Home Grown Cafe
126 East Main Street, Newark, DE 19711
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When my parents first moved to Delaware one of the first things I did was scope out restaurants in the area that I could visit (and review). It turns out that downtown Newark has a lot of vegan friendly options, Chipotle, Bahn Mi Boy, Honeygrow, Brew Ha Ha (carried Dottie’s Donuts), and Home Grown Cafe. In fact after looking at the menu, I almost immediately wanted to eat at Home Grown Cafe.
They have a VERY vegan friendly menu, in fact you can almost get anything off of their menu. How? They have a bunch of different options and you have the choice of “protein.” They have different price points, most expensive beef, mid range are fish and shrimp, a little cheaper are options like chicken, pork, lamb, and burger. The cheapest? The vegan options my friends! *insert shocked face emoji* And you don’t get stuck with whimpy veggies, you get a choice of portobello mushrooms, falafels, veggie burger, seitan, or tofu. To make it even easier, there are *’s indicating vegetarian options and **’s indicating vegan or vegan modified options.
When I went with my Mother, we ordered their deep fried cauliflower with their Korean gochujang sauce. There were the two little stars so I mentioned I was vegan so to not include the sauce. The waiter made a note on our menu and assured that they could make the sauce vegan. I didn’t touch it since I like my food spicy but my Mother thought it was pretty tasty. As for the cauliflower? It was pretty amazing. I loved how they were too mushy and perfectly fried. I wish they did a better job coating the cauliflower with sauce. If I got it again I would ask that they make sure everything is well coated, and I probably would order the double order of both the Korean style AND buffalo wing style.
The main dish? I got their bibimbap, which I totally regret. I should of known better to order something so distinctly Korean from a restaurant that serves so many different things. The seitan was amazing, and so was the sauce. But there wasn’t enough sauce for my taste, and the rice was long grain. I know that the restaurant probably makes only one kind-of rice for all their dishes, but something about getting that type of rice in a bibimbap seems wrong.
I would love to come back and try one of their other meals to redeem them from the bibimbap. But it might be a long time till I go again. Overall I like this place as they try and serve bar food but have everything be fresh. My only complaint is the lack of sauce, that was being used. This is a place I probably would go with another vegan since there are so many options to choose from. Finger foods, appetizers, salads, sandwiches, main courses, the works. There are lots drinks available, and there are occasionally live performances as well!
UPDATE: Note that all veganized options are not more from the prices listed on their menu. But a representative did make note that there is additional charges for adding vegan cheese and meat.
Mary Ellen @ VNutrition
That cauliflower is calling to me! I can’t believe that the vegan options were cheap. I feel like they make them more expensive b/c they know vegans will pay or we wouldn’t have anything to eat!
I have never been to Newark, DE but I’ll keep this in mind if I am ever in the area. 🙂
Jennifer
I know right! I think sometimes restaurant charge more because they don’t use the vegan/vegetarian food as much and know it will usually get tossed. So the waste is added into the price or kind-of view it as a storage fee. I mean no one says it that way, but I know from working at a restaurant people worded the less popular menu items are being a hassle, or having to toss spoiled food a lot.
Sasha
The vegan options are the same price as the menu item they are listed as unless vegan cheese or vegan meat are added (generally 50 cents per item because the cost the restaurant more than non vegan options.)
Jennifer
Thanks for the update! I didn’t know that about the vegan cheese. I will make sure to update the post so new readers will know before hand.
kimmythevegan
My favourite places to eat are completely vegan restaurants, but I really appreciate and love when not completely vegan restaurants have vegan options. This place sounds pretty great! Too bad the bibimbap was disappointing. The cauliflower looks really good – I prefer not much spice, so I’d probably like it 😉
I *just* found out Chipotle had vegan options. I’m curious to give it a try.
Jennifer
In Delaware there is only one vegan restaurant (and it is technically shared with an ice cream shop, hopefully soon I will write a post about it) so I think it is important to support omni restaurants that give vegan options, especially in a way that treats them as special as all the other options.
Even in Philly it can be hard to find a place that is all vegan. I mean there are lots of restaurants, but they are mostly junky vegan take out (Dottie’s Donuts, HipCityVeg, Blackbird Pizzeria, The Tasty) or super fancy expensive sit down (Vedge, V Street, Charlie is a Sinner, Bar Bonbon.) I always dream about having all the options that most Californians get.
And you should check out Chipotle. They have a great vegan options when you are on the go and not near anything all vegan.