"Do You Have Any Vegetarian Options?"- By Courtney Askin

  A little over a year ago I made the decision to become vegetarian. This wasn't something new in my family as my dad was vegan for about a month, and one of my sisters was vegetarian for half a year. Becoming vegetarian was not something I thought I would be able to keep up with for that long, but as I started to have to cook my own dinners and find fun recipes, it got easier and easier. Over quarantine, my family, like many others, took to ordering take out a lot. This forced me to do something I never had to do before, look for the options that I was actually able to eat. For my blog post this month, I decided to rank 5 of the restaurants in the area that I live in based on their vegetarian/vegan options. The restaurants I have decided to rank are: St. Moritz, The Sparta Diner, Kroghs, Cloveberry, and Pizza One. 

1) Pizza One (Best) 

    -Although Pizza One is fairly new in Sparta, it is by far my favorite. Their menu offers a variety of sandwiches, subs, pasta dishes, salads, and of course, pizza. Not only can most of their options easily become vegetarian, but they have an entire vegan section on the menu. Some of my favorite from here are the Buffalo Cauliflower and the Veggie Panini. Pizza One has options for everyone, which is why it has become a staple for takeout in my house. 

2) Kroghs

    - Kroghs is a family restaurant, that serves lunch and dinner. While they are famous for their wings and nachos, they do have plenty of vegetarian/vegan options. Their menu is everything you would expect to find at a grill restaurant. Salads, soups, wraps, pasta dishes, burgers, chicken, and dinner specials. One of my favorite items from here (maybe my favorite food ever), is the falafel wrap. I like to get it with buffalo sauce, lettuce, tomato, and onion, and it is amazing. A few of my other favorites are the fried mushrooms and mushroom kale veggie burger. 

3) Cloveberry 

    - Cloveberry is a quaint organic caffe in sparta that serves breakfast, brunch, and lunch. They offer a selection of light salads, breakfast sandwiches, open-faced toasts, and bowls. Because they only serve morning meals, about half of their menu does not include meat. That being said, their menu is small, and only caters to a light breakfast/lunch, so if you are looking for something more filling, this is not the place to go. They do make it clear on the menu which options are vegan/vegetarian friendly which definitely makes it easier to navigate. I love the coffee from this place, and their variety of milks makes it easy to cater to every dietary restriction. My favorite item from here is the Italian Breakfast Sandwich, minus the prosciutto and fontina. 

4) St. Moritz 

    - St. Moritz used to be a staple for family dinners before quarantine, but is still my sisters favorite place to get takeout from. It is a little more upscale from the other restaurants on this list, but nothing too fancy. Their menu is limited, but the dishes are all amazing. My only issue is that their menu only includes one meatless option, and it is a grain bowl. While I have had this bowl plenty of times (and it has been amazing every time) it is nice to see a little variety. When there is only one thing you can eat at a place, that place seems less and less appealing every time. No hate to the grain bowl, but I can only go out to eat here if that is what I am in the mood for. 

5) The Sparta Diner 

    - The Sparta Diner is a great place to go if you and your friends are bored and want to kill a few hours. The atmosphere is comfortable and its fun to just hang out here. That being said, their food is not the best. Eggplant parmigiana is something I have recently discovered and learned I really liked, so when I ordered from here, I received something opposite from what I expected. The eggplant was prepared very unusual, cut lengthwise instead of in small circles, and it was baked not fried. Other than that, the only options appear to be salads or breakfast. Because of this, every time I come here I tend to order chocolate chip pancakes. 

With all that being said, being vegetarian is much easier than I thought. Most restaurants tend to have a variety of options, and I encourage everyone to try it, even for just a week. 

I have linked the menus to every restaurant listed above, in case you want to take a look for yourself, or try one of my favorites: 

Pizza One Sparta: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e50097a4074942b39ffcac3/t/5efdeadc2845322eabcbad21/1593699044752/sparta_approval.pdf

Kroghs: https://www.kroghs.com/food

Cloveberry: https://www.cloveberry.com/uploads/b/fcbca770-4371-11ea-b969-f19b6ad1104f/Lunch%20_Mjk3Nz.pdf

St. Moritz: https://www.stmoritzgrill.com/images/All_Day_Menu_June_2020.pdf 

The Sparta Diner: https://www.spartaclassicdiner.com/menus/sparta-diner-dinner-menu.pdf