Chef Miguel Larcher brought his genius vegetarian and vegan cuisine to Wichita in the small, downtown restaurant, Garden Grill Café.

Larcher is a native of Martinique, the little, French-speaking island located in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean. At a young age, the soon-to-be chef traveled to France to learn the art of delectable cuisine. Now I thank the heavens he picked the city of Wichita to share his recipes.

I caught wind of the Garden Grill Café a few months ago when it first opened in the Historic Occidental Plaza located at 300 N. Main St. My boyfriend is a vegetarian, and the two of us are health food fanatics, so we knew it was a must-go.

We went there during lunch hour one Friday. If the restaurant looks like you went to the wrong place, you’ve arrived. 

The only drawback is that parking is limited. We found out later that customers must park elsewhere. Or park in the lots reserved for charities just north of the building, like we did, and hope you don’t get a ticket. 

Garden Grill is small and located within the Occidental building on the first floor behind the staircase. It looks like Harry Potter should live under the bannister. 

The dining experience is pleasant—airy with plenty of natural light. The waitress was kind and treated us graciously.

The dishes only had one option for a side: roasted potatoes. At first I was worried. I didn’t want mashed potatoes with my Caribbean Sweet Avocado sandwich. But it wasn’t mashed potatoes; the side consisted of three large, crispy, wonderfully cooked potato wedges. I’d pick those things over French Fries any day.

Now for my sandwich: I can’t even describe it. Heaven on a bun. It was that good. 

But it got even better, if that’s possible. The Garden Grill Cafe offers several kinds of smoothies, green and not. We ordered the “Jurassic Green” smoothie, which I thought was clever. It included kale, pineapple and banana. It was tasty, green, fruity goodness through a straw.

Between my sandwich, my boyfriend’s Garden Burger and the Jurassic Green smoothie, our order cost us about $25. I’d say that’s pretty cheap considering that we had gourmet meals and left with full bellies. 

I would give the Garden Grill Cafe five stars out of five, maybe 4.5 if I wanted to be harsh on the parking. But I won’t, since we didn’t get a ticket.