Bon Bon

The East Lawrence restaurant Bon Bon used to be a colorful food truck and a little brick building on the corner of 8th and Pennsylvania. Now, after their reopening and new menu over the summer, the small business is essentially a new restaurant. Owned by the same couple that owns Burger Stand, Bon  Bon has a different, atmospheric feel with small plates and heated outdoor seating. Although Lawrence has very few recently opened restaurants, Bon Bon’s renovation has caused major changes in the layout and menu since it was just a food truck in 2016. 

Inside, the restaurant is dimly lit with bouquets of flowers on the table and a little glowing pink heart outline among shelves. They have a heated outdoor seating area with transparent walls and plants around the tables and their signature Bon Bon food truck as the kitchen, which has upgraded noticeably since the beginning. Outside, there’s often a bonfire going and several tables near their vegetable gardens and patches of zinnias. The restaurant itself is located in the Lawrence Cultural District near the Cider Gallery and Lawrence Beer Co. 

The food offered at Bon Bon includes a variety of small and large plates such as ribs, wings, chicken and pasta. They also have buns, their cross between burgers and sandwiches on steamed buns, and many of their vegetables and fruits are home-grown in the gardens across from the restaurant, complete with giant sunflowers and a brightly-colored sign for the restaurant. The restaurant’s menu, with no apparent overall theme or style, offers a variety of cuisine with vegan or vegetarian alternatives for many items. 

Overall, I thought a lot of the food that I had tried at Bon Bon was good and the atmosphere felt, although very different from the owners’ other restaurant, Burger Stand, very uniquely Lawrence.