day. I was told that the atmosphere was a little nightclubish and this person also told me that when she walked in, she was hesitant to eat there and almost left but stuck it out and loved the food!
So, I went w/ some friends. And had I not been told by a trusted source, the former owner of said Lola's, which served delicious and fresh and interesting salads, soups, sandwiches, desserts, etc. then I would've never set foot in this place to eat a meal. It is a nightclub. Oh, I've eaten a restaurants that turned into bars at night in Athens - like East West, Last Resort, Harry Bissets, etc. But, those are restaurants that people come to for drinks after dinner hour. And they still look like restaurants.
But, did I ever eat food from Gus'? Oh no. Not a chance. By my junior or senior year there was a hole in the floor in the bathroom that people peed in b/c the toilet (apparently) stopped working and they took the toilet out and did not patch the hole. And who needs a toilet after 4 or 5 cheap liquor drinks? Not sorority girls in Athens, ladies that they are. All that is needed at that point is a hole in the floor or a tree or a dark street. But, Gus' graciously did still supply the toilet paper, even though there was no toilet. Thank you.
So, now after all that are you ready to talk about food? : )
Fear not - this place is clean. And the food is really great, but the decor and name will totally throw you off and I just had to forewarn you so that you will actually enter through the doors and sit down. A couple that was just walking in almost left as we were leaving because they were thrown off by the name and atmosphere. We told them to stay and eat!
It's called Karma Cafe and it is located next to the Crate and House of China 2 in the old San Jose's building. One would think they would serve some sort of Indian food with lots of curry by the name, but it's really great American lunch food. Also, the color scheme is black and maroon (not my fav. - haven't seen much of that color scheme in Country Living lately) which is hardly something you would associate w/ a fabulous lunch of a bacon, lettuce, and fried green tomato sandwich served on texas toast with aioli and delicious homemade macaroni and cheese as the side. We debated for a while on the spicy pimento cheese sandwich served w/ fried green tomato or bacon, but went w/ instead went with the chicken salad sandwich served w/ fresh tomato and lettuce on a buttery croissant and a side salad with homemade strawberry vinaigrette. The black bean spread w/ warm pita slices was a tasty appetizer and Annabelle loved it. Oh, and the french onion soup was delicious. They do have lighter salads and sandwiches also but we were into the heavier foods yesterday. The sides are great and there are so many great ones to choose from...broccoli salad...yum!
As an added bonus, our kind server overheard that it was Angie Elliott's birthday and she brought us a warm, rich, and decadent chocolate brownie served a la mode with gooey chocolate sauce - on the house no less! This 8.5 month pregnant mama sincerely thanks you for that, kind server.
The menu is plentiful and well-rounded and has so much to choose from that we had a hard time deciding what to order, coupled along w/ the daily specials. Karma Cafe caters and also has late night snacks for the clubbers. They've only been open as a cafe for about 3 weeks and haven't done any advertising yet, as they are trying to get all their staffing worked out. But, the chef was rockin' yesterday and our server was excellent. Don't take my word for it - you must try it for yourself and see. We need to support a place w/ such good and interesting food. Oh, and the prices are reasonable, as well.
It's all just another lesson that we all know so well but just can't seem to really get - you just cannot judge someone, something, or someplace on looks alone. You've got to find out what's on the inside.
Shanna