If you’ve noticed more vegan dishes popping up at Springfield restaurants and in your Facebook feed, it’s not your imagination.
About a dozen restaurants are participating in the Springfield Vegan Chef Challenge, part of Vegan Chef Challenge Midwest, a month-long event showcasing new plant based menu items created by local chefs. Diners are asked to vote on their favorite dish via social media. You will find some mighty creative, mouth-watering fare available.
Here are the participating restaurants: Aviary Cafe, Brunch Box, Café Cusco, Craft Sushi, Greek Belly, Jamaican Patty Co., Not'cho Ordinary Taco, The Order, The Sandwich Scene, Skully’s Ramen, Van Gogh’s Eeterie, The Wheelhouse, and Amici. Due to a pipe burst, Amici is temporarily closed. Follow their Facebook page to see if they will reopen this month.
Some of the restaurants, like Van Gogh’s Eeterie and Café Cusco are already popular among vegan or vegetarian diners because there’s a good selection of dishes on their regular menu.
The Vegan Chef Challenge ends Jan. 31, so if you want to try something, hurry. Here’s a sampling of what’s available in a few spots (these are all vegan dishes, so if you see cheese or meat in the description, it’s vegan. We are just trying to avoid using the word “vegan” 100 times in this article).
Craft Sushi
Both locations of Craft Sushi Rolls & Bowls are participating, said Jenny Cho, owner.
“The coordinator for the Vegan challenge contacted us directly asking if we wanted to participate. We said yes because our menu is quite flexible and therefore almost every single menu item can be transformed into a vegan or vegetarian dish,” she said. “We also source local produce, and our menu is very focused on providing healthier eating habits while still creating delicious Asian-inspired dishes.”
They have three menu items, each is gluten free and includes some locally raised vegetables. The Vegan Tofu Sushi Roll: House-marinated tofu, carrot, cucumber, mixed greens and avocado, topped with sweet chili sauce and toasted sesame seeds.
Tasty Tofu Bowl: House-marinated tofu on a bed of seasoned brown rice with house-made pickled Asian slaw, carrots, mushrooms, microgreens and avocado. It is drizzled with their peanut Thai sauce and toasted seaweed flakes.
Burrito lovers can try the Spicy Tofurrito: House-marinated tofu, mixed greens, edamame, cucumber and pickled jalapeno, seasoned white rice, drizzled with peanut Thai and sweet chili sauce. Then it’s all wrapped up like a burrito in a seaweed wrap.
Cho said they’ve had good feedback, especially from customers who follow that lifestyle.
Find it: Craft Sushi Rolls & Bowls, 1251 E. Sunshine St., Suite 116; 1282 E. Republic Road. https://craft-sushi.com/
Sandwich Scene
The folks at the Sandwich Scene are always whipping up something creative, so it’s no surprise they took on the challenge. They added two sandwiches to their menu this month.
The Green Chili Sloppy Joe starts with a textured vegetable protein base mixed into Sloppy Joe sauce enhanced with green chili. It’s served hot and topped with their house pickles, sun dried tomatoes, crispy onions, and classic yellow mustard.
The Chickichurri is a cold chickpea and chimichurri salad with cherry tomatoes, topped with pickled cauliflower, spicy plantain chips, and melted cheese on toasted Cuban bread.
Find it: Sandwich Scene, 208 W. McDaniel St. Springfield; https://www.thesandwichscene.com/
Aviary Cafe
Catherine Bersted owns the Aviary Cafe, and her team created three new dishes.
“We have a growing population of vegan, vegetarian and alpha-gal in our community. Doing something for those who are underserved was important to us. We have strived at all our restaurants to accommodate any guest when possible. This allowed us to expand our creativity and be a part of something that allows for more inclusion in hospitality,” Bersted said.
They plan to keep some of the items around and maybe add more, she said.
If you want a sweet fix, the Vegan Citrus Berry Crepe is a must. It features mascarpone rolled inside a crepe and topped with blood orange-cello berry compote and toasted marshmallow fluff.
For something savory, try the Vegan Ratatouille crepe filled with red sauce and roasted yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, and other veggies. Finished with a balsamic glaze. Tasty and healthy.
Find it: Aviary Café, 2144 E. Republic Road, https://www.aviarycafe.com/
Not'cho Ordinary Taco at 14 Mill Market
Casey McTavish is the mastermind behind Not’cho Ordinary Taco at 14 Mill Market in Nixa and he invented three new dishes for the challenge. The Oyster Mushroom Birria is a winner.
For this dish, oyster mushrooms are cooked in house made birria chile broth, served with melted mozzarella, onions and cilantro trucked in a fried tortilla. The tacos come with your choice of dipping sauces (all made in house): Chimichurri, cilantro cashew crema or avocado salsa verde.
They also have a quinoa bowl and po’boy, but the tacos are king at this place. McTavish has competed at the World Food Championship in the taco category and his tacos rock!
Find it: 203 E. Mount Vernon St., 14 Mill Market in Nixa.
Find it on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NotchoOrdinaryTaco
The Brunch Box
The folks at the Brunch Box are serving up an Eggs Benedict that took us by surprise. Take a peek at this photo. It looks like a real egg oozing buttery yolk everywhere —Benedict heaven. But the egg is plant based.
For the Eggs Benedict, it starts with an organic toasted English muffin topped with lightly sautéed spinach, ham that they marinate and grill. That is all crowned with the incredibly realistic Yo! Egg, which according to the company website is the world’s first plant-based poached egg. The egg is drizzled in a house made hollandaise that actually has a cashew base, and is sprinkled with chives, paprika and black salt.
The Brunch Box is a vegan establishment serving cakes, breakfast and lunch, so you can get your plant-based fix all year.
There have been some supply chain issues for the poached eggs, with Brunch Box reporting a shipment stuck in Pennsylvania. Be sure to follow the restaurant's Facebook page to check on the eggs' availability before you go.
Find it: 211 E. Walnut St., Springfield. https://brunchbox417.square.site/
Skully's Ramen
Skully’s Ramen took a different approach to the challenge, releasing a new dish each week. They started with a vegan miso ramen. The second week, it was
Vegan Fried Mushroom sandwich showcasing fried local oyster mushrooms, spicy pear slaw, and dill pickle served on shiso encrusted bun, served with fries. This week, you can score the aforementioned mushroom sandwich and their latest special: Japanese style curry with Katsu fried tofu. The curry base has potato, white onion, carrot, ginger and a curry roux. The tofu is breaded in panko and fried, served with curry and your choice or rice or udon noodles.
Find it: 1427 E. Cherry St., Suite A; skullysramen.square.site
Hungry for more?
If that all doesn’t whet your appetite, we don’t know what will. For a full list of Vegan Chef Challenge menus, visit https://veganchefchallenge.org/springfieldmo
