Dallas does vegan!

While I wouldn’t call Texas a top vegan travel destination, it does offer some unique eats that always makes the trip worth it. On one recent visit to the Lone Star State, we trekked to Dallas and visited Spiral Diner & Bakery.

Spiral is the closest to Phoenix’s Green Vegetarian that I’ve experienced in Texas. It’s completely vegan, and serves “comfort food.” The menu has a lot to offer! I tried the Patty Melt.

It was a soy burger patty with melty Daiya cheese and grilled onions.

My husband is a sucker for vegan “barbecue” and got the Chopped BBQ San’ich.

The grilled seitan and barbeque sauce were sloppy and delicious.

Best of all was the desert. We had a slice of coconut cake.

It was light, moist and the frosting was particularly great. Sprinkles!

Spiral is a bit off the beaten path of downtown Dallas, but it’s worth the effort to get there! We were sad that we weren’t there long enough to try them for breakfast.

As big as it is, I can’t help but feel there is a lot more to explore in Texas! If you have any vegan favorites, especially in Austin, please let me know so I can try them next time I’m there!

Messing with Texas, vegan style

I’ve been making regular trips to Austin for almost a decade, and I’ve always enjoyed exploring the vegan dining options in a city that prides itself as such a cultural hot spot. My close friend in town keeps an eye out for new places to try when I visit. Last year, he came up with what I initially considered an odd choice. I admit I was hesitant to give this place a try, but I became an advocate after my first visit.

Casa de Luz is a healing center that offers a set meal for breakfast,  lunch and dinner. It’s always vegan, always gluten free and always made with whole, unprocessed foods. They provide soup and salad a la carte, then serve up a plate of beans, grains and vegetables.

The specific ingredients and recipes change every day, as do the unique sauces and dressings. They post the menu online daily. This may sound like a boring meal, but trust me, it’s not. In fact, it may be, quite possibly, the best thing ever.

When I visited a year ago, the dinner included beets, lentils, rice, Kim Chi and kale (with an oil-free sauce). The lentils were beyond heavenly.

On my most recent visit (on December 26, 2012), the meal included a borscht (pureed beet) soup with an almond pesto sauce and salad.

Again – it sounds boring but it was fantastic. I especially liked how well the almond sauce blended with the soup, giving it a bit of texture and zing. The creamy (yet vegan and oil-free) “Pepita cucumber” salad dressing had my husband going back for seconds.

The meal consisted of medium and short brown rice; kidney and black beans; steamed mushroom, carrots, onions, broccoli and yellow squash; blanched greens (kale) with a balsamic, sunflower and dill sauce; and pickled red radish.

I can’t think of a better meal after a heavy Christmas dinner. If I lived in Austin, I would probably have to move into this place.

Mother’s Café & Garden is my other must-visit Austin staple. Its diverse menu of vegan and vegetarian favorites offers something for just about everybody in the family.

The chips and salsa are highly edible (I think we ate four baskets full), and the fresh-made salsa has a lively Texas kick to it.

To start, I ordered a cup of vegan tortilla soup. It was so good I forgot to take a picture until it was gone! I’d highly recommend it.

My entrée was the Chili Melt.

It was fairly basic flat enchilada with black beans, rice and corn tortillas. I chose the verde sauce, which was sweeter than I like for my Mexican food. However, they have discovered Daiya vegan cheese, so that made it just right!

My husband’s “TLT” was a bit less fun.

It was a simple sandwich of marinated tempeh with lettuce, tomato and Veganaise.

However, it left him with enough room for some vegan Belgian chocolate cake.

Mother’s has a wide variety of vegan treats, but the chocolate cake always calls to us. It’s rich and fudge-like. I’d recommend they serve it with some vegan vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce!

Of course, Austin has plenty of other vegan options to offer. We haven’t made it to Counter Culture since it transitioned from food truck to restaurant, but the food truck was pretty good. There are actually several vegan food trucks in Austin, but my attempts to visit them have been hit or miss. We found a vegan taco truck during this visit, The Vegan Nom’s Rockin Vegan Tacos, but unfortunately we had just eaten so I only took a picture of the menu.

They’re on the list for my next trip!

Also worth mentioning is Tacodeli. While it’s not a vegetarian or vegan restaurant, the menu offers multiple options for the herbivore. I had the Freakin Vegan tacos (sans avocado).

They were pretty straight forward – black beans and salsa – but the hot sauce was great and it will certainly do in a pinch!

My husband was more adventurous and tried the Florentino and Frontera Fundido Portobello tacos, made vegan.

He wasn’t too impressed with either, but he’s a native Arizonan. For him, no Mexican food from Texas will ever satisfy him, but that’s another story.

We Want Wagamama!

I’ve been obsessed with Wagamama for well over a decade, when a friend said, “You’re going to London? You have to go to Wagamama.” If you’re from the U.S. you’re probably saying “Wagawhat?” But hopefully that will change someday soon!

Which do you think I went to?

