Thinking Outside The Salad Bowl – A Plant-Based Guide To Cape Cod Dining

By KATIE GOERS

Anyone who has cut animal products out of their diet can relate to meeting friends for dinner and finding that the only thing on the menu they can eat without requesting special modifications is maybe a garden salad, and even that can be risky depending on the restaurant.

While Cape Cod is not generally well known for its vegetarian- and vegan-friendly restaurants, a lot of strides have been made with many establishments across the Cape expanding their menu options to be more welcoming to guests who have chosen a plant-based diet.

The following guide, though extensive, is far from exhaustive—particularly as it pertains to the veg-friendly category. Cape Cod has many restaurants that have great vegetarian choices.

Vegetarians and vegans who are looking for a great bite to eat on Cape Cod can consult the Happy Cow app, which pinpoints locations across the country that are strictly vegan, strictly vegetarian and veg-friendly and even has filters for the best markets and ice cream shops available to people who do not eat animal products.

Strictly Vegan

Most of the establishments that offer a strictly vegan menu are located in Lower and Outer Cape towns. However, for offerings such as vegan quiches, savory sandwiches and plant-based stir fries, taking a trip down Cape is certainly worthwhile.

Starting in Provincetown, Tween the Tides is a restaurant that has become fully plant-based as of 2021. From sandwiches and appetizers to salads that are far from just lettuce, onion and tomato, the menu at Tween the Tides is exciting and creative.

Appetizers include fried plantains, street nachos and potato and pea samosas. Salads are crafted with ingredients like edamame, roasted beets and house-made plant-based feta cheese.

Several of the restaurant’s offerings feature meat substitutes such as chik’n cutlets and UnCut Brand shaved meat for sandwiches such as their Loaded Cheesesteak and Hawaiian BBQ Chik’n Sandwich. However, they also offer sandwiches filled with Finnish pulled outs, falafel and marinated tofu.

Additionally, the menu features a rotating Quiche of the Moment made from Just Egg and a vegan chorizo chili.

Open at noon from Thursday through Sunday, Tween the Tides can be found at 205 Commercial Street in Provincetown.

Fare & Just Kitchen, located at 2628 Main Street in Brewster, is not only 100 percent plant-based, the restaurant is also completely gluten- and peanut-free.

Dedicated to vegan takeout, the restaurant is open from noon to 7 PM Thursday through Sunday.

The menu changes with the season, and owner and chef Peter Duff provides regular updates on the website.

Menu items at Fare & Just Kitchen are traditionally plant-based with entrees such as the Pinto Bean and Sweet Potato Taco Salad, Tangy Thai Veggie Stir Fry and the Falafel Bunny Bowl.

Mr. Duff has also created a wide variety of smoothies, whipped up with plant-based milks, agave, fruits, greens and add-ins such as barley grass powder, flax, maca and spirulina.

Harwich Port’s J.Bar may be known for its smoothies and fresh-pressed juices, but its menu also features a number of sweet and savory avocado toasts and sandwiches.

The establishment takes pride in being completely plant-based as well as sugar-free, gluten-free and wheat-free. All its toasts and sandwiches are served on Ezekiel Bread—made from sprouted grains and coconut sugar and dates are used as sweet ingredients instead of traditional white sugars.

Outside-the-box avocado toasts include the Sol-Sista, which is topped with fresh mango, cacao nibs, chili flakes and sea salt, and the Effortless, topped with raw pumpkin seeds, sliced cucumbers, shredded beets and the proprietary J.Bar Sprinkle.

Vegan sandwiches include The Feel Happy—J.Bar’s take on a traditional peanut butter and jelly—filled with crunchy peanut butter, bananas, berries, cacao nibs and coconut sugar—and the savory Earth, filled with sesame tahini, shredded carrots, shredded beets, cucumber, kale and the J.Bar Sprinkle.

For a sweet treat, diners can grab a date-based dessert such as the J.Baes, made from peanut butter, chia seeds, gluten-free oats, cacao nibs, coconut sugar and dates.

J.Bar can be found at 537 Route 28 in Harwich Port.

