Posts filed under 'Vegan Restaurants'
So here I am in freezing, sleeting Wisconsin. I called ahead to the little restaurant downstairs to ask if their “hamburger and steak” pub could whip up something vegan for me. They not only said yes, but they offered to have the chef call me! I said there wouldn’t be a need for that, that I’d be happy for them to just make something, anything, that was vegan.
When we sat down the server told me that they had already started making risotto for me! Out of all things, risotto? Like I haven’t been making that enough lately. But I was still excited not to be getting a salad.
It ended up being pretty good! I had a nice black pepper zing and fresh thyme and little bits of tomato. Not bad for a pub! I’d like to think they had fun making it as opposed to me being a pain in the ass for them. Tomorrow night is the “fancy” dinner, so we’ll see what they make me. If the causal dinner was this nice, I have high hopes for the fancy one. Way to go, Horse and Plough!
March 1st, 2007
Assorted Appetizers
Vermicelli Rolls, Fried Wonton, Fried Dumplin, Fried Bean Cakes, and Fried Spring Rolls (bean cakes shown)
While it’s no San Francisco or New York, Boston does have a few vegan restaurants. One of the most popular is Grasshopper in Brighton. Today Stewart and I went there for lunch with Nikki of ILoveHeeze.blogspot.com and her fiance, and Sarah from blogisthenewblog.com. Sarah had been on the red eye all night from Las Vegas with vegan donuts for Nikki and me, so we figured we’d make a get-together out of it. But more about the donuts later!
Crispy Taro Nest
Assorted Vegitables, Vegi-Chicken, Beef, Seafood
Kale and Mushroom Delight (I think!):
A stir-fried combination of kale, white mushrooms, tofu, and veggie-beef gluten in a tangy ginger sauce.
Stir-Fried Chow Foon Noodles with Tofu
Sauteed Kale with Black Mushrooms
The No Name
Battered gluten in a sweet and sour sauce served with assorted steamed vegetables and topped with sesame seeds.
Strawberry Cheesecake for dessert! 
Everything was great, but I can specifically speak for the No Name since that’s what I ordered. It’s sweet, sour and salty all at the same time, with a delightful crunch. The portions at Grasshopper are enormous, but no one in their right mind splits a dish to ensure leftovers. I can’t wait to heat mine up for a snack later tonight!
Oh, speaking of snacks, I also have a box full of vegan donuts direct from Ronald’s in Las Vegas, courtesy of Sarah. Thanks Sarah!!
February 24th, 2007
While in D.C., I forced my lovely host to take me to Sticky Fingers Bakery, a completely vegan bakery that I have been dreaming about for the last three years. It’s such a weird feeling to walk into a bakery and realize that I can have anything I want. My friends and I ordered four different things so I could try as many things as possible without being totally ridiculous.
The dark chocolate square of loveliness you see up there is a Little Devil: chocolate cake bisected by a sweet vanilla frosting, and topped off with a thin layer of chocolate ganache. It was good, but the cake part was a little dry.
The scone in the foreground was simply labeled as “scones” in the case, but after tasting it we realized that it was very much a cranberry orange scone. The orange flavor was wonderful, but unfortunately the texture was not up to par. My friend Katie tried to break the scone in pieces for us all to try, but ended up with a large pile of scone sand in front of her when it completely disintegrated.
We also took a gamble and ordered their breakfast sandwich. It’s an english muffin, a thin layer or a mustard-y nutritional yeast sauce, a couple veggie sausage patties and some material that vaguely looked like egg. It would have been better warmed, but it wasn’t bad. I think I liked it more than my counterparts, but then again, I haven’t had an egg or cheese or three years, and I haven’t had sausage for fourteen years. I’m used to the impostors.
The best thing we ordered, however, was a cinnamon bun.
A fresh tray of these lovely things came out as we were deciding what to order. They were so light, so soft, so perfectly spiced. The only improvement I can think of would be a cream cheese frosting instead of a regular glaze, but that’s my own personal preference.
If you’re ever in Washington DC, stop by Sticky Fingers. It’s pretty tasty.
January 22nd, 2007
Tofu Scramble from Mani’s
I ordered the tofu scramble which my waitress said, “was popular with the health types” when I asked about it. After a generous helping of salt it approached being edible. I’m sure the asparagus came from a bag in their freezer, and the fruit tasted like it came from a can. Next to my toast were several pats of butter, much to my dismay.
I know not everyone knows what “vegan” is, but if you’re going to offer specifically vegan things on your menu, labeled as such, it’s a nice touch to make sure the vegan plates don’t go out to the tables with butter on them. Thankfully they were in little foil wrappers so we could easily remove them from the plate, but it didn’t give us much confidence that butter, or other non-vegan things, weren’t used in the preparation of our meal.
Stewart’s meal wasn’t great either, the Vegan Wheat-Free Pancakes:
Perhaps the bakery section of Mani’s is good - they seemed to have a decent selection of vegan baked goods in their pastry case, but I wouldn’t recommend going there for a sit-down meal. The service was slow and the check was quite large, making the entire experience a bit of a let-down.
December 2nd, 2006
Raw Pad Thai from Cru
Here is the first dish I tried at Cru, formally the Jade Cafe: Raw Pad Thai. The noodles were described as “root” on the menu with no other specifics, and they were impossibly long and unbelievably thin. It came with bell peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, cilantro, lime wedges, and a spicy sauce which my server informed me was not peanut based. Whatever they used, it was sure tasty. I finished my entire meal, washed down with a glass of watermelon juice.
My friend had the Bento Box:
Lots of tasty marinated vegetables including collard greens, mushrooms, avocados, sprouts, cucumbers, carrots and red cabbage. She at all of hers as well.
Desert! Desert was amazing. A raw key lime pie:
It had pistachio “crust” which wasn’t crusty at all, but was still appreciated. The filling was tart, smooth, and unidentifiable. It was topped with fresh kiwis and coconut cream. This was so good I ordered it again when we stopped in the next day, but the second iteration was way too tart for my liking.
We also got a scoop of their chocolate gelato after a strong recommendation from the server, and it was delicious. I was afraid it’d be gritty or have a disturbing vegetal aftertaste, but it was perfectly chocolaty and creamy:
December 2nd, 2006
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