Vej Naturals coming to 195 Elm St!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

To update the prior discussion on the subject, according to their web site, Vej Naturals will be moving to the currently-Joey's-Thai (and formerly a number of other places) at 195 Elm St. No opening date is set yet, but we can hope it's soon!

You can also follow them on Facebook.

Once they are open, I will call for a meet-up or two to check out the new digs because I already know the people and food are awesome.

[So what should the difference be between the "dining" and "restaurants" tags here?]

Comments

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

While I don't wish failure on them, I can't say that I'll be happy to see them. Looking at their menus, I'll remain happy that there are places I want to eat nearby, and I'll be sad about the loss of a pretty good, and very convenient, Thai place.

[hikermtnbiker.livejournal.com]

Except for the fact that they serve vegan food I am not sure that you cannot perhaps get much of what they make elsewhere. I think that they need a more interesting menu if they hope to get the non-vegans to eat there, which I think will be essential for them to survive.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Agreed about needing business, but they were already getting lots of non-vegan and the reason they're opening here is that they had way more customers than they could handle at their tiny space in Oak Grove. So hopefully the additional income will balance what are no doubt much larger expenses.

Besides, if interesting food was needed to be successful, Blue Shirt wouldn't have lasted two months. I've been to VN a few times and I thought the food was excellent. I never did try their pizza, though, and look forward to the opportunity to do so locally.

[I was going to comment on the menu, but afaict, they don't any up on their site right now aside from the special events and catering, which do not really reflect the everyday menu. Are you seeing links that I'm missing?]

[808.livejournal.com]

FWIW, the new vegan restaurant in Watertown (Red Lentil) is doing really well. I drive by it daily on my way home and it is often close to full. On Fridays and Saturdays it always has people standing and waiting. The place has only been around a few months. So I'm wondering if there is untapped demand for vegan food around these parts.

[hikermtnbiker.livejournal.com]

I am not anti-vegan or anything I was just wondering about their broader appeal. But they seem to be successful and folks here have nothing but good things to say, so I am optimistic.

We need some diversity in the Davis restaurant scene. It's pretty bland now.

And yeah, I am kind of amazed by Blue Shirt.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I am not sure that you cannot perhaps get much of what they make elsewhere

I was just wondering about this statement, because it doesn't fit my experience with them, and more to the point, if you saw their menus (except the catering one, which is oddly boring) and are telling me that you can get all that elsewhere, I wanna know where! :)

Totally agreed about diversity and I like that VN is more different from what we've already got than any eatery that has opened in the neighborhood in some time. Also, the veg restaurant scene in Boston has generally sucked until quite recently, so it's nice to see that changing.

[hikermtnbiker.livejournal.com]

I did see their menu quite a while back but I admit that I used their catering menu to refresh my bad memory. So my comment was largely based on that, which I guess is not representative.

I am always amazed when I travel to the West coast how much more interesting and diverse the food is out there (except for the pizza). So I wonder, do we get what we deserve here (IE no market) or are restaurateurs simply misreading Boston's tastes? Geeze, even tiny little towns up in VT have places that have great bread (w&w/o gluten), vegetarian and vegan offerings. What gives? Hopefully this will change.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

I've been there, I am not a vegan, and I enjoyed their food quite a bit (especially the sloppy joes and the strawberry soy ice cream shakes) though I hope they still provide a la carte options (hard to eat $25 worth of food in one sitting...)