Who: John Andrade LinkedIn Facebook Instagram
Where: Sunflower Bakehouse
John Andrade agreed to join me for the first ever James Lunch. For those of you who haven’t heard the latest news around the HCCP Nashville fleet of beige cubicles, a James Lunch is a new way to spend your lunch time. We’re shifting the paradigm and pivoting to disrupting the most popular workday meal. The core idea behind a James Lunch is for you (employees of HCCP at large) to tell me (James) about the best places to get lunch in the area that aren’t Jimmy John’s or Panera. Don’t get me wrong, Jimmy John’s is fine, and Panera is where I met two girlfriends and married one of them. Also the hazelnut coffee is excellent. But the other part of a James Lunch, the core behind the conceit is for me (James) to get to know you!
So far, James Lunches have been a ding dang delight. Things immediately took a surprising turn when John informed me that he is a (glances from side to side and whispers) *a vegan. Being a vegan in a city that has a genre of restaurants called “meat and 3” can be challenging. Especially since the “3” is usually made entirely of carbs. But John suggested a restaurant called the Sunflower Bakehouse that he had been meaning to try.
Bacon, But Not Really
Generally speaking, I’m fine with eating vegan occasionally. What I am not really into is fake meat. There are a lot of great vegan foods, meals, and diets. But Parks & Rec summed up my feelings on things that are pretending to be other things:
So, while I’m sure their fake bacon (facon?) is probably fine, I would rather play to vegan strengths. So both John and I each ordered the Thai Noodle Salad.
The bowl was roughly the size of my bathtub. It was huge. And that’s why it is so impressive that John rated Sunflower Bakehouse “1 empty bowl.” That means John felt it was so good that he was willing to consume roughly an acre of salad.
Really the salad was great. I personally couldn’t finish mine. But that was largely because I had eaten a bacon egg and cheese biscuit from McDonalds for breakfast. So from a medical standpoint, it was probably a miracle I even lived until lunch.
John’s Tips
John recently started a new roll at HCCP and having been in multiple departments had some great advice.
Get to know people and help them.
John Andrade
John explained that because HCCP is made up of so many great people that it is professionally smart and personally a good idea to get to know the many many wonderful people that work in the same building that you do. Because we are a team, people will need each other’s help and assistance on projects. John suggests to help them as often as possible because one day you will need assistance from some of these amazingly talented people.
So all that to say, I may be asking y’all for help on something but the good news is, at least you can earn James Points!