GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Whether you’re a vegan or are just looking for fresh, locally-sourced meals, Gaia House Café in Grand Rapids is a fully vegetarian and vegan restaurant.
Originally opened in the East Hills district as a poetry coffee house, Gaia House Café is now located at 1553 Plainfield Ave. NE. Owner Andrea Bumstead reopened the café in 2021 in a new location after the café's previous owner closed its doors in 2014.
“We are a full vegetarian/vegan restaurant for breakfast and lunch,” Bumstead said. “We do monthly specials that are made with mostly local and in-season products.”
Along with breakfast and lunch fare, Gaia House Café offers a full juice bar that includes fruit and vegetable juices, kombucha and smoothies. Meal choices include miso soup, a Mediterranean platter, omelets and cornbread French toast.
Fan favorites at the café are the veggie stash, the “mean green” burrito and the tempeh Reuben sandwich.
The veggie stash is made with assorted steamed veggies, garlic, ginger, potatoes or brown rice and topped with Monterey jack cheese, scallions and sour cream for $12.
Tempeh, a fermented soybean protein, became the unexpected star of a Reuben sandwich at the café.
“If somebody came in and wanted to be a little adventurous, I would steer them to a tempeh Reuben,” Bumstead said. “We make our own sauce, our own cabbage kraut, and the tempeh is house made fermented soybeans. We put that on rye (bread) and it’s topped with microgreens.”
If you’re looking for something heartier, try the portobello beet bread burder, made with balsamic glazed portobello mushrooms, mixed greens, parmesan cheese, caramelized onion, avocado and miso dressing on house-made beet bread for $12, served with corn tortilla chips and house chutney.
Though one of Bumstead’s personal favorite menu items is the miso Caesar salad, you won’t find a whole host of other salads on the café menu. As a vegetarian restaurant, Bumstead said she wants to show people there’s a large variety of vegetarian-friendly foods.
“It’s kind of proving a point, we only have one salad on the menu,” she said. “I don’t want people to think they can only just get a salad. Something that’s a staple for most families growing up like a burrito or a stir-fry, we do them in a vegan style with different proteins. It’s developing the same flavors and technique.”
Staying true to its roots, the café hosts a poetry night the last Tuesday of each month 7-9 p.m. The café also offers a buy one, get one 50% off special for all fresh pressed juices every Monday.
Along with the café offerings, Bumstead said she has big plans to expand the business to include its own farm and market to further educate the Grand Rapids community about sustainable, plant-based food.
“We can still say we’re the only vegetarian restaurant,” Bumstead said. “It’s something we’re proud of, but we’re also encouraging and I’d love to have more options.”
More than anything, Bumstead said she hopes everyone feels welcome at Gaia House Café.
“We are very accepting, you can come from whatever walk of life and we’re really proud of that,” she said. “It’s just a comfortable, chill place to be. We’re a big, loving, caring bunch.”
Gaia House Café is open 8 a.m.-3 p.m. every day. A full menu is available online at gaiahousecafe.com/menu and the restaurant can be reached at 616-591-0267.
More from MLive:
Residents call for more homeless supports in Grand Rapids meeting on public safety
Grand Rapids named 3rd most ‘pickleball-obsessed’ city in the United States
LGBTQ students’ lived experiences on Christian campuses subject of Hope College lecture