When you find what works, you stick with it, right?
That would explain my thinking behind my favorite New Orleans cafe which I visited three times with a feeling of happy vegan success.

Amidst all of the sea life being killed for any number of New Orleans theme dishes, I was floored to find not only a place with vegan options, but many vegan dishes, AND include gluten free options as well! SCORE.

Take for example the Vegan Gumbo at left — made with some sort of vegan apple sausage, and of course offered up paired with good ol’ Louisiana’s own Crystal hot sauce a la carte, if it strikes your fancy. Meals from the Heart Cafe still offered a few dishes that include meat, but they do have a particular rule about not serving pork or any pork-containing products (i.e. mixed meat processed items).

Everything is made fresh to order, so that means sometimes you’ll wait about 7-15 minutes for your food, depending on what you get. I don’t know about you, but I will absolutely wait a few extra minutes for something fresh (and presumably healthier) rather than get my meal in one minute flat and wonder how it got made so fast.

Another really cool aspect to Meals from the Heart Cafe is that they cater to other locals who believe in the plant-based goodness food can offer.
Have you heard of Girls Gone Vegan Bakery? Neither had I. Check out their link here —
Basically, up on the counter where the bar stools are lined up, there is a little dessert platter offered on display for patrons with a sweet tooth (or as I consider it, sugary appetizer platter) with different treats like the “Wedding Bar”, “Magic Bar” or a good ol’ brownie, all vegan, and all gluten free. These baked goods (I’ve sampled two, pure heaven though perhaps best in two sittings) are made by two sisters who are transplants to New Orleans, and on a mission to bring cruelty-free options in the baked goods world to everyone in the area. More reasons to love this establishment and this town! Onto the hearty food: I decided to start with the Portobello Po’ Boy. At first glance, it seemed graciously sized as a two-full-sandwich meal and paired with a delightfully colorful salad, though advertised as a mushroom sammy, I was a little underwhelmed by the ratio of mushroom to the other vegetables at first sight. In any case, the sandwich flavor was OUTSTANDING; Slightly balsamic vinaigrette, slightly grill crisp, little bit of oil giving it all a buttery flavor on the toast. And so, so fresh. They also make their own vidalia onion salad dressing evidently. Also ace on flavor.

Here above we have some of the dishes available by their website with pictures included for reference. Below will be the actual dishes we got, with my friend and myself splitting one order of crab cake tacos, and one crab cake po’ boy, with a third photo of the crab cake (again, ALL VEGAN CRAB CAKE) by itself. All delicious, like seriously finger-licking good. And? FILLING. So surprisingly filling. 

 

If I had to find one single complaint just for the sake of not sounding like their personal sponsor, my one minor hairball would be this:
Like most of the French Quarter (unless I missed something), Meals from the Heart Cafe is not a strictly vegan cafe; on the left you can see a sample of their menu signs, one advertising for salmon breakfast (arg), and the other for a black bean po’ boy (pictured below) which I greatly enjoyed; It’s sort of like a black bean version of falafel — has a spicy southern kick to it and was wonderfully filling paired with both homemade potatoes and mixed sauteed veggies, which costs an upcharge of $1.99 if you want to get both sides instead of just one.

Since this was my last meal in New Orleans before going to the airport and having to fly back to blander foods, I decided to throw down the $2 and eat to my heart’s content here one last, sweet time. Again, I ordered the gluten free bread and I have to say this is the best gluten free toast I’ve had hands down. I don’t know which brand it is, and I am a little disappointed I forgot to ask (though technically I could call them on the phone and ask if I didn’t have social anxiety), but it tastes almost exactly like lightly buttered, perfectly toasted Wonder Bread, except it’s made out of some type of vegetable flour or grain flour that isn’t complete crap for your intestinal tract. Oh the simply joys of life! But I digress. So, dead animals are served here, but aren’t they most places? Especially in Louisiana where the locals are not shy about what they choose to eat. So, all in all considered, there’s still a lot of gold stars going for this veggie-friendly cafe, especially because they had such a delicious, outstanding variety of substitute foods taking on inspiration from some of Lousiana’s favorites, but with a cruelty-free kick. I recommend! As always, Happy Eating. 🙂