Northwest Ohio is blessed with many great Mediterranean restaurants, which is great news for vegans because Mediterranean restaurants nearly always have something for vegans to eat (e.g., it's hard to make hummus non-vegan!). Bite Me Twice is a nice addition to Toledo's portfolio of Mediterranean restaurants and stands out in many ways.

First off, items on their menu are clearly labeled vegan (other dietary restrictions are also noted when appropriate, such as gluten-free). Clearly labeling items is a simple thing that restaurateurs can do to help vegans feel comfortable; we feel uncomfortable on relying on wait staff to help navigate menus, given that many wait staff members are not trained well on what is and isn't vegan (we had one restaurant owner offer us shrimp AFTER we told him we're vegan).  

The staff at Bite Me Twice were extremely friendly and were able to answer specific questions that we had about the menu. Questions about dietary choices are often treated by wait staff as a nuisance. The staff, including one of the co-owners, were excited to answer our questions.

Third, the food was quite good.

We ordered the 12 Vegetable Soup as an appetizer, as well as Loubie. The soup had what we thought was a homemade taste, with a broth that was light and tasty but not overly salty as many restaurant soups are. There were freshly cut vegetables including nice chunks of potatoes. The Loubie is a green bean dish sauteed with tomatoes, onions and nice chunks of garlic. It was not listed as an appetizer but was listed as an entree and was not labeled vegan. In discussion with the staff, it turns out in the dinner version of Loubie, there is rice that is not vegan. Ordering it as an appetizer, it was easy to make it vegan. We loved that as an appetizer and hope it gets added to the menu so that you don't have to ask about it.  We also ordered hummus and had a nice portion that was served with pita as well as vegetables for dipping.

For entrees, we ordered the Z Fattoush Salad as well as the Baba Falafel roll. The later was not labeled vegan in the menu, though the owner noted that that was a misprint (the roll is vegan as is; no modifications needed). The roll was grilled and had a nice mixture of baba ghanouj, falafel, greens, pickles and parsley. The salad was a large portion and included a nice mixture of greens, pita chips, spices and it had a nice lemon dressing. If you're a fan of citrus, this salad has your name on it.

There was an apple bar for dessert. This was made from a bakery outside of Cleveland. It was just okay, though it was nice to have a sweet treat at the end of the meal. 

We loved our lunch at Bite Me Twice and are glad that we were hungry when we went. We'll definitely be back!

We're excited about Vibrant Vegan. Right now, VV is a pop-up that serves vegan food on Sundays from 11 to 7 p.m. They are located in the back of a carry-out in a strip mall on Hill Avenue. As of right now, there isn't any signage and so just head to the back of the Mini Mart, which has a kitchen, and place your order. You won't regret it.

They have a rotating menu (check their web site) with a soul food platter special as well as smoothie options and flavored waters. We ordered the Sunday special, which was a barbecue sandwich that mimicked pulled pork, using sweet potatoes. We've had lots of vegan BBQ sandwiches using jackfruit and so it was a real treat to have this option. The sweet potatoes were covered in a thick BBQ sauce that was tangy and sweet and then topped with coleslaw and then all fit into a bun. The sandwich was delicious and very unique!

There were sides of potato salad and baked beans, both which were tasty and complemented the sandwich nicely. The whole platter was filling but the food was not heavy. We find that a lot of vegan food achieves its tastiness with an over-reliance on oil. This food was tasty and healthy. 

We're excited to watch what's next for Vibrant Vegan. They offer a meal service and so make sure to let us know how that is if you try them. In the meantime, we'll be making sure to make Vibrant Vegan part of our Sunday routine!

One side note, plan on carry-out. There really isn't seating within the convenience store. 

From our experience, Vietnamese restaurants often have some of the best vegan options. Pho Viet Nam is an unassuming restaurant inside an old storefront on Upton Avenue. We have been there several times and have enjoyed our meals.
Each time, we have ordered the vegetarian spring rolls as an appetizer. These are served with peanut dipping sauce. We always appreciate a non-fried option for appetizer and the vegetarian spring rolls are quite tasty without being fried.

We order the Hu Tieu Chay, which is a vegetable noodle soup. This is served with chunks of tofu, greens and sprouts in a nice vegetarian broth. We also order Bun Chay, which is rice vermicelli with vegetables. This is served with tofu, carrots, sprouts, basil and some other vegetables.

Both of these dishes are tasty without being heavy. We always feel like we can eat our full portions and not be overly stuffed. 

