Daily Green

499 SE 2 St
Gainesville, FL 32601
(352) 226-8288
Mon-Sat 10:00-3:00

I've been meaning to go to The Daily Green, housed in the old Louis' Lunch building in Southeast Downtown, for a while now.    Fortunately, today's schedule lined up just perfectly with a delicious trip to this new lunch spot.   




One of the main things they do at Daily Green is waffle cones.  I know it sounds crazy, but they have a savory waffle cone that they serve meals in (they even have a gluten free cone option).  It seemed ridiculous at first, but ended up being a really convenient way to eat.  A friend got the meatballs, onions, and asiago cheese and I got the bar-b-q tempeh with crispy green tomatoes and gritlins (dehydrated grits and cheese balls).  Both were damn good.  I couldn't eat the broccoli slaw that was supposed to come with the tempeh, so I subbed out crispy green tomatoes.  I'm not certain, but I think they were dehydrated too and were excellent.  I was very impressed at the idea to dehydrate food instead of frying it.  It tasted just as crispy and delicious as if it were fried, but was much healthier.  

As I said, I felt a bit odd at first and was using a fork to eat out of the cone.  But after a few minutes, I had the whole thing in my hand just eating away.  I have to say that the waffle cone may be my new favorite form of food delivery.  A third friend got the bar-b-q pork in a collard green wrap with kale chips.  He says it was damn fine as well.  The collard wrap was an ingenious alternative for low carb eaters.  
 
The bottom line for this place is that they seem to have thought of everything for everyone.  Gluten free? Vegan? Low carb? Meat eater? Vegetarian?  They got you all covered.  I'm really glad to see good food being made in a fresh and interesting way.  I'm also happy to see investments being made in areas of downtown that need a little TLC.  There aren't many new restaurants that are impressive off the bat, but places like The Daily Green are certainly showing everyone else how it should be done.