Organic Garden Café of Beverly, MA Offers Medicinal Food!”
Posted by Danielle on Oct 16, 2013 in American, Beverly, Eclectic, MA, Organic and/or Non-GMO | 0 comments
by Pegge Bochynski
Nestled in the seaside town of Beverly on the North Shore of Boston, Massachusetts, is a culinary gem—Organic Garden Café founded in 1999 by Robert Reid. According to the cafe’s website, Reid’s sister-in-law was fighting terminal cancer in the mid-1990s. Her illness launched him on a journey to seek an alternative diet that would support her in her battle. His extensive research led him to develop an organic, raw food diet packed with living nutrients. In a sense, he was somewhat ahead of his time. Over the succeeding years, studies have shown that similar diets featuring locally sourced, unprocessed, and antioxidant rich ingredients are essential to living a long, healthy life. Reid’s mission to help people access healthy, “medicinal” food became the basis for opening his Beverly restaurant.
Organic Garden Café is located on Cabot Street, a busy downtown thoroughfare. It’s housed in an intimate space with twelve to fourteen tables—mostly for two—placed closely together. A refrigerator case at the back of the establishment contains a variety of homemade vegan desserts, as well as take-out items, including the café’s own veggie burgers. The menu is a vegan-lover’s dream. Breakfast, lunch (weekdays only from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), and dinner items are prepared from scratch every day and feature certified whole foods, many of which come from local farms. Dishes are not cooked in the conventional sense. Instead food is prepared using no- or low-heat techniques. The result is fare that pops with melt-in-your-mouth flavor.
Because of the restaurant’s popularity and limited space, reservations are suggested. When we arrived around 1 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, only a few tables were occupied. But by the time we left, the place was nearly full. After we were seated, we surveyed the extensive menu options. There were so many delicious looking choices that it was difficult to decide. The guest of honor (the person whose birthday we were celebrating) selected the Nut Butter Squash Ravioli ($17.95). Made from thinly sliced red beets, the flavorful “raviolis” were stuffed with nut butter, covered in a vegan cashew alfredo sauce, and sprinkled with rosemary, walnuts, and tomatoes. The luscious dish was both light and satisfying. (more…)
Smell The Bread Café, A Newcomer To The Plant-Based Scene in Sarasota, FL!
Posted by Danielle Bussone on Sep 22, 2013 in American, I-75, Organic and/or Non-GMO, Sarasota, FL, Smell The Bread Café (Non-GMO) | 0 comments
By Stacy Perry
Located about 3 miles off I-75 on Clark Road, Smell the Bread walks the talk! This cozy place is committed to environmental and ethical stewardship, from their GMO-free pledge to their locally-sourced coffee roaster; and yes, the coffee is fair-trade and organic. They offer several vegan sandwiches (served on bread made in-house), a daily vegan feature Monday through Friday, and vegan salads with house-made dressings. If you’re traveling with a meat eater, Smell the Bread also offers a handful of items in which certified humane-raised chicken is the focus; this can also be added to any salad for an additional cost.
When I was there last, I ordered the Harvest Roast Panini and my dining companion ordered the vegan feature of the day, the Meatball Sandwich with homemade ricotta and pesto. Their six regular plant-based sandwiches range from $7.95 to $8.95, their daily vegan specials are $8.50.
Phoenix Garden Vegetarian Restaurant, Richmond, VA
Posted by Danielle Bussone on May 28, 2013 in Asian, I-95, Organic and/or Non-GMO, Phoenix Garden Vegetarian Restaurant, Richmond, VA, Vegan, Vietnamese | 0 comments
We discovered a real treasure in Richmond, Virginia. Phoenix Garden Vegetarian Restaurant offers Vietnamese cuisine and is the only completely vegan and completely organic restaurant in the city. The food was as gorgeous to look at as it was delicious. We were traveling late at night en-route to Washington, D.C. and only had time to review one restaurant during this mad dash through Richmond. We used a particularly ingenious and sophisticated method to determine which restaurant we would review. One of our monsters is a beautiful dog named Phoenix so we decided to grace Phoenix Garden Vegetarian Restaurant with our first review of the area’s cuisine. As it turns out, it was meant to be!
Phoenix is chef and co-owner with her husband, Vi Trinh. Phoenix became a vegan three years ago. She wanted to experience the foods she enjoyed as a child in Vietnam so she began preparing vegan Vietnamese food. They opened their Phoenix Garden Vegetarian Restaurant a year ago. The food is so flavorful it is no wonder it attracts visitors from as far away as Boston and Miami. It is a perfect stop when traveling I-95, accessible easily from the interstate. (more…)
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