Bluff City Vegan Eats: Global Café

There's a new restaurant open at Crosstown Concourse — the vertical urban village where I work. And it's vegan-friendly! Global Café is an international food hall that hosts three immigrant/refugee food entrepreneurs cooking and selling an eclectic mix of affordably priced cuisines.

Currently, the chefs hail from Syria, Sudan, and Nepal. Global Café is set up to allow immigrant/refugee chefs to build a following and possibly branch out on their own, if they so desire. Should that happen, Global Café will support that effort, and a chef from another home country may take the spot of the one who has opened their own place.

The chefs who cook at Global Café now are Fayha from Syria, Ibti from Sudan, and Indra from Nepal. It's managed by Juan Viramontes of Mexico. When you walk inside Global Café, you select the food stall you want and order there. The chef prepares your dish and hands it to you, and then everyone pays at the same register. A few co-workers and I checked it out today. 

There are so many vegan options that I had a hard time deciding, but I've been craving baba ganoush, so I opted for the Syrian stall with an order of Baba Ganoush with Pita and Yalangi (rice-stuffed grape leaves).

Plus, an order of Turkish Coffee! Few things make me happier than a strong cup of cardamom-spiced coffee.

The baba ganoush was some of the best I've had. It was a hearty portion loaded with smoky, roasty eggplant and tahini. The grape leaves were also very large. And they were lightly warm and packed with tomato-laced, seasoned rice. I was very happy with my selection.

My co-worker Gonzo is also vegan, so I snapped pics of his order too. He headed for the Nepalese stall, where he ordered a few apps for us to share, including these Vegetarian Samosas and Vegetarian Mo Mo Dumplings. I didn't try the samosas (next time!), but I had a dumpling and it was so perfect, especially with that garlicky red dipping sauce.

Chef Indra also hooked him up with some free Vegetable Pakoras. I didn't see these on the menu, so maybe they were just a special today. But man, they were great! 

For his entree, Gonzo got the Nepalese Vegetarian Chow Main. I didn't steal a bite (I wanted to!) but I want to order this next time. Isn't it gorgeous?

There were also some vegan options on the Sudanese menu (like hummus falafel and vegetarian sambusa). I can't wait to go back and try more!

Global Café is open 11 am-9 pm, Sunday through Thursday and 11 am-10 pm Friday and Saturday. Check out their menu here.