The owners of Milwaukee’s beloved The National Cafe are opening an all-vegan eatery complete with sandwiches, smoothies, soups, and more!
A new vegan concept is opening in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The owners of The National Cafe—Angie Wierzbinski and Amy Plennes—are planning to open The Lafayette Place in the East Side neighborhood of Milwaukee in early Fall. The eatery will be housed inside the former location of vegan restaurant Celesta, which closed this past May.
“So excited to be opening a fully vegan restaurant on the East Side. We’re in the process of remodeling [our new restaurant] and putting our own spin on the design,” Wierzbinski told VegOut.
The Lafayette Place Menu
The Lafayette Place menu will consist of breakfast, lunch, and brunch items, some of which are currently being served at The National Cafe. Guests can expect to find items like The National Cafe’s Vegan Brekkie Sammy, the eatery’s number one selling item that features a toasted pretzel bun, hash brown patty, vegan sausage patty, melted vegan cheese, guacamole, and chipotle sauce. For lunch, diners can chow down on items such as the Southern Soy Boy sandwich (blackened soy curls on a baguette with pickled onions and cucumber, arugula, and spicy garlic ranch sauce) and the Veggie Melt (portobello mushroom, shaved brussels sprouts, red pepper, and roasted carrot). The cafe will also serve smoothies in banana chai and peach basil varieties, as well as weekly soup specials.
Milwaukee’s Vegan Dining Scene
Milwaukee’s vegan dining scene continues to expand as more plant-based restaurants are setting up shop throughout the city. The area’s first all-vegan restaurant—Urban Beets—opened in 2016, and after much success expanded to a second location in 2019. Following the expansion of Urban Beets, two more plant-based eateries—Strange Town and On The Bus—made Milwaukee their home in 2018. In the Spring of 2020, Twisted Plants, a Black-owned vegan burger spot opened in Cudahy, a suburb of Milwaukee. In addition to all-vegan restaurant openings, many of the city’s non-vegan restaurants, breweries, and ice cream shops also offer plant-based options, such as Babe’s Ice Cream, AJ Bombers, and Classic Slice Pizza.
The Lafayette Place will be located at 1978 N Farwell Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202 and will be open Thursday-Sunday 8:30am-2pm, with plans to expand days and hours of operation in Spring 2022. For all of the latest details on the opening, check out @thelafayetteplace on Instagram.
