Vegan Eatery: A Place in the Sun in Bloom

Here’s an excerpt from my latest column for Park Slope Patch, the new hyper-local news source for Park Slope.

Thinking of starting a new venture, a business or career? Forget the how-to-books and the idiot’s guides says Park Slope vegan restaurateur, Aimee Follette.

“If I’d read one of those books that say you’ll work 16-20 hours every day without a day off for a year I never would have opened Sun in Bloom,” she told me recently over a delicious lunch at the sun-filled Bergen Street eatery, which she opened in January of 2010. But she’s glad she did even if she has worked 16-20 hours for a year without a day off.

“It was crazy and I felt overwhelmed by this project but it has pushed me in all areas of who I am and challenged me physically, mentally and emotionally.”

Sun in Bloom, Follette’s labor of time—and love—is located on that groovy stretch of Bergen Street betweeen Fifth Avenue and Flatbush, that includes Babeland, Bark, Lulu Lemon and Bergen Street Comics. In the light filled space where colorful abstract paintings decorate the walls, Follette’s aim is to serve “nourishing, clean and delicious food to the people of Park Slope.”