Favorite Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurant in Your Hometown
Posted by veganzrule on Feb 23, 2006 · Member since Dec 2005 · 3 posts
Hi Everyone,
My husband and I are trying to compile a list of vegetarian/vegan restaurants to keep handy for when we are travelling. We tend to visit many different cities on business and for pleasure, so I thought I'd ask around for everyone's favorite eateries. I know this stuff is available through various websites, but I'm inclined to trust word of mouth more! So please let me know, and hopefully we'll get to check them out at some point or another. Thanks!!
Life Alive organic cafe in Lowell, MA. About 30 minutes from Boston.
Burlington, WI.
None in my hometown >:(
That I know of, anyway.
But I've run across a few websites that have listings, and according to them there are about a billion or so vegan-friendly places in Milwaukee and Madison. Milwaukee's only about 45 min or so from me, so I'm thinking about going to a couple of them some time. Preferably not alone, but it's nearly impossible for me to convince anyone I know to come with me to one of "those places" (as some charmingly call them).
I love love love Dharma's in Santa Cruz, Ca. Everything is vegetarian and most things can be vegan. Wonderful stuff.
Dharma's is delicious! I really like their thai noodle dish thing. The portions are HUGE though. I always have leftovers whenever I eat there
Cinnamon Restaurant in the city of Los Angeles, CA (Highland Park community)
http://www.cinnamonvegetarian.com/
and there is the veggielicious food cart on Hawthorne
Hmm, they are awesome (the food and the people who make it).
I just briefly skimmed through and didn't see my FAVORITE vegan restaurant. I live in Portland, Oregon and the best vegan place is downtown and its called VEGANOPOLIS. Everything is sooo yummy. They have sammies and cookies and floats. And you don't have to worrry about anything because the whole menu is vegan friendly.
So the question is, WHICH hometown?
Philadelphia, PA: the aforementioned Cherry Street Vegetarian Restaurant. And even though it's mostly un-veg*an (and not the most healthful option), I just wanted to give a shoutout to WAWA veggie hoagies!!!! No cheese required!
... it's actually bugging me I don't remember more Philly veggie restaurants. Hmmph. Honestly, my favorite thing to get when I go home is a hoagie from a little mom-n-pop shop that loads up on veggies (sauteed broccoli rabe, roasted peppers, eggplant ... yum!) Philly is home to the best sandwiches in the world... yeah, I said it... :)>>>
Baltimore, MD: One World Cafe. Hands-down.
College Park-ish, MD: Lots of Marylanders on the board! In addition to the Berwyn Cafe and Udupi Palace I want to mention the Co-op on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. Hot dishes, sandwich line, AND groceries. (Bonus: you could get meals from the Vegetable Garden in Rockville there. Their soba noodles with vegetables are the best) I miss that place so much...
Kansas City: Blue Koi is great, but my favorite is the Bluebird Bistro. It serves meat now (it used to not), but there's still lots of organic vegetarian/vegan stuff. Unfortunately it's kind of price-y for me. My favorite everyday option is, of course, the Eden Alley cafe.
Oh, PS--
Philly: Mad Mex. I never was there when I lived there but I went to State College and went there. Awesome.
Kansas City: Waldo Pizza! Truly vegan mozzarella!!
Last one I promise!
Philadelphia: Citizen's Bank Park (where the Phillies play) was recently voted most vegetarian-friendly ballpark in the US!
Speaking of Maryland, Great Sage in Clarksville is awesome! All vegetarian with lots of clearly marked vegan dishes. After eating you can visit Roots natural foods market next door.
Vegetable Garden has already been mentioned. Just up the pike is Yuan Fu.
Passage to India in Bethesda has a separate vegan menu but it's not an all-vegetarian restaurant.
Madras Palace in Gaithersburg for vegetarian south Indian fare.
Woodlands in Gaithersburg and Langley Park for more veggie Indian food.
A few really good veg restaurants in DC have already been mentioned. I especially like Java Green.
