Quarks, St. Cloud, MN

After a wonderful foot cruise through the St. Cloud Art Crawl, a fabulous experience in itself by the way, we wanted something quick as we hadn't brought supper or prepared anything at home.  We took this as an opportunity to try the new Quarks located right downtown St. Cloud.  It was within walking distance from the event and a great end to our evening.

Quarks has a culinary simplicity that I love.  It brings you back to the necessities of food, while having convenience, and flavorful zaps of flavor to augment your palate.

It is a great option for a multitude of necessary dietary modifications, and all are flavorful.  

There are white and brown rice bowls and balls for those that are gluten free, and there are also cabbage wraps if you are one of the polysaccharide conscious dieters out there in the paleo or SCD realm.  If you ARE looking for grain free, you can do that with ease as you don't have to worry about any processing or preserving that would make you otherwise question the ingredients.  

It is simplicity at it's pure and flavorful finest.  There are no special recipes (other than the sauces that they create) so there is no magical cooking experience, but I enjoyed that it is pure food you can trust.

For those that love raw style, other than the rice, it is all raw food. They also have wonderful drink concoctions with a purpose, and if you know what Dr. Foodie loves, it's foods with a function and I love knowing what I'm getting when I eat a food.  The drinks are not sugar laden sappy fillers, but fresh infusions and teas and tasty at that!

Now, when we walked in, those that were working didn't know me from Adam, but right away the gentleman saw my three year old tearful and bloodied.  He had just fallen on the concrete and even though it had nothing to do with his business, was entirely out of his responsibility and didn't even happen at his store, he went out of his way to get him comfortable with an ice pack.  I fully believe that the pleasant experience of the customer and the basic compassion of good service along with the benefits of healthy eating is truly the foundation for this very welcome addition to downtown St. Cloud