When I drove past the Everlasting Life/Eternity Juice Bar on Georgia Avenue, I had to stop. Can there be a better name for a place to revive? I felt better, more vital, taller of limb, tighter of skin, just reading the name. It is surely what the origin of the word 'restaurant' was all about. 

It's a vegetarian café owned by a California-based group (did you guess?) called Soul Vegetarian that promotes "regeneration of the environment from the inside out, encouraging foods that are in harmony with the earth, where all life and all living creatures are cherished, and not sacrificed for our nutritional needs." All of which I heartily endorse. And particularly their view that "Food is the vital ingredient, the foundation upon which we co-create this new world where there is peace with our environment, with nature, and amongst ourselves." Where I might differ is in my interpretation of what might go into making that food - stuff like a little protein from a cherished animal on occasion, glugs of cream perhaps, sloshes of alcohol and other ingredients that might not promote the regeneration of my internal environment.

It's a very simple space as you might imagine, but filled with people with beaming grins. Everyone working in it seems exceptionally attractive, like hostesses in Washington's high-end restaurants, and exceptionally happy, unlike so many of those high-end Washington hostesses who believe it's useful to destablize customers by looking in the grip of some private - and generally olfactory - pain.

In the front of Soul Vegetarian Restaurant & Exodus Carry-Out is a health food store where you can buy packaged or loose health foods like grains and pulses at very reasonably prices, as well as a selection of other approved nutrition. In the back is a kitchen with smiling young women cooking up stews of vegetables, beans and grains, and good-looking salads. You can eat in at a limited number of tables as well as take out.

I fell for the list of smoothie drinks and picked at random a concoction of stuff that was unfamiliar, rather than something I knew I'd love with berries and ginger and honey. Perhaps it was because I wasn't dressed in a stylish African blaze of printed cloth like one of the women alongside me. Perhaps my inner environment was smothered in fog. But instead of staying, I suddenly felt the need to grab my green drink and run to suck it through its fat straw inside my car.

There is no doubt that I would have felt happier if I had stayed to eat one of their vegetarian dishes, or had picked a berry drink. As it is, green is not a good color for drinking, I don't think. And I include Crème de Menthe in that. I felt a companionship with my lawn clippings but they look a lot healthier than I felt after a couple of swallows. But I'll go back to eat. And to feed off the happiness of the place. They obviously have the secret to something that isn't always offered on K Street.

Everylast Life/Eternity Juice Bar, 2928 Georgia Ave NW, 202 232 1700.

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1 Comment

1. Maatet

   I was in this store in May 2009, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised at what these brothers and sisters have done for the Vegans!!!!!!!!!! I could not believe how good the marinated raw kale tasted. I honestly thought I'd tasted a bit of heaven!!!! Melt in your mouth kale!!!. The carrot salad was to LIVE FOR!!!!! So good :0)!! First time I ever had bar-b-qued smoked tofu!!!. How can I get a cookbook??????