Wesley Chapel's container park, known for burgers, wings and burritos, now has a dedicated vegan restaurant.
Green Table, a plant-based restaurant owned by Edson Benzan-Monteiro and his partner, Vanessa, opened in the former Shake-A-Salad space at Krate at the Grove, 6105 Wesley Grove Blvd. The restaurant serves what Benzan-Monteiro calls comfort food without the meat, including seitan gyros, Impossible burgers, tempeh Reubens, cauliflower wings and oat milk protein shakes.
Benzan-Monteiro adopted a plant-based diet eight years ago to improve his health. He discovered the Green Table food truck in Brandon and eventually opened his own location in Wesley Chapel.
"I thought, 'You know what? I could do this. I could serve this food all day,'" he told the Tampa Bay Beacons.
He still works a 9-to-5 job and spends many evenings at the restaurant. His goal, he said, was to fill a gap he noticed after a trip to New York, where vegan restaurants seemed to be on nearly every corner. In the greater Tampa Bay area, he told the Beacons, he felt there were only four or five dedicated vegan restaurants spread across the region.
Comfort food goes plant-based
The menu leans on seitan, a wheat gluten protein sourced from 26Roots Foods, which anchors the gyro, Cuban and Philly sandwiches. The gyro comes wrapped in pita with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and tzatziki, packing roughly 40 grams of protein per serving, according to the Beacons review. Burgers use Impossible patties, and the Reuben features grilled tempeh on marble rye with vegan Swiss and house-made Thousand Island dressing. Sides include fries and cauliflower wings in Buffalo or barbecue sauce, and the shake menu includes a Biscotti shake made with oat milk. Green Table's website highlights its partnership with 26Roots Foods, whose soy-free plant-based proteins are featured throughout the menu
Joining one of Pasco's busiest dining destinations
The restaurant sits inside Krate at the Grove, a container park built from 94 shipping containers that houses dozens of restaurants, bars, boutiques and entertainment businesses, making it one of Wesley Chapel's busiest dining and shopping destinations. An early visitor, the Instagram account @plantpowered.pa, posted Friday, July 3, that the food was "delishly on-point" after spending about $50.
Green Table is open noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, noon to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. It is closed Thursdays. More information is available at GreenTableWC.com.
