Visitors fancy vegan fare at Fogwood and Fig – Times Herald-Record

Posted: February 1, 2020 at 8:41 am


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By Jessica Cohen

For the Gazette

PORT JERVIS - Pedro Porro typically has the Flirty Burger, though on a recent rainy Saturday he ate banana chocolate cheesecake - made with cashew milk, no dairy - at Fogwood and Fig.

The vegan restaurant on Front Street in Port Jervis has drawn a following in the year and a half since it opened, despite the citys history as a meat-and-potatoes railroad town. Arty country music plays from the sound system. Wall art and woodwork by Jeff Tautrim create the nouveau rustic ambiance for kitchen creations by Tautrims wife, Diana Bezanski.

I cant walk by without buying a meatless BLT sandwich, said Porro. The bacon is made of roasted coconut.

Porro sat with his partner, David Loud, who ate a red lentil chili stew that he declared was a whole meal on a spoon.

Porro and Loud have a weekend house in Eldred. On weekdays they live in Hamilton Heights in Manhattan, where Porro, an architect, does Victorian renovations. Loud teaches at the musical theater program at the Manhattan School of Music.

We wandered in by chance a year and a half ago, said Porro of their first experience with the restaurant. When we came to the area 10 years ago, Port Jervis was still bustling, but then it was shuttered, and Foundry 42 was the first business to open and spark the renaissance.

The restaurant has positive reviews online, but most are written by visitors from outside Port Jervis.

People come from all over - Brooklyn, Manhattan, Barryville, Morristown, N.J., Stroudsburg, Pa., said Bezanski. People come for outdoor activities here and do online searches for good places to eat.

Anthony Trongone, sitting near the front window, is from Sparta, N.J.

I came here to write. Its a nice atmosphere, he said. My wife is at the auction down the street. For a while we stayed away from Port Jervis because there was nothing going on. The restaurant sign should say vegetarian. With all the burgers on the menu, I thought it was all meat. Ive been vegetarian since I was 21.

A psychologist working on a book, he ordered the La Paloma Bowl, composed of beet chickpea hummus with lime, quinoa tossed with corn, onion, side of avocado, cherry tomato, organic house feta, organic corn chips with creamy cashew queso, topped with Tamerlaine Farms local hot sauce, according to the menu.

Tamerlaine Farm, in Montague, N.J., makes hot sauce to support their animal rescue farm, which has included chickens, among other farm animals.

Bezanski has been a vegan since 2012, she said. As I learned more about how animals are treated, I made the shift, she said. Im focusing on soups and stews because theyre what people like to eat, and also new desserts.

Chocolate coconut cream pie, cranberry orange almond tarts and fig and coconut hand tarts are among her new creations.

Asked how she comes up with new recipes, she said, Im inspired by food I ate in New York City. I love Mexican, Thai, Indian. I do research on spices. If I want to do a Moroccan chickpea stew, I look up Moroccan spices. I draw inspiration from many sources.

She makes egg-free crepe omelets with chickpea flour.

Its gluten-free with a nice texture and it folds over nicely, she said. In the vegan community, people share ideas. They often use chickpea flour for eggs. Sometimes they make scrambles of it. Cashews, blended at high speeds, make excellent cream for desserts and cheese. Its creamy and sweet. Everyone carries oat milk and nut milks. Plant-based cuisine is huge now and gets bigger yearly.

When asked about her protein sources, Bezanski said, Its in everything - vegetables, beans, grains. Many plants have protein. Thats a prehistoric question.

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Visitors fancy vegan fare at Fogwood and Fig - Times Herald-Record

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