Last Saturday the Root debuted a full breakfast menu, complete with several veggie offerings and a vegan tofu scrambler. I was pretty excited, because about a month ago I tried to hit up the Root for breakfast, and they were only serving a meat laden breakfast casserole. Despite the perpetual coffee shortage (seems I’m always waiting on a pot to brew), I love the Root’s cozy corner nook. One of the best ways to start off a Saturday is lazy-watchin’ light dance through the bottles in the window and perusing what feel’s like someone’s personal collection of zines. It’s fine by me that they never change or get updated.
So kudos to the Root for serving breakfast, but I did get into it with a patron voicing her displeasure over the downtown V.A. Center and how it would “detract from what we’re trying to down there.” To my surprise, one of the Root’s owners, Corri Bristow Sundell, played apologist for this detractor. She said something to the tune of, “There’s a liquor store there, children have to walk to school in that area.” It’s (in my opinion), a bigoted viewpoint that I scarcely expected from those who patronize the Root and would never have expected from those who dreamt this little sunny breakfast spot into reality.
It was a bittersweet Saturday morning. I’m thrilled that the Root now offers me breakfast options, but maybe for awhile, I’ll take my business down the street. At last Thursday’s Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting, Community Bakery owner Joe Fox was vocal in his support for the V.A. Center — for me, that’s putting my money where my mouth is.
A previous version of this post misspelled Corri Sundell’s name. It also mischaracterizes Joe Fox’s position on the VA Center, which he outlined on the Little Rock Downtown Neighborhood Association messageboard.