Boon Burger: The Mature Version of the Ice Cream Shop

Remember when you were a kid and you would beg your parents to go for ice cream after dinner? I do. In my 5-year-old point of view nothing seemed like a better idea than taking a relaxing drive into town for an ice cream cone at the greasy smelling, worn out local ice cream shop.

Fast forward 15 or so years and I found the mature version of that ice cream shop atmosphere – Boon Burger Café, Canada’s first all vegetarian burger café. Everything at Boon Burger compares to the ice cream shop feel. The interior of the restaurant has giant industrial sized lunch tables which feel like picnic tables; extra condiments are set up on a counter only there isn’t crusty ketchup stuck on the sides of the bottle; you order and pay at the front (or through the bike only takeout window, which is the coolest novelty itself); and then diners are pretty much left to eat their burgers out on the Sherbrook Street crowded three table patio, at the lunch table, or even take your food to a nearby park.

As for the food, everything can be made vegan and everything is vegetarian. Take your pick from mushroom burgers, chickpea burgers, Greek burgers, ‘turkey’ burgers all are roughly $8 and you can order a side salad, soup or sesame French fries for an additional $3. I made the mistake of trying a vegan poutine which was really only disappointing because the sesame fries were so good by themselves – that and vegan poutine really isn’t like regular poutine, the gravy isn't as salty and soy cheese doesn't melt entirely well it seems.

This non-committal restaurant will not take a giant chunk of time out of your day – you can get in and get out quickly. When diners are in they can expect to feel relaxed and when they’re out they will feel satisfied. Boon Burger is the perfect place for a quiet lunch or a late evening dinner on a hot summer day.