Discover vegan dining options in South Jersey

Though vegetarianism has been popular for decades, and veganism is growing, it can still be difficult to find restaurants with options for those following plant-based diets. But not impossible.

“I would say that even 10 years ago it was fairly difficult to find anything vegan,” said Steve Fenster, the vice-president of the Vegetarian Society of South Jersey.

There might be vegetarian items, he said, or a salad on the menu that would suffice — once the eggs or cheese were removed.

“Now, I can go to probably at least 25 percent of restaurants.”

South Jersey still has a ways to go, he said, but does have some restaurants at least partly, if not entirely, devoted to a vegan clientele.

Some of those restaurants were opened by vegans who simply wanted more options.

“There’s no place to get a good vegan meal in South Jersey and there needed to be one,” said Eric Nyman, who owns Wildflower Earthly Vegan Fare in Millville. He has been a vegetarian for 24 years, eight of those as a vegan.

It isn’t so hard to be vegan, he said, but it is easier if there are accommodating restaurants. Opening Wildflower “wasn’t so much for myself as other people.”

And, as he soon found out, “There are way more people who are vegan than we could have guessed.”

Ashley Coyne faced a similar situation; she had a gluten allergy that made eating out in her hometown of Haddon Heights difficult.

“I had nowhere to go that was healthy,” she said.

Coyne opened Heat Beet Kitchen in Westmont in December. While the restaurant was envisioned as a gluten-free establishment, the original menu was made by a vegan chef, resulting in an almost entirely vegan menu.

They don’t advertise this, as “Vegan is a scary word to people,” and they have had non-vegan customers who, she said, are pleasantly surprised by the food.

Coyne wasn’t vegan before, but now that she spends most of her time at Heart Beet, she also primarily eats the food that comes from the kitchen. And she has noticed that she feels healthier.

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Heart Beet offers a number of lunch and dinner options, as well as smoothies, baked goods, and even some local products, like Origin Almond flavored almond milks.

The two most popular items on her menu are the zucchini noodles with eggplant “meatballs” and the Heart Beet Burger, made from black beans and beets.

“Since we’ve opened, we’ve been so busy,” Coyne said. “People come in thanking me that I’ve opened this place.”

Wildflower also does well with burgers, Nyman said.

“We make the burger like soup, with whatever we have in the kitchen,” he said. It usually has a bean base, whether black beans, white beans or chickpeas, and the flavor changes all the time, with different ethnic influences.

“They vary a lot but they definitely have a following,” Nyman said.

A lot of people have also asked for “cheesesteaks” lately, he said. Their cheese sauce for the sandwich is made from potatoes, onions, carrots, nutritional yeast, herbs and spices.

The cranberry almond salad with agave “honey” mustard is also popular.

Most people who come to Wildflower aren’t vegetarian or vegan, Nyman said, but are simply trying to eat healthier.

“It’s important to us our food actually taste good,” he said. “The whole point of this is to get people to go vegan.”

There are a growing number of people who are interested in the vegan lifestyle, Fenster said. For many, especially the older crowd, they tend to cite health concerns as a reason to switch to a plant-based diet.

“The younger people, it tends to be ethical,” he said. They question not just the meat industry, but why people eat some animals, like cows, but not others, like dogs. They also see animal cruelty not just in slaughter, but in the production or eggs and milk products.

Fenster is a fan of both Heart Beet and Wildflower. Other restaurants now have dedicated vegan menus, often because they already have vegetarian or vegan chefs they can utilize, he said. JB Master Grill in Medford is one example.

Silver Diner also has a special vegan menu in addition to their other offerings. Los Amigos in West Berlin had a vegan chef, so recently started holding vegan tasting dinners. Fenster said he tried to go to the last one, but it sold out in two days.

Harvest Seasonal Grill, in Moorestown, started Meatless Mondays about five months ago.

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“We’re not solely serving meatless, but we have meatless options,” said general manager Cameron Cote.

With the restaurant’s focus on using local, healthy food, and with existing vegetarian dishes, embracing Meatless Mondays was a no-brainer.

“We’re very sensitive to allergies,” Cote said. “The owner is vegetarian.”

The menu will change seasonally, and the current menu runs through the end of March. Some of the highlights are the panko breadcrumb-encrusted heirloom tomato, the tofu stir-fry and a vegetarian burrito that can easily become vegan with a few tweaks.

Fenster has a website, njveg.com, where he used to keep track of all of the area restaurants with vegetarian offerings. He is in the process of trying to merge the list with that of the Vegetarian Society of South Jersey, mainly because the list is too long now for him to handle.

“In the past one or two years it’s gotten overwhelming,” he said. “I can’t keep up. Used to, I’d find about one a month, and now it’s one a week.”

Shannon Eblen: (856) 486-2475; SEblen@gannettnj.com

For more information

Vegetarian Society of South Jersey, call (609) 848-8341 or visit vssj.com.

Heart Beet Kitchen is located at 29 Haddon Ave., Westmont. For the menu or more information, call (856) 240-110 or visit heartbeetnj.com.

Wildflower Earthly Vegan Fare is located at 501 North High St., Millville. For the menu or more information, call (856) 265-7955 or visit wildflowervegan.com.

Harvest Seasonal Grill is located at the Moorestown Mall, 400 Route 38. For more information, call (856) 581-0044 or visit harvestseasonalgrill.com.

Silver Diner is located 2131 Route 38 in Cherry Hill. For the menu or more information call (856) 910-1240 or visit silverdiner.com.

JB Master Grill is located at 13 Jackson Road in Medford. For the menu or more information, call (609) 714-8822 or visit jbmastergrill.com.

Simple Chia Pudding

4 cups almond milk 

1 cup chia seeds 

¼ cup agave 

¼ cup dark cacao powder 

Let pudding sit overnight in the fridge until seeds create a gel-like consistency. Top with almond butter, cacao nibs, berries ... whatever your heart desires! 

 Heart Beet, Westmont