Popular Madison County cafe releases new menu, including brunch, vegan offerings
Edwardsville’s Sacred Grounds Café has released a new menu that includes an extended brunch menu with more vegan and gluten-free options.
Owner Kate Baumgartner said that when she bought Sacred Grounds, many of the menu items were already vegetarian but not really vegan. She’s been “trying to be as inclusive as possible,” and after discovering a new vegan meat supplier, has added more vegan-friendly options.
The new menu can be found on the café’s Facebook page and was posted with the comment, “All sandwiches have vegan options and your brunchy faves are a forever thing now.”
Baumgartner posted on Aug. 24 that the kitchen would be closed for the week due to illness (“not covid”). She took advantage of the time off not only to recuperate but to give the menu a makeover.
Three days later, she added another post announcing a new menu.
“Since I’ve had all this time in bed trying to recuperate (not from covid), it gave me ample time to conceptualize a new every day breakfast/brunch menu,” wrote Baumgartner. “It’s really an amalgamation of all my best selling weekend brunch items to this point.”
In addition to the new menu, Baumgartner continues to experiment and make new dishes to try out for a couple of days. Items that go over particularly well with customers may be added to the menu later.
Brunch items are now available 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday and include avocado toast, eggs benedict, biscuits and gravy. Lunch includes paninis and sandwiches and is served until 2 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday.
Baumgartner bought Sacred Grounds in January when former owner Jenn Courtney decided to retire and planned to close the coffee shop. Sacred Grounds Café reopened under Baumgartner’s ownership in February.
In March, a GoFundMe page was created by Edwardsville resident Fred Faust to help Baumgartner raise money for the purchase of a new commercial oven for the café.
Sacred Grounds Café is located at 233 N. Main St. in Edwardsville. Hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week. For more information, call 618-692-4150 or visit facebook.com/sacredgroundscafeedwardsville.