As spring and early summer rolled around, new vegetarian restaurants, new vegetarian products and new vegetarian menu items appeared all across Maine. Here’s the latest plant-based food news.
The onset of tourist season also saw Bar Harbor vegetarian restaurant Cottage Street Ramen celebrate its first anniversary, and a new all-vegetarian smoothie and coffee joint, Bon Dia Smoothie Shop, opened at 47 India Street in Portland, offering smoothie bowls, coffee and bagels. Also, in Portland, about 130 people gathered in June to hear best-selling author Dr. Michael Greger talk about his latest book, “How Not to Age,” which examines the healing powers of plants.
Arundel’s vegan Frinklepod Farm will host its latest pop-up market on July 28 from 11am-3pm, featuring 10 vendors including Midcoast Vegan, SAO Cooks & Catering and The Whole Almond. Be sure to enjoy a scoop of Frinklepod’s plant-based soft serve ice cream.
Michael Schneider and Brittany Wallingford with their 3-year-old son Lincoln in front of Beanies Food Truck, which will be operating in Belfast this summer before returning to Kingfield in the fall. Photo by Carrie McHale
Vegan food truck comes to Belfast
The vegan Beanies food truck, which launched in Kingfield in April, welcomed summer to Belfast earlier this month in a purple 1966 Ford Grumman van that’s parked outside Mainly Gallery and Studio at 181 Searsport Ave.
“Our main products are burgers and tacos,” says Michael Schneider, who owns the restaurant with Brittany Wallingford. “We make our own tortillas and grill them to order.”
Beanie’s most popular menu item is the pinto bean tacos, but other popular items include the Korean barbecue burger with kimchi and pickled onions, and the gluten-free quinoa bowl with kale, butternut squash, Brussels sprouts and avocado. The truck also serves iced tea, smoothies and espresso. Each dish comes with an apple chip, which reminds Wallingford of his childhood growing up at Wallingford Fruit Farm in Auburn. The truck strives to source local and organic ingredients.
Beanie’s Food Truck will remain in Belfast through the summer, then Schneider and Wallingford plan to return to Kingfield for the winter, where the truck can be found parked at 396 Main St. Check social media for hours and daily specials at both locations.
A Coffeehouse, which is entirely vegetarian, opened on Memorial Day at 252 Main St. in Waterville. Photo by Allison Gloziszcz
Vegetarian coffee shop opens in Waterville
A Coffeehouse, a vegetarian coffee shop in downtown Waterville, opened in late spring and serves a full menu of coffee and teas, as well as baked goods, bagels (either vegan or Montreal-style with eggs), smoothies, fruit juice mocktails, and hearty vegan salads.
“We felt like Waterville was missing a third space where people could come and talk about books, listen to music, talk about politics,” said owner Jenny Allen, who owns the building with her husband, “so we thought it would be great for the Waterville community if we opened a place like that.”
The coffeehouse, located at 252 Main St., serves Equal Exchange Coffee and offers both plant-based and dairy milks. Allen said she decided to cater to vegetarians to offer healthy options and provide Waterville with a much-needed vegetarian restaurant. The decision also makes her job easier in the kitchen, she says, because “meat is just so messy to handle.”
Allen added that A Coffee House always has open mic times and may have specific open mic nights scheduled in the future. The coffee shop’s hours are Friday and Saturday from 11am to 7pm and Monday through Wednesday from 9am to 3pm. The plan is to extend hours when Colby students return in the fall.
This rustic barn in Mount Vernon is now home to Rooted Dinners, a vegetarian prix-fixe dinner series running twice a week through October. Photo courtesy of Edible Elements Catering
Vegetarian dinners coming to Mount Vernon
Chef and caterer Annalisa McAllister of Edible Elements Catering in Mount Vernon is hosting “Rooted Dinners,” a prix-fixe dinner featuring vegetarian courses using ingredients from local farms in a rustic barn setting, that will run through October.
“Our aim is to honour and celebrate local farmers and the simple joys of the seasons through vegetarian cuisine,” McAllister told me.
A recent nine-course dinner included a maple butter breadboard with grilled peaches, polenta rounds with caramelized onions, roasted red pepper soup, and summer risotto with mushrooms, corn, and zucchini. The meal ended with a dark chocolate bundt cake with fresh strawberries, whipped cream, and white chocolate ice cream.
The dinner begins at 6pm and will be held at 29 Blake Hill Rd. Cost is $95, plus wine, beer and non-alcoholic beverages. Seating must be reserved in advance. Upcoming summer dinners are July 25th and 26th, and August 2nd, 3rd, 8th and 9th. Visit edibleelementscatering.com/rooted for a complete schedule.
Vegetarian menu added to Georgetown and Westbrook restaurants
At least two non-vegetarian restaurants have added plant-based menus this season: Osprey in Georgetown offers a vegan and vegetarian menu with mains like tofu fried in local ale, grilled local mushrooms with mashed potatoes and broccoli, and Parisian gnocchi, while Bamboo Bistro in Westbrook has added an all-vegan menu offering pho tofu, vegan beef Korean rice bowl, vegan pad thai, coconut curry and more.
Newcastle, Bideford and Island Falls News
Salt + Pepper Social, a plant-based food restaurant and market in New Castle, has reopened for the season and is now serving dinner Thursday through Monday. The restaurant has added smoothie bowls to its daytime menu. Biddeford-based Tootie’s Tempeh debuted its curried tempeh this spring. Bay Bowls, which has locations in Portland and Brunswick, has announced plans to open another all-vegetarian smoothie bowl spot at 288 Main St. in Biddeford.
Meanwhile, the vegan Sewall House Yoga Retreat in Island Falls will host a week-long vegan cooking workshop from September 8 to September 13. Retreat owner Donna David will lead the workshop covering breads, salads, main dishes and desserts. The workshop costs $500, and guests can book lodging in the historic home built by David’s great-grandfather, William Sewall, who hosted President Theodore Roosevelt on multiple occasions.
Avery Yale Kamila is a food writer living in Portland. She can be reached at avery.kamila@gmail.com.
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