Since moving to the Western Pa/Western NY area, Hubs and I have been struggling to find restaurants that offer food that we feel good about eating. We live on the border of PA/NY so we spend much of our time in western NY. So far we have found Tasty Time in Allegany, NY, which offers fresh healthy Asian cuisine and Grand Slam in Allegany NY, which is a little healthier version of typical American fare. The problem for us is that we are trying to stay as close to plant based as possible, but we are definitely in carnivore country here. I would describe us as more flexitarian, but we try to stay around 90-95% plant based.
There’s a great little smoothie place in Olean, but I usually have a smoothie first thing in the a.m., so by the time I make it into town, I am looking for solid food. My go-to is Four Mile Brewing in Olean. They have multiple plant based options on the menu, all delicious. Plus Brews. The atmosphere is great there, and you can learn about brewing beer while you wait. Win.
In our own tiny town there are no sit down restaurants, (it’s a very small town), so we end up driving about 20 miles whenever we want to eat anything that we don’t have to cook ourselves. Well, this is essentially a food blog, so clearly I like to cook, but I do enjoy the occasional break from the kitchen clean up. Who doesn’t, right?
This area has come such a long way from the pizza and wing capital that it was in our youth. The options have improved greatly; there is beginning to be quite a diverse selection of food choices. I have not had the chance to try all of the restaurants around. I know that I have missed so many. I can’t wait for locals to educate me on this topic. I love trying new restaurants, and everything is so different than when we were here before. A lot can happen in ten years in a smallish town like Olean. So much has changed for the better.
Remember I mentioned pizza capital and all that? It is Western New York, after all. Being part of the local Honest Restaurant Review page on FB led us to a place that we had never heard of here, called Brooklyn Bakery. (It’s a bakery, yes, but it’s really all about the pizza.) With a name like that you expect great things. They did not disappoint. Being plant based we, of course, skipped the American Classic, cheese and pepperoni. That hurt a little. We went with the Garlic Charred Mushroom instead.
Words can’t describe how in love with this pizza we are. The pizza that I truly miss from the Orlando area is a pizza shop called Giovanni’s. New York style, thick pepperoni, thin crust….ah-mazing! This Brooklyn Bakery pizza held it’s own every bite of the way. You don’t even miss the pepperoni. Now that’s good pizza. There are also a couple of vegetarian options on the menu, a pesto based sauce, and a white pizza, meat free. My son’s birthday is coming up and he is already planning the pizzas he will order from Brooklyn Bakery. Plus brownies. I kinda can’t wait, myself.
If you live in the Olean NY area, and are a flexitarian, vegetarian, vegan, or raw foodie I would love to hear from you, in the comments, about the plant based options for food around here. I know that there are like minded people here but I have yet to run across them. If you are going to be here from out of town, I hope I, at least, gave you a few options to try for the plant based diet, if that’s your thing too. Thanks for reading!