Strictly Vegetarian

While the following restaurants do have vegan offerings, some of their menu items do have dairy, eggs, honey or other ingredients that are allowable in a vegetarian diet, but not in a strictly plant-based one.

Heading back to Provincetown, the Grab ‘n Go Health Bar features a selection of zoodle dishes (pastas made from zucchini) as well as vegan tacos and a Green Mermaid Roll (avocado, cucumber and spring mix that has been tossed in a sesame ginger sauce and rolled up in a nori wrapper).

Additionally, guests can build their own salads using vegan dressings and toppings such as tofu, pumpkin seeds, vegan cheeses and watermelon—or for breakfast, oatmeal bowls that can be topped with a number of fruits and nuts.

For dessert, the establishment offers a homemade vegan soft-serve ice cream.

Open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM, Grab ‘n Go Health Bar is located at 212 Commercial Street in Provincetown.

With locations in Sandwich and Osterville, Hometown Juice & Co. is generally known for its selection of smoothies and fresh juices, and a number of breakfast and lunch options are available for vegetarians at their shops, too.

From the Cucumber Hummus toast topped with house-made beet hummus and cucumbers or the sweeter Twisted Apple toast, with Backwood Al’s Twisted Apply jelly, red apples, peanut butter and chia seeds to the Dragon Bowl filled with strawberries, mangoes, blueberries, bananas and toasted coconut, vegetarians will feel welcome at Hometown Juice.

In addition to toasts and bowls, the shop features a rotating selection of soups and chilis, many of which are vegetarian-friendly as well.

Freshroll in Mashpee is the answer for vegetarians who are craving Asian cuisine, including sushi.

Appetizers include cauliflower wings tossed in sauces like General Taos, Korean BBQ and sweet chili garlic and street-food-inspired fare like tofu kabobs and vegetable dumplings. A variety of fresh rolls are also on the menu with rice wrappers filled with ingredients such as marinated tofu, caramelized onions, grilled eggplant and shallots.

Freshroll has created a number of shrushi offerings—their take on sushi—all of which are plant-based. From shrushi bowls made with spicy vegan scallops to rolls filled with avocado and sweet potato, sushi cravings do not stand a chance.

Additionally, Freshroll offers a couple of sandwiches, including the Streetfood Sandwich that is filled with marinated tofu, onion strings, Asian coleslaw, mayo and scallion spread on French bread. Avocado or vegan scallops can be added for an upcharge.

Freshroll is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 AM to 7:30 PM and is located at 439 Nathan Ellis Highway in Mashpee.

Veg-Friendly Spots

Even though most restaurants and markets on the Cape are not exclusively geared toward plant-based diets, several have expanded their menus to be more welcoming to vegetarian and vegan clientele.

In Sandwich, Café Chew has a number of breakfast and lunch options for vegetarians including The Forager (goat cheese and portabella with fire-roasted red pepper puree, tomato, baby spinach, balsamic vinaigrette on a telera roll) and The Hippie (scrambled eggs, spinach, tomatoes, red onion, broccoli and Vermont cheddar on a wheat wrap).

with locations in Mashpee and Dennis, offers a number of vegan and vegetarian foods to-go. The Vegan Breakfast Bowl (Just Egg patty, tempeh and avocado over sautéed spinach) and the Vegan Sunrise Wrap (Just Egg patty, sautéed mushrooms, peppers, onions, vegan cheese, avocado and pesto spread on a vegan wheat wrap) are especially robust breakfast options.

Additionally, the markets sell a great variety of vegan and vegetarian ingredients for customers to bring home and cook for themselves.

Siena in Mashpee has a section of their menu dedicated to vegan customers. The vegan menu currently includes Mediterranean Pasta and Italian Vegetable Risotto.

Also in Mashpee, Wicked Restaurant & Wine Bar has added a vegan mozzarella cheese to the menu, which can be used on any of their pizza offerings. They also have a black bean quinoa cake sandwich, and reviewers raved about the vegan chocolate cake they offer for dessert.

It does not have to be a challenge to find interesting, filling and unique vegetarian and vegan options on Cape Cod. From vegans to the veg-curious, the offerings are out there; one just has to know where to look, never to feel resigned to settling for that garden salad again.