Thursday, September 24, 2015

Vegan MoFo ~ Gambit (& Strong Hearts Cafe)

Sometimes blog posts just write themselves, don't they?  Well, yesterday I was lucky enough to visit a place that has been on my bucket list for YEARS.  That place was Strong Hearts Cafe in Syracuse, NY.  It's a 100% Vegan Restaurant.  And YES my sister and I drove almost 4 hours just to have lunch.  Okay - Okay...maybe we did a few other things to but Strong Hearts was the main reason for this trip!  I'm so blessed that I have a sister who would go with me on this journey.  As I have said before she's not vegan or vegetarian just a really wonderful sister!  So get ready because not only will this be a LONG post but I will incorporate both a review of my experiences at Strong Hearts Cafe AS WELL AS tie it into today's Vegan MoFo prompt which is "What [insert well known person] would eat if they were vegan."


Here's how I'm taking this Vegan MoFo prompt challenge...

Here's what Gambit would eat if he was vegan.  First I will start of by explaining who Gambit is.  For those of you who don't know he's an X-Men Character.

Gambit is also known as The Ragin' Cajun at times.  His powers are: Kinetic energy control and manipulation, Static generation, and he's a Skilled card-thrower.  Being a skilled Card Thrower I had to point out one of the nice touches while visiting Strong Hearts Cafe.  Once you order they hand you a card as seen above to determine your order and table for delivering your food.  (Keep reading to see how I connected the dots with the Ragin' Cajun reference, too!)

Taylor Kitsch has played Gambit in a few movies already and when I read THIS ARTICLE I knew I had to include him in this post.  If you don't know Taylor Kitsch he's also starred in the movie John Carter AND Friday Night Lights!  I also have to confess that X-Men is my favorite "Superhero" and/or "Comic Book" series that has been made into movies!  I LOVE the characters and make it a point to watch the movies when a new one comes out!  So for today's Vegan MoFo Challenge I would say Gambit and/or Taylor Kitsch would be my choice to blog about.  I think if he were a vegan he would like what I had for my MASSIVE meal while visiting Strong Hearts Cafe which was a Caramel Cookie Dough Milkshake, Cajun Seitan Sandwich, and Pumpkin Spice Walnut Cheesecake!


First up...the sandwich!  Take a look at this bad boy!  Cajun Seitan Sandwich!  I was lucky enough to meet one of the owners/founders of Strong Hearts Cafe JOEL.  He was super nice and I chatted with him a bit as well as one of the other employees.  Both were great!  I knew I wanted to try one of their Seitan sandwiches because I don't really eat a lot of Seitan.  When I asked both Joel and the other girl working which of their Seitan Sandwiches they thought I should get they both quickly said CAJUN.  That settled it for me!  Cajun it was!  
I'm so glad they suggested it - the sandwich was AMAZING!  It had just the right amount of heat to it!  And they certainly do NOT skimp on ingredients!  Their sandwiches were jam-packed with healthy contents!  I mean LOOK at these photos!  YUM!  The Cajun Seitan Sandwich had Cucumbers, Lettuce, Tomato, Cajun Seitan, Cheddar Cheese (I think they use Daiya), and I believe it was on a rye panini type bread!  Because this was a fantastic Cajun flavor I think the Ragin' Cajun himself would appreciate this vegan sandwich!

Next up...is this wonderful Milkshake!  It seemed like Strong Hearts Cafe had about a billion different flavors of vegan milkshakes - okay - that might be an exaggeration - but - they did have A LOT!  It made it difficult to decide but I did it!  I went with the one call Farm Sanctuary which is of course named after the farmed animal sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY.  It was Caramel Cookie Dough flavor.  And is was out-of-this-world!  My sister had a Peanut Butter/Chocolate flavor and I had a sip of that, too, and it was amazing!  My sister LOVED her milkshake AND sandwich.  She opted for the Roasted Vegetable Hummus Sandwich.