Branching out from Maryland is Vegan Treats in Bethlehem, PA. Imo, it beats DC's own Sticky Fingers bakery. A friend lives walking distance from Vegan Treats so I always buy a bunch of stuff to bring home when I visit. In fact, I'll be there this weekend. If I lived that close I'd be in serious trouble. They make the BEST peanut butter light and fluffy whipped topping they put on cupcakes, cakes and brownies. This stuff is to die for. I need to know how to make it! And then there's the "cheese"cakes.... :)>>>
In Moncton, (New Brunswick, Canada), there are only two vegetarian/vegan restaurants really. There's the Café Calactus which was for a long time, the only 100 % vegetarian restaurant in the city. Their menu is very diversified, but my favorite things are the Taj Mahal Dahli, which is a dish inspired by Indian cuisine and the Big Marc Burger, with roasted potatoes. I like their twist on the fricot, which is an Acadian stew usually made with chicken, potatoes, carrots and dumplings. It taste just like fricot, but without the chicken, and the dumplings. The dumplings are not what is being served in asian restaurants. Acadian dumplings is just dough droppings. I don't even know how to make them! Anyways, their vegan parfait is absolutely to die for. My favorite dessert in Moncton for sure, even back when I was omni.
The second restaurant is located where the Calactus used to be, coincidence of coincidence. It's called now the Zen Garden and offers a small variety of asian vegan dishes such as dumplings (the other kind... ;) ), shao mai, rice noodles, sticky rice wrap, sweet and sour soup. And it's a tea house and it offers I think 60 kind of different teas. The atmosphere is very peaceful, and I always feel great after leaving the Zen Garden.
So if you're ever in sweet ol' Monkeytown, you should check those out!
There a chain, Native Foods, that's around. It's depressing because the things on their menu aren't really special. They're stuff I'd make at home. If I was ever motivated enough, I want to go to Follow Your Heart, because I like their dressings.
I just created a blog that lists eggless/ vegan options at restaurants....
I am vegetarian and do not eat eggs, and have been so tired of always trying to figure out what is truly vegetarian and eggless at restaurants....
Please check it out and give me feedback:
www.goeggless.com
In Ann Arbor Michigan we hav Seva--it's OK, but there are some flaws--first they put eggs and cheese into almost everything--very few vegan dishes unless you special order, second the service sucks and third it's a little on the pricy side.
We also have Earthen Jar--this place is fantastic! It's a nearly 100% vegan Indian buffet--it's real small and kitchy--you grab yor own plates and silver wear from the kitchen and clean up after yourself too--but it is extra cheap--only $5 a pound! I highly reccomend this place is you like good authentic Indian food.
There is also a Whole Foods with plenty of eating places if your in a rush
And several other local places offer great vegan fare like Jursalem's Garden--great hummus wraps!
About an hour away in Bowling Green Ohio is a fabulous vegan restaurant called Squakers--100% vegan menu and they also have a little store inside too--this place is worth traveling too and the town is so cute too!
Capture, you should go to BG. Its a good school and I really need at least one vegan within a two hour drive...
aww no third coast places lol
i live in tx.
i dindt see any restrants.
the only one i know of that is manly vegan is tango tea room.
the only meat they have is a chicken salad.
i forgot the name of this rad place in san antonio they cook veggie mexican.
ps millenium has a cook book.
i saw it at half price.
Where in Texas? I know of 1 place that's a vegetarian restaurant, Greens in San Antonio (but I haven't gotten a chance to eat there yet), several others have vegetarian dishes. In Austin, there's Mother's Cafe on Duval and Veggie's Heaven on Guadalupe both of which I have eaten at and Casa de Luz which has been highly recommended to me and which I plan to try next time I'm in there. There's Ying Yang Fandango & the Tango Tea Room (1 place) in Corpus Christi. But most of the time, you have to look for Thai, Indian or other ethnic restaurants with vegetarian options. Vegan *is* very hard to come by. If you're passing through Uvalde (where I hang my hat), keep on going or stop at the HEB and grab a salad from the produce section. Not only are there no vegetarian options at restaurants, the Burger King which is supposed to have a veggie burger on the menu is notoriously dirty. In Del Rio, west of here, Jitra Thai Restaurant has a vegetarian section on the menu with several tofu dishes and the Vegetable Lo Mein is very good with a huge serving (that's what I had this past Thursday when I was there). Don't try the buffet, there's no vegetarian dishes on it. You have to order from the menu.
Casa de Luz is a great macrobiotic place - very expensive though.
