Vegan Toledo
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Comments from Our Readers
  • Community
  • Contact
  • Restaurant Guide
  • Restaurant Map
  • Specialty
  • Subscribe
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Comments from Our Readers
  • Community
  • Contact
  • Restaurant Guide
  • Restaurant Map
  • Specialty
  • Subscribe
Vegan Toledo

Vegan Toledo Blog

Grumpy's

1/29/2018

1 Comment

 
​Grumpy’s
34 S Huron St., Toledo OH 43604
http://grumpys.net/
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Grumpy's has really upped their vegan choices. They still have their sweet potato vegan burger on their regular menu, but they have been having lots of vegan specials. When we went recently, three of the specials were vegan. We tried them all!

The Magpies Vegan Grilled Cheese had dairy-free mozzarella, vegan pesto, a healthy amount of spinach and tomato served on sourdough bread. The Vegan BLT had eggplant bacon, lettuce, tomato and vegan mayo on toasted sourdough bread. They had a Beyond Meat Burger as well.  

The Grilled Cheese was both of our favorites; we are partial to pesto and so often in restaurants it is not vegan. The pesto had a rich taste and the good amount of spinach was a nice touch, too. The Vegan BLT was delicious too, with the eggplant bacon as a nice surprise, thinly sliced and marinated in a rich sauce. We did like the Beyond Meat Burger too, but the Grilled Cheese and Vegan BLT were truly creative.

Last time we were there (during the summer), there were no vegan desserts. This time, they had a vegan sugar cookie and a vegan brownie, both freshly made and a nice modest portion, so that you can decide whether you want seconds or if you want to exert control and stop at one!

We hope that all three of these vegan dishes get put on the regular menu. It was a great lunch!!!

7/23/17

Picture
Grumpy’s is one of Toledo’s classic downtown lunch spots (33 years in business), winning lots of awards for their burgers. Although most of the menu is off-limits to vegans, they do carry a Homemade Sweet Potato Vegan Burger that comes on a whole wheat bun, with avocado, red onion and Dijon mustard along with a side of baked kale chips. The burger was tasty and we appreciated the avocado as a nice touch (we subbed tomato for red onions for one burger).   

As vegans, veggie burgers are often a mixed bag with many of them not being vegan. Often wait-staff are unclear whether there is egg in the veggie patty or in the bun. We appreciate Grumpy’s having a special burger for vegans (they have a separate vegetarian, non-vegan burger as well).

We were told that some of the salads could be modified to be vegan and so you could have other options as well. Grumpy’s has a lot of baked goods, cookies and pies. Unfortunately, none were vegan (hint, hint).
1 Comment

The Original Sub Shop & Deli

1/26/2018

0 Comments

 
The Original Sub Shop & Deli
402 Broadway St, Toledo OH 43604
www.originalsub.com
Picture
Social posts matter!  We visited the Original Sub Shop & Deli to try out their vegan chickpea salad sub after seeing a delicious photo on their Facebook page. The Original Sub Shop & Deli has been a fixture, open for nearly 40 years! In terms of vegan options, the vegan chickpea salad sub is a new creation and addition to their regular menu (though not posted anywhere we saw yet, so you need to ask for it), a vegan take on their traditional chicken salad with chickpeas substituting for meat. We ordered that, along with two vegetarian subs that were modified to be vegan by replacing cheese with hummus.  

The Original Mediterranean has marinated vegetables, including tasty cole slaw, topped in our case with hummus. The Zen Goat has fresh mushrooms (a lot of them!), roasted red peppers and grilled onions. The vegan chicken salad had a tasty curry sauce. All subs were served on freshly made bread that was sweet and had a nice texture. We loved all three of the subs and are already hungry to come back and get more.

There are some vegan side options including tabouleh, hummus with pitas and roasted vegetables. Thank you Original Sub Shop & Deli for coming up with a new vegan option. It really is darn good!
0 Comments

Yer Mom’s House of Eats

1/23/2018

0 Comments

 
Yer Mom’s House of Eats
316 N Michigan St., Toledo OH 43604
https://www.facebook.com/Yer-Moms-House-Of-Eats-1369878306390781/
Picture
Picture

Update 1/23/18

We just wanted to update our review of Yer Mom's House of Eats as we had a chance to go back for lunch and found that they had greatly expanded their vegan options. They had two vegan soups, a roasted garlic and tomato soup and a harvest bisque. We ordered both and enjoyed them a lot. The harvest bisque had a unique savory taste that reminded us of the spices prevalent from a Thanksgiving dinner along with slivered almonds, which was a nice touch. The roasted garlic tomato soup had bits of quinoa in it along with a hearty garlic taste.