Anyone who has traveled with me to the U.K. knows that as soon as I can, I make a beeline to the nearest Wagamama. It’s a chain restaurant, and they’ve multiplied like bunnies since first opening in 1992, with locations in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. Lucky for me, on my last trip to glorious Britain I stayed in a hotel with a Wagamama in the basement (I didn’t plan it that way, I swear).

So far, Wagamama has only slightly penetrated The States, with three locations in the Boston area (we’re tied with New Zealand – yeay!). I think Wagamama must mean “good luck” because one of them is very near my company’s headquarters, which means I can usually get at least one visit in every year.

What’s so great about Wagamama, you ask? My answer: pretty much everything. It’s a “rice and noodle” casual dining Asian restaurant, with a blend of Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Indian and Vietnamese items. And if you’re thinking that this is another Pei Wei, think again. Wagamama offers a wider variety of flavorful dishes, and has more to offer for vegans and vegetarians. It’s the kind of place where everyone can find something on the menu to like, and they make it very easy for vegans to get a great meal by providing a vegan menu online. It’s also a great choice for gluten-free diners.

I have a bad habit of getting the same one or two things every time I go because I usually only get one meal in during a trip. I at least try to vary the starters if I’m dining with a companion. On my last visit, I tried the Summer Rolls.

They were light and fresh, and were served with a sweet chili, garlic and cilantro dipping sauce. I’ve tried the edamame with chili and garlic salt before – which is just fine. The Yasai Gyoza (veggie pot stickers) are also great, but I’m pretty sure they aren’t vegan – just vegetarian. If your meal doesn’t come with Miso Soup, you should definitely order a bowl as well!

My default entrée of choice for years was the Yasai Chili Men.

It’s a huge bright red bowl of veggies, tofu and noodles that provides plenty of heat in the mouth and belly. Since I’m usually traveling for work when I go to Wagamama now and not wanting my dinner to keep me up late at night, I’ve switched allegiances to some other favorites with less after bite.

As boring as it may sound, my latest favorite is the Yasai Cha Han (order it with no egg to make it vegan).

It’s basically fried rice, but it’s not greasy and nasty like some fried rice can be. Instead it’s light, hearty and full of subtle flavor. It also comes with Wagamama’s wonderful vegan miso soup, which is a life saver on a cold night in Boston. It’s usually what I get if I’ve arrived in town late and want to go to bed without a gut full of spice.

But the entrée that keeps me going back for more is the Yasai Itame.

This delicious noodle soup is made with coconut milk, rice noodles, a light hint of chili and ginger spice, and tons of tofu and vegetables. It’s always way more than I can eat, but I try to at least finish the tofu off. If you order it, make sure you squeeze lime into it to bring out the flavor even more.

If you have room left after all of that, Wagamama usually has a vegan sorbet that makes a nice palette cleanser. However, on my last visit in the U.K. they offered a vegan “ice lolly” that I thought would be something unique and fun. Instead it was a pre-packaged fruit juice popsicle shipped from somewhere in the U.S. Oh well!

There are other vegan entrees on the Wagamama menu that I haven’t tried yet. Maybe if they ever make good on their promise to open hundreds of locations in the U.S., I’ll feel less pressure to always order my favorites and will experiment more with the menu.

Beyond the food, the ambiance of Wagamamas always makes me happy. The restaurants tend to be in basements, so you feel like you’re descending into someone’s hidden, private space (except the Tower Bridge location in London — that one is down right scenic). The servers are always friendly, but not chatty, and very good at their jobs.

In the U.K., they sit you directly with other people at long rows of tables, so you usually get to meet fun people from a wide variety of countries.

In the U.S., while the tables are still long, they put small gaps in the rows so the visual of open dining is still there, while giving territorial Americans some sense of privacy. Maybe when they move west that will change.

The ordering process is unique as well. Wagamama is the first place I had been to where the servers used hand-held wireless devices for orders and credit card processing – and that was more than 10 years ago! It was cutting edge high-tech to me at the time! Every menu item has a number, and the servers don’t just enter it into their devices, they also write the numbers on your place mats so the right food goes to the right person. You have what I’d call a “main” server, but everyone manages your order in a communal fashion. All of this makes for an efficient experience.

Over the years, I’ve made Wagamama addicts out of several friends and co-workers. If you’re ever in Boston or in one of their many overseas locations, give it a try and let me know what you think! Maybe we can get a petition going to bring Wagamama west!

Vegan Eats Above and Below the Rim

When the thermometer hits 110 degrees in Phoenix, the natural inclination of the population is to head for higher altitudes. Two of our favorite destinations for day trips or overnight stays are Flagstaff, which is above the Mogollon Rim (the boundary between “way to hot” and “not quite as hot” in Arizona), or Payson, which is just below it. But what’s a vegan to eat in these small towns? As it turns out – plenty!

The vegan destination of choice in these two quiet towns is Macy’s European Coffee House and Bakery.

