Vegan Roadtrip: Lincoln!

Cool green walls at Maggie's Vegetarian Cafe

We’ve been trying to hit up all the great vegan eats in Lincoln but with our bad luck, every time we go everything seems to be closed. Boo hoo. So we meticulously planned and prepared and were able to visit three awesome eateries in one day, along with The Front Stoop zine shop and Open Harvest Co-op. We dragged along our friend Amy from Portland and even though she lives in vegan mecca, she was still impressed.

I'll take a bowl of Robert Smith, please

Our first stop was Grateful Bread. A fun little place with an impressive Mr. Potato Head collection and The Cure on their soup prices. There was a huge array of vegan soups to choose from. We each picked a different one: Split Pea, Moroccan Tomato and Tex-Mex Chili.

Tex-Mex Chili from Grateful Bread

These were perfect soup specimens, excellently seasoned, filling and flavorful. The Moroccan Tomato had a surprising burst of peanut butter that warmed me right up. Our only complaint was that there was no…bread. With a name like that, we wish there was some sourdough up in it. No matter though, we happily crumbled saltines into our paper bowls and chowed down.

Our bellies full and happy, we walked around Haymarket District for a bit, visiting the cool shops and checking out the scenery. If you’re into 19th century warehouses, train tracks, coffee shops and antique stores, then this is the place for you. We found plenty of cool and affordable stuff at Burlington Antiques, even a few ceramic cats for Teal Cat Project. And we saw bonus cute kitty cat street art.

A kitty hits the streets

We weren’t quite hungry at this point, but we’d been dying to check out Maggie’s Vegetarian Cafe for so long and it was right there, so we had to sample a few yummies.

Baked Tofu Wrap from Maggies. Fresh & delish!

There were lots of choices, from tacos to soups to wraps. We decided on the Baked Tofu Wrap and Taco Salad, and sampled a few bites right on the street before wrapping them up to take home for a midnight snack. The wrap was smoky and mustardy, and the taco salad was spicy with seasoned walnut meat and a killer creamy avocado dressing. Mmm.

Taco Salad from Maggie's, tacolicious!

Now we were in the mood to read! Off to The Front Porch zine shop.

So many zines at Front Porch

The Front Porch is a cool little (really little!) zine shop with lots of zines (duh) and Tshirts and supercool owners Michael and Cindy who aren’t exactly doing it for the money (even though there’s millions to be made in zines.) We chatted with Michael for a bit and picked up lots of great reading material.

Next stop was Open Harvest Co-op. There is nothing better than overflowing bulk bins and a luscious produce aisle and Open Harvest does not disappoint. If this is what it’s like in January, we can’t wait to come back in the Spring!

Open Harvest's beautiful produce aisle

We picked up a bunch of greens and veggies and some free trade chocolate and coffee for good measure. There were a few vegan goods in the bakery but we’d love to see more. More vegan muffins. More more more! I didn’t want to leave, I could spend hours wandering up and down co-op aisles, but Pepe’s Veg-Mex Bistro was calling.

Bulk bins! Nothing gets us going like PLU numbers

And what a great end to our trip! Pepe’s was delicious as always and there was something extra special on the menu: Gooseberry Enchiladas!

Pepe's now famous Gooseberry Enchiladas

Oh please Pepe open up a spot in Omaha so that we can visit every day. In any case, we’ll be back to Lincoln soon for more vegan fun. And don’t forget to check out all the new Lincoln entries in our Restaurant Guide!