Just a couple blocks off State Street is a restaurant that is quite distinct in comparison to the street's bar and grill atmosphere. You will find margaritas and beer at Seva Market and Restaurant, but classical music plays quietly in the background, and you cannot order a hamburger. However, you can chose a high-protein tempeh burger or a portabella mushroom burger. Seva is a popular vegetarian restaurant, with an attached market that sells vitamins, supplements, skin-care products, coffee, tea, books and incense, among many other items.
| Seva Market and Restaurant |
|---|
| Where: 314 East Liberty St. |
| Phone: 663-7784. |
| Hours: Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday brunch 10 a.m.-3 p.m., dinner 3 p.m.-9 p.m. |
On the standard menu there are many vegan items to choose from, such as eight different varieties of salads including Greek salad and wild mushroom salad. The menu offers other vegan dishes like: pasta, blended fruit drinks, sandwiches and appetizers, like hummus and tabouli. One can also choose items that include eggs and/or dairy products, such as a grilled pesto pizza sandwich, nachos supreme, spinach lasagna or a chimichanga.
There are even some low-fat selections on the menu - spinach-filled ravioli and chargrilled skewered vegetables on rice pilaf. Fresh fruit juices, such as carrot and orange are available, as well as exotic blended drinks like the "carrot creamsicle."
The menu lacks only in meat, not in flavor. Maren Jackson, who has worked at the restaurant almost since its opening in 1973, is now in the process of buying the place. Her focus is on healthy eating, and not so much on vegetarianism.
"(We) serve fresh, healthy food that tastes great," Jackson said. "Probably most of the people who eat at Seva aren't vegetarian, but they come because they can get great food."
Jackson plans on phasing out the market portion of the establishment, which is currently having a 25-percent-off sale, and putting in a cappuccino and juice bar, so that people can have a drink while they wait to be seated; there is always a wait to eat.
The restaurant is open for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch, with essentially the same menu for all meals. It is conveniently located for people who work in town to frequent on their lunch breaks, offering quick service. Because Seva is a couple of blocks off of State Street, it is not part of the daily route for most students, so they patronize the restaurant more often at dinner.
Seva attracts vegetarian and non-vegetarian students alike. Erin Teague, a second-year kinesiology student, is a vegetarian who has been to the restaurant a few times. Teague said she loves the desserts, and her favorite meal is the tempeh burger, but she keeps returning to the restaurant because she says she "can look at the menu and not be able to decide what to get. At most restaurants I only have one or two (vegetarian) options."
Teague brought her non-vegetarian friend, Julie Donaway, a second-year nursing student, along with her to dinner for a new experience. Donaway's initial impression of the restaurant was good, she said. She said she liked the atmosphere.
The medium-sized restaurant is decorated with southwestern art and stained-glass windows. Seva has both tables and high-backed wooden booths for two, which, along with the relative quiet and subdued lighting, are conducive to private conversation.
Ann Arbor resident Heide Lewiston was able to catch up with a friend from Dexter, who works in town, while both were on their lunch break. The women have been coming to Seva for years because, according to Lewiston, who was taking a large portion of her salad home with her, they can get a "huge, good meal for a moderate price."
Entree prices range from $4.75 for a grilled cheese sandwich to $8.95 for ravioli. Lewiston and her friend also said that Seva is a convenient place to bring grandchildren and younger family members because of the restaurant's children's menu and the availability of booster chairs and highchairs. There are even boxes of large, plastic, lego-type blocks for kids to play with which are sanitized after each use.
While at first the words "vegetarian restaurant" may conjure up images of a place of limited appeal, Seva serves many different tastes and many types of people.
JENNIFER BRADLEY-SWIFT/Daily
Ann Arbor resident Chris Grieb prepares tofu at Seva Restaurant.