In fact, I’ve lobbied to go to Flag just to visit Macy’s on more than one occasion. The menu is entirely vegetarian, and many items are either vegan, or can be made vegan with a bit of tweaking. The atmosphere is seriously mellow, with the staff and patrons seeming to have an unspoken code that even after many visits I have yet to decipher. It’s the closest vibe to that of my old college town of Gainesville, Fla. that I’ve found in Arizona, which makes sense given the proximity to NAU.

First thing’s first, Macy’s has the best coffee I’ve ever had in Arizona. And the prettiest as well.

They usually have a vegan pastry or too if you get there early enough. On this trip we lucked into a vegan almond Danish.

For lunch, my husband had the hummus pita (without the feta).

It wasn’t an adventurous choice, but it was delicious and filling.

I really like their burger, which is normally served as a “mushroom and Swiss burger” but I opt for it without those toppings.

Sometimes I get lucky and they have it on special with toppings other than mushrooms (which I hate) and Swiss (which they don’t have a vegan version of), but on this trip it was a touch plain. The mustard (put accidentally on the hummus plate) livens it up greatly though. And as a bonus – the fresh salsa at Macy’s shouldn’t be missed.

After hiking in the areas outside of town for awhile, we stopped back in Flag for a quick bite before heading back to Phoenix. We decided to try Tacos Locos, a Mexican restaurant right around the corner from Macy’s that has vegan options.

Tacos Locos offers eight different vegetarian options on the menu, all of which can be made vegan with ease. The prices are very reasonable too!

Meals come by default with plenty of chips and salsa, as they should (I’m talking to you, Chipotle).

The chips were fresh and warm, but the salsa was a bit bland so we spiced it up with optional hot sauces, available upon request.

My husband had the guacamole and veggie tacos, neither of which were world-rockers, but they were serviceable. I had a bean and rice taco and a potato taco.

Both were just fine, but the fried shell of the potato taco was the stand-out.

I probably wouldn’t drive to Flag just to go to Tacos Locos like I do for Macy’s, but it’s a nice option for a quick, safe bite.

When we next said, “We can’t take it anymore” and needed to get out of town, we headed to Payson. Lucky for us, our dining choice was not limited to Taco Bell vs. Subway. Ayothaya Thai Café is a decent Thai restaurant in Payson with a wide assortment of vegetarian items on the menu. When we asked if the dishes had fish oil/sauce or if they were truly vegetarian, they confirmed that there was no fish product involved. They menu also clearly states that they use vegetable oil.

Based on how crowded the restaurant was at 5:30 p.m. on a Saturday, I’d say it is dining destination #1 for Paysonites. There was an odd duet of acoustic folk singers on a stage at the front of the restaurant, which was decidedly not Thai-esq, but they clearly had a strong local fan base.

We had read in reviews that the service at Ayothaya left a lot to be desired, so we ordered a fresh garden roll appetizer to start just to make sure we didn’t starve.

They came out within minutes, which was a good thing because the meal took another 45 to arrive. But, it also meant they had probably been made hours before, and they tasted like it. The peanut sauce was good enough to cover up what the garden rolls lacked though.

I was intrigued that they had tempeh items on the menu, so I ordered the tempeh with mint leaves.

It was a light stir-fry but while I was hoping for something “minty” and flavorful, it was a little bland and greasy. The tempeh wasn’t very compelling either.

My husband did much better with the almond Thai curry.

This was full of delicate spicy and the tofu was cooked perfectly.

There were plenty of other interesting options on the menu, such as the tofu royale, or the pra ram joe, so I hope to visit again soon!

Vegan Eats in Orlando: In Memory of Ralph Ameduri

I lost a dear friend, Ralph Ameduri, recently in a tragic way. His passion for food was a second only to his passion for music, so when I went home to Orlando for his funeral, I had to go to a few places we used to frequently eat at together. Although he wasn’t anywhere close to a vegan (and neither was I when I lived there), many of the places we both loved have plenty of great vegan options.

Less than a mile from my old house sits Paco’s Mexican Restaurant – so it was a mainstay for us. From the outside, it doesn’t look like much. Actually, it doesn’t look like much inside either. They’ve been in business for almost 30 years, and the only thing I know of that has changed on the menu (aside from prices, but only slightly) is they now serve Pepsi instead of RC (darn it). While Ralph would always say “you’ve got to have the beef tacos when you’re at Paco’s” (and was indeed right – they are great tasting if you’re a meat eater), I used to always get the bean burrito, which is covered and baked to a crisp in cheese, or the cheese and onion enchiladas. Both are vegetarian, but not vegan. However, the beans are vegan, so on this visit I “got the tacos” but with beans instead of beef, and no cheese.

They were loaded with beans, lettuce and a tomato slush. The thing about Paco’s is that the food isn’t fancy – it’s just simple and good. And these tacos didn’t disappoint. I didn’t ask if the rice was vegan or not – I was too tired hungry to be a fussy vegan – but it was lightly flavored and well prepared. I fantasized that if I still lived in Orlando, I’d regularly go to Paco’s with a bag of Daiya and make them bake me a vegan burrito or enchiladas. Maybe someday…

Sadly, I discovered another favorite restaurant of ours, Don Pepe’s Cuban Café (which was renamed to Habana Grill after I moved away but will always be Don Pepe’s to me) closed for good sometime in the last two years. Ralph and I used to go there for breakfast after late nights out, just to get their awesome Cuban coffee, but the food was great too. No worries, I went to our other favorite Cuban restaurant, the Black Bean Deli, which Ralph always argued had better food anyway.

