Bluff City Vegan Eats: Inspire Community Cafe

There's a new cafe in the Binghampton neighborhood that prioritizes paying their employees a living wage and offering profit sharing for their core team members. Inspire Community Cafe serves simple, healthy breakfasts and lunches — think smoothies, quinoa bowls, salads, and (non-vegan) quesadillas.

They have a few vegan options. I went there for lunch yesterday with my friend Susan and ordered the Southwest Black Bean Veggie Bowl.

You can pick between quinoa and rice as a base. The grain is tossed with well-seasoned black beans, roasted sweet corn, and fresh baby spinach. Of course I opted for the quinoa option! The quinoa was REALLY well-flavored. I'm not sure what they used, but it was probably the best quinoa I've been served in a restaurant.

As much as I love having decadent vegan options in restaurants, I do really like how I feel after I eat something super-healthy and whole foods-based like Inspire's quinoa bowl.

There's also a black bean & sweet potato bowl, and any salad can be made vegan. Plus, there's a veggie chili that can be served over quinoa or rice. Inspire also sells locally made vegan cookies by Araba's Sweet Spot. I probably should have bought one, but I was really trying to avoid sugar yesterday!

The space is super-cute with hand-crafted tables and artwork created by Binghampton neighborhood kids from the Carpenter Art Garden.

Inspire Community Cafe is located at 510 Tillman Street.