This year, 29 restaurants participated in Milwaukee Vegan Restaurant Week, stopping first at Central Standard Cafthouse & Kitchen.
The general manager of the Cafthouse, Andrew Ruka, shared his personal experiences regarding the inaugural event.
“For the first year of Milwaukee’s Vegan Restaurant Week, it was very successful for us. Although we have vegan options on our brunch, lunch, happy hour, and dinner menus, we saw more traffic and an increase in our lunch business,” Ruka said.
Ruka spoke about how their menu has evolved into a widely inclusive experience for their customers and the immense care their team puts into the provided meals.
“We’ve evolved our food menus over the past 2 years to become widely inclusive and allergy-friendly. We want everyone to have an excellent experience without feeling limited. Adding several vegan substitutions to our brunch menu last year was a huge hit. We’ve also made sure we have solid vegan and allergen-safe options across all menus, a well-trained front and back of house team, and improved communication around dietary restrictions with guests. These changes have built us a reputation for delivering excellent care to the vegan community and guests with allergies and sensitivities. The Cafe Corazon team did a great job for initiating a successful city-wide event, and we’re excited to be included next year.”
– Ruka, Central Standard Cafthouse & Kitchen
Anyone can absolutely taste the care and experience in each bite; a shared kudos to the Central Standard teams and Cafe Corazon for putting the event together.
The next restaurant visited was a quintessential Milwaukee vegan spot, Twisted Plants. known for its homestyle dishes and nostalgic cuisine of burgers and wings. Here we went all out, ordering the Munchie Platter.
The co-owner of Twisted Plants, Arielle Hawthorne, spoke at Boswell Book Company’s “Milwaukee Flavor: Chef Talk” and book signing about her cooking.
Hawthorne created many delicious vegan options, along with the entire Twisted Plants family, who prepared the platter. Their food is great for when someone is craving a little bit of everything.
Precious spoke to us about her experiences with the festival and restaurant. She mentioned how more people are trying the restaurant during the Milwaukee Vegan Restaurant Week event, some even from out of state. She also mentioned how Twisted Plants offers food truck catering and has two locations, neither of which serves meat.
Our last stop during the event was Wonderland for breakfast. Chef Matt, or Puddles as he is called, noted the Sweet Potato Gnocchi was their “top seller” during the Milwaukee Vegan Restaurant week. He was barely able to comment due to how busy they have been.
The savory taste of their Vegan Corned Beef Hash was unforgettable. Their classic diner aesthetics and coffee were perfect ways to start the day.
This was an impressive celebration, with all the restaurants offering discounts and delicious snacks. The next Vegan Restaurant Week in Milwaukee is already an anticipated event. Thankfully, these establishments have many of these menu items all year round.
Milwaukee Vegan Restaurants Who Participated:
- Beans & Barley
- Beerline Café
- Café Corazon
- Central Standard Crafthouse & Kitchen
- Classic Slice
- Comet Cafe
- Dead Bird Brewing
- Gather Bakehouse
- Haven Cafe
- Hen’s Deli
- Honeypie Cafe
- Ian’s Pizza Milwaukee
- Karma Cafe & Smoothie Bar
- Lucky Ginger
- Lulu Cafe and Bar
- Odd Duck
- Paloma Taco & Tequila
- Palomino Bar
- Purple Door Ice Cream
- Ruta’s Fresh Indian Fare
- Screaming Tuna Sushi
- Solful Kitchen
- Strange Town
- Temple Goddess Café
- Thai-namite
- Trickleebee Café
- Twisted Plants
- Vegan Soul
- Wonderland