If you’re ever in Orlando and have time to go to just one restaurant, GO HERE. It’s tiny, impossible to park at, always packed, and has only about six seats (is best for take-out) but it is just awesome! Similar to Paco’s, the basics haven’t changed at the Black Bean Deli since I moved. However, one huge thing did happen – they now have vegan empanadas on the menu! The person taking my order was also very fluent in vegan – and pointed out options to me.

It’s probably good that I moved, because I’d be there every day getting seriously fat on fried vegan pies. The empanada was stuffed with potatoes and a saucy picadillo-like fake beef substance – incredibly tasty. The black beans and rice were so good that one of the first things I told my husband when I got home was “I’m never eating black beans in Phoenix again” (which I’ve already violated due to Green’s amazing Tres Tacos special). The tostones were fried to perfection and covered in garlicky mojo, but a touch thick (I like them thin and crispy).

Another favorite we used to go to often is the Thai and Vietnamese restaurant Viet Garden. It hadn’t changed at all! Viet Garden was my “intro course” to Southeast Asian food, and in many ways – tofu – because they have great tofu dishes on the menu (I guess I was a vegan in training). One “must order” menu item is the garden rolls delight.

These fully-packed tofu rolls come with a thick and slight sweet (not spicy) peanut sauce that is lick-the-bowl good.

I had a hard time choosing between the Panang curry, which is quite delicious and can be made vegan with tofu, and the Buddha’s Crispy Noodle Delight. I decided my stomach wasn’t up for spicy, so the more mellow crispy noodles got the nod.

The tofu was very fresh and I still love the sauce. It’s similar to the Chow Mein at Fresh Mint in Scottsdale, but a bit more flavorful. They have plenty of other vegetarian and mock meat items on the menu too (but I’m not sure that they’re vegan).

In addition to my old favorites, Orlando has blossomed with vegan restaurants in the 14 years since I moved away to Phoenix. Ethos Vegan Kitchen was near my hotel and made for a great spot for quick bites. I decided it is Orlando’s version of Green, but with beer and Sunday brunch available (C’mon Damon – we want a Green brunch!).

The menu isn’t extensive, but it has a good variety of light eats and full meals. I tried the Buffalo Chickun Wrap daily special when I arrived in town.

It didn’t hold a candle to That’s A Wrap’s Buffalo 66 with tofu in terms of knock-your-socks-off spice, but it was worthy of a try. The mock chicken tasted great.

On a return visit with a friend, he ordered the Creamy Potato & Broccoli soup and Spinach Salad (a safe option for non-vegans) and enjoyed both. In fact, he might go back again!

I tried the What’s the Dilly, Philly? with a side of the macaroni & cheese daily special.

The seitan was a bit thick for a Philly, but the onions, peppers and cheese brought it all together just fine. The mac & cheese was exceptional. I don’t think they used Daiya because it wasn’t melty and stringy, but it was perfectly flavored and very comforting.

Since I was headed to the airport, I ordered one of every cookie to take home with me. I’m sorry I didn’t order two of every cookie – especially the orange sugar cookie and the cowboy cookie. Bring them to all your non-vegan friends and they’ll all say “I can’t believe these are vegan!”

If you’re looking for an excuse to go to Orlando, maybe these dining tips will motivate you. If you need another reason, on Oct. 23 there will be a Ralph Fest in downtown Orlando to honor an amazing guy with great taste in food and music. I suspect there will be at least one chart-topping band playing – keep an eye on the Orlando papers to find out who. And I hope the Black Bean Deli sets up a food cart in his honor. Although he certainly would have gotten the pork instead of the vegan options, and lectured me on what I was missing.

More Vegan Travel: Less Than 24 Hours in San Francisco

Continuing on from my last post about our recent trip to vegan-friendly California, we were in San Francisco for less than 24 hours on this trip, but had only one real dining destination: Millennium. It was my birthday, and there’s no place I’d rather eat at for a celebration! My husband even bought me a new camera for my birthday that features low-light capabilties so I can take better restaurant photos without a distracting/annoying flash.

I’ve been to Millennium many times, and am convinced that there is no finer vegan restaurant. I’ve brought several omnivores there too (even children of cattle ranchers), and they’ve always raved about their meals. The menu constantly changes, aside from a few standards, and Chef Eric Tucker places an emphasis on fresh, healthy and in-season organic ingredients, and taps elements of world cuisines without being too exotic.

During this visit, the menu predominantly featured a mix of Asian ingredients that created unique flavor combinations.

We started with the Mirin Glazed Sesame Rice Balls.

