Category Archives: Tour Delaware

My Vegan Restaurant: Home Grown Cafe

June 29, 2016

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.

Posted by Jennifer in Food Review, Reviews, Tour Delaware, Traveling, Vegan Pitstop Tags: Delaware, homegrown cafe, my vegan restaurant, newark, newark de, omni restaurant, Tour DE, vegan pitstops

6 comments

My Vegan Restaurant: Banh Mi Boy

July 14, 2015

storefront

Banh Mi Boy

209 East Main Street, Newark DE, 19711
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Even though my parents moved to Delaware, I haven’t really eaten at many places in the state. In fact, I don’t think I ate out at all there. I packed my own lunch when I helped my parents move. #veganlife Another time I went down to visit and my parents drove me all the way to Victory Brew-Pub in Pennsylvania. Which is funny, since I went to this place alone. I picked up my Grandparents from the airport, I had everything planned out, but didn’t take in consideration that my Grandparents move at a much slower pace than what I am use to. Both Jon and my parents are seasoned travelers, and we expect very quick pick-ups. Oh no- not my Grandparents, my Pappy requested a wheelchair, and it wasn’t there when they got off the plane. Then when they finally got luggage (not many people that I pick up actually checks their luggage). My Nanna and Pappy described the airport as very fast paced, and I was thinking “duh, it’s an airport!” Now, I know that isn’t fair for me to say since my Grandparents grew up in a slow rural town, and I have almost always used high traffic airports (Philadelphia, Boston, Newark, La Guardia.) Hell, Orlando is a leisurely airport to me. Well once we got on the road there was a huge accident and we had to take a detour.

So by the time I dropped my Grandparents at my parents house it was 1:00 pm and the last thing I ate was a smoothie at 8 in the morning. I was starving and had to find a place fast. A quick search via HappyCow.com resulted in Banh Mi Boy. They aren’t all vegan, but very vegan friendly. The menu is pretty small, sandwiches, salads, summer rolls and drinks. I apologize for the lack of photos (and having not so great pictures), I was just so hungry and rushed to get back home.

inside

The store is located in the downtown area of Newark, so parking can stink. But you will be happy to take the time to find parking. This store has a pretty boring outside, but has a bright orange interior. There are tons of snacks and drinks to choose from. Some are healthy, some were the normal junk food. There was normal soda, or green tea. There was pretty much something for everyone.

So what’s vegan? Each main option, sandwich, salad, and summer roll, has a vegan option. There is a tofu sandwich that comes with pickled veggies, homemade vegan mayo, on a crispy french roll. There is also a tofu salad, using many of the same veggies in sandwich topped with a ginger soy dressing. There are vegetarian summer rolls as well. They have some specialty drinks, but I doubt they are vegan. You could technically get their coffee without the condensed milk to make it vegan. They also have traditional bubble tea but that has half-n-half. They have other flavors, but it looks like they use powder mixes, which most likely will contain whey or some form of powdered milk. Sorry vegans, you will have to stick with canned drinks.

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When I went there had a special lemongrass tofu sandwich, which was awesome. They sliced the tofu into long thin strips, and was well pressed. The pickled veggies were thicker than what I tend to like, but the bread quickly made up for it. Lately I’ve been getting lots of Banh Mi sandwiches that taste yummy but lack a strong roll. This one was flakey and full of flavor.

What I love about Banh Mi is that it isn’t very fussy. You can bring someone and know that it will be a fairly safe bet. It is exotic and different, but is served is a familiar form to most Americans. I was originally planning on bringing my Grandparents to the place, but they insisted that they weren’t hungry. I recommend checking this place out when you are in the area. You can even walk down the street to Brew Ha Ha and pick up a vegan donut made by Dottie’s Donuts.

Posted by Jennifer in Food Review, Reviews, Tour Delaware, Traveling Tags: Banh Mi, Delaware, omni, Sandwiches, Tour DE, Tour Delaware, Vietnamese