While in Scranton we stopped at two totally different cafes. The first, Fig, might be hinted at as a bit pretentious, newly nestled in the safety of its spa related home. Eden is just the opposite.
I cannot think of anyone, and I do mean ANYONE, who wouldn’t, shouldn’t or couldn’t like Eden. The well established café stands out at 344 Adams Ave. in Scranton as the areas only vegan restaurant. Holy tofu! At 150 miles away and just under 3 hours from our front door, Eden is the closest 100% vegan restaurant to us! It’s about the same as distance going to Pittsburgh but faster. Ok, it’s a real road trip but with the reviews had I read on Yelp and Happy Cow, I knew we were going to just love it. I dearly wish we had a place like Eden close to us.
There are many parking garages in the general area to choose from and I suggest that because much of the on street parking is for very limited time. From where we parked, we were able to walk past the court-house, lawn and take in a lot of the Occupy Scranton activities. I am thinking there is more to Scranton than meets the eye.
Typical of the whole Eden experience, the clean design of the exterior doesn’t scream for your attention and it’s whats inside that really counts. You can start to get an idea that this place is impressive when you read the specials menu just outside the front entrance.
Upon entering, the wood colored tables, window counter, benches and chairs in the small dining are as well as the offset counter for placing orders seem pretty typical for a cafe. What starts to really grab your attention, if the menu hasn’t yet, is the warm and friendly staff.
We were cheerfully greeted by Lindsay the Counter Girl who understood that we were overwhelmed just looking at the specials. We scanned them and decided to take regular menus to sit down and look over. I think it took us over 10 minutes to calm our excitement and reassure ourselves that everything on the menu was vegan.
Although the specials were singing their siren’s song, trying to lure us into ordering a taco or one of the warm potato bowls, we opted to order from the regular menu.
We returned to the counter and placed our orders with the enthusiastic Lindsay whom we had overheard saying it was her last day. We wished her well and she walked us through the ordering process and gave us a number to place on our table.
Along with the number, we took back our drinks. I got an Oogave Root Beer to go with my Chili Cheeseburger and Jim got a kind of Tazo tea. As we chatted and sipped our drinks, I was able to access the WiFi with the pass code I had been given (just ask when ordering). We enjoyed looking around at the 11×14 chalk drawings of different animals and the copper ceiling panels. The latter gives away the age of the building Eden has made its home but everything about the restaurant is clean and welcoming.
There were always at least a couple of other tables occupied out of the 7 double seaters inside. The food orders kept coming out regularly (some were take-out) and I never saw anyone having a problem with what they ordered. It is definitely a family friendly restaurant with a separate kids menu but I am thinking kids would like a lot of the other menu items too.
Jim’s cup of Chipotle Corn Chowder came out first and we were both thrilled with the warmth, texture and taste. Served with a little bag of our favorite Westminster Crackers, Jim liked the good corn sweetness and it reminded me of the good old Aunt Kittie’s brand soups except it had a nice chipotle afterglow.
Eden get its vegan buns fresh daily from Scranton’s own National Bakery. I could really tell that with my Chili Cheeseburger and after the sub-par ciabatta earlier in the day, this was a welcome sandwich. The chili was mellow and reminded me a lot of the very first vegetarian chili I used to make with kidney beans and TVP – it really made me smile. The burger itself was a thinner chewy patty with veggies like corn, peppers and carrots in it. Although I never really got the cheese aspect of this sandwich, I got some sweet pickle relish for an additional charge and the whole burger was a warm delightful feast.
Along with a spear of 1/4 of a nice gherkin, I also chose a side of Homemade Coleslaw with my burger. The cabbage (green and red) was coarsely shaved and so crispy fresh and was mixed with some shredded carrot. The dressing, dense with tasty celery seed, was sweet and complex but just a little oily. The odd thing was the orange color of the dressing which we assume might have something to do with their vegan mayonnaise choice because we noted a similar hue in Jim’s sandwich.
I hindsight it’s pretty clear that Jim was trying make up for the sandwich that fell a little short earlier in the day at Fig. He ordered a Tuna Melt on with a vegan American Cheese and wheat bread. He too had a pickle and got a side of the Homemade Smashed Potatoes.
The Tuna Melt shared that orange color that the Coleslaw had and the soy protein was blended well with it along with a little pickle relish. It’s not the way we typically make our sandwich fillers, we like big old hunks of stuff, but the pimento spread like flavor was pretty nice. With the healthy serving of warm and melty cheese and toasted bread, it too fell into the category of vegan comfort food.
If I considered all of the above comfort food, I have yet to share the most soul soothing of all that we ate – Eden’s Smashed Potatoes! Topped with just a little bit of vegan butter, the pile of warm and savory sage seasoned softness was like a big hug for our tummies. They weren’t overly salted, were chunky but soft and had just the right amount of pepper. I want them just like that for Thanksgiving this year.
This goes to show you that you don’t have to go to New York City to eat in a 5 star vegan restaurant – just find your way to Scranton! You won’t be served any avant-garde balsamic reduction flourishes over micro greens, you will be served great food and plenty of it. To counter some of the criticism written on Happy Cow, Eden has plenty of healthy choices. If you don’t want to order a meal with meat substitutes in it there are wraps, salads, soups and rice dishes. The pleasing environment (Coldplay-esque music), dedication to plant based meals and care given to making sure customers are properly served make this a top notch dining experience. I am reaching out my hand to the most north-easterly corner of our good Pennslytucky region and hanging on to Eden, they serve up great meals in the best vegan way. Follow them on FaceBook and Twitter too.
