Last weekend My husband Scott and I were able to attend a special dinner that our friend, Engine 2 diet coach, and plant-based certified professional chef from Rouxbe cooking school, Char Nolan was heading up with her chef friend and owner of Vge café, Fernando Peralta! I have NEVER been to a dinner in a restaurant where we did not have to ask to have something left out off of our plate or ask for a special favor in the preparation of our food. So this really was a new and glorious experience!
The meal was held at Vge Café in Bryn Mawr, PA, so we had to drive a little distance, but it was worth it. The café was closed, so our group of 11 had the whole place to ourselves!
The meal started with warm mighty muffins, and whole wheat “buttermilk” biscuits. AND they were served with cashew butter. I never had this creamy concoction and It was decadent and delicious!
The food presentation was out of this world and the Mediterranean olive hummus with crudité was no exception!
Next we had a velvety cream of tomato and red pepper soup! I have NEVER had such a creamy soup and tomato soup is my favorite! The flavor was so complex and unfortunately Fernando could not share his recipe because he didn’t use one, he just created it as he went!
The big surprise of the night was when my husband ate an entire massaged kale salad a la Char Nolan! He doesn’t like kale and Ann Esselstyn was quite perturbed with him at Plantstock last year when he told her so! Hope I get a chance to tell her that Char convinced him it’s good!
Just when we were beginning to get full, Fernando’s wife Marta brought out the entrée, veggie loaf with mushrooms, brown gravy, a roasted tomato between the two layers of loaf and mashed potatoes. They even gave us extra gravy for our potatoes. We had so much food that we all took leftovers home. Can you taste the gravy?!
And yes, we even had dessert! This granny smith apple tower with no added sugar was out of this world!
If the outrageously delicious gourmet food wasn’t enough to put us over the edge, the interesting and kind new people we met made the night picture perfect!
Our hosts and chefs, Char Nolan and Fernando Peralta!
Our own E2X Fire Marshall from Engine2extra.com, Cathy and her daughter Angela and husband Greg!
Cita and her husband, regulars at Vge café who just found plant based eating 6 months ago. She was so interested in learning new things that she was writing notes. She heard about plant based eating from a friend who is an oncologist!
Bruce, telling us about working for Dr. T. Colin Campbell at his foundation, and his friend Anyta who owns a juice bar.
Liz, vegan, jazz singer, and marathon runner and her husband, who is an ultra marathon runner.
See the “Plant Pure” logo on the menu above for Vge café? Char kept talking to Fernando about oil free whole foods and he did want to serve his customers the healthiest food possible, so he tried changing his methods and he was able to keep the food tasting fabulous and keep his customers happy, win, win! He has a culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu and a business degree, too! AND he met with Dr. T. Colin Campbell when he was in town for a screening of Plant Pure Nation and they decided to develop a program to teach other restaurants about how to make plant pure food so they could have options for plant based customers on their menus! This is ground breaking and it was SO cool to hear about it from Char and Fernando. Ripples of change!! Keep talking to your friends and family and who knows, maybe exciting things will happen in your community, too! Here’s to many more new adventures!
Remember to have fun with your food and enjoy!
The plant based nurse 
August 7, 2015 at 5:34 pm
It was a magical night and you captured it perfectly!
August 7, 2015 at 5:49 pm
Yes it was greencat1! So glad you were there to share it with us!
August 8, 2015 at 5:59 pm
It really is a spectacular feeling knowing that you can go to a restaurant and eat everything that you like and want to eat. It is a blessing to know that the ingredients are of the highest quality, it tastes great and that it is healthy and nourishing to the body. We have many such restaurants here in Minneapolis. I love them.
August 8, 2015 at 6:01 pm
You are fortunate to have so many vegan contacts and mentors. I would not know where to begin to start in my area.
August 8, 2015 at 10:00 pm
Amy, I had no idea where to start either! I started by joining Engine2extra.com for support online and the coaches challenged me to start a group locally and then I also found a group by accident that meets monthly in Tunkhannock and my circle of plant based friends keeps widening! Hope you find some plant based peeps, too!
August 8, 2015 at 6:57 pm
Our family eats at the Vge Café often, we love it! Great post. 🙂
August 8, 2015 at 9:58 pm
You are so lucky veganrescue! There is no place like Vge Café near us. Vge Café is 2 hrs away, but I’m sure we’ll be back again!
August 18, 2015 at 5:44 am
Thanks for sharing such a positive story. Drooling over the luscious food selections you had! Just saw Plant-Pure Nation in Sacramento. I hope the idea continues to spread and be adopted by more restaurant chefs. Kudos to Fernando!
August 19, 2015 at 1:23 am
I hope the ideas in Plant Pure Nation continue to spread, too! Just heard many inspiring speakers at Plantstock 2015 and many of them feel we are approaching a tipping point. The information is starting to get out. Even thought our numbers are small, awareness is growing!