I basically have two places I will eat out at on a regular basis - Chipotle and Noodles & Co.

Chipotle I like because it's a complete protein and a burrito is super filling (and my boyfriend loves it there too, and he eats meat), plus they have the best guac on the planet!  Noodles, sadly, only has one noodle dish that is easily made vegan (pasta fresca, i think, no cheese on top), but it is pretty delicious, and I can usually force myself to choke down some tofu with it.

That's weird, I've always been told that noodles & company has several vegan dishes. I have had the japanese soba noodle dish, the peanut noodles, and I think one other kind I'm forgetting. Definitely not the pad thai though, because it has fish sauce. But those two are super good and should be vegan.

I still need to try Chipotle, I've heard it's quite good.

p.s. I just remembered that Noodles & co showed me their nutrition fact sheet the last time i was there, and it said which things were free of animal products, wheat, soy, whatever. And there were several that were vegan.

And another question, how many of you are strict on sugar? It's pretty darn hard to x out the non-vegan white stuff, I noticed their tortillas have sugar but not their hard taco shells.
I'm letting sugar slide here and there when there isnt another option, I know, I suck :(

Being a new vegan, and not to bright, what is not vegan about regular sugar?

it's not the sugar itself that's not vegan, per'se - but it's the process used in making the sugar that's not "vegan" or "vegetarian" either for that matter.  When the sugar is refined from it's natural state to make the common cane sugar that most people use - the refinement process actually involves using beef bones. I'm not sure of the specifics beyond that.

It's generally considered that while "cane sugar" does use t hat refinement process "beet sugar" does not.  When buying products that do contain sugar - it's very rare that they'll list the type of sugar used (although sometimes that will happen) so if you wanted to be very strict about your stance on vegetarianism or veganism - you'd then have to contact the manufacturer of the product to find out the type of sugar used.

There are "veggie safe" alternatives however.  If you want to buy table top sugar to have in the house, i believe the "stevia" brand is vegan - and also "splendora" and "equal" (not 100% sure).  You can go with turbinado sugar, which is sugar in it's more raw, unrefined state - and that is vegan, and you can find it in most any store that sells sugar - and it comes in a big bulk package or you an buy it in packets also (depending on what your store may carry).

It can be a tricky thing to really wrap one's finger around, so it's one of those items that can fall into that vegetarian/vegan "grey" area.  One can maintain a constant vigil of each and everything they eat to maintain their pure vegetarian/vegan status or one can try to find a balance - between say... not buying any raw cane sugar or using it when out - but at the same time, not being completely vigil about the sugar contained in the products they might consume.  This might preclude someone from being "a real vegan" as some might see it - but at the same time can be seen as a logical and balanced approach.

Hope that helps some...

I basically have two places I will eat out at on a regular basis - Chipotle and Noodles & Co.

Chipotle I like because it's a complete protein and a burrito is super filling (and my boyfriend loves it there too, and he eats meat), plus they have the best guac on the planet!  Noodles, sadly, only has one noodle dish that is easily made vegan (pasta fresca, i think, no cheese on top), but it is pretty delicious, and I can usually force myself to choke down some tofu with it.

That's weird, I've always been told that noodles & company has several vegan dishes. I have had the japanese soba noodle dish, the peanut noodles, and I think one other kind I'm forgetting. Definitely not the pad thai though, because it has fish sauce. But those two are super good and should be vegan.

I still need to try Chipotle, I've heard it's quite good.

p.s. I just remembered that Noodles & co showed me their nutrition fact sheet the last time i was there, and it said which things were free of animal products, wheat, soy, whatever. And there were several that were vegan.

You're right, Shari.  Noodles actually has A LOT of dishes that are vegan.  I love their Curry Soup, and they have several stirfry noodle dishes (made with rice or soba noodles) that are vegan, too.  Not to mention their salads.  Yum.  I love Noodles when I'm out & about and need to eat!  I think their tofu is delicious.

I know they're only in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri, but McAllister's Deli has some good veg options.

I had a veggie sandwich on a pita, no cheese, but I added olive salad because olives are yum and pickles because they are also yum. And I had a cup of veggie chili on the side because I was cold. I didn't ask about the ingredients in the pita bread because I usually let bread slide unless it's like brioche or naan which are normally not vegan.

They have baked potatoes which you can top with stuff (like chili!!) and those sounded good but then I realized I could have one at home with cheeze and Tofutti sour cream for like half of what they were charging.