19 Vegan Fare & 90’s Flare

Anything but rabbit food: redefining bar food at The Wild Hare

By Corinne Stremmel

Put together a 90’s dive bar atmosphere and vegan fare, and you get The Wild Hare in downtown Stillwater.

The dive bar, complete with 90’s pop culture references from the dining room, to the back hallway, to even the restroom opened in early 2022 with a plant-based vision.

Owners Darish and Sarah Moslemi didn’t want to make their customers pick between healthy meals and delicious burgers, so they found a way to do both. The two say it’s a love story with compromise right at the center.

“A lot of the inspiration came about because Dar and Sarah are very health conscious and they wanted to merge and say how can we integrate plant-based dining and gluten-free dining in a way that’s really palatable and really approachable,” Regional Manager of the Wild Hare, Marcus Clark said.

Instead of relegating vegan options to a dark corner of the menu, vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free dishes are front and center at The Wild Hare.

Nearly everything on the menu can be adjusted to fit the customer’s dietary preferences.

“We have a lot of lean stuff like the caulafel burger, but you can sub a meat patty with a gluten-

‘It’s good to give people some of those goodies that they maybe haven’t been able to indulge in for a long time.’

Marcus Clark

Regional Manager of The Wild Hare

PHOTOS BY PAUL DOLS

free bun and vice versa,” Clark said.

When crafting the right plant-based patty, Chef Dan Cunningham spent the time figuring out what worked for their in-house patty.

“It’s the commitment that makes this burger different,” Clark said. “We could’ve gone and ordered a pre-made patty from another place and dressed it up, but we wanted to make something a little more homegrown.”

That house-made patty is a happy agreement of cauliflower and falafel, or “caulafel”

Chef Cunningham worked out a Mediterranean flavor combination with tapenade for a bit of tang and creamy tzatziki sauce, all topped with tomato, lettuce and onion and served with a side of The Wild Hare’s signature gluten-free fries with Moroccan seasoning.

“We like to pack a lot of flavor in each menu item,” Clark said.

As for sides at The Wild Hare, patrons have the option of going with classic chicken wings or going vegan with their cauliflower wings.

“We really wanted to do good chicken wings and we don’t have a ton of chicken wings in downtown Stillwater, and we wanted to find a way to do vegan wings.”

Wings flavors range from traditional buffalo to spicy Szechuan, or Moroccan dry rub, paired with vegan and vegetarian dipping sauces like spicy harissa aioli or cool, creamy bleu cheese.

“I really love how it’s all come together,” said Clark of the restaurant. “Our staff is fantastic too.”

“It’s good to give people some of those goodies that they maybe haven’t been able to indulge in for a long time,” Clark added.

Clark notes that folks come in saying they haven’t had a cheese curd or a French fry in years because of their dietary restrictions, but The Wild Hare is changing that.

This is one compromise that’s packed with flavor.

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