Ely’s To Go is a vegan carry-out restaurant in Poland that is 100% plant-based, and dedicated to serving food with a lighter footprint. Vegans and non-vegans alike will enjoy their delicious food because they believe that taste and quality ingredients are essential, regardless of what you’re eating.

Owner and restaurant namesake, Ely Pugh, says that her cooking style comes from a very simple place. “I’ve been cooking for 40-some years just because I love to eat, and I love good food. But I play with the senses. I play with the vision, tasting, smelling hearing. We offer here the whole thing.”

Ely’s husband and business partner, Jim Pugh, says that although they are filling a need in the community, people from all walks of life enjoy the restaurant. “We just found that there was a big need for it. We started vegetarian, but when we decided to go vegan we just went all the way instead of just halfway. Ninety-eight percent of the people who walk through the door are not vegetarian or vegan. They just happen to like our food. We don’t have flashing lights all over outside saying, ‘vegan, vegan, vegan.’ People just happen to like our food.”

“The human taste is basic,” says Ely. “It has to taste good. With my background, I came from Vietnam. We got out of Saigon just a few days before the collapse in ’75. So I was grown up in a family that loves food, loves good food. And my mother was so strict about things being fresh. So I guess it all was just ingrained in me.”

Ultimately, Ely says her restaurant is successful because the entire team truly loves what they do. “If people don’t care what they do it’s really… you have to have in your heart to do something. If you don’t love it, don’t do it. Don’t waste your time. Our life is really short.”

Ely’s To Go is located at 850 East Western Reserve Road in Poland.