Green Lotus in Hyannis, MA

This is the post that you have been waiting for.

Well, at least this is the place that might have kept me from ever leaving the Cape, had it been open a few years ago.  This is probably a good thing that it wasn’t open then, but still…

Green Lotus is an all Vegetarian/Vegan café in Hyannis.  As far as I know, it’s the only all veg-place on Cape Cod.  Most of their offerings are vegan; a few have options for cheese, and some sandwiches can have either a vegan or vegetarian sauce/spread/etc.  Their breakfast menu has a number of egg dishes, though mushrooms can be had in place of eggs for most.

Green Lotus has been around for about a year, which means it was on the Cape the last time I visited this winter, but I didn’t get a chance to go.  But a couple of Cape friends had mentioned it, so I really wanted to go this time.  My first full day on Cape, my mom and I were out running errands and decided to stop in for lunch.

See? Gray clapboard. The building is *very* Cape Cod.

I was a little overwhelmed by the menu, since there were so many choices!  It’s scary when you can have just about anything on the menu.  I’m a creature of habit, so this was a bit hard! When I go to a restaurant, vegan or not, I tend to find one thing I like and order it over and over again.  Since I had decided that I was going to blog about Green Lotus, I made myself get something different every time.  You’re welcome.

I got a Buffalo Tempeh sandwich on my first visit.  It was delicious.

My mom got  vegetarian sandwich that she loved.  I am lucky to have a veg-friendly mom, but she wasn’t just indulging me- she said she’d go back to this place for lunch when she’s nearby!  That’s pretty high praise from my mom.

This can be made either vegan or vegetarian, as can just about everything. The tempeh was spicy but not overwhelming, and the dressing tempered it well.

So I went back again the next day.  I went with the Buffalo Caesar, this time.

Very similar to the previous day’s sandwich, with Caesar instead of bleu cheese, and including croutons.

Some of the kids where I work have been trying to get away with “crouton sandwiches.”  They pick up a couple of slices of bread, slather them with mayo, and put croutons in as the filling.  There’s a part of me that’s totally grossed out by that, but I have to say, croutons are delicious in this Buffalo Caesar sandwich.

Horseradish is no joke.

After taking a day’s break since Green Lotus is closed on Mondays, I went back again.  This time I picked up a sandwich for my brother, too, but his had dairy cheese, so no picture.  I almost didn’t get a picture of my sandwich, either, as you might be able to tell from the mostly-eaten wrap here.

I’ve never been big on horseradish, and I wasn’t even thinking when I ordered.  It was a surprise when I bit in!  But a good surprise.  Really.

Fortunately I had a Diet Coke, but before that, I had myself a smoothie.

I like places that give away what’s left in the blender to other customers to try!

This was far sweeter than I was expecting, but that’s okay, especially since I didn’t get to any of the ice cream places serving vegan options beyond sorbet on the Cape.  I couldn’t see any sweetener used in this, so I’m guessing that it’s the almond milk.  Very good, and very dessert-like.

All of the smoothies can be made vegan except the Nutella smoothie, seeing as Nutella has dairy.  Maybe they can switch over to Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter instead?

And then I went a fourth time.

They make good seitan!

This was actually right before I was leaving the Cape to go back to NY.  I also got another Buffalo Tempeh sandwich to take home with me, too.

The BBQ sauce is sweet, the wrap is full of crunchy vegetables, and the seitan is really good.  I’m not sure what else to say about it!

Considering that I was on the Cape for 5 days and managed to come here 4 times, I’d say this was the favorite!

You have the option of ordering online from their website so your sandwich is waiting for you, which is nice.  This place was really busy over the weekend, so it’s good to be able to do that.

The staff is friendly, and they work very fast to get your meal ready.  My only complaint is that every time I asked for no onions on my mom’s sandwich, they forgot.  Except perhaps the last time, because they forgot to put that one in my bag, and I left without it.  They were very quick to refund my money on that one though (I was already 30 mins away when I realized), so it’s good to know that they take care of their mistakes.

So there you have it!  My favorite restaurant on Cape Cod.  It’s so good to know that the Cape is hospitable to more and more vegan-friendly establishments!