We highly recommend Pho Viet Nam. There are only a couple of options for vegans, but both are quite good and complement each other well.  

Also, we can't write a review of a Vietnamese restaurant without putting out a plea for a vegan banh mi sandwich. We have had vegan banh mi in a variety of places and they are one of our favorite dishes. Please, somebody in Toledo, start serving vegan banh mi!

We were excited to try out Rayoka because, during their initial launch, they had made a special point to reach out to vegans on Facebook to promote their vegan-friendly options. Also, there seemed to be some enthusiasm from the people who tried it out during their soft launch. As a guideline, we try to avoid soft launches and try to give a restaurant a bit of time to settle down before trying it out.

We ordered the vegan hibachi as well as two vegetable sushi rolls as appetizers, a shiitake mushroom roll and an avocado roll. The rolls were solid and served as a nice appetizer. The vegan hibachi comes with soup and salad. There were two soup options but only the miso soup is vegan. It was standard miso soup fare. We love standard miso soup and enjoyed it. For salad, you have two choices of dressing, ginger or a sesame-based dressing, both vegan and both tasty. The salad was iceberg lettuce, pretty typical for a Japanese restaurant.

The vegan hibachi is cooked in the back and brought to the table. You have the option of white rice or fried rice. Being health conscious, we chose the white rice. The hibachi included a nice mixture of vegetables: zucchini, broccoli, mushrooms, onions and tofu. The flavor was quite nice, though a bit heavy in oil (it is fried after all), and the portion size was large. We should have had leftovers but we soldiered through and finished our plates.  

Overall, we enjoyed our meal. The vegan hibachi is a nice touch, but it isn't like the traditional hibachi served at the table with a chef who bangs knives around, lights things on fire and jokes with the table. There seem to be other options on the menu, though we were disappointed that the menu didn't have vegan items labeled clearly. We hope that in the future, there is clear labeling. The chef seems very creative and so we hope that there are also some special vegan sushi rolls created.

Finally, there is a full bar with a creative cocktail menu. We really appreciate Rayoka having vegan options and reaching out to the vegan community when launching their restaurant. We look forward to seeing its growth!

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!

The upscale Element 112 in Sylvania has created a more casual dining space, which is attached to the main restaurant but next door. We noticed on their online menu that they have a clearly labeled vegan creme brulee. We always crave a good vegan dessert and so we headed there to see what kind of a vegan meal we could get.

Most of the menu is focused on burgers and seafood, but there is a cauliflower steak as an entree that was fried and covered with a nice curry spice and a dijon vinaigrette. For sides, we got fried Brussels sprouts (hold the feta) and fried fingerling potatoes. We also shared a roasted carrot salad which had a nice Thai chili glaze. We always like sharing a main entree and loading up with appetizers and or salad and so all of this food was quite filling. We had leftovers!

For dessert, we ordered the vegan creme brulee, which had a nice glaze on top, though the main part of it tasted like pudding. It was covered with fresh berries – a very nice touch.

We appreciated finding a vegan entree and dessert here and hope that they expand their vegan options! There is a nice beer and wine menu to help complement the meal.

Sam B's, a long-standing restaurant in Bowling Green, has made a commitment to have vegan entrees available and they have done a great job.  

On their regular menu, they have an Impossible Burger made with vegan aioli served on multi-grain bread. This burger is quite tasty and a good stand-by for vegans. Also, they have Vegan Mac-and-Cheese, which is made with lentil-based pasta (we love having fiber with our pasta!), tossed with cremini mushrooms, roasted cauliflower, and covered with a delicious cashew cream. We have had the mac-and-cheese several times and have really enjoyed it – a delicious vegan comfort food.

They also have weekly dinner specials and have had a commitment to having at least one vegan option with the specials. The last time we went, there was a vegan flatbread that was quite creative. Currently, there is a vegan linguine with tempeh meatballs special that we would love to try. 

SamB's has upped their "vegan game" and we consider them to be a must-try destination for those seeking vegan food in Bowling Green. The atmosphere is nice with well-trained wait staff and a full bar, including a nice wine menu. We also like that there are several vegan items on their regular menu, as well as a rotating item that gives a sense of the unexpected for us vegans. Rarely do we get our own specials!

Jacky’s Depot Ice Cream Parlor in Maumee has closed for the season but they are offering a vegan mint chip ice cream pie for order for the holidays!
 