Austin also has Mr. Natural, an all-vegetarian (and lots vegan) tex-mex restaurant and bakery. They have a nice little buffet and scores of vegan baked goods. Their Cesar Chavez location (the other is on South Lamar) makes beautiful professional-quality vegan wedding cakes - I had one at my wedding and it was amazing!
In Dallas, we have a great ALL-VEGAN place called Spiral Diner - they've been in Ft. Worth for a while and just opened another location in Oak Cliff. They have a variety of typical American/Texan type dishes, including some amazing desserts, just *everything*'s vegan. They also have Blue Sky soda on tap.
Dallas also has Kalachandji's, a restaurant inside a hare krishna temple. It's all buffet, all vegetarian, there are typically a couple of non-vegan items, which are marked on the white board menu of the day. The buffet comes with your choice of the daily desserts, but they only offer vegan desserts on Saturdays.
Right down the street from me, on Oak Lawn, is Cosmic Cafe - this is a chain Indian-ish restaurant that's all-veg - not all-vegan but they'll veganize any dish that can be. I believe Cosmic Cafe also has an Austin location, although I've never eaten at that one.
In Richardson (neighboring suburb where UT Dallas is) there's a place called Veggie Garden - I think the owners are part of the same religion or subculture or whatever as the Veggie Heaven (Austin) people, but the food is a little different - you can get any Chinese dish you can imagine (beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, fish, even *liver*-uck!) except that everything is made of soy. This restaurant is fun to eat at with a mixed veggie/omi group - all the vegetarians get "meat" dishes and the omnis (being afraid of soy meat) are the ones stuck with fried rice or veggie lo mein.
There's also a new place on Royal Lane and 35 called New Start Veggie Garden - I think it's unaffiliated with the Veggie Garden in Richardson, although a similar philosophy. It's a buffet of a very random assortment of things, kind of strange, but most of what I've eaten there was good. They have a great complimentary tea made from some giant weird mushroom, but it's delicious!
I think Texas has more veg restaurants than most people would ever expect from a place where they ritually eat their state school's actual mascot when they retire it.
A few more in Texas:
My husband just mentioned that there's also South Indian food - all vegetarian, but very hard to figure out what's vegan.
There's South Indian chain called Madras Pavillion, they have it in Richardson (Belt Line and Coit), Austin (Burnet & 183), and I think also in Houston and San Antonio, although I've never been to those. We had our wedding rehearsal dinner there, because it was the only restaurant in town that was vegetarian and had a party room. Many things there are not vegan, though, and different servers have told me different things about some of the same dishes.
Austin also has an independent South Indian place, Swad Veggi Food, I think it's called. It's a greasy little place where you order food at the counter and get your own water and silverware - I loved it, but my husband never wanted to go because there was a serious language barrier. If you can figure out what you're eating, though, it's great.
He's also been to a place in San Antonio, which might be the one TinTexas mentioned - it's called Green, and he says it has great vegan chicken salad and pecan pie.
And pizza! How could I forget? Austin's Pizza in Austin, and Pizza by Marco in Dallas - both will make soy cheese pizzas (although Austin's is frequently out, so call ahead), and Pizza by Marco has some soy meat toppings, too.
Capture, you should go to BG. Its a good school and I really need at least one vegan within a two hour drive...
I'm applying there for grad school! I really, relaly liked the school--I went for a visit a few weeks ago and totally feel in love with the town! BGSU was actually my "back up" school--but after seeing the rec center and eating at Squeakers--I'm really pulling it to be my #1--if they offer me a fellowship I'll undoubtable go!!!
We should totally get toghet--were so close--only an hour!
If you're ever in Denver, CO check out Watercourse. www.watercoursefoods.com. It's all vegetarian, but they are way vegan friendly- can make anything you want vegan. Plus, they have a nice selection of vegan wines to choose from.
Their sister restaurant is called City O' City, which specializes in yummy vegan baked goods (no non-vegan pastries here), and delicious vegan pizza (be sure to get the cashew cheese, it's divine!).
If for whatever reason you find yourself in small town, CT, USA:
Norwalk has an amazing organic, raw smoothie and juice bar that carries sandwiches (including a raw wrap!), treats, and soup - it's called The Stand, and it's on Wall Street. As the two owners are totally vegan, so are all their products.
And Fairfield has Health in a Hurry, which is all vegetarian and has some vegan things as well - can't imagine you'd ever find yourself here (or would ever want to...), but if you do, check them out!
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