I’ll admit we dug in too quickly to get a good picture of the whole plate. Oops. The official description is: kabocha squash, ginger & star anise puree, spicy shiitake mushroom, chile & edamame relish, nori paste, shiso. My description is: OMG. Sweet, tangy, savory – they were an umami-esq delight.

Decision time was tough for the main entrees. I went with the Sweet Soy Glazed Tempeh.

It was the Indonesian style peanut sauce that sold me. Other ingredients included seared udon noodles with broccoli rapini, carmelized onion, fermented black beans & ginger, coconut-kaffir lime dressed snap pea & cabbage salad, and fuyu persimmons. Crazy delicious! One of the things I love about Millennium is how they use such a wide variety of flavors in each dish, but they complement each other perfectly. Every bite was a new taste experience.

My husband selected the Masa Crepe, which offered a nod to Mexican flavors.

The dish included cilantro-tofu cheese & roasted corn filling, roasted zucchini-pinquito bean hash, habañero-tomato cream, pickled nopales salad, and a pumpkin seed & cilantro emulsion. Again: wow!

We had to get two deserts, because we couldn’t decide between them. The first was a Warm Chocolate Cake.

It was filled with hazelnut ganache and poached seckle pear, and served with vanilla bean crème anglaise and chai ice cream.

I don’t remember the name of the second desert and it’s not on the menu anymore.

I remember it had figs, plus chocolate, plus some kind of yummy ice cream. Sorry, I didn’t take notes!

Since we had eaten so much vegan food in LA the two days before, we were worried that we would be too over-stuffed to enjoy our meal at Millennium, but the quality and variety of the food was able to cut through the pack and provide a truly amazing experience. Also of note, the service was impeccable at Millennium and we always enjoy their interesting variety of local and organic wines.

Before heading off to the airport the next day, we had breakfast at Herbivore in the Mission District.

This was the first time we’d been to Herbivore. I’m not sure how we could squeeze any more food in, but we gave it a hero’s try. They had a great breakfast menu. My husband had the basil pesto scrambled tofu and a side of blueberry cornbread.

I had the breakfast burrito and a chocolate donut (I can’t resist vegan donuts).

Both meals were great, but I don’t think we were able to finish either of them. In fact, the donut went in a to-go box. The breakfast potatoes were cooked perfectly – golden brown and flavorful. The blueberry cornbread was also another highlight. Service was a little slow, but we were the first ones in the door so I think they were still getting prepped. I hope we can get back there someday to try lunch and dinner!

Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to Greens on this trip but I know it’s a must-try. We never seem to hit the right window of time to go there. We made it there during opening hours once, but they were too packed to seat us so we got something from the to-go counter. Maybe next trip!

More Vegan Travel: Los Angeles Vegan Delights

Once again, I’ve been traveling too much and slow to post. But I’ve been eating! On a recent trip to California, we visited some of the best vegan restaurants in the U.S.A. – both in Los Angeles and San Francisco. These restaurants are all fairly well documented in the blogosphere, so I’ll go through them briefly, starting with the places we went to in vegan heaven LA.

Our first stop after LAX was Real Food Daily (aka RFD) – West Hollywood location.

Their totally vegan menu has so much to offer that I can’t go there enough. On this trip, I had the Salisbury Seitan.

There are few things I love more than RFD’s mashed potatoes and gravy. They nail comfort food! The seitan was a little bland, but the gravy made up for it.

My husband had the RFD Burger with the works. His review, “It was good! But it was pretty heavy and filling.”

We also had an intense chocolate brownie and a lovely latte. Both gave us the energy we needed after such a rich meal to tackle LA traffic, Hollywood tourists and Amoeba Records!

We timed our trip to make sure that we were in town when Madeleine Bistro was open.

They are currently open only on weekends, and they may be moving at some point. I hope they are doing okay because aside from Millennium, I’ve had no better vegan gourmet cuisine.

We had the mac and (vegan) cheese, fried (vegan) chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy (can you ever have enough in one day?) and a carrot and string bean veggie mix. We shared it all between the two of us.

The mac and cheese was okay, but I’ve been spoiled by the melty consistency of Daiya, so I wasn’t overwhelmed by it. Madeleine’s fried chicken is second to none though. It’s perfectly breaded and goes very well with gravy.

For desert, we had the deconstructed smore.

I raised an eyebrow when the waiter recommended it, thinking it was less appealing than a nicely constructed piece of pie, but his recommendation was spot on. It consisted of chocolate ice cream, lightly toasted marshmallow fluff, cocoa powder, chocolate cookies and a U shaped block of gooey chocolate (all vegan, of course). When all combined on your spoon, it was a unique, delightful experience. It was also very pretty.

For breakfast, we went to M Café on Melrose for the first time. They had a great menu and lots of breakfast treats. The first item that caught my eye was an almond croissant.

I haven’t had an almond croissant in years, and they are my favorite. I think M Café’s may have been the best one I’ve ever had.

I also got a breakfast burrito.