As you can see we both chose the "greens" as our side but you could choose 'chips' if you wanted to as an alternative.  My sister said that the hummus they used for her sandwich was a Cilantro flavored and she thought it was terrific!  The greens had a light Italian Dressing flare to it, too!  I wanted to make sure that I pointed out the MASSIVE size of these sandwiches.  Now...I didn't take a tape measure to them but they were comparable to the size of an iPad.  And not the newer, smaller iPads...the earlier version that were larger.  Just to give you a visual!  But that's NOT ALL...we still haven't talked about the impressive cheesecake...don't worry...I will...keep scrolling!

As for the Vegan Cheesecake I KNEW I had to have at least one piece!  After all I LOVED cheesecake before dropping dairy and it seemed the one place I knew of in the region (Pizza Plant in Buffalo) never seemed to have it available the few times I have dropped by!  Anyhow...check OUT this large slab of Vegan Cheesecake GOODNESS from Strong Hearts Cafe!  When I order a slice I thought it was just going to be regular cheesecake but vegan but BOY was I wrong!  Apparently depending on the time of year they may do different types of cheesecake.  This one was a Pumpkin Spice topped with a few large Walnuts!  WOWZA!  And YUMMO!
So YES my sister and I had a wonderful time at Strong Hearts and everything was AMAZING.  I was going to try and grab some stuff to go but after we were done eating I was so stuffed I couldn't even think about eating anything else so instead I bought one of their t-shirts!  Everything was affordable.  Everyone was so nice.  This place is a Utopia of sorts and I would urge everyone to go if they can!  Gambit/Taylor Kitsch if you are out there - GO - GO to Strong Hearts Cafe!  You'll thank me later!

20 comments:

  1. Man, that food looks divine! :) I would easily drive 4 hours for a good meal!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would drive four hours for that meal! I love the connections, and I love The X-Men too! That cheesecake looks amazing. It looks like regular cheesecake, looks like a great texture!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Everything was amazing!!!! I'm so glad we got to go! I've since heard of a Rochester restaurant, too, and might look into a spring trip for that one!!!

      Delete
  3. That looks incredible! I genuinely don't know which element I'd most like to devour, everything looks so good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! This ended up being a fun post! I got to blog about my review for this incredible vegan restaurant while 'feeding' a comic book character LOL

      Delete
  4. What an amazing meal. Definitely worth the drive!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed! I totally nerded out, when I got there, too! LOL

      Delete
  5. Taylor! Xmen! Vegan goodies! This post is full of the best stuff on the planet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HA! This comment made me giggle and grin! Thanks!

      Delete
  6. iPad-sized sandwiches...yes please! This place looks great! I'm so in awe of vegan restauranteurs....they are true geniuses and heros! I'd drive 4 hours to enjoy a meal there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with you and your thoughts about the owners of these restaurants! Such Visionaries!

      Delete
  7. Oooo...I love sandwiches! These look so good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They were good! I can't wait to get back there but I'm sure it will be a while before I do!

      Delete
  8. That place looks so fun! With such good food. I'm totally drooling over the milkshakes right now... I think I'll have to make one for dessert after supper tonight haha ;p
    "I drove almost 4 hours just to have lunch."
    Ummm I have done this. A lot actually haha. Every time I go home to Canada to visit my family, I make the 3+ hours drive to Burlington, Ontario to visit my favourite restaurant in the whole world (Lettuce Love). It's SO GOOD! I totally get driving for good food.
    Your sister sounds awesome.
    I'm sure Gambit would love this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I probably ate more cals that day than I did in 3 weeks! LOL It was worth it! It's funny how far us veggie heads go for a GOOD meal :)

      Delete
  9. So glad you got to go and totally worth the trip! The food looks amazing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was FUN and a tasty time! I already have another place I want to check out in Rochester now, too!

      Delete
  10. I always love finding and trying out new vegan restaurants. I will check this one out if I am in Syracuse. It's so wonderful to go to a city and find a 100% vegan eatery! Thank you so much for sharing your experience at Strong Hearts Cafe in Syracuse, NY with us at the Plant-Based Potluck Party Link Up. I'm pinning and sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let me know if you go! And let me know which route you take - if you are an hour or two from me maybe we can meet-up!

      Delete