Food For All
Vrai: Lemoyne’s new eatery for every taste
So you follow a gluten- or dairy-free diet. Maybe you’re vegetarian…vegan, even. Perhaps you have a food allergy or, more commonly, multiple allergies. If any of these apply to you, you’re all too familiar with the intricacies of dining out: scouring the menu for something that you can eat and asking the waiter if the chef can substitute this for that or keep it out of your dish altogether.
Despite the way this might have tinged your opinion of restaurant dining, Shelly Page, owner of Vrai (pronounced “vray”) in Lemoyne, wants you to know that you can feel free to dine at ease at her restaurant. Page, who has been a vegetarian for 30 years, has made special accommodations all over their carefully chosen menu, offering and even promoting unconventional ingredients. For example, their Vegan Ala Vodka features chickpea pasta in a vodka tomato cashew cheese sauce. Sourcing these ingredients has sometimes proven to be difficult, but still they want to go above and beyond for their patrons.
“We just want to make people happy no matter what their preferences are,” Page says. She explains that executive chef Douglas Shenk is more than willing to visit diners at their tables to talk about how they can modify a dish. “It’s also sometimes fun, because you have to come up with a creative solution, and then you’ve created a whole new dish,” says Shenk, with an incredibly upbeat outlook.
A great example of their commitment to quality ingredients can be seen in Vrai’s premium wood-fired pizzas. Page and Shenk worked closely together to develop a crust with a blend of whole grains that goes through a long, slow fermentation process, which makes it easier to digest as a result. But if grains aren’t your thing, you can opt for a gluten-free crust, and if you’re totally vegan, you can get the vegan pizza, which features veggies and Daiya, a soy-, gluten- and dairy-free cheese alternative.
Still, the folks at Vrai want you to know this is not a vegan restaurant, and neither is it an Italian or even a French restaurant (like their name might suggest; vrai means “true” in French). There’s something for everyone here, whether you’re craving the wood-fired Brussels sprouts with hazelnuts and lemon cream or the flat iron steak with rosemary garlic potatoes and chimichurri. The difference, though, will be the quality of ingredients and how they make you feel. “You’ll taste the difference,” says Page. “And you’ll feel the difference the next day.”
Vrai 1015 Market St., Lemoyne, PA vrairestaurant.com 717-412-0067
Consciously Growing
root of Lancaster offers vegans and omnivores a gathering place
Curious carnivores and voracious vegans unite as denizens in downtown Lancaster’s inaugural meat- and dairy-free restaurant and bar, root, now in its first year. Owner Rob Garpstas, who’s been in the restaurant business in one capacity or another for over 20 years, decided to take a more personal and ambitious role as the creative mind behind a vegan restaurant. Despite the unique menu, once people come in “and see the bar atmosphere, they seem to forget that it is a vegan bar, and it’s just a bar,” Garpstas says.
Having become a vegan himself six years ago, Garpstas credits two family members as the impetus for his major diet change. “My youngest daughter, Paige, has always been a huge advocate for animal rights, and my father was diagnosed with cancer,” he says. After doing research on the health benefits of being vegan, he says, “I decided to give it a shot.”
Surprising to many (even people who eat meat), wine and beer are often made using animal products, making them non-consumable for vegans. As a result, Garpstas goes one step further in his restaurant and dispenses only vegan-friendly libations. Offering 20 bottled beers, 12 on tap and around 10 wines, he ensures that no one will notice a lack of options.
For vegans, the menu will be their oyster, even though it may possibly be overwhelming to a crowd used to settling for bland options from traditional menus. To make the choice even tougher, Garpstas changes the menu every four to six weeks to accommodate seasonal produce, and he offers brunch, salads, appetizers, main dishes, sandwiches and soups. Weekly specials have recently cropped up, as well.
Seeking to woo meat eaters by proffering old favorites, Garpstas uses what he calls “mad science” to “tweak” non-vegan dishes to be vegan. “I find it challenging and exciting—well, when it works out,” he says. One very popular item that didn’t surprise Garpstas was the Big Mic, a vegan version of a Big Mac. Garpstas enjoys the faces of the people who “were expecting a sprout and tofu menu.” He enjoys the moment “when they try the food [and] realize that you can eat a plant-based diet without sacrificing.”
There’s no reason to be sheepish when combining friends and family with a modern atmosphere, fresh seasonal produce and a seasoned restaurateur.
root 223 W. Walnut St., Lancaster, PA rootoflancaster.com 717-826-9130
By Hannah Wigton and Crystal M. Schreffler | Photography by Donovan Roberts Witmer
