• 4
• interesting brunch place

One day this previously untried vegetarian/vegan-friendly place turned out to be a great diner-like vegan brunch place for me, tucked away in an historic district with many small stores. The atmosphere took me out my routine as a visitor from another town. There were more vegan dishes available than I expected. This may turn out to be another 'sleeper' for many who thought they knew Hudson Valley vegetarian dining, I thought. Like an increasing number of places, this restaurant helpfully marks some vegan dishes as such. My first entrée here was a sandwich (sauerkraut was a high note); the salads also looked appealing on my first visit. A number of coffee choices and a very busy place in the middle of the day on that weekend visit. I have been back many times since I wrote this review. I find it to have many dishes that work for me in various ways. For example, the Artists' Salad is an inexpensive vegan salad that can be customized with additions such as garbanzo beans and sprouts--a bounty of healthy plant-based ingredients to go with the standard purple cabbage, burst-in-your-mouth cherry tomatoes, etc. The café also makes juices and smoothies that are good. For coffee and smoothies, the restaurant fortunately offers almond milk that unfortunately in my opinion is not an unsweetened kind. (Why not just have separate sweetener available at the coffee station?) The sandwiches (including, for example, the vegan Vegan Sandwich and the Haven's Wrap) are in the best tradition of the New York deli. Some use a vegan mayo substitute that can be left out on request. The cafe; also sometimes has vegan soup options. The staff is used to health aficionados and vegans, as well as people who eat luncheon and breakfast meats. As a vegan, I think it helps to mention your preference. Of the coffees, the darkly roasted Ring of Fire is one of the best darkly roast drip brews that I have tried in the region. Update on smoothies: in recent visits, the restaurant has been inconsistent in its smoothies. It seems they are using a rather different recipe each time, and no warning or explanation was given. There were no off tastes, but the proportions seemed wildly different. This development bears watching as they are a leader in offering smoothies with simple recipes and healthy ingredients. They have been using an unsweetened variety of almond milk at times, a great development in my opinion. Update: Maddeningly changeable in its hours in the Covid-19 era. Updated from previous review on 2019-12-28