Great Vegan Cafe: J Selby's, Saint Paul

The 'cheese' burger at J. Selby's

Selby is a name you see throughout Saint Paul. MN. Selby Avenue is a main street, and the Cathedral of Saint Paul was once a farm owned by a man named Selby.

The packed J. Selby's

The farmer, J Selby, would likely be tickled that his name adorns a new plant based restaurant, J. Selby's. The restaurant is what we old schoolers would call vegan, but that word can have negative connotations. No one is judging you here for wearing leather shoes or a silk shirt.

We went on a Sunday night, when we thought we could just waltz in, but it was completely packed. J. Selby's is the kind of place where you order at a counter, and take your number to a table. Except there were no tables. A server came over and pointed out a group that was finishing, and we ordered and sat.

The food was incredible. And filling. We saw the portions and realized there was no need for appetizers. though I have to go back for the cauliflower 'wings.' And the chili. And the brunch.

Brunch, served on weekends only, has a vegan take on biscuits and gravy. Sounds fabulous. There is also a children's menu.

BBQ 'beaf'

But what we had was equally wonderful. My daughter got a 'cheese' burger, which comes with one patty (a solo) or two (the dirty secret). You can have a Field Roast, Beyond Burger or Herbivorous Butcher patty. Since we'd already eaten at the Herbivorous Butcher earlier in the day, Nora had the Beyond Burger.

It came on a whole wheat bun, with pickles, onions, lettuce and tomato. There was homemade ketchup, of course, and sriracha if that's how you roll. The burger comes with fries, a salad, chips and salsa or spicy slaw.

I had that spicy slaw on my BBQ 'beaf.' The sandwich was like pulled pork, on a hoagie bun.

My husband got the burrito bowl, with soy chorizo, brown rice, guacamole and a cheesy, creamy sauce that was, of course, vegan.

Or plant based. Whatever you want to call it, it was delicious.

Going Vegan - with Coffee! Finding Natural Bliss

Acai bowl toppings, with coconut creamer in the base

When I was training for the marathon, I cut down drastically on the dairy I consumed. I wasn't completely vegan, but I started avoiding milk and using almond or soy milk for my morning coffee.

Vegan dishes

So I was excited to hear about Coffee-Mate's new creamer line, the plant-based Natural Bliss. There are four varieties: vanilla almond milk, caramel almond milk, hazelnut almond milk, and sweet creme  coconut milk.

To highlight these, and offer a deep dive into vegan food, Coffee Mate invited me to a tasting at the Tasting Table Test Kitchen in Soho. There, we were treated to vegan food, cocktails and the full line of plant based creamers.

Cocktail choices

Since I knew I was taking home one of each creamer, I stuck to the cocktails; who can resist a maple old-fashioned? Or, for that matter, an expertly prepared French 75?

The soba noodle salad with shiitake bacon and beet salad with watermelon radish were delicious, but what impressed me most was the acai bowl. The bowls were made with berries, acai, and the coconut creamer. So if you use only a tiny splash of creamer each day, you don't have to worry about it spoiling; you can easily use it up in a smoothie.

We could top our bowls with a variety of fruit, granola and chia seeds. Maybe if I had a high powered blender and a food prep guy on hand I would eat a more nutritious breakfast.

Natural bliss needs to be kept refrigerated, or on ice at a party

I tried the vanilla almond milk in my coffee this morning and it was delicious. And since it was snowing and we'd run out of skim milk, I used the coconut milk to make oatmeal. It was a touch sweet, but tastier and heartier than water and vegan to boot.

The Natural Bliss creamers come in 16 bottles refrigerated containers are made with no GMO ingredients.

Note: Opinions expressed are my own and I was not compensated for this review. Cocktail consumption was an added benefit.