All their ice cream is made in-house, and this year they added a line of vegan ice cream. The recipe is coconut-based and is made with all-natural ingredients and as many certified-organic ingredients as possible, according to the company.
 
The mint chip ice cream pies come in a 9-inch vegan graham cracker crust and cost $15 each. Gluten-free pie crusts are also available for $17 each—please specify at the time of ordering if you would like a gluten-free crust instead. They will be available for pick up on Sunday, December 16 or Sunday, December 23 from noon to 2 p.m. each day. Jacky’s Depot will place reminder calls or texts to all customers who order a pie.
 
Call 419-893-0216 to place an order or contact Jacky’s Depot through their web site (http://www.jackysdepot.com/wp/) or their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/JackysDepotMaumee/). You just need to specify the type of pie (vegan or regular) and what kind of crust (regular or gluten-free) when ordering. Jacky’s Depot’s homemade mint chip ice cream and vegan mint chip ice cream are gluten-free, however, the regular pie crust does contain wheat.
 
Jacky’s Depot plans to have at least two vegan flavors in the dip case at all times next year – or more if the demand is there. If you have any flavor requests or general suggestions, please let them know!
 
We are excited to order a Vegan Mint Chip Ice Cream Pie from Jacky’s Depot to share with our family!

There are a lot of options for vegan pizzas in Northwest Ohio now, with many places applying the Chipotle model (you pick the ingredients and we'll make it to order) to pizza-making. Bowling Green finally has a place for delicious, quick vegan pizzas.  

At Rapid Fired Pizza, you pick the dough (pan and thin crust are both vegan--warning: gluten free is not), sauce (all are vegan except pesto, ranch and white) and toppings. They also have vegan cheese. For vegetable toppings, they have a large variety, including nearly all traditional pizza veggies, as well as arugula and some other interesting ones.

We appreciate that the website has all allergen information listed and so it is easy to identify the vegan options. In addition to pizzas, you can make vegan calzones, pasta and salads. We stuck with the pizza, which was cooked quickly and was quite delicious. 

Vegans in the Bowling Green area are fortunate now that they can get a high-quality vegan pizza with lots of options! 

We were excited to try Brim House as they have a few items labeled vegan-friendly on their menu (be sure to still tell them you're vegan when ordering). They are the first floor restaurant in the Renaissance Hotel (check out our review of The Heights for the rooftop restaurant in the same hotel) and cater to fine dining guests.

For an appetizer, we ordered the Carrots 3 Ways, which has carrots pureed into a cream, carrots roasted and a carrot bark. This was an amazing dish, beautiful to look at, tasty and very creative. Too often, the vegan dishes on restaurant menus are simple to make but often involve little imagination. It's been a couple weeks since we had this dish, and we still are reflecting on its creativity. It's great when a top chef applies his or her talents fully on vegan dishes!

For entrees, we had the portobello entree, which included smoked cauliflower, asparagus, ramps (a wild onion) and Romesco (a nut and pepper based sauce). We also ordered the Summer Vegetable Tacos, which had mushrooms, baby squash and hummus.  The portabello entree and the appetizer were labeled Vegan Friendly (which translates into Vegan), though the tacos required a slight modification. The server was very knowledgeable and accommodating.   

For dessert, they offered a mango sorbet, which was divine, creamy and rich in mango flavor. They rotate the sorbet flavors and so we look forward to trying what they have next time.

This is a fine dining experience. They have a great cocktail and wine list and an excellent wait staff who knew just when to stop by and when to leave us alone. We went there early and were able to get a window view that looked out over the Maumee river – another nice touch. We really enjoyed our experience here. The food was delicious and creative. We can't wait to return!

Jacky’s Depot Ice Cream Parlor in Maumee has closed for the season but each year after closing, they make Pumpkin Ice Cream Pies for Thanksgiving. This year they will be offering a vegan version as well!
 
All their ice cream is made in-house, and this year they added a line of vegan ice cream. The recipe is coconut-based and is made with all-natural ingredients and as many certified-organic ingredients as possible, according to the company.
 
The pumpkin ice cream pies come in a 9-inch vegan graham cracker crust and cost $15 each. They will be available for pick up the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving from 5 to 7 p.m. Jacky’s Depot will place reminder calls or texts to all customers who order a pie.
 
