This cafe is already all vegan, but they also take food allergies very seriously and serve up some pretty fantastic plant-powered dishes. 

Greenspace Cafe, which opened a few years ago in Ferndale, Mich., was founded by a cardiologist and his family to provide fresh, nutritious meals to restaurant patrons. Greenspace’s offers an impressive variety of globally inspired meals from a hearty bowls overloaded with grains, potatoes and veggies to gluten-free gnocchi and even gluten-free purple masa pancakes on the brunch menu. There is also a bar and a nice, locally-sourced tea collection.

I really appreciated that the menus all clearly state if dishes contain soy or gluten, and suggest alternative options to make them free of those allergies if possible. For those with celiac disease and other severe allergies, the kitchen staff takes the time to use completely clean tools to prepare the dishes to prevent cross-contamination.

I tried the quinoa lentil burger my first time there (served on lettuce, but they do have a gluten-free bun available), and was impressed with its flavor. My waitress did not quite know the ingredients in all the sauces that came on it, but was happy to go check with the chefs to ensure what I was eating was gluten and soy-free.

It was on my second trip to Greenspace that really blew my socks off, though. I went there for brunch with my best friend, and tried their fingerlings hash bowl. It usually comes with sweet potato, kale, brown rice, tempeh, herbs and lemon. But since I can’t have the tempeh (soy), I got it without and subbed quinoa for the rice. I paired it with the red lentil sorba soup, which I ended up dunking all the hash ingredients into as a sauce. It was delicious! I will definitely be back to have it again.

All in all, Greenspace is a great place to go where they truly get how to properly take care of food allergies and intolerances. Plus, the food is super healthy so you can feel good about eating even the largest portions.