There are lots of additional vegan options, including tacos, a quesadilla that is vegan, several sandwiches and several bowls. This time we ordered the Vegan Back to Cauli sandwich and The Other Vegan Bowl. The sandwich had curried cauliflower, hummus, smoked quinoa and some other delicious toppings whereas the vegan bowl had curried cauliflower as well as other roasted vegetables, greens and rice noodles.

We love how they keep expanding their menu and rotating soups. It's well worth a trip to downtown Toledo for lunch. They have expanded their space (right across from the Main Library) and are thinking about expanding to have limited evening hours. We hope that they do!!!
Picture
Picture
Picture

6/4/17

We’ve been meaning to try several of Downtown Toledo’s lunch spots and were excited to be able to eat at Yer Mom’s House of Eats, located across from the Main Branch of the Toledo Public Library in the first floor of an old office building. 
 
This is a lunch spot with rotating soups, sandwiches and tacos. They have six soups and try to make several of them vegan. When we were there, four out of the six were vegan: Potato and Leek, Veg with Chickpea, Sweet Potato Bisque with Almonds and Chilled Melon with Almonds. We ordered the Veg with Chickpea and couldn’t resist trying the Chilled Melon as well. Both were delicious, though the melon soup was unique and totally delicious with chilled pureed melon topped with toasted almonds to give it some body. 

In terms of entrees, we had the Herbivore Tacos, which has black-eyed peas and other vegetables, as well as the Springtime for Vegans salad, which also had black-eyed peas and garbanzos, chopped greens, pickled beets and sunflower shoots. Both were delicious and complimented each other, with the tacos having more body and the salad on the lighter side.
 
Finally, for dessert we shared a gourmet peanut butter and jelly sandwich (called The Kid at Heart on the menu) made on toasted crusty white bread, with peanut butter and strawberry jelly, all served warm. It was really a nice treat at the end of an amazing meal.
 
This is a great lunch spot with people who really know how to put together a meal.  They have an option called Take It or Leave It, which is a Chef’s creation. Next time we’re back (very soon!), we plan on asking for a vegan version of the Chef’s creation. And we can’t wait to try out new soups. We really applaud the team at Yer Mom’s House of Eats for having good, tasty and healthy options for vegans. Bravo!
0 Comments

Blaze Pizza

1/15/2018

1 Comment

 
Blaze Pizza
3330 Central Ave, Toledo OH 43606
blazepizza.com/menu
Picture
We had Blaze Pizza a while ago when traveling in Orlando and were excited that they opened a restaurant in Toledo. It's very simple to get a nice vegan pizza. The dough is vegan and the red and spicy red sauce are vegan. They have vegan cheese and a host of vegetable options, including traditional ones such as mushrooms, basil and sauteed onions as well as some other neat ones like roasted garlic and zucchini. You choose the toppings as a worker adds them to your pizza.

And then they put it in the high temperature oven for 180 seconds and finally they call your name. There are some vegan last minute add-ons that they can add to your pizza including arugula, buffalo sauce and balsamic drizzle. When they found out we were vegan, the workers automatically changed gloves and worked diligently to avoid cross-contamination with meat products. 

We each ordered our own pizzas and found that the 9-inch build-your-own was a nice and filling lunch. Blaze Pizza is very similar to Pizza Fire. Although others may have done a side-by-side comparison, we found them comparable in taste, price and both had vegan cheese! Blaze seemed to have slightly more vegetable options and we liked the roasted garlic. Pizza Fire had fresh basil growing in-house and we liked that touch. Overall, both were delicious!

Peta has a nice entry on how to order vegan at Blaze: https://www.peta2.com/vegan-life/vegan-options-at-blaze-pizza/
1 Comment

CoreLife Eatery

1/13/2018

3 Comments

 
CoreLife Eatery
5231 Monroe St C, Toledo OH 43623
corelifeeatery.com/menu/
Picture
What took us so long to eat here?!? We finally made it to CoreLife Eatery and are excited that we did. We ordered each of the clearly labeled vegan dishes with no modifications: the Sriracha ginger roasted tofu green bowl, the Sriracha ginger tofu and ancient grains grain bowl and the shiitake mushroom and roasted tofu broth bowl. Each of these included some tasty roasted tofu, and had a mixture of greens and other delights. The green bowl and the grain bowl were nearly identical except for dressing and the grain bowl included warm quinoa. We found that all of them were tasty and healthy, with the grain and green bowls rich with greens and the broth bowl had a nice vegetable broth and a mixture of vegetables that did include some greens.

