Paradise Regained!

by Rich
(Not-Just-Recipes)

Okay...maybe the title is a bit of a stretch but it sort of fits! If you are in or near northeast Pennsylvania, take a drive to The Electric City, Scranton.

No...you won't find the offices of Dunder-Mifflin. You probably won't see Steve Carrell, although I could swear I saw Jenna Fischer crossing the street at a nearby intersection. Hmmm. Anyway, what you will find is a small, quaint cafe on Adams Avenue called Eden.

To my knowledge, Eden is the first and only totally vegan cafe in the area. As I said, it is small with only about 6 or 7 tables and a window bar for seating. But that's part of the charm. It's small but comfortable. It has a friendly feel as soon as you walk in.

They have a pretty nice menu which consists of a great variety of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, soups and sides. Their prices are what you might expect for a "lunch / brunch" cafe setting in this area...better than reasonable. They have coffee and a nice selection of hot teas as well as bottled teas and juice drinks. Not sure what the typical day holds in terms of dessert.

Today, on our first trip to Eden, I had their "Pork" bar-b-que and my better half had a tuna hoagie served with "smashed potatoes" and a pickle. I had steamed mixed veggies with mine. I have to say that the food was excellent. In fact, this was the first "tuna" sandwich my wife had eaten in over seven years and she couldn't stop talking about it. It was delicious.

Finally, I mentioned dessert above. So while I am not certain what typically appears on their menu, today was my day! Although we did not order dessert (the meals are nicely portioned and I felt just comfortable without dessert) we were treated to a free sample of their heavenly blueberry cheesecake. It was divine!

Well...as I run out of room let me just say that the experience was delightful. The staff and owners are young and enthusiastically friendly and made us feel like we'd been there many times. We will definitely go again and highly recommend Eden - a vegan cafe.

Learn more about them here:

Eden Cafe's website

Eden Cafe's MySpace Page