Rutabaga’s is an all vegan restaurant located in the Meadowlane Shopping Center. Owned by Sara Brown since 2018, the restaurant has been a comfort food place for vegans all around Lincoln. While living the vegan lifestyle often gets a bad rap, this place kicks the socks of meat-eaters too.

I live in a completely vegan household but on my own, I can’t remember a time I’ve considered the switch. As a chicken strip lover, I wasn’t super open to trying fully vegan food but none the less my family ordered it.

I tried the buffalo chicken mac and cheese and fried pickles. You can’t tell that the cheese is a substitute. The buffalo bits are made from dehydrated soy bean which is a common meat substitute and doesn’t have a distinct taste except the buffalo sauce. Overall the mac and cheese is really filling and tastes amazing and homemade. After a meal where I would typically be having some tummy troubles, the dairy substitute really helps out with the bloated feeling I usually get after eating.

The fried pickles are battered instead of breaded which keeps it crispy and, in my opinion as a fried pickle expert, just tastes better. They have a spicy sauce that it comes with that cuts the saltiness a fried pickle often has and ensures that you will eat about two whole pickles unknowingly. They are a great side to any entree or something to introduce yourself to Rutabaga’s without diving straight into meat and dairy substitutes.

“I’ve been vegetarian for a year and a half and I would definitely go here for lunch,” Makenzie Pollock said.

I definitely think a meal from Rutabaga’s makes you feel less greasy or bloated than some other restaurants with fried and fatty foods. They also serve kombucha, which helps with digestion so you feel energized and full after eating here.

“I recently switched to being vegan and found Rutabaga’s after searching for somewhere to get takeout and now we get it about once a week,” Poppy Ratliff said.

Overall, I really think it’s a great place for vegans, and for meat eaters to go out to eat with someone vegan so they don’t feel dissatisfied or like they’re missing something. Rutabaga’s brings a whole new perspective and uses creative meat and dairy substitutes that change the game.