Avanti Café

Parking: On Site, Free Lot
Signature Dishes, Online Menu Laid Back Casual

When the window teases “live nude food,” you know this is no ordinary health food place. Forget images of ho-hum raw vegetables and feast your eyes on the café’s creative soups, sandwiches, pizza, pasta and desserts. The dishes artfully combine textures, tastes and colors into flavorful medleys that make it easy to forget it’s organic, healthy and vegetarian or vegan. Regulars are partial to the pizzas, roasted fruit salad, Italian rice ball and roasted polenta crisps. Spice fans like the zesty Zhug sauce, an African creation toned down a bit into a cream sauce for pasta. Artisan wines, microbrewery beers and homemade Margaritas and Bloody Marys are popular, too. Avanti, which means “forward” in Italian, hosts an ongoing series of special events: salad specials on Mondays, an international menu on Tuesdays, pizza and beer night on Wednesdays, beer or wine tasting on Thursdays, Margarita specials on Friday and Saturday nights and weekend brunch. The small 10-table café is decorated with local art for sale and includes a market selling wine, jam, oils, mustards, condiments, salt blends and candles. If you’re stopping in for take-out, Mother's Market & Kitchen, Picnics Deli and Promelis Westcliff Market can help round out your menu. For a carnivorous but healthy dinner, Greek Town Grill is just a few doors down. Succumb to temptation at French’s Cupcake Bakery or SusieCakes.

Tips: Pretend it’s not a vegetarian/vegan café. Walk in with an open mind and let the quality of the food speak for itself. You may not even miss the meat.

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