Restaurant Review and $25 GIVEAWAY: Chive Kitchen, Farmington, MI {ends 2/28}
*Disclosure: I was provided with a gift card to try out Chive Kitchen. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.
I recently heard about a new restaurant in Farmington, MI called Chive Kitchen, and I was invited to check it out. My mom and I were able to stop in yesterday and we were both quite pleased with the service and our meals.
Chive Kitchen has only recently opened, within the past few months, and it caters to vegans/vegetarians, or those who would like to eat some vegan or vegetarian food. I myself am not vegetarian, and neither is my mom, but I try to eat less dairy, since it doesn't usually agree with me, and she tries to avoid red meat, so we were both excited to try the restaurant.
The interior is very welcoming - someone on Yelp called it a "European cafe-type atmosphere" and I would agree. Green seems to be one of its signature colors, which is one of my favorite colors, and the bar was set up nicely with green barstools. You can check out the menu here, although that is only a sampling of what they have, and every day there are specials to choose from, too.
I believe the restaurant does not have its liquor license just yet, but there were plenty of non-alcoholic concoctions to choose from. I tried the Cherry Bitty ($5), which has house made cherry-lime syrup, cherry bitters, and soda (as in soda water).
On Yelp - where the restaurant has 16 reviews and a 5-star average, as of this writing - people had been raving about the tostada ($5), so I tried that for an appetizer, and my mom ordered the Michigan chili ($3). She is a big chili fan and really liked this version, and I really liked the tostada, too, which had refried lentils, cilantro corn coleslaw, fresh salsa, avocado garlic cream, and cashew sour cream; it's also gluten-free.
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| Burrito (special of the day) |
1st taco: smoky tofu chicarrone, with red mole sauce, cilantro corn coleslaw and salsa
2nd taco: citrus-marinated tofu, with radicchio coriander citrus slaw, jalapeno salsa and jalapeno cream, and cashew sour cream.
I'll admit that normally I don't like tofu, and I don't like spicy foods either, but this wasn't spicy (even with the jalapeno) and you couldn't really tell it was tofu and not meat, either. My favorite of the two was the citrus-marinated one - I liked the smoky tofu one too, but preferred the citrus taco.
(and PS - those green and purple/pink-ish things on the side in the picture above are PICKLES! I love pickles but never would have guessed. The green one was quite spicy but the purple/pink one was sweeter, which I liked.)
For dessert, my mom and I shared the dessert of the day, the maple pudding, which is also gluten-free. On the menu, it says it's made of Michigan maple syrup and candied almonds (for the topping), but when I asked Lisa (one of the owners/managers), she said there's also some soy milk, Sugar in the Raw, and other delicious ingredients.
The maple pudding was maybe the highlight of our meal, because it was so delicious, but it's actually really hard to say that because all three courses (four, if you count my drink) were very good.
I will say I was surprised that this restaurant is in Farmington, near downtown, because to me it is more like a restaurant you would find in Ferndale or Detroit - catering to vegans/vegetarians (I believe all meals are vegan-friendly, though) and with a hip vibe throughout. My mom commented the same thing, too, and we noticed that most of the other diners there were around my age also (late 20s/early 30s).
Chive Kitchen is definitely worth trying out, even if you are not a vegan or vegetarian, and we enjoyed our time there!
Chive Kitchen is located at 33043 Grand River Ave, Farmington, MI, 48336, and at (248) 516-7144.
GIVEAWAY:
Thanks to Chive Kitchen's owners, I have a $25 gift card for one of my lucky readers to try the restaurant!
Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Sunday, February 28th, at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be contacted via email the next day, and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.
Prize will be shipped by the restaurant to the winner.
This giveaway is only open to those within driving distance of Farmington, MI, or those willing to drive there.
Good luck!
Chive Kitchen gift card
