We had to go up to Evanston on Sunday, so we decided to eat breakfast at the
Heartland Cafe. I haven't been here in about 8 years and I remembered really liking it, so I was quite excited. Heartland is not strictly vegetarian, but they have pretty many vegetarian options. However, since eating there 8 years ago we switched from being lacto-ovo vegetarians to being vegan and it was not "all that" this time around. There were 3 different type's of tofu scrambles that we could choose from on the breakfast menu. The tofu scramble sounded good and I would have ordered it except it came with cornbread and the cornbread was not vegan. So, that kinda bummed me out. The other two options were both "pan-handlers" - Heartland panhandler and the Veggie panhandler. Both pan-handlers sounded about the same to me except the veggie panhandler had spinach and broccoli. They also have a buckwheat pancake on the menu which is vegan. Andy and I both ordered the veggie panhandler and coffee. It is supposed to come with bread, but the waitress pointed out that the only bread they have that is egg free is the wheat bread, but that has honey in it. Andy does not care about the bees, so he was quite comfortable getting the wheat bread. I decided to abstain. In retrospect I wish I had substituted a scoop of brown rice instead of the bread, but in the end I was quite full and really didn't need any bread at all. The panhandler was good! Besides for spinach and broccoli it had mushrooms, potatoes, green onions and tofu. It came with salsa on the side which was a nice addition to the scramble. Some things I did not like - 1) when the waitress brought Andy his bread it had 2 packets of butter on the plate. At this point we had made it quite clear that we did not do animal products, so it was a bit flabbergasting when they brought us butter. Maybe he confused her when he said he wanted the honey wheat bread? 2) Why do they not have 1 vegan bread?? Is it that difficult?
I really wanted to like Heartland cause it's a pretty cool concept - they have the cafe, a bar, a store, a theatre, a radio show, a food stand at Lake Michigan in spring and summer, plus they host political and musical events. My main complaint about Heartland would be they seem to be vegetarian friendly, which would lead you to believe they would be more accomodating to vegan's, but that was not really the case. It was annoying that the cornbread and all the bread had dairy, eggs or honey in it. I would go back to Heartland if I was up in Rogers Park, but otherwise there are plenty of just as good if not better veg*n friendly places in our own hood that do a better job and have more choices. I will probably go back to check out the dinner scene cuz that seemed like it might be a bit friendlier to vegans.
If you are up in Rogers Park and you have never been there before it is worth checking out, but be careful when ordering...
