• chef brooke’s natural cafe in fort myers

    8
    July 5th, 2010brittanyflorida, more restaurants (not LA)

    chef brooke’s natural cafe seems to be a rarity in fort myers, where you’re more likely to find chain restaurants and fried gator tail than super fresh organic food. my mom and i wandered in one week day for lunch to sample some of chef brooke’s healthy offerings – and i must say i was pleasantly surprised to see the place with quite a few patrons. we skimmed the menu and while not a lot of the items are marked “vegan,” there are several vegan options.

    house beans and brown rice burrito. $8.99

    i decided on the house beans and brown rice burrito. it normally comes with cheese and sour cream, which are simply omitted to make it vegan. while it was good, it was a little on the bland side since there is no sort of sauce and it’s just pretty much unseasoned veggies, beans and rice. it just needed a little sumthin’ sumthin’ added to it, just because it’s healthy doesn’t mean it should not have some flava. the potato salad, on the other hand, was KICK ASS. i wanted to eat a big plate of it! vegenaise, carrots, fresh herbs… super delish!

    nori rolls atop salad with raw sesame dressing. $10.99

    my mom is kind of obsessed with seaweed salad these days, so she went with the closest thing to seaweed salad on the menu – the nori rolls, which really isn’t that close but i understand her logic. i had a bite and while once again, the filling was a little bland, but the nori made up for it. the rolls also came with a side of yummy sesame dressing which really kicked up the taste. it was like eating a giant vegetable hand roll at a sushi bar. nommerz.

    all in all, i would definitely go back to chef brooke’s again, but i would probably try something other than the burrito. i plan to chow down on one of the vegan pizzas next time i’m in florida. i’m not sure my mom liked her meal so much as “healthy eating” is kind of foreign territory to her, and i know if my dad had come with us he would have called everything “rabbit food” …but he also called pizza fusion “rabbit food” so take that for what you will!

    chef brooke’s natural cafe
    1850 Boyscout Drive #A106
    Fort Myers, FL, 33907

    (239) 332-2433

    8:00 am – 4:00 pm

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7 responses to “chef brooke’s natural cafe in fort myers” RSS icon

  • That’s so funny about the hypothetical “rabbit food” comment, I hear that all the time from omni folks too! Oh well, that’s fine.
    Nice to hear their potato salad was good by the way. I’m a huge fan of vegan potato salad. I put it in vegan pita pockets with vegetables and even in my homemade vegan wraps. It’s the perfect side and sandwich filler!! (And also tastes very nice with vegan barbecue-flavor potato chips :D)

  • This looks amazing! Put anything (vegan) in a tortilla and hand it over! Looks like an awesome café!

  • More stuff from my hometown, weeeeird! God, I can’t believe I served time for 13 years there. There definitely weren’t any vegetarian restaurants there at the time.

  • Gregalor, I totally understand.
    I was born in Glendale and raised in Pasadena, I went to high school in Pasadena too. And there was hardly anything vegan here either for the longest time! There’s still not much vegan stuff in Pasadena. Places are a bit slow to change I guess.
    If a vegan California-cuisine type restaurant opened in my neighborhood, I’d probably go there four or five times a week, just to support and encourage local vegan business!

  • I never even knew this place existed! I have been to Ft. Myers many times and have struggled with finding decent vegan food to eat. I will definitely go there next time, thanks for the review!

  • Im so glad you got a chance to visit Brookes! She is one of my best friends and I absolutely love her food! She use to be the chef at a health food store called adas in fort myers until it closed down so she opened up her own little cafe! I love her food you should def. go back and try her vegan muffins. I guarantee you, they are the most amazing vegan muffins i’ve eaten. Ive reviewed a few places in nyc and la on my blog ( would love for you to check it out) and her muffins rain supreme!

  • Wow, Quarry girl, you little sweety. Thanks for the review of my restaurant. I agree the burrito is awesome but needs that extra sumpin sumpin, so now are served with a tasty citrusy pico de gallo or guacamole love sauce. Also, next time you come by, tell me you want the xtra special vegan platter and I’ll whip up a custom dish that’ll wake up every taste bud from here alla way back to LA.
    Love and vegan dishes,
    Chef Brooke
    p.s. workin on new website, it should be up and running soon
    chefbrookeonline.com


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