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!

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).

We're always excited when a local restaurant adds vegan options to its menu. Barr's Public House has added a section to their computerized menu (available online) that focuses on vegetarian, gluten-free and vegan dishes. Each item is clearly labeled and there are several great options.

We had the sriracha cauliflower bites for an appetizer, which were lightly fried and delicious. For entrees, we had the Homegrown Tacos and the Easy Sliders. Both the sliders and the tacos had lightly fried imitation Impossible meat. The tacos had healthy portions of avocado, black bean, corn, pico de gallo and vegan garlic aioli.  The sliders were served on toasted pretzel buns, and had lettuce, tomato, pickled jalapeños and the same vegan garlic aioli.

Both were delicious, and well-portioned in terms of size. There is a garlic hummus available that we haven't tried yet. Barr's Public House includes a full bar with interesting wines and rotating craft beers.
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We applaud Barr's Public House for adding some vegan options, and we'll be sure to be back as our meals were delicious!

Sushi restaurants are often a good bet for getting a vegan meal, as most places have vegetarian rolls that are often vegan. Spicy Tuna takes it to a new level by having their own vegan menu, with rolls made specifically vegan as well as other vegan entrees.

When you get there, ask for the vegan menu. We love that there is a separate menu for vegans so that we don't need to navigate the regular menu. The only danger is that non-vegans might be interested in some of the vegan options and that there may be some people who don't know to ask about the vegan menu (that can be solved by having a line on the traditional menu saying: "Ask for our separate vegan menu.").  The good news is that by having a separate menu, there is no need to ask about specific ingredients and modifications.

There are a bunch of soups and appetizers that are vegan including magic mushrooms and tempura tofu bites. The entrees are separated into Wok items and Sushi.

We ordered the Lo Mein and Ma-Pa Tofu, both Chinese inspired dishes that were given a vegan twist.  The Lo Mein noodles were made from zucchini; both dishes had rich flavorful sauces. 

We also ordered the Spicy California roll as well as the Vegan Mexican roll.  Both of these were creative. The Mexican roll used vegan cream cheese and both had vegan mayo as part of their sauces.

We have lots to try in return visits but we encourage all readers of our page to try out Spicy Tuna. The mixture of traditional Chinese dishes with a vegan twist along with creative vegan sushi rolls was a nice combination.

There are lots of vegan pizza options in the Toledo area with Blaze, Pizza Fire and Za Za Wood Fired Pizza. Add another choice for vegans: Bambino's Pizza in Sylvania.

Bambino's added vegan options for their pizza by making a vegan sauce as well as carrying vegan cheese. Their crust was already vegan and so, with a few additional modifications, they expanded their market.

We enjoyed their pizza, ordering a large garden pizza vegan-style that came with mushrooms, green peppers, onions, tomatoes and black olives. They have a standard set of vegetable options. The crust was in between thin crust and thick crust, think standard crust but of higher quality. The toppings were fresh and the vegan cheese was applied just at the right level (too much vegan cheese can be overwhelming, at least to us).

They deliver (not sure what their delivery area is) and have a small dine-in space. Right now, the Sylvania Bambino's is serving vegan pizza, and the Eleanor Avenue location is owned by the same folks and may have vegan options as well.

This is high quality, everyday pizza. There are no gourmet trendy toppings, just the standard ones that you can find at most pizza places. We really enjoyed this pizza. Bambino's will stand out as the place to order for a big party, when you have to order non-vegan pizzas in addition to vegan ones. In situations like this, in the past, we have gone with standard pizza places and ordered a veggie pizza without cheese. No more.

Thanks Bambino's for making vegan options available to a wider audience and making it possible for us to enjoy your delicious pizza!

P.S. They also have hummus available, though we haven't tried it yet.

