Basil & Bunny
Dining Out
Vegging Out
Two newish plant-based Bristol restaurants offer either a quick-service counter option or a high-end , sit-down experience .
By Karen Deutsch l Photography by Angel Tucker
Basil & Bunny
B ristol Industrial Park — which also goes by Unity Park — has quickly become a hub for independently owned food and drink depots . Anchored by Pivotal Brewing Company and Brick Pizza Co ., it ’ s a clay , stone and steel neighborhood that declares , in every corner , that happiness always comes down to a good plate of food or a cold pint of beer . And in most cases , the delivery of this rapture comes in a manufacturing plant package : massive ductwork , towering walls of brick , slick concrete floors .
That is , until you get to Basil & Bunny . The plant-based brainchild of Lyslie and Mathiew Medeiros , the cafe-style restaurant looks like you ’ ve wandered into Martha Stewart ’ s she-shed , replete with plants , washed in white paint and covered in floral wallpaper . Perhaps it ’ s just hyper-oxygenated from all the cascading greenery , but the space is an oasis of good intentions , remaking the American diet one burger at a time .
There are always two ways to go in a vegan restaurant : strictly vegetables or an appeal to people who refuse to give up fast food . Basil & Bunny has taken the latter approach , reworking drive-thru favorites into a Green Party platform . Burgers ($ 12- $ 15 ) are stacked high and housemade seitan fried “ chicken ” is served Buffalo-style and inside a hunny mustard “ chicky ” wrap , alongside an array of beer and wine choices ( mimosas on Sundays ) that define the vegan life as a party in the making .
The revelry takes place in thirty-two indoor seats and an equal number on the patio , all of which are designed — like the food — to appeal as much in aesthetics as flavor . And the bottom line is that the signature burger , the Bunny Mak , looks like the real thing . More impressively , it ’ s at least as good . When it comes down to it , the iconic American sandwich is built on two things : an amalgam of textures and flavors that creates something greater than its parts , and — this is offered with both love and regret — salt .
Part of what we love about the legends of casual food is that , ironically , the salt dominates everything else and we ’ re obsessively drawn back for more . By forfeiting that mainstay , Basil & Bunny leans heavily into the belief that meat is the least important part of a sandwich and it ’ s hard to argue with a combo of lettuce , pickles , onions , “ Fancy Sauce ” — a nod to Step Brothers — and “ cheeze ” ( note the z ) that bears an uncanny resemblance to the Kraft slices of yesteryear . To make the metamorphosis complete , there are two varieties of buns ( sesame seed and brioche ) that are the spitting image of oldschool , Wonder-era , golden arches nostalgia .
Of course , some items do snap you out of the fast-food trance . The fries alone ($ 6 ) are absolutely contenders . Loaded with cashew cheese , or dusted with Old Bay and house garlic aioli , they ’ re still mind-bending ($ 9 ). Ordered nacho style ($ 12 ) with a green bean-laced chili , they ’ re proof that we are not in Kansas , as we knew it , anymore .
Desserts live somewhere in between the two worlds : full of sugar but always tied to a fruit of some sort . Think MMMBop-Tarts with seasonally rotating flavors , hummingbird cake with banana and pineapple , cake jars layered with passion fruit or lemon bars that jiggle with citric abandon . It ’ s a kinder , gentler pathway to plantbased living , and one that doesn ’ t ask for a forfeiture of culture to make the transition .
BASIL & BUNNY 500 Wood St ., Bristol , 490-1918 basilandbunny . com
Open for lunch and dinner Wednesday through Saturday , 10 a . m .– 4 p . m . on Sunday . Some lot parking .
MUST GET Bunny Mak and fries , anything in a bowl .
RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l AUGUST 2023 131