Summer is here, and what better way to celebrate than with Native Foods Cafe’s new summer menu items!? Okay, that sounded like a cheesy commercial intro, but it’s true. I am a big huge unapologetic fan of Native Foods. I love that I can go in and order nachos or a fried chicken sandwich or a bacon cheeseburger, and it’s ALL VEGAN! So when they emailed and asked if I wanted to come over and try their new summer dishes, I didn’t even have to think about it. I was in. And so was Denise, my lucky +1.
Here’s a glimpse of what we ate. I was going to try and order them by how much we loved each one, but that’s too hard. So I just kept them in the order we ate them in!
Grilled Avocado Plate: Freshly grilled with greens, tofu bacon, radishes and lemon vinaigrette. This was kind of a salad but really more of an appetizer. The avocado was fresh and delicious, and the vinaigrette was great, very garlicky (but don’t let that scare you, they only put a tiny bit on there). The star of the show though was the tofu bacon. It was by far the best vegan bacon I’ve ever had. Literally. We joked that next time we’d just like an order of that bacon… but we weren’t really joking.
Korean BBQ Sub: Street style Korean seitan, pineapple slaw and crispy mushrooms on a baguette. I fully expected this to be my favorite, and it didn’t disappoint. You guys know how much I love Korean BBQ and I’ll order it any chance I get. The crispy mushrooms were very flavorful, and I really enjoyed the slaw. Denise says she doesn’t really like pineapple, but even she liked the slaw. It’s very mild, only a hint of pineapple but it goes perfectly with the bbq flavor. This comes with a side (we had the potato salad), and this would satisfy even the hungriest eater.
Summer Berry Salad (GF): Fresh summer blueberries and strawberries tossed with kale, romaine, seasonal veggies and mango lime dressing. Denise and I proclaimed this salad to be the dark horse of our dining experience. The description sounded good but we were more focused on the other items. I suppose we were just less excited about eating a salad. We were very, very wrong though, because this salad was AMAZING! The berries were perfectly ripe, there was jicama in there, which is a huge favorite of mine, and that dressing was to die for. I hope the recipe for it is in their next cookbook because I want more. I want to put it on every salad I eat. It was sweet and tart and with just a hint of (I think?) salt, it was perfection.
Last, but certainly not least… Blueberry Crumble: Summer berries with a crunchy oat crust. This was quite possibly the perfect dessert. It wasn’t overly sweet, even with the brown sugar crumble, and you could tell it was fresh. It was also surprisingly light- even after all that other food we ate, we weren’t sorry that we went with dessert too.
So if you’re lucky enough to find yourself near one of the 26 Native Foods Cafes, please stop in and try some of their new dishes. Or just stick with their nachos. You can’t ever go wrong with their nachos!
*I was provided free product to review but the opinions are 100% mine!
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That’s my problem with Native Foods – I’m there so infrequently, it’s hard to order something different. I have several favorites, and I always want to rotate between them. Hopefully someday I’ll live in an area with Native Foods again, and I can branch out more in my ordering!
OMG! That BBQ sub!! I wish we had a Native Foods nearby. I’ve never gotten to visit one, but that’s on my bucket list for sure!
Oh, these offerings sound SO spectacular! Maybe I can get my omnivore partner to try these!
I had the korean sub last week. It was amazing!