I know I briefly mentioned our trip to Fort Wayne, IN (which ended up being our 'home base' and we hopped around to several other cities in the process) a few posts ago when I was doing my 6-packs of photo posts and recaps since I was so behind on blogging but I really wanted to dedicate a blog post to my experience at a few of those places because of their vegan friendliness!
First up is The Lunch Room - Ann Arbor - Michigan. It was nestled in the Kerrytown District of Ann Arbor and I TOTALLY FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS PLACE! It was original hippie meets new/millennial-hippie and I seemed to fall smack dab in the middle age-wise. There were brand-new college kids straight up to the higher ages of the Baby Boomers and I couldn't have been more 'at home'. Their menu was completely vegan. Because was 'new to the place' I asked the guy at the counter if everything on the menu was vegetarian or vegan and he said with a big smile 'always been vegan - always will be vegan' to which I said AWESOME and THANK YOU!
In these first three photos you can see the outside of the building. The first one was taken from the back of the parking lot and the other two are looking in on the middle section of the building...their courtyard, if you will. I took one from inside the red tunnel and the other one outside from across the way. They were all decorated for fall and it was lovely!
This was a pic of their counter area. They showcased a slew of vegan desserts and goodies but by the time we were done with our meals I couldn't eat another bite AND the place was totally packed and wanted to make sure we weren't hogging a table.
We decided to get nachos to split. They were HUGE! The Loaded Nachos were about $10, I believe. It was a meal for one (or two) by itself that is for sure! Tortilla chips, Cuban black beans & corn, avocado, their house vegan nacho cheese & pico de gallo. Gluten-free, too!
Next up...this GINORMOUS bowl of Vegan Mac & Cheese! Spoiler Alert...I took most of this back to the hotel with me and ate it for another 2 meals! So yeah...$8 for Gourmet Vegan Mac that lasts you 3 meals was TOTALLY WORTH IT! The official description of this dish? "The ultimate comfort food. The “cheese” is rich with butternut squash & red bell peppers. With a crunchy almasen (almonds, lemon zest & sesame seeds) & parsley topping."
And then there was hubby's meal...Queso Burrito Bowl. It was a Gluten-free bowl with Black Pepper Tofu, Cuban black beans & corn, rice, pico de gallo, nacho cheese, chipotle ranch, avocado, baby greens, red bell pepper & tortilla chips. I believe this was about $10 as well but DH the omni said he liked it. However, and it was to no fault of The Lunch Room, between the vegan cheese on the nachos and the vegan cheese on his GIANT Salad/Bowl, we learned a lesson that day...Nutritional Yeast isn't a friend to those with Crohn's Disease. I have been reading about it ever since and apparently SOME Crohn's people can't handle Nutritional Yeast. DH hardly ever eats my food at home so he hasn't had much if at all any Nutritional Yeast in the past and even if he did it was in very small quantities. He had a LOT that day and now we know he can't handle it. YIKES! But....everything was WONDERFUL tasting and SO FILLING! I highly recommend The Lunch Room to anyone!