Northwest Ohio has made a lot of progress in vegan dining in the past two years since we started Vegan Toledo. We have our first vegetarian cafe (which is nearly all vegan) in Greenleaf Cafe, our first area Vegetarian Fest and now we're excited that Northwest Ohio has a completely vegan food truck. This is a huge leap forward in terms of promoting a plant-based diet. The Leaf and Seed has run a plant-based catering business and been quite successful (the lines were quite long at VegFest!). 

We were excited to try the food truck and went for their official kick-off. To make it simple, everything on the menu is 100% vegan. The rotating menu has a gluten-free section and a non gluten-free section. We ordered three entrees: Loaded Nachos, a Sesame Ginger Noodle Salad and Black Bean Sliders with Rosemary Sweet Potatoes. We also ordered a brownie and a cupcake.

Given that their menu will rotate, we don't want to comment too much on individual dishes except to say each was delicious and creative. The brownie was deliciously gooey and the cupcake was tasteful and elegant. This is food that would be an excellent introduction to vegan cuisine for non-vegans but who are willing to give it a try.

Given that it was their first day, there was a long line but food was prepared quickly and the staff greeted everybody with a warm smile.

We're excited that The Leaf and Seed took a chance and started this food truck business in Northwest Ohio. We urge everybody who follows our page to check them out!  

Grumpy's is bringing its plant-based magic out on the road. Their food truck, Grumpy's on the Go, now has a separate plant-based menu and their items are quickly becoming some of our favorites.

There are two sandwiches, a "tuna" salad sandwich made with garbanzo beans, served with lettuce and tomato along with a bag of chips, and a pulled "pork" sandwich made with portobello and barbecue jackfruit served with chips and some vegan slaw.  

There are two amazing salads. The vegan garbage salad has poppyseed dressing, eggplant bacon, seasoned jackfruit "chicken" and vegan cheese topping a mixed greens base. The vegan taco salad has guacamole, barbecue jackfruit, jalapenos, corn-bean-tomato salsa, nacho chips and a salsa ranch sauce over romaine salad.  

We liked both sandwiches. We put the slaw directly on the pulled "pork" sandwich and that moistness added a nice touch to it. But we keep coming back to both of the salads. They are full meals with such diversity in the salads. There is something new and exciting in each bite. They have a kale and quinoa side salad that we haven't tried yet. We appreciated their vegan brownie as well as their vegan chocolate chip cookie (that is also gluten-free).

The Grumpy's on the Go food truck goes throughout the Toledo area with stops in Perrysburg, Maumee, downtown Toledo and Sylvania currently on their schedule.  Check their Facebook page for updates on locations. Also, they do occasionally sell out of some items and will post that to their page. So check before you head out. 

Thank you, Grumpy's, for having the plant-based menu! 

Bowling Green has surprisingly few steady vegan options for a university town. One nice exception, however, is Naslada Bistro, which focuses on Eastern European cuisine, a cuisine that typically isn't friendly to vegans. Naslada has several clearly labeled vegan options, and one that we got that was modified.

For appetizers, we ordered the Original and Walnut-Beet Hummus, which was served with sour dough bread. The dish comes with feta which we asked to hold. We also ordered the Classic Old World Bruschetta without the cheese. Both of these were very good, though we had a preference for the Bruschetta, which had a nice mix of fresh tomatoes, roasted red peppers and fresh parsley.

For entrees, the Portabella Gyuvech is clearly labeled vegan and was a nice mix of tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, roasted red peppers and a tasty Bulgarian sauce lutenitsa, served with rice. We also ordered the red lentil stew, which was made vegan by leaving out the cheese. It included lentils, root vegetables and rice topped with al dente cauliflower. We felt like all of the ingredients that went into the dishes were fresh and the combination of spices were unique.

The atmosphere inside Naslada is well done with low levels of lighting augmented with candles, rustic decorations, a nice wine and beer list that includes hard-to-find European styles of wine and beer and a wait staff that is attentive at just the right level. And bonus points for them having biodegradable to-go containers! This is a nice place for a dinner where you want to linger in conversation.