Why isnt there a vegetarian restaurant in Boise
April 16th, 2008, 5:13 pm Hobbies And Interests
In 2007, Idaho was No. 1 on PETA’s list of the top vegetarian-friendly state prison systems in the country.Meanwhile, meatless diners in the Treasure Valley have been sentenced to life without a vegetarian restaurant with no sign of parole.Several markets of similar size (Tulsa, Okla.) or smaller (Green Bay, Wis.) have one, but a restaurant solely for vegetarians and vegans is noticeably absent from the Boise dining scene.If deep-South cattle country like Tulsa can support a vegetarian restaurant, why isn’t there one in increasingly progressive Boise?History and economics are the primary reasons.In 1994, the vegetarian Earth Food Cafe replaced a greasy-spoon institution, the State Court Cafe, but two years later, it was the State Court Cafe again.Koffee Klatsch, later known as Kulture Klatsch, went through a series of owners - including the Earth Food Cafe folks - who tried natural foods/vegetarian concepts. (Contrary to popular belief, the latter-day Klatsch was not entirely vegetarian - turkey had been on its menu since at least the early ’90s.)In its final incarnation, the Koffee Klatsch Bistro, the restaurant took a 180-degree turn toward short ribs, elk sausage and Idaho trout.That nothing has surfaced in the Klatsch’s place is frustrating to local vegheads.Ruth Larson, founder of the Boise Vegan Potluck Meetup Group, said very few restaurants in town offer a decent vegan meal.”It never ceases to amaze me that people in the restaurant industry can be so clueless,” she said. “I’ve been handed a plate of lettuce before and paid $9.”Boise’s Vicki Hodge, who writes Vegan Vice, a blog with vegan and vegetarian recipes, reviews and news, said her meat-free family of four has learned to improvise when dining out.”Most places, even in Idaho, have options for vegetarians, but you need to get creative - sometimes only ordering sides, or making an appetizer into a meal by adding a salad and another side.”While Hodge said restaurants are getting more and more interested in their meatless options, the trend is unlikely to yield a hip vegetarian cafe in a fickle dining scene that has witnessed its share of high-profile closings in recent years.”I think it would be a difficult proposition,” said Erik McLaughlin, owner of 8th Street Wine Company whose former restaurants Richard’s and Bungalow had sizable vegetarian menus.The McLaughlins (Erik and Jennifer) almost opened a vegetarian restaurant 2 1/2 years ago but hesitated for multiple reasons. First and foremost, the Richard’s vegetarian menu had not generated additional revenue or customer traffic.”It’s a niche thing, and niches can be good and bad,” McLaughlin said. “There’s a high risk and a low potential for return.”The Boise Co-op also has considered it “a million times,” said Patty Payton, who was part of the Co-op group that launched the ill-fated Flipside Cafe in 2005.The Co-op instead went the natural foods route with the Flipside, which required costly local and organic ingredients. The restaurant had a hard enough time making ends meet with meat on the menu.”It’s really hard to charge people and make your cost,” Payton said. “We had a big entity backing us up and we still weren’t able to keep it afloat.” (The Flipside closed in 2006.)Part of the problem, Payton said, was customers wanted natural foods and meatless options but balked at paying extra for them.”They demand it, and then when you show them how much it costs, they get angry,” she said. “They still want their $5 eggs, toast and stir fry.”Linda Bengtson Galt, owner of Kavarna in Green Bay, has made her meatless menu work in a meat-and-potatoes football town by taking the foo-foo out of foo-foo vegetarian food.Kavarna’s most popular sandwich, the Cheesy Artichoke, is crammed with provolone and cream cheese. The flame-broiled black bean burgers are dressed up with pepper jack, garlic cream cheese and barbecue sauce.”It’s vegetarian for meat eaters,” she said. “We have hummus and sprouts and all that, but our food is very meaty and rich.”Galt also credits Kavarna’s longevity - she opened more than eight years ago - to anchoring the business on an in-demand product with near-universal appeal - coffee.”We describe it as a coffeehouse that just happens to not serve meat,” she said.Retaining skilled employees is another challenge faced by restaurants like Kavarna and Kulture Klatsch.Joanie Veage, who owned the Klatsch from 2004 to 2005, said cooks with backgrounds in natural and meatless food preparation are hard to come by in Boise.Many applicants bolted when they saw her menu. Others gave it a shot but didn’t stick around long.”It took a very special, detail-oriented cook with great focus, patience and perseverance to prepare the plates,” she said. “Nobody wanted the job after their first busy weekend.”In spite of the roadblocks, Veage believes a vegetarian restaurant run by the right people with the right philosophy could succeed in Boise today, pointing to the growing interest in natural foods, the rise of community supported agriculture and the founding of a regional food coalition.”I think a natural foods restaurant would be a huge success almost immediately,” she said. “My evaluation says, it will come to Boise in its time. I only hope I’m not ancient by then.”Chad Dryden: 672-6734
Tags: lace, launch, recipes, riskRelated posts
