European Street Café, A Favorite Vegan Meetup Venue In Northeast Florida.

by Michael Wilkins

European Street Café Interior

Jacksonville is fortunate to have a strong vegetarian/vegan community. There are a couple of Meetup groups here that host regular functions. The Northeast Florida Vegetarian Society is Jacksonville’s vegetarian society and JaxRaw Meetup Group is for raw food enthusiasts. Recently I had the opportunity to attend one of these gatherings which convened at the European Street Café.

Approximately 40 people attended an event which featured a tour through the garden behind the Beach Boulevard location. One of the daughters of the owner is quite involved in setting up the garden.

She is working with a permaculturist who has created a garden that is self-sustaining. They grow quite a variety of plants in the garden, featuring peppers, collards, various herbs, fruits and other vegetables. We had the opportunity to tour the garden and learn about how it was put together.

One of the interesting things I saw was a worm composting area where they actually drain the liquid created by the action of the worms and pour that “worm juice” on to the soil where the plants grow. This is done by using the worms and scraps from the restaurant to create the liquid which feeds the plants. The plants then feed us and the whole cycle begins again. This project depends on a lot of volunteers, and people are happy to participate since they learn a great deal about how to create their own self-sustaining garden at home. We picked a bunch of collard greens and some herbs and went back into the restaurant to order our meal.

Alfredo Noodle Bowl

On the menu was a variety of raw food choices. I chose the sauzage Alfredo Noodle Bowl, with spiraled garden squash topped with Brazil nut and Coconut Alfredo sauce, almond and Brazil nut sausage, sun-dried tomatoes and kalamata olives.

Raw Reuben

Marjie chose the Raw Reuben with fresh Dilly Kraut, tomatoes, spicy mustard and cashew cheeze slices. We also sampled the Cashew Chesse and crackers featuring creamy cashew cheese, home made gluten free crackers and cucumber slices.

Cashew Cheese with Crackers

While we were eating there was a demonstration about how to make pesto and place it into a collared rap with shredded carrot, tomato and parsley.

Cooking Demo: Making Wraps

Cooking Demo: Making Pesto

Then it was time for dessert.We ordered a Shakti dessert called Strawberry Fields (anyone remember this?). The Shakti desserts are totally organic, vegan, gluten-free and made with cashew cheese. After tasting the dessert no one would believe that it was good for you.

Strawberry Fields

They also feature a great selection of beers from all over the world as well as some that are locally crafted.

There are four locations of the European Street Café in Jacksonville. There is one downtown in the Riverside area, another just outside of downtown in San Marco, a third in Jacksonville Beach, and a fourth on Jacksonville’s Southside. All of these locations are easy to get to and can be found quite simply by doing a Google search for European Street Café. The search will pull up all four locations with Google tabs which can then be found by clicking the Google map location. Stop in and go raw or get something else from their menu. There are many choices. Just don’t forget to save room for dessert.

Michael Wilkins is a respiratory therapist, an avid scuba diver and an accomplished photographer. He has been living with hepatitis C for more than two decades and is a cancer surviver. Michael has kept liver cancer at bay by employing the healing properties of a plant-based diet.

A year later, after a strict plant-based regimine, his tumor markers are normal and his MRIs are clean! This has made Michael more passionate about staying on a vegan diet. He has met lots of wonderful passionate people with amazing stories while walking down this path. Michael’s area is Northeast Florida, particularly the Jacksonville area. Contact Michael to share your restaurant finds, make comments, or just to say hello!