Chrissie Hynde’s Organic Ohio
Any of you old enough to remember the classic rock tune “My City Was Gone” by the Pretenders? Like singer Chrissie Hynde, I go back to Ohio, but my city (Akron, aka The Rubber City) is not gone. Can you imagine my surprise to find a great organic restaurant, VegiTERRANEAN, by none other than Chrissie Hynde herself, on my last visit?
While other little girls were into Barbie, I was idolizing Chrissie as the world’s coolest rock chick. I think of her as a true pioneer, back in the day when MTV actually played videos. “Back on The Chain Gang” and “Middle of the Road” may have been bigger hits, but the anti-development anthem “My City Was Gone” has a blues rock riff that still inspires me.
My mother told me about VegiTERRANEAN and I was immediately on board. I must admit that despite my green leanings, kicking the meat habit has not been easy. Nevertheless, onward we went for our vegan meal.
Surprisingly, VegiTERRANEAN is not a tribute to Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders. There are a select few bits of memorabilia, a guitar on the wall type of thing, but Hard Rock Café it is not. The room is loft-style, swank by most city standards, with concrete floors, curved chain link walls and subdued blue lighting. It is dominated by a long bar serving a great selection of local microbrews and some organic wines. A little bit of SoHo in Akron.
The interior of VegiTERRANEAN.
Intrigued by my outstanding meal of garbanzo beans and tomatoes, I set up an interview with Chrissie. I wanted to get the scope on the little veggie haunt in Akron. She is a real rock star, so I have, well, edited her comments a bit to clean up the language, lots of F-bombs. Hynde is not your typical celebrity turned restauranteur, however. She made it clear: “I am not in this to make money.” Her cause celeb is to reduce meat eating and its negative impact on humans and the environment.
“The vastness of American geography and the car culture have made everything less dense, why should you always have to drive to get some groceries? Why don’t we eliminate factory farming?” She spreads the word through her music. “It was never supposed to be man vs. nature,” she told me by phone from VegiTERRANEAN‘s bar. “We are meant to be stewards of the environment. A meat eater on a bicycle has a worse impact on the environment than a vegetarian driving a Hummer. Your body is confused as a meat eater.”
Chrissie Hynde performing.
She may well be right about this. Recent articles in The New York Times and London Times examine the wide-ranging environmental impact of raising cows, slaughtering them and delivering the meat to market. Scary stuff that can convince you to come over to the meatless side. I will admit that since reading The New York Times article, I have sworn off my previously beloved hamburgers and have dramatically reduced my meat intake across the board.
So how was my meal at VegiTERRANEAN? Spiced tomatoes and chick peas with baby arugula, tofu feta and crustini. Fresh tomato and artichoke bisque with fresh dill. For the main course, fresh whole wheat linguini carbonara with smoked “gardein” chicken, asparagus and leeks. “Gardein” is a type of garden grown protein, actually quite tasty and fulfilling in a tofu sort of way for us “gotta have meat” types. Prices are moderate, the food was fabulous — kudos to executive chef J. Scot Jones — but the service was on the uneven side at best. Let’s just say the kitchen operations could use a tune up.
VegiTERRANEAN is kosher and vegan friendly. Let’s hope this type of eatery becomes more common, organic food is a great alternative for lowering the methane emitted during meat processing. To date, Karyn’s Raw Foods in Chicago and VegiTERRANEAN in Akron are my two favorites. When I asked Chrissie about plans for expansion – she said “definitely but in a better economy.” Two places that could use a VegiTERRANEAN or like concept — Las Vegas and downtown Los Angeles — both had appeal to her. She liked the idea of “tricking people into vegetarianism through good food”. Through her hard work, dedication to animal rights, and understanding ecological systems — she is certainly on the path to helping us all eat better.
If any of you have favorite organic restaurants in your area, please comment to let others know about them. Thanks for reading!
February 10th, 2010 at 9:04 am
Govinda’s, corner Broad and Locust Sts. Philadelphia PA. All desserts are vegan and there is always always hot grain and veggies. ONe of Philly’s best.
February 10th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
I love the Pretenders, way better than any of that crap the music industry is full of nowadays.
February 10th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
I would absolutely love to go to this place, it looks beatiful.
February 10th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
i totally loveeeeee this chicks band
February 10th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
My husband used to jam to the Pretenders
February 10th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
I think the name of this place is soo weird
February 10th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Veg-awesome! Looks rad, I love some veggie food that isn’t just raw stuff, us vegetarians need variety too!
February 10th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
We always knew Chrissie was the coolest. Having good vegetarian restaurants with inventive recipes does more to win people over to non-meat eating than preaching does. In San Francisco, Millenium restaurant is unbeatable.
February 16th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Love the Pretenders!
February 16th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Lovin the celeb articles lately. Thanks
February 16th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Chrissie’s definitely not pretending when it comes to living sustainably!
February 16th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Rock on!!!
February 17th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
There’s one reason to go to Ohio. Ha! just kidding.
March 23rd, 2010 at 1:43 pm
When you are in the San Francisco East Bay, check out the new restaurant in downtown Berkeley, Gather http://www.gatherrestaurant.com/. Among many other veggie dishes (this restaurant offers a mix of veggie and non) they serve a Vegan charcouterie platter that is phenomenal.
April 6th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
I didn’t think Ohio had a large eco-conscious community? Why even do a restaurant like that there?
April 6th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
AWESOME. I LIVE IN AKRON OHIO SO MAYBE ILL TAKE MYSELF A DAY TRIP! PROBABLY NOT TOO ECO-FRIENDLY WITH THE FUEL USE… BUT I LOOOOOVE CHRISSIE HYNDE
April 19th, 2010 at 10:31 am
I have actually eaten here and it is the most amazing food I’ve had– very original, fresh, and tasty! The drinks are also very good!
June 30th, 2010 at 7:21 am
I was just there last weekend– it’s my second time since it opened and this place is NICE (I state that not just from reviews i read found by http://www.pdfok.com SE, but from my own experience)! You’d be amazed at how posh everything is, but when they explain to you some of the incredible sustainable features– you can’t help to look around in awe! The cocktails are amazing and the food is very good– a little pricey of course, but expected of the City Center. Out of 10, I give this place a 9– you should definitely go if you get the chance!