Veggie Goes Vegan

Bites - Viva los veggies? Vegas restaurants gamble on vegetarian menus

Over the last decade the Las Vegas dining scene has won tourists over, becoming one of the best dining destinations in the country. Now, more restaurants are gambling with meat-free menus and hoping to hit the jackpot.

via bites.today.msnbc.msn.com

You may all know I'm a big fan of the Wynn Las Vegas and its rich, robust, ubiquitous vegan menus. Sounds like they might be influencing the rest of Vegas for the better!

Quick Link: The L.A. Times on the Vegan Choices at the Wynn Resort in Vegas

Since I've now stayed at the Wynn twice and experienced first hand the wonders of their always available vegan menus, I thought I'd share this article on same in the L.A. Times.

I need to go back, since there are still more restaurants to try.

Have you tried the Wynn's vegan cornucopia yet?

 

Traveling while vegan

Over two years ago now I went to South Africa for a too-brief 6-day visit. We were going to a photosafari lodge in the Zulu region and were going to be there the entire time, not spending any time in the cities.

I was concerned about what I would eat, so I packed some food I hope would get me through. I packed energy bars, but really, I've never found an energy bar I'm ever actually excited to eat. But I also packed two things that absolutely got me through: A jar of peanut butter and packets of instant oatmeal.

Good thing I did. While each evening's dinner buffet had vegetables available to me (although no protein source0 I would have been in trouble indeed if I hadn't have been able to make myself some oatmeal every morning and a peanut butter sandwich every lunch.

Over on BlogHer, Keira from Around the World Vegan has a way more comprehensive set of suggestion on how to not just survive but thrive when you're Traveling While Vegan.

T highly recommend you check out all her suggestions, and not just for travel across the globe.

The Village Pub Does Vegan

Definitely not know for their vegan fare, the Village Pub in Woodside nonetheless made me a *delightful* vegetable cassoulet for lunch last week. Yes, those are artichoke hearts in there.

It tasted good and it looked very very pretty. 

Here's the proof:

 

The Village Pub
2967 Woodside Road · Woodside, CA 94062 ·
650.851.9888

 

Vegan MoFo #Fail: A few final shots of yummy vegan food

I'm sorry I made it about halfway through Vegan MoFo before the realities of my constant travel in October/November hit me, and I lost my mojo.

I'll try to leave you with some parting shots.  I eat a lot of great vegan food while on the road...not all of it at vegan restaurants.

Hangawi is, of course a vegan restaurant, and you should see their pretty little desserts:

That was in vegan haven NYC. But I also had a couple of great vegan meals at non-vegan restaurants in Seattle, WA last week.

First up? Chicken-fried Seitan at Portage Bay Cafe. I was going to order something healthy, but once I saw this dish on the specials, I just couldn't resist.

And finally, the Georgian Room (the fancy restaurant at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, where BlogHer Food '12 will be held) is anything but vegan. but they have a special menu listing all their choices for people who are raw, gluten-free, vegan, diabetic, you name it.

I got the raw appetizer (corn, jicama, cucumbers and apples, I believe) and the vegan entree (tofu, bok choy, shitakes and a wonderful soy sauce-based glaze). It was all scrumptious. And satisfying.

So, that's why I can be anything but a skinny vegan...all the rich lovely vegan food out there in the world. Finally, I will leave you reliable Vegan MoFo'ers with a non-food picture. This was the view from my hotel room in Seattle. Nothing to complain about in this department either:

Vegan MoFo Day 18: Hangawi rocks it again!

Well, somehow Typepad just ate my half-written post, which, at 12:21AM is a bit frustrating, so this post is going to be a short one.

Last night I landed at JFK, checked into my hotel and rushed down to Hangawi to meet a colleague. A colleague who is a foodie. And not a vegan. That's always pressure.

Not to worry, Hangawi was awesome per usual.

We had fresh apple juice. And yes, having it freshly juiced does make it taste better. There's more texture and, well, it tastes more like apples.

