We were excited to hear that Basil Pizza and Wine Bar had expanded their menu to have vegan pizza options. The first time, we ordered take-out of their vegan Italian sausage pizza and enjoyed this very much. The pizza has a nice crust with red sauce, chewy vegan Italian sausage and a vegan-based imitation mozzarella cheese made by Teese in Chicago. If you're vegan, you get used to the unique textures and tastes of individual imitation cheeses and we were excited that Basil used a variety we weren't familiar with. We ate the full pizza in one sitting (no leftovers!).

For our latest experience, we dined in and were glad that we did so. First off, the server was very knowledgeable about vegan options and helped guide us. We had the minestrone soup as an appetizer, which is vegan without any modifications. We also had the Roasted Grapes, which were amazing. Grapes were roasted in olive oil and some salt, and served with micro basil. The grapes were also served with a wheel of vegan cheese, a very nice touch. (Update 5/8/19: we're told the vegan cheese wheel didn't make it onto their regular menu and is not available.)

This time, we ordered the Mama Lou pizza modified to be vegan. This is a vegetarian pizza: asparagus, leeks, oven roasted tomatoes, onion and rainbow Swiss chard. To make it vegan, we had to swap out the white sauce for olive oil and use the vegan cheese. This was a very tasty pizza as well. 

We love Basil and we feel like they are only going to get more vegan-friendly as they develop. They have a nice wine menu (with lots of options by the glass) as well as cocktail and beer menu.

We really enjoyed Basil and plan to be back again. And again. And again!

We are blessed to have a wealth of Mediterranean food options in the Toledo area. NAR Mediterranean Grill distinguishes itself by applying the 'choose the toppings' approach that Chipotle created for burritos, Fuasian for sushi rolls and Blaze and others for pizza. At NAR, you can choose to make your own meal or you can choose a pre-arranged set of toppings, in this case called Chef's Creations.

We ordered the one vegan Chef's Creation option, the Falafel Pita Wrap, and another Build Your Own creation. For the Build Your Own option, you may choose as the base either a Lafta Wrap, NAR Salad Bowl, Basmati Rice, Hummus Bowl or Mujadara Rice. Then you choose protein, and the only vegan option is Falafel. Next you choose your set of toppings, including tomatoes, beets, fried pita chips, kalamata olives, and many other choices (all are vegan except feta cheese). Finally, you may choose a sauce. Vegan options are: hummus, tahini, fattoush dressing and shatta sauce (spicy).  

We enjoyed our meals a lot. The Falafel Pita Wrap was standard fare, though tasty. We did a Build Your Own with the hummus bowl as the base and a generous amount of vegan toppings with the shatta sauce on top (which was spicy not overly so). The creation was quite good and made us hungry to try other combinations! We ordered lentil soup as a side.

Both dishes were served with fresh baked fluffy pitas that tasted great when dipped in the hummus bowl. Make sure to try out NAR for lots of choices!