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Since December 2013, Strong Hearts On The Hill has served vegan comfort food, including wraps and sandwiches — as well as milkshakes named after activists — from its location in Marshall Square Mall.

After 7 ½ years in the mall, Friday is the cafe’s final day serving customers. The Strong Hearts location at 900 E. Fayette St. and its delivery app will remain open.

A few factors contributed to the decision to close Strong Hearts On The Hill, said Nick Ryan, who — along with Joel Capolongo — co-founded and co-owns Strong Hearts. For starters, the pandemic has resulted in a difficult year for the cafe, and foot traffic in the university area has changed. The cafe’s lease in Marshall Square Mall is also coming to an end, and Strong Hearts On The Hill hasn’t been able to secure a lease that would allow it to make long-term improvements to the space, he said.

“We’d like to give our customers the best experience possible, and if we’re unable to do that, it doesn’t make sense to just maintain the status quo,” Ryan said.

The opening of Strong Hearts On The Hill, the restaurant’s second location, in 2013 marked a “jump forward” in the cafe’s level of service and ability to meet the needs of customers looking for a quick bite between classes or on lunch breaks, Ryan said.

Having two locations open at the same time expanded Strong Hearts’ ability to experiment with new ideas because adding menu items at one location but not the other provided an opportunity to test different options, Ryan said. Strong Hearts intentionally designed the menu to be adaptable, Ryan said, and Strong Hearts plan to review the university location’s menu and incorporate elements of it into the Fayette Street location’s menu.

The cafe is 100% vegan, but you wouldn’t know right away from its menu, which boasts BLTs and milkshakes. Mandy Kraynak | Managing Editor

“We’re certainly planning on looking at our current menu from Strong Hearts On The Hill — what we had available there, what people really loved — and trying to work those things in,” Ryan said.

Strong Hearts On The Hill, which is a 100% vegan eatery, brought vegan options to the Syracuse University community. Its menu includes vegan sandwiches, “chicken” wings made from a soy protein and wraps such as the Sweet and Sassy Tofu Wrap. Its selection of dairy-free milkshakes are named after activists and other influential people such as Harriet Tubman, John Lennon and Ernie Davis. The cafe also offers other healthy options such as kale salad, Mexican quinoa and a selection of smoothies, which are go-tos for many people whether or not they are vegan, Ryan said.

SU graduate student Matt Gonzalez ordered a BLT the first few times he ate at Strong Hearts On The Hill, not realizing until a later visit that the cafe is entirely vegan and that his sandwich was made with tempeh bacon. He was pleasantly surprised though, and since then, Gonzalez has returned to Strong Hearts On The Hill as a consistent customer, he said.

Gonzalez didn’t know about Strong Hearts On The Hill’s closing before speaking to The Daily Orange on Monday, and he was sad to hear the news. Strong Hearts’ other location is “sort of close, but not close enough,” he said.

Several other Strong Hearts On The Hill customers also said that they will miss the cafe’s proximity to campus or their workplaces. David Tewksbury, who works at Manny’s on Marshall Street, said Strong Hearts On The Hill is his favorite lunch spot. Now that it’s closing, he will probably opt for delivery from the Fayette Street location, he said. Tewksbury isn’t vegan but loves vegan food, and he enjoys the cafe’s entire menu, he said.

“One of my co-workers introduced me to the Sweet and Sassy wrap and I kind of fell in love, and ever since, I’ve been eating here,” Tewksbury said.

Andrea Acey remembers going to Strong Hearts On The Hill as a student at SU, after the cafe replaced Syra-Juice Juice Bar & Eatery. Now an information technology analyst in the Division of Enrollment and the Student Experience at SU, she often stops by Strong Hearts On The Hill for a BLT or milkshake.

Unable to secure a new lease in Marshall Square Mall that would allow for renovations, Strong Hearts will now only be available at its location on Fayette Street. Mandy Kraynak | Managing Editor

Acey’s favorite milkshake from Strong Hearts is the strawberry shake named after prison abolition activist Ann Hansen. When Acey found out that Strong Hearts On The Hill was closing, she decided to go one final time. Although she has been to the Fayette Street location and will continue to go there, she probably won’t go for lunch during the day, she said.

“I’m really going to miss that I can’t just pop down and get a milkshake now,” Acey said.

With its university location closing, Strong Hearts plans to grow its business in other ways like expanding regionally or adding to its offerings. It’s focused on growing a catering business and possibly offering some of its dishes at Green Planet Grocery in Fairmount, which it has done in the past, Ryan said.

Through its Marshall Square Mall location, Strong Hearts has had an opportunity to serve a younger crowd. Serving customers in the university area has been a great experience for Ryan, and he said he’s learned a lot from them.

“When I started Strong Hearts, I wasn’t far out of college, so it was nice to reconnect with some of the employees and customers who had their finger on the pulse of what was next in everything,” Ryan said.

Published on May 21, 2021 at 7:55 pm

Contact Mandy: ackrayna@syr.edu | @MandyKraynak