HomeRestaurants Veggin’ Out- The Best Vegetarian and Vegetarian-Friendly Restaurants
Veggin’ Out- The Best Vegetarian and Vegetarian-Friendly Restaurants
Written by Kristyn Lak Miller
*Blue Moon Market-Café-Yoga and Madeline’s Truly Organic Kitchen photographs by Greg West
I’ve been a vegetarian for 20 years, but I have a confession to make. I used to be a rather enthusiastic carnivore (as a child, I once cried at a fast food joint until they served me a cheeseburger for breakfast). So when I removed meat, poultry, and seafood from my diet—for purely ethical reasons—it wasn’t good enough for me to simply slide the vegetable side dishes into the middle of my plate.
Cuisine should be creative, thoughtful, and satisfying to both the stomach and the soul. I’m seduced by appetizers like light-as-air Thai summer rolls dipped in a wildly spicy peanut sauce, entrées like hand-cut cavatelli with delicata squash and chanterelle fondue, and award-winning carrot cake for dessert that’s portioned so generously there’s enough to (secretly) eat for breakfast the next day. In other words, brown rice and steamed veggies just won’t do.
Hoping I’ve earned your trust as the carnivore’s favorite vegetarian, I’d like to introduce you to some of the tastiest vegetarian and vegetarian-friendly restaurants in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Grezzo
Boston, Massachusetts
Walk the North End’s narrow streets, and you’ll experience the sights, sounds, and smells of traditional Italy. But look a little closer at Grezzo restaurant, which opened in February 2008, and you’ll encounter something quite unexpected. Want a hint? “Grezzo” means “raw” in Italian, and this restaurant serves only organic, vegan, raw food. What the restaurant lacks in kitchen temperature—nothing is heated above 112 degrees in order to retain the food’s life force—it makes up for with its warm, inviting dining room. Executive Chef Leah Dubois’ menu changes daily but is consistently distinctive and delicious, with appetizers like delicate house-made gnocchi with a rawmesan sauce, fresh English peas, and pea shoots, entrées like lobster mushroom fettuccini with wilted Swiss chard, pickled garlic chips, and saffron cream, and desserts like velvety smooth cheesecake (made with nuts!) topped with fresh berries, kiwi, and lavender. “Ninety-eight percent of our customers have never tasted raw,” says owner Alissa Cohen. “The best compliment is when we get people who tell us that they travel and eat all over the world, and that this is the best meal they’ve ever had.” Grezzo is located at 69 Prince Street in Boston, Massachusetts, and is open Wednesday through Sunday, beginning at 5:00p.m. Call (857) 362-7288 or visit www.grezzorestaurant.com for more information.
UpStairs on the Square
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Follow the animal print carpet up—way up—a winding staircase to UpStairs on the Square’s Soirée Room, where co-owners Mary-Catherine Deibel and Deborah Hughes have created an enchanting space filled with Venetian opulence (mirrored ceiling tiles and gold-painted chairs) and Alice in Wonderland whimsy (purple banquettes and pink plaid walls). Executive Chef Steven Brand ensures your palate is equally dazzled by his local, seasonal, and sexy fare including impressive vegetarian items like a salad of roasted baby beets, arugula, panna cotta, and passion fruit with a spicy horseradish dressing, a main course of hand-cut cavatelli with spiced delicata squash and chanterelle fondue, and a trio of divine fruit gelato for dessert. “We have vegetarian and vegan five and seven course tasting menus every night,” says Deibel. “We also do a series of vegan event dinners in our Soirée Room. They are among our most popular events [and] consist of a set menu of four courses for $45, $65 with wines. It is communal seating, with Wine Director Matt Reiser talking about wines, and Steve coming down to talk about the vegan menu he selected.” UpStairs on the Square is located at 91 Winthrop Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is open daily from 11:00a.m. through 1:00a.m.; Soirée Room serves dinner Tuesday through Saturday, beginning at 5:30p.m. Call (617) 864-1933 or visit www.upstairsonthesquare.com for more information.
