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 wrap, 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…