It was fairly small, but reasonable given the price ($5) and the spicy chipotle sauce was fantastic. The gluten-free brown rice tortilla was slightly crunchy, which made it very interesting. I’d gladly eat one every day.

My husband had the breakfast panini.

It was serviceable, but nothing spectacular.

We of course grabbed some Babycakes cupcakes to go – strawberry and chocolate.

We have been to Babycakes in NY but this was our first chance to try the LA version, which are stocked at M Cafe. Both were as good as we’d remembered from NY, but without the charming Lower East Side setting.

Lunch brought us up to Silverlake and Flore Vegan – another vegan hot spot that we hadn’t tried yet. It was crowded, but after a short wait we had a street-side table and were deep into decision heck due to the great menu.

Someone at M Café recommended the Reuben sandwich at Flore, but I couldn’t resist ordering the Eastsider Tacos.

All I can say is “wow!” This may have been my favorite food from the whole trip. The seasoned seitan was delicious and tender, the tortillas were fresh and sturdy, and the salsa was tangy.

My husband went with the Tacos de Papas which were good, but didn’t hold a candle to mine.

We were still so stuffed from lunch at dinner time, so we tried to find something light. We ended up at Vegan Glory – a cute vegan Asian restaurant. The menu was full of a wide variety of mock meat dishes that looked fun to try. We weren’t feeling too adventurous though, and started with the Freshy Rolls.

They were fine, but nothing to go out of your way for when there is so much else for vegans to eat in LA.

We split an entrée of chow mein with tofu.

Again, it wasn’t an exploratory choice, but we really wanted something light (at least compared to everything else we’d had) and simple after having over-indulged so much already by the second day of our trip. No complaints!

I could eat non-stop in LA, but we were off to San Francisco next. More on that in a future post.

No Vortex for Vegans in Sedona

I was hoping to avoid ever having to write a negative post about a vegan restaurant in Arizona. However, my recent experience at ChocolaTree Café in Sedona left me with no choice.

With the demise of D’lish, the only other 100% vegetarian restaurant in Sedona, former raw turned vegan restaurant ChocolaTree became our focus for a day trip out of Phoenix.

The menu online looked promising enough, with a variety of standard vegan food options plus some interesting looking desserts. We arrived at about 2:00 p.m. on a Saturday, well past lunch hour, and found a line at the order counter of about six people. It was pretty clear from watching the not-so-streamlined order process that we’d be in for a bit of a wait. The counter person told the people in front of us it would be about 15-20 minute for any cooked food. Okay, no problem, we’re patient types. When it was our time to order, we selected a raw appetizer since we were hungry, a raw veggie sandwich and a cooked veggie burger, plus two deserts.

The small dining area inside was full, so we went to the garden in the back, which was nicely shaded even if the rickety patio tables/chairs were less than comfortable. It was pleasant enough, but the guy serenading his dining companions with folksy acoustic guitar tunes didn’t provide the type of peaceful ambiance I was after. Our next warning signal that our experience at ChocolaTree wasn’t going to go well came in the form of a seminar taking place on the ground next to us on fasting and cleansing. Aside from not wanting to hear about the importance of “poop” while I’m waiting for my meal, the more they talked about not eating, the hungrier I got. From looking around at the other tables full of people with no food, it felt like the entire restaurant had decided that fasting was the way to go that day.

From what we could tell, there was one person serving all the food, and she was stressed. She brought free appetizers to everyone else in the garden to apologize for the wait, but completely ignored us. We watched as various people got up and went inside to complain, came back with desert before lunch, etc. and then we eventually started to see some food come out. Forty-five minutes later, our raw appetizer of Thai Spring Rolls emerged.

Truth be told, they weren’t bad, but then again, we were starving by that point. The coconut-curry wrap was interesting and different from anything I’ve had before, but the massive amount of sprouts with a few other veggies inside the wrap left me cold (and still hungry). The sprouted nut dipping sauce was intensely garlicky, but palatable.

I lost track of how long it took for our lunch entrees to emerge, but it was probably another 15 minutes. My husband stuck with the safe option of a veggie sandwich.

As you can tell from the picture, sprouts must be on sale in Sedona. There was nothing interesting or unique about this sandwich, other than it being vegan, and I suppose the $9 price tag for $1.50 worth of veggies is worth a comment. The sprouted grain bread was decent enough though.

My choice was the veggie burger.

That thin red layer at the bottom of all those sprouts and lettuce is the veggie burger. It didn’t taste bad, and it was definitely unique, but all I could think of was “where’s the beef” while I rapidly consumed it.  It seemed to be beet-based, but the sandwich also had a tomato blend on it which added to the flavor. I certainly wouldn’t drive to Sedona for it again, but it was at least creative.