Rawbert’s Organic Café
Beverly, Massachusetts
“People are embracing the idea of eating healthy,” says Robert Reid, the owner of Rawbert’s Organic Café (known until recently as Organic Garden Café). “Most are carrying a feeling that they need to eat healthier, even if they’re not vegetarian.” Rawbert’s opened in December 1999 and, at first, was more apt to serve diners from Boston, Portland, or even Los Angeles than from the Beverly area. But as word spread, and the desire to eat healthier became more mainstream, locals started getting in line for Robert’s organic, vegan, mostly raw food and fresh juices. Appetizers include crunchy-yet-chewy corn and golden flax taco shells stuffed with seed burgers or guacamole, topped with shredded vegetables, and served with hot sauce and cooling cashew sour cream; entrées range from a harvest pizza with “roasted” rosemary walnuts, cranberries, apples, and leeks with cashew cheese to Thai dumplings (cleverly created from seeds, veggies, and exotic spices) served with blanched, marinated vegetables, teriyaki sauce, cashew butter, “candied” teriyaki cashew nuts, and long grain black wild rice. If you want to end your meal with something sweet, take your pick of dairy-free desserts and pies from the café’s large glass case. Rawbert’s Organic Café is located at 294 Cabot Street in Beverly, Massachusetts, and is open Tuesday through Thursday, 10:00a.m. through 9:00p.m., Friday and Saturday, 10:00a.m. through 10:00p.m., and Sunday, 10:00a.m. through 8:00p.m. Call (978) 922-0004 or visit www.rawberts.com for more information.
Blue Moon Market-Café-Yoga
Exeter, New Hampshire
“I just love good food,” says Kathy Gallant, owner of Blue Moon Market-Café-Yoga. “And I want to provide the healthiest, most affordable food possible. Our goal is to take care of people, serve earth-friendly fare, and respectfully introduce vegan and vegetarian items.” Gallant calls the café’s diverse menu—which runs the gamut from tuna to tofu—a “balancing act” that serves whole foods meant to be welcoming and familiar to everyone, from twenty-something raw foodists who come for the organic juice bar to grandmothers who prefer an egg salad sandwich. Part of the menu’s happy harmony is the result of its dynamic kitchen duo: Head Chef Matthew Greco and Vegan Chef Melody Polakow work together to offer satisfying, healthy, and diverse meals, breakfast through dessert. The café is 85 percent organic, and its most popular items are its salad bar (which goes well beyond standard salad bar with options like organic orange couscous) and its prepared foods case with rotating specials like the raw “super foods salad.” Blue Moon’s best-selling sandwich is tofu salad, which is so comforting and delicious, grandmothers might just change their order. Blue Moon Market-Café-Yoga is located at 8 Clifford Street in Exeter, New Hampshire, and is open Monday through Friday, 9:00a.m. through 7:00p.m., Saturday, 9:00a.m. through 5:00p.m., and Sunday, noon through 5:00p.m. Call (603) 778-2670 or visit www.bluemoonmarket.net for more information. Madeline’s Truly Organic Kitchen
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Four-year-old Madeline’s Truly Organic Kitchen is a take-out eatery tucked in the back of Portsmouth Health Food—although a counter and a few bar stools are available if you just can’t wait to dig in. “We give people organic food choices, but we don’t charge organic food prices,” says owner Scott Nelson. The menu includes turkey and tuna in addition to vegetarian, vegan, and raw items. Soups and deli items (like “raw slaw”) are made daily, juices and smoothies are made to order, and the small salad bar is well-stocked with fresh staples. Madeline’s has somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 sandwiches, which are offered in daily rotation in the deli case, but you can get any one made to order; a few sandwiches are “regulars” in the case, including the carnivore-converting club that’s simply irresistible with smoky tempeh bacon, tofurky (just try it!), crisp tomatoes and romaine, and soy mayo on whole wheat or rye bread. Don’t overlook their gluten-free baked goods and vegan desserts—the decadent brownie is downright cravable. Madeline’s Truly Organic Kitchen is located within Portsmouth Health Food at 151 Congress Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the café is open Monday through Friday, 9:00a.m. through 5:00p.m., Saturday, 9:00a.m. through 5:00p.m., and Sunday, 11:00a.m. through 5:00p.m.; the salad bar is open until 6:00p.m. Call (603) 436-1722 or visit www.portsmouthhealthfood.com for more information.
