Vej Naturals now open

[lgss]

http://www.vejnaturals.com/

[Chris VR]

Vegan cuisine in Malden... hmm. I wish them luck!

[StriperGuy]

Yah, I agree, huge vegan population in Malden.

[Science Chick]

I'm not so sure it won't work. Sure, Cambridge or JP might be ideal, but Masao's Kitchen in Waltham (macrobiotic) has been doing a great business for years, and Waltham is not exactly the Mecca of the earthy and crunchy. At any rate, I 'm quite excited and will definitely make the trek to try it out soon. I will report back........

[StriperGuy]

Touche, was really just commenting on the overall dearth of vegans in these parts as opposed to say SF Bay or NYC. Hope they do well. Did not even know there was a vegan place in Waltham. Have to check it out.

[Bluebell]

I'm not sure how Grezzo is doing, but they got lots of press. The Vej Naturals website shows a much lower price point, and Malden is on the orange line. Portland recently opened a vegan place (Green Elephant) and I'm really looking forward to trying it when I'm up there.

[Chris VR]

This seems to be right across from Oak Grove, which is a great location to attract the commuter crowd. Parking isn't going to be easy for the non-commuters though.

[chowcat]

Run, don't walk to Green Elephant! It was one of the best meals we've had in Portland, and we go there a lot. Don't let the vegan thing put you off -- this is new age Thai-based food that will knock your socks off.

To keep it Boston-centered, when are we going to get a restaurant of the type and caliber (and prices) of Green Elephant?

[Bluebell]

Thanks for the update re Green Elephant. We wanted to go, but our dinner guests weren't feeling adventurous. Next visit up, I guess.

I don't mind Grasshopper here in Boston, but Green Elephant looks more promising...

[almansa]

O'Naturals bombed in Davis Square, but that is pricier real estate. Looking at the Vej Naturals menu online, however, I'm not too confident - especially when my vegetarian wife has no interest.

[lgss]

O'Naturals didn't have much of anything for me (vegan, gluten-free) so we never went.

[Chris VR]

Place:

[lisa13]

You know, I didn't read this post when it first went up as I figured the place had to be downtown or in Cambridge...

I am so stoked to have this in Malden! I am not a vegan, or even vegetarian, but damn it, I love vegetables, and having a place that serves anything healthy nearby makes this a win-win in my book.

I am just finishing lunch but I'll check it out for dinner tonight and report back.

Oh, and regarding parking, it is not ideal, but permit parking restrictions in that area end at 5 or 5:30, and there is plenty of space on the street one block over (I think it's wyoming ave).

[debidokun]

Visited today for the Sunday Brunch. The restaurant is in a residential area directly across from the Oak Grove Orange Line station. The restaurant is very small it seats a total of 11 people at 3 tables. They were swamped today as it was included in an email from the Boston Vegan Society and thus many of there members were there today.

We had to wait about 30 minutes for our table and then waited probably about 45 more minutes for our food as they were totally swamped and a bit overwhelmed - this was only the second sunday they have been open and the wife/owner/waitress said it was MUCH slower last Sunday. The food was excellent. My wife had southern breakfast and I had a tofu southwestern burito. They also have all different types of fruit and vegetable drinks. We both had fruit smoothies which we did not like that much. However, the reason for this is this is a vegan restaurant and thus the smoothy was just fruit and ice with no dairy products.

The owners are VERY VERY nice. They both appologized for the long wait and both SINCERELY asked how the food was.

I think they are going to be busy for Sunday brunch - however I wonder how busy they will be during the week. I wish this couple all the best with this restaurant.

David

[chompie]

not sure why a smoothie shouldnt be delicious without dairy? Wonder why they would just use fruit and ice and not throw in some soymilk or rice or almond milk or cashews or tofu or something to make it an actual smoothie?? Or even some sorbet or something? Fruit and ice sound like just juice to me!

[lgss]

We make great dairy-free smoothies: frozen bananas, oj, other frozen fruit (blueberry, blackberry, mango, raspberry, strawberry, cherry, etc.)

[Science Chick]

A few years ago I started drinking smoothies that were dairy free (soy milk). I didn't like the texture of the soymilk at first, but kept drinking them because I didn't want to hurt my BF's feelings (he loves whipping them up). Now I've made the adjustment to soymilk and don't like them any other way!!

[debidokun]

Maybe they did put something else in and I just did not know it. Hopefully someone else will go and have smoothie and report back that they were REALLY good - and thus it was only my BAD taste buds.

Other than the smoothie we REALLY liked all the rest of the food.