By this time (about 1.5 to 2 hours later), we just wanted to get the heck out of town, so my husband went inside to ask for our desserts to go. This wasn’t a problem, because the desserts we ordered were pre-packed. When we got home, we started eating our slices of double chocolate ganache cake and coconut cream pie. Both tasted horrible. To quote the menu, these deserts were supposed to be “pure vegan nourishment homemade with natural sweeteners.” But, to add insult to injury, we looked at the ingredients listed on the to-go containers and found that both contained honey. Seriously? They weren’t even vegan! Sorry, no pictures. They went straight into the trash. Later, I found a review of ChocolaTree’s chocolate online that asked what I thought was a very relevant question: “It’s not supposed to taste like ass, is it?”

After having so many good vegan dining experiences around the world, going back to a 1972 stereotype of what a vegan is supposed to eat (i.e. sprouts) was an incredible disappointment, especially in Sedona, “town of enlightenment.” I’ll always give a restaurant an initial pass on poor quality service, but given the total bill for our meal was over $50 and the dessert wasn’t vegan, I just can’t recommend going there and will certainly never go back unless someone can convince me that I’m wrong about this place. Other folks have written positive reviews of ChocolaTree, so maybe I just caught them on a bad day. But clearly there has to be some place good for vegans to eat in Sedona. I just haven’t found it yet. I welcome any feedback on other places to try in town.

Vegan Food Adventures in Singapore: Part Four

This is the fourth (and last) part in a series of posts on the vegan and vegetarian food I found during a recent trip to Singapore. See parts one,  two and three for more information on the restaurants I visited.

After two intense Southeast Asian dinners in a row, I wanted something a little mellower for lunch the next day. I decided to revisit a place that I had tried on my last trip to Singapore – Original Sin, a Western-style vegetarian Mediterranean restaurant at the ex-Pat enclave called Holland Village (Blk 43 #01-62 Jalan Merah Saga Holland Village, Chip Bee Gardens).

While the menu is very solid for vegetarians, it’s pretty limited for vegans. We started with the Mezze plate, which included small portions of hummus, baba ganoush, falafels, pita bread and a delicious dip called Koresh – a pumpkin and carrot infused spread with caraway and fennel seed. The platter also included tzatziki and feta, but they were easily avoidable. All of the dips were delicious, and I should have ordered the large platter instead of the appetizer size!

For my entrée, I ordered a pasta dish that I can’t recall the name of (and it isn’t on the online menu).

It was prepared with a light olive oil infused with garlic and chili pepper (okay, so maybe I just can’t do “mellow” when something spicy is on the menu!), plus included a variety of fresh veggies including tomatoes, spinach and edamame. It was good, but I thought the dish was a little heavy handed with the garlic and chili.  It actually upset my stomach more than the Thai and Indian food did!

My dining-mates ordered an interesting mix of vegetarian entrees, including the lasagna, supremo pizza, and the Absolut pasta.

Out of them all, I was most jealous of the pizza – it looked beautiful. Too bad they haven’t discovered Daiya vegan cheese substitute in Singapore yet!

As much as it was a nice setting and good food, I don’t think I’ll go out of my way to go back to Original Sin if I make it to Singapore again. It’s great for vegetarians, but does not offer as much for vegans, and it isn’t serving anything I wouldn’t be able to eat in the States.

My last meal in Singapore was a very happy surprise. There were still three vegetarian restaurants on my list that I wanted to try – Zen Japanese Vegetarian at 122 Middle Road, Living Greens at 325 Beach Road, and Eight Treasures Vegetarian Restaurant Chinatown at 282A South Bridge Road.

Since I had a half day before our flight home with no meetings to attend, I decided to make a quick shopping dash for souvenirs in Singapore’s Chinatown. Eight Treasures was right by the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in the heart of the tourist area in Chinatown so it got the nod. The menu was vast (far more than what’s online), and claimed to be “100% vegetarian” – which, based on what I saw, I think meant it was totally vegan. There was a wide variety of mock meats and seafood – more than I’d ever seen – plus interesting bean curd and veggie dishes. Many dishes had photos accompanying them on the menu so you could get some sense of what was in it. They had interesting specials and the mock meats intrigued me (vegetarian suckling pig?) but, I decided to play it safe since I was about to get on a 17-hour flight. I ordered what I thought would be a basic tofu and veggies dish. It doesn’t show up on the online menu but it was called either the Family Bean Curd or the Eight Treasures Bean Curd. My dining companion ordered an eggplant dish that also does not show up on the online menu.

Both items were entirely unique. When the tofu dish arrived, I thought it might actually be in a pesto sauce.

It was a light, clear sauce, almost like a Moo Goo Gai Pan sauce, but loaded with an herb that we just couldn’t identify. We thought it might be cilantro, or maybe parsley, but it was such a gentle flavor that neither of us could be certain. Either way, it was delicious and I don’t think I’ll ever have anything like it again. The tofu and veggies were fresh and full of flavor. I kept saying, “Okay I’ve had enough, I’ll stop eating now,” and then ate more.

The eggplant dish was similarly distinctive.

It was beautifully prepared, with all the vegetables looking bright and fresh. The purple eggplant was glowing. The red sauce wasn’t spicy, but instead had a nice light flavor that wasn’t too sweet, wasn’t too sour. I didn’t know what to expect from Eight Treasures, and it ended up being the perfect final meal for me in Singapore.