Susty’s Cafe
Northwood, New Hampshire
“Farmers come to my kitchen door all the time,” says Norma Koski, owner and head chef of Susty’s Cafe. Koski puts each farmer’s fresh and organic produce—in addition to what she grows herself—to good use at her vegan cafe, now celebrating its 10th anniversary. “People are making the connection and are interested in eating more local vegetables,” she says. Ninety-eight percent of the food served at Susty’s Cafe is organic and many of the meals are at least 80 percent local. Starters include light-as-air Thai summer rolls with a wildly spicy house-made peanut sauce and irresistibly crunchy soy fritters with a house-made tofu tartar sauce; sandwiches range from a cold hummus wrap to a sizzling hot pepper steak made with seitan (a tasty faux meat made from wheat); entrées include multi-tiered tofu lasagna with a house-made nutritional yeast cheese and black bean enchiladas smothered in hot sauce and salsa, both house-made. If you’re tofu phobic, one bite of their chocolate tofu pie will cure you! Susty’s Cafe is located at 159 1st New Hampshire Turnpike in Northwood, New Hampshire, and is open Thursday through Sunday, 11:00a.m. through 8:00p.m. (winter hours) and Sunday through Thursday 11:00a.m. through 8:00p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 11:00a.m. through 9:00p.m. (summer hours); credit cards aren’t accepted; cooking classes sometimes available. Call (603) 942-5862 for more information (no website).
Cafe Indigo
Concord, New Hampshire
It all started with a wedding. “My daughter was getting married and we couldn’t find a vegan wedding cake,” recalls Patti Dann, the owner and head chef of Cafe Indigo. After putting a vegan twist on family recipes, Dann had whipped up the perfect wedding cake for her daughter . . . and a home-based business for herself. Demand grew quickly and, a year and a half ago, Cafe Indigo found a large commercial kitchen and added a few tables to the pared-down dining room. While the I-can’t-believe-these-are-vegan cakes are still their mainstay (especially the super-moist carrot cake, which was honored by VegNews and is sold at many area Whole Foods Markets), you don’t just need a sweet tooth to appreciate Dann’s mostly organic offerings, like spicy chili with house-made cornbread and “The Rachael,” an inspired inter-pretation of a classic Rueben, dressed with their own special sauce and a house-made coleslaw that’s so good, you’ll take a container home with you. If you’re not a vegan, Cafe Indigo delights in converting diners with a best-of sampler plate. Cafe Indigo, a nut free facility, is located at 128H Hall Street in Concord, New Hampshire, and is open Monday through Friday, 8:30a.m. through 5:00p.m. and Sunday brunch from 10:00a.m. through 2:00p.m. Call (603) 224-1770 or visit www.cafeindigo.com for more information.
Green Elephant Vegetarian Bistro
Portland, Maine
Congress Street is the heart of Portland’s Downtown Arts District, with its museums, galleries, and Green Elephant Vegetarian Bistro, which serves works of art best appreciated by a diner’s palate. Danai Sriprasert and Nattasak Wongsaichua opened the bistro in 2007; though neither is vegetarian, “we come from a Buddhist background, and vegetarian eating is a big part of our culture,” says Sriprasert. The dining room has a split personality—dark on one side, light on the other—but its menu has a distinct Asian focus and includes as many organic fruits and vegetables as possible. A favorite starter is ultra-crispy spring rolls bursting with shiitake mushrooms and served with a sweet/sour sauce so tempting you’ll want to dip both your spring rolls and your fingers. Entrées range from slightly sweet slow-cooked peanut curry with potatoes, carrots, and onions served alongside delectable mashed buttercup squash and brown jasmine rice to the more adventurous veggie-duck, flambéed in garlic sauce. The most popular dessert is their vegan chocolate orange mousse pie with chocolate-dipped orange slices (no need to wonder why it’s a favorite). Green Elephant Vegetarian Bistro is located at 608 Congress Street in Portland, Maine, and is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11:30a.m. through 2:30p.m. and 5:00p.m. through 9:30 p.m., and Sunday 5:00p.m. through 9:00p.m.. Call (207) 347-3111 or visit www.greenelephantmaine.com for more information.
Kristyn Lak Miller has been a vegetarian for the last 20 years, and a travel and wine writer since 2001.
Restaurants 
I’ve been a vegetarian for 20 years, but I have a confession to make. I used to be a rather enthusiastic carnivore (as a child, I once cried at a fast food joint until they served me a cheeseburger for breakfast). So when I removed meat, poultry, and seafood from my diet—for purely ethical reasons—it wasn’t good enough for me to simply slide the vegetable side dishes into the middle of my plate. 
Grezzo
Blue Moon Market-Café-Yoga 
Madeline’s Truly Organic Kitchen 