Call 419-893-0216 to place an order or contact Jacky’s Depot through their web site (http://www.jackysdepot.com/wp/) or their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/JackysDepotMaumee/). You just need to specify the type of pie (vegan or regular) when ordering. Jacky’s Depot’s homemade pumpkin ice cream and vegan pumpkin ice cream are gluten-free, however, the pie crust does contain wheat.
 
Jacky’s Depot plans to have at least two vegan flavors in their dip case at all times next year – or more if the demand is there. If you have any flavor requests or general suggestions, please let them know!
 
We are excited to order a Vegan Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie from Jacky’s Depot to share with our family at Thanksgiving this year!

Local Roots is a juice and smoothie bar that also has nice breakfast options for vegans.

They have a set of toasts that are quite tasty. We tried the Avocado toast and the Pumpkin Spice toast. The avocado toast was one piece of bread that was richly covered with slices of fresh avocado. There are lots of places that have avocado toast and each one differs in subtle or not-so-subtle ways. Local Roots was one of our favorites in that it was richly covered with everything bagel spices as well as a touch of cayenne. The avocado toast needs to be modified to be vegan, in that the standard version includes butter. You can substitute coconut oil for the butter but we just did without (and didn't miss it).  The Pumpkin Spice toast included a pumpkin cinnamon maple spread covered with toasted pumpkin seeds. It was sweeter than the avocado toast and so they complemented each other well. For vegans, ask for the gluten-free bread as the other breads have honey in them. We thought the gluten-free bread was tasty and chewy.

We had their chocolate banana chia overnight oats, which included rolled oats, banana, almond milk, cacao, maple syrup, chia seeds, Himalayan salt and cacao nibs. This was very delicious and sweet but not overly so. We could eat that every morning!  

We ended our breakfast with a homemade bottle of almond milk. They make their almond milk there and it was simple and refreshing.

There were several other types of overnight oats and toasts and we look forward to trying them. In addition, they have lots of smoothies, all which can be made vegan. They have bowls as well, including a Classic Acai Bowl as well as oatmeal in which you can choose the toppings.  Also, they have cold-press juices waiting for you to taste. On a separate visit, we tried the Clean Green juice and one of the fruit smoothies and both were great!

We enjoyed what we've tried here so far and look forward to returning!

Thanks to a reader, we got a tip that there is a vegan juice bar and restaurant with great food in Fremont, so we took a trip down there and were really glad that we did!

This is a cute place that focuses on fresh raw juice, superfood smoothies, bowls, salads and sandwiches. Everything is vegan except for a few items include bee pollen and honey. We ordered an NRG juice (carrot, orange, lemon and ginger) as well as chocolate avocado toast (also includes blueberries and strawberries on top), jackfruit street tacos and a mock BLT.  

Everything was delicious! The jackfruit tacos were nicely seasoned and had fresh vegetables and cilantro on them, plus they had some nice sauces to try on top. The mock BLT was a favorite of ours. The imitation bacon was made in-house and had a texture similar to tempeh, with a nice smokiness. The chocolate and avocado together on toast was a nice touch, and the juice was fresh and delicious.

There are many, many other items on their menu that we want to try including dairy-free cream bowls, several interesting salads and a homemade black bean burger. Juice Garden is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and now has a drive-through window as well as their dine-in option. 

We talked briefly with the owner, who moved from California to Ohio and turned to a plant-based diet for health reasons. She is now making her healthy lifestyle available to others via her restaurant. We hope she is so successful that she opens a location in Toledo!

Vegans love their ice cream and some of our top inquiries are where to find good vegan ice cream (#1 inquiry is where to find vegan breakfast). The Toledo area has lots of options now and Jacky's Depot stands out in a couple of ways.

First off, they have home-made vegan ice cream. Most vegan ice creams that we have had are mass-produced by some big conglomerate. Both of the times we have been to Jacky's Depot, there has been one vegan homemade option: once a strawberry version and another time a chocolate-peanut butter version. These were both tasty and felt a little less heavy than other vegan ice creams that we have had.

Jacky's also carries Dole Whip soft serve and they note that the fruit versions of Dole Whip soft serve are vegan (the chocolate and vanilla versions are not). Finally, they have fresh pops that they make in house that are basically locally sourced fruit and cane sugar. We have had these fresh pops at the Perrysburg Farmers Market and love the avocado coconut one as well as any with berries. Make sure to ask which flavors are vegan, though, as a small number of them have cream or cookies.

We applaud Jacky's for making homemade vegan ice cream and providing other options for vegans as well. Make sure to stop by there soon though – they close in Mid-October (opening back up in mid-March).