I really hope that I have a chance to go back to Singapore again and try more vegetarian and vegan food from around the region. I feel like I’ve just scratched the surface of what’s available!

Vegan Food Adventures in Singapore: Part Three

This is the third part in an ongoing series on the vegan and vegetarian food I found during a recent trip to Singapore. See parts one and two for more information on this flavorful locale.

With two good vegan Chinese meals and one spicy Thai dinner under my belt, I decided that it was time to give Indian food another try for our third night in Singapore. I went to Bombay Woodlands during my last trip to Singapore years before, which is a nice vegetarian South Indian restaurant with a wide variety of dosa, idli and chaat, but I wanted to give my fellow travelers to a more traditional Indian restaurant experience. One of them had never really had Indian food before so I needed to make a good first impression! I contacted a local friend/former co-worker who runs her own communications firm in town and asked for a recommendation of a nice place that had a good variety of vegetarian options (plus non-veg for my travel companions). She not only gave us a recommendation, but she also offered to join us, which made the evening even lovelier. She was a gracious hostess and gave us great personal insight into life in Singapore during our meal.

She recommended Vintage India, which was close to Orchard Road at 10 Dempsey Road, #01-21 Dempsey Hill. Dempsey Hill itself was a unique location. The area used to be the Central Manpower Base of Singapore and former British army barracks. You would never know it now! It had been converted to a charming campus of dining and shopping establishments, tucked into a lush tropical setting that made you feel like you weren’t in a modern city at all.

Vintage India is what I’d call a “concept restaurant.” It’s themed around “the traditions of pre-independent India.” Upon our arrival, the hostess placed a string of Jasmine flowers in our hair.

Apparently this is an old Indian tradition, and one that has distinguished Vintage India enough that the bellman at our hotel could tell where we went to dinner when we returned later that evening. We dined outside on their covered patio during a light rain shower, which created the perfect casual but picturesque ambiance for the evening.

After we were seated, we were given rolled papadum, which were tasty but given the humidity, became soft/almost soggy pretty quickly.

The mint sauce that came with the papadum looked like it contained yoghurt so I avoided it, but the red chutney was nice and light. We were also presented with a complementary appetizer which was basically a small lightly fried ball of mashed potatoes and veggies on a toothpick (sorry, I didn’t catch the name of the item or remember to take a picture). It was a tasty bite-sized treat.

The Vintage India menu was full of vegetarian options. To get us started, we ordered Onion Bhajia and Chingree Samosas, which were both vegetarian, and both deep-fried foods. Lucky for us, Vintage India has a knack for making fried food that isn’t too heavy or greasy. The Onion Bhajia was browned to perfection and had a nice blend of onions and coriander.

The tamarind sauce served with it was a little sweeter than I’m used to, but it was a good contrast with the strong onion flavor.

The samosas had a nice light, flaky crust.

They were filled with the standard potatoes and veggies, plus cashews, but were spiced with a mild and fragrant heat. I could have filled up on both, but since I knew we had exciting entrées coming up, I kept to one of each.

I couldn’t decide between two vegetarian curries so I ordered both, under the guise of ordering enough vegetable items to share with the table so they could order non-veg dishes (of which, the curried chicken was once again declared the winner):

Kadhai Subzi – “A mélange of fresh vegetables cooked with onion, ginger and garlic.”

Dal Churchuree – “Yellow lentils tempered with garlic, cumin seeds and tomato. A simple and light dish to go along with any meal.”

I noticed that when we ordered our entrées, the waiter did not ask for our requested “spice level” – which was an early indication to me that they actually knew what they were doing in the kitchen. Both dishes were seasoned and spiced in a way that each flavor in the dish owned its own zone in your mouth. While the rich red curry of the Kadhai Subzi was dynamic and vibrant, the heat did not overwhelm the spice and flavor. Instead it emphasized the variety of delicate tastes and fragrances.

The Dal was more on the mellow side, but after having so many Dal dishes that were too salty, too full of random heat and too bland, it was like finally knowing what the dish could really be if prepared by the right chef. Needless to say, I ate too much. I suspect that both dishes used ghee, but since I was in a business setting I didn’t want to be a “fussy vegan.” Instead just enjoyed the experience for what it was – a delightful meal rich in flavor, great ambiance and good company.

We passed on desert, but in keeping with what I assume is another Indian tradition, we were presented with a four-draw chest of spices and herbs to cleanse our palates.

I have no idea what all was in each drawer, but we tried them all and it made for a nice touch to end our night.

I have to say this was quite possibly the best Indian food meal of my life so far! I’ve had so many badly-prepared, “hot for hot’s sake,” greasy, gut-churning Indian meals that Vintage India’s curries, which were both uniquely flavored and prepared with care, was a real treat. I’d feel better if I knew the curries were vegan, but I’ll just live in denial about that until someone tells me they weren’t.

Next up, I try a “Western” vegetarian restaurant and very interesting vegan Chinese food.