You can also build your own bowl, with the choice of a green bowl (think salad), grain bowl (quinoa, brown rice or rice noodles) or broth bowl (think soup obviously!). Then you can choose up to 4 ingredients with many vegan options (tomatoes, mandarin oranges, black beans, ginger, chick peas and on and on) along with some ingredients that cost extra (avocado, roasted tofu and falafel). There are also many dressings that are vegan (clearly labeled in their menu). Finally, there is a plate option that allows you to order a root vegetable medley or a seasonal medley (currently it looks like a Brussel sprouts mix).

The ingredients are fresh. Avocado is taken straight from the fruit and ginger is freshly grated in front of you. Finally, they have an interesting array of beverage choices including gourmet green tea mixes (we sampled the apple cider green tea beverage) and lemonades. We treated ourselves to a beet lemonade and enjoyed it.

We found the food very delicious and healthy. This is one of the few places in Toledo where you could get a true whole foods, plant-based meal and have lots of options. Also, there are meat options so if you are dining with omnivores, they will have many choices as well.
3 Comments

Sebastiano's Italiano

1/9/2018

1 Comment

 
Sebastiano's Italiano  
4448 Heatherdowns Blvd, Toledo OH 43614
www.sebastianositaliano.com
Picture
Picture
Picture
We visited Sebastiano's Italiano with friends to celebrate a birthday. Their online menu doesn't indicate whether items are vegan or not and so we sent an email asking them if they had vegan options (nearly every Italian restaurant has vegetarian options, but often the vegan options are slim). Chef/Owner Jonathan Sagaser emailed us very promptly and gave us a list of menu options that could be made vegan:
"
Many items in our 'Primi' section are vegan, such as Tricolore, Tomatoes & Garlic, Aglio Olio e Peperoncino, or Linguine 'All’ortolana,' so long as we do not garnish with parmesan cheese, which is our standard. Additionally, there are others in the same section which can be vegan by simply removing butter or a cheese which may be incorporated into the dish, such as the Pasta Greco by removing the feta cheese. Also, we have a special 'Build Your Own' section, from which you could literally design dozens of different vegan entrees."
Armed with this information, we were excited to try their food.

We ordered Tomato Bruschetta as an appetizer, modified to be vegan by withholding the cheese. They were tasty, with a generous portion of tomato topping. Our non-vegan friends didn't seem to miss the cheese and devoured them as fast as we did.  For entrees, we ordered the Tricolore Pasta that was served with sugar snap peas, tomatoes, mushrooms and basil as well as the Aglio Olio e Peperoncino pasta dish, which had pecans, slices of garlic, parsley and red pepper flakes. Both were served in olive oil-based sauces. 

We enjoyed our meals. We find that most restaurants tend to serve very large portions, which can be good if you are able to exert self-control and take home extras. The portion size at Sebastiano's Italiano was just the right size, though, where we both finished our plates, with just the right amount of satiation. Fortunately, we didn't have room for dessert because they didn't have vegan dessert options.

Sebastiano's Italiano is a nice choice for vegans with lots of options. There is a full bar with a wine list that features several nice Italian options. We also found that the wait staff were well-informed about what was vegan, which is of course a big plus!
1 Comment

Book Discussion March 8 to focus on Food and Preventable Disease

1/6/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Vegan Toledo will present a book discussion of New York Times bestseller “How Not to Die” by Michael Greger, M.D. at Gathering Volumes Bookstore (196 E South Boundary St, Perrysburg) on Thursday, March 8 at 6:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, and will include free food samples as well as drawings for food baskets, T-shirts and books. 

The book offers a detailed account of how our American lifestyle can cause preventable diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It gives practical advice about not only what foods to avoid, but many positive suggestions about delicious foods that are particularly useful in protecting our health and promoting longevity. Attendees may have read the book, or they may participate even if they are just considering reading it in the future and wish to learn more about it.

“This is an eye-opening, evidence-based book,” shared Mike Zickar of Vegan Toledo. “We are excited to partner with Gathering Volumes to bring this important discussion to our community. We all struggle with our food choices and we’ve found this book to offer clear and manageable strategies to help lead to a longer and healthier life.”

“Our motto at Vegan Toledo is you don’t have to ‘be’ vegan to eat vegan,” shared Rachel Zickar of Vegan Toledo. “For many of us, it’s more effective to take small steps over time toward a healthier lifestyle. This book is a great way to start, or continue, that journey. Folks with all kinds of eating habits are welcome to join this discussion. We will all do better with the support of others as we strive to become healthier together.”

Vegan Toledo, founded by Rachel and Mike Zickar, is an organization dedicated to healthy lifestyle choices as well as making it easier for travelers and residents to find vegan options in the area via their web site, VeganToledo.com, as well as through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
0 Comments

    Visit our restaurant guide to see all posts by name, location & style.


    Subscribe here to get a message when we post new reviews!


    Archives

    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    November 2021
    December 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016


    Categories

    All


    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly