We loved the newest vegan dish at Registry Bistro. They rotate their menu seasonally and seem to always have a vegan entree. For dinner, we had the Brussels sprouts as an appetizer, followed by their newest vegan dish: Mediterranean “meatballs” with tofu feta and coconut yogurt stewed tomatoes with olives and lemon. For dessert, they still had their vegan chocolate tart with beet sauce.

The appetizer had a large number of fried brussel sprouts, though to be honest, as we have reduced the amount of oil in our diet, we found them a bit too heavy. Others might like them more than we did. On the other hand, we LOVED the Mediterranean "meatballs." They tasted nutty and had a very nice texture and the tofu feta was delicious. We really believe that one of the keys to vegan cooking is creative use of sauces. This one rocked it. The dessert was a nice treat, with the beet sauce really tasting like beets.

With the entree, chef Erika Rapp really knocked it out of the park. We are already planning our repeat visit.

We must admit that we have a soft spot for Registry Bistro and that it is perhaps our favorite fine dining restaurant in the area. In terms of vegan options, chef Erika Rapp always makes sure there is at least one clearly-marked vegan entrée on their seasonally rotating menu. It is always comforting to see a clearly-marked item on the menu as that removes any ambiguity and confusion. For our ideal restaurant experience, however, we would like several choices so that we can both sample a vegan entrée and share our food. Nearly every time, the chef has been able to accommodate us by creating an off-the-menu vegan entrée that is often even better than the dish listed on the menu. The restaurant prides itself by using locally-sourced seasonal vegetables and these spontaneous dishes are often creative mixtures of what is currently available.

The menu is generally heavy on the meats, though we have found the servers to be very knowledgeable about possible modifications that can be made and so there are generally choices between several appetizers and salads. Finally, every time we have gone, they have had a vegan sorbet, often blackberry cabernet, available for dessert. We don't ever expect that there will be vegan dessert options when we dine out and so this is always a nice treat!

This past Thursday, we split a Bibb salad (modified to be vegan), had the vegan-labeled pan-roasted Romanesco “Steak” with Cannellini and Kohirabi Kimchai in a saffron-tomato broth. The “steak” was a roasted Romanesco, which seemed to be a hybrid between cauliflower and broccoli. Finally, they modified a dish that originally had gnocchi and replaced that with lentils with a golden cauliflower puree, along with mushrooms and fiddlehead ferns.

We love how they have refurbished the ground floor of the old Secor Hotel and created an atmosphere that is contemporary, with a space laden with rotating single-artist art shows housed by River House Arts. The cocktail menu has unique takes on classic cocktails (Rachel recommends the Retro-Fashioned!), the craft beer menu has something for all and the wine menu is one of the best in the city. Also, we feel like the prices are quite reasonable for the dining experience that you get. Check it out!

One of our goals at Vegan Toledo is to encourage and support restaurants that are doing a good job, as well as to nudge those that could do better. Until now, we have only published reviews that are based on our own firsthand experience.

The bulk of questions we have been getting lately are about catering and special events for vegans in the area, from vegan wedding cakes to cool venues to host vegans with their omni friends and family.

In order to help these folks as best we can (since we've only bought one vegan wedding cake and don't have huge parties all the time), we are reaching out to our community to learn more about your catering recommendations in the Toledo area. Please consider filling out this brief survey about any recent catering experiences you've had. If you have a catering company, please encourage your customers to fill one out.

Thanks for your help!

There are a lot of great communities in NW Ohio that do not have a vegetarian/vegan restaurant.  Within the last year, Toledo finally got one. Bowling Green, despite its large number of college students, doesn't have one.  But Napoleon does!

We made the drive from Perrysburg (about 30 minutes) on a Saturday to try out Season's Eatings and were so happy that we did.
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It's a cafe and marketplace as well as a bakery (Kyra's Bakery Connection is located inside the cafe). We ordered two soups, one tomato-based and another that was a vegetable mix that had a nice coriander seasoning. For our next course, we had roasted-celery hummus as well as a chickpea salad, both that were quite good.  There is a chip bar that includes bags of chips that are available for purchase, so it was nice to try out a variety of pitas with the hummus. 

For the main course, we had two burgers, one a broccoli burger and another one made of black beans.  Both were served on freshly made bread and both were delicious. We both agreed that the broccoli burger is likely the best vegan burger we've had in NW Ohio. It had a rich flavor that had a slight broccoli taste as well as rich nuttiness.

For dessert, there was gluten-free vegan brownie that was moist and very delicious!  

This is homemade vegan food with everything freshly made within the cafe. The atmosphere is charming too, with cloth napkins and plates that look like you're eating at home (different colors and shapes).  Everything is vegetarian, though not everything is vegan.  Just make sure to ask as the staff is knowledgeable about their food as they make it!

The marketplace has snacks, trinkets, and food items, many that are from the area and region. We really enjoyed our time at Season's Eatings and will plan to return soon.  Downtown Napoleon is charming; one of the regions best microbreweries is right down the street, Flatrock.  Make it a day trip!