Planted Offers Clean-Eaters Wholesome Options from Virtual Kitchen in Kamm's Corners

So-called “clean eaters” have a new option on Cleveland’s west side. Planted (17446 Lorain Ave., 216-284-6090), which operates essentially as a ghost kitchen in the presently shuttered Red Lantern restaurant in Kamm's Corners, began offering food on October 22. According to partners Erica Carlberg and Eric Nugent, the concept originally was conceived as a full-service brick-and-mortar restaurant, but those plans stalled with the arrival of Covid.

“Eric and I met at the perfect time,” Carlberg explains. “I agreed to bring the concept to life through a virtual restaurant. We felt healthy food would be perfect for the community. We developed the plan to open.”

Carlberg, a practicing vegan for the past decade, recently returned home to Cleveland from New York, where she managed a vegan organic café.

“I have always had a passion for plant-based food,” she adds.

Planted is billed as a “virtual, flexitarian, plant-based restaurant that offers wholesome, nutritious, sustainable, and delicious food to the local community. In devising the menu, chef Devon Locigno avoids the presence of gluten, dairy, eggs, preservatives and processed foods, focusing instead on fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains. Clean meats and animal products are used sparingly. All items are made from scratch.

On the menu are snacks and starters like avocado toast with olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh lemon; chickpea fritters tossed with confit tomatoes, lemon, olive oil, and kale; and “cheesy fries” that consist of hand-cut potatoes topped with faux-cheese sauce, walnut-bean chorizo and caramelized onions.

The mac and cheese is made with brown-rice penne, cashews and butternut squash and capped with a portabella mushroom. A “krabby patty” is a faux-crab cake burger made with hearts of palm on cauliflower bread with kale, sprouts, tomatoes and roasted garlic aioli. It’s served with root chips and lemon hummus.

Diners can design their own bowls by mixing and matching bases like brown rice and quinoa, super-food greens, zucchini noodles or brown rice penne with proteins such as shredded spiced free-range chicken, Alaskan blackened salmon, vegan walnut bean crumble or tofu. Additional sauces and toppings are also available.

Those same proteins and toppings also are available in pizza form atop a cauliflower crust ladled with San Marzano tomato sauce and faux parmesan.

Planted’s food is available for pickup and delivery 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday.