For a long time, eating vegan in a diner meant dry toast, a fruit cup, and a conversation with the cook about whether the home fries touched the bacon. Buffalo has gotten a lot better at this, and we would like to think we helped. Here is what a genuinely good plant-based day looks like on our block, from seven in the morning until the bar closes.
Morning: the diner
The thing to understand about our vegan menu is that it was built by cooks who wanted to eat it, not assembled from a supplier's catalog. The centerpiece is seitan bacon we make in-house, which has its own post because people ask about it constantly. Once you have a bacon that is actually good, a lot of the menu falls into place.
- Veggs Benedict. Tofu scramble, seitan bacon, grilled tomato, spinach, and a cashew hollandaise over a toasted baguette, with home fries. This is the dish that got on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and it is ordered by a lot of people who eat eggs.
- Vegan French toast. Thick-cut baguette dipped in a cinnamon almond batter, griddled, and topped with warm cinnamon apples. Nobody misses the egg.
- VLT. Seitan bacon, lettuce, tomato, and hemp ranch on toasted bread. It is a BLT. It is a good one.
- Vegan Meatloaf Bomber. Lentil meatloaf, Daiya cheese, and a ketchup-mustard-brown-sugar glaze on a toasted baguette. The vegan version of a Triple-D sandwich.
- Vegan Burger and Vegan Wrap. Both built on a house-made white bean burger.
- Baja Granola. House granola with almond milk and berries, if you want to feel good about yourself before the French toast.
The full plant-based lineup is on its own page, including the sides and the swaps. Short version: any breakfast that comes with bacon can come with vegan bacon, the hemp ranch is vegan, and the cook is used to the question.
Midday: a shake, with a caveat
Honesty here. Our milkshakes are hand-dipped from real dairy ice cream, and that is the reason they are good. We do not currently keep a dairy-free ice cream on the spindle. What we can do is a loganberry over ice, a fresh-squeezed orange juice, or a coffee with almond milk, all of which are very good and none of which pretend to be a milkshake.
Evening: across the parking lot
We close at three. At four, The Steer opens directly across the same lot, and it has one of the deeper plant-based menus in the city for a place that is, at heart, a steakhouse. Thirteen dishes, last time we counted: a lentil meatloaf people drive across town for, a Buddha burger, a vegan Stinger (Buffalo's chicken-finger-and-steak sandwich, rebuilt without either), and vegan wings. If you are searching for vegan food in Buffalo after dark, that is where we send people, and not only because we are related.
It also means a mixed table works. One person can have a dry-aged, wood-fired steak and the person next to them can have the lentil meatloaf, and nobody is eating a side salad for dinner. Same lot, same family, two kitchens that both take this seriously.
Once you have a bacon that's actually good, the rest of the menu falls into place.
A note for the students
A big share of the people who ask for the vegan menu are UB students, which is part of why it grew. If that is you, the breakfast guide for South Campus covers the rest: when to come, where to sit, what to order when your parents are in town. And the answer to "can I get the Veggs Benedict at 2pm" is yes, because it is a diner and everything runs all day.