Our appetizer was the Pancake Sampler Platter...with some Pumpkin pancakes, some Leek and some Kimchee. My favorite were the Pumpkin pancakes, which had a bit of sweetness to go with the savory.

I had a dish I've had before, the Crispy Mushrooms in Sweet and Sour. Very very rich. So rich I couldn't finish (but despite the lack of hotel room fridge, I took the rest to go and had them later.) My colleague had the Avocado Rice Stone Bowl...a much healthier choice. He also took a run in Central Park that day, so he wins all the whole healthy thing in general, obviously.

Finally, we had dessert. I had a Blueberry Coconut Cake. I'm much more a fan of Coconut than Blueberries, so I would have been happy had it been solely that.  But there was nothin' wrong with it, don't get me wrong.

I would show you my usual untalented food photography, but to compound my Typepad problems? iPhoto is deciding it doesn't want to import any photos from my phone right now.

When technology is this out to get you, you should just go to bed!

Good night, sleep tight...dream of Hangawi pumpkin pancakes all night :)

Vegan MoFo Day 14: A few good meals

Coming to NYC is always a little trip to vegan heaven, and this week ws no exception. I had to great meals, one at a vegan restaurant, one not.

On Wednesday I had lunch at Landmarc, a restaurant at the Time Warner Center mall on Columbus Circle.

They have a steak lunch they feature, steak with choice of sauce over french fries and with greens. Only one of your steak options is not one, but two portabella mushrooms, and one of the sauces is vegan. Talk about a hearty meal. I really appreciate their offering that option. I've eaten there before and don't recall it being on the menu, so it's a good addition.

Last night I returned to Cafe Blossom on the Upper West Side. It's a favorite for me and one of my UWS friends to visit, even though he's not a vegan.

We shared a started of Gnocchi. I'm not sure it was quite as good as the amazing gnocchi I had at Portabella in Portland in August, but it was very good. My friend and I didn't do the smart thing and order two different entrees. I stuck with my go-to meal, the Seitan Marsala (I just love seitan...particularly that it's a no-fat, high protein, rib-sticking option) and it turned out that's what my friend wanted too. At least that meant I didn't need to share.

We did share desserts...he went for the Lemon Cake (which has terrific frosting) and I went for an English Butter Toffee Pudding. I love Toffee, and don't usually get to eat it. I actually hoped to love this more than I did, but it was worth it just for the whipped "cream" on top!

LANDMARC [AT THE TIME WARNER CENTER]

10 Columbus Circle, 3rd Floor

New York, NY 10019

P 212.823.6123

 

Cafe Blossom

466 Columbus Avenue,

NYC 10024

Phone: 212-875-2600 

 

Vegan MoFo Day 2: Fresson in Toronto, Canada

Every city I go to I try to visit at least one vegan restaurant, if they have one.

This week I made my first trip ever to Toronto in Ontario, Canada. Toronto is a big city, so it's not surprising they had a vegan place, so my dining companion and I closed down the place.

First with a Portabello dish (that was, in all honesty, a little too peppery for my taste):

But mostly because of the insanely rich dessert. Who can resist a dark chocolate avocado terrine? Apprently not me:

Loved the slices of grapefruit...not the usual fruit accompanying a sweet, but I'm a big grapefruit fan. I also had a nice tall glass of fresh squeezed grapefruit juice.

They were out of the seitan, which was my first choice entree, so I guess I'm just going to have to find an excuse to go back to Toronto and try again:

Fresson

478 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON M5V 2B4, Canada
(416) 504-5127

 

Cross-post: The Final Bullfight In Barcelona

It's today, according to the Daily Mail.

Good.

 

Vegan Food in Portland, Part II

So, let's get back to the awesome Portland vegan food. I have a confession to make: In some cases I was so enthralled by my choices...and consequently attacked it with such zeal...that I often forgot to photograph my food. I'm really not a good food blogger.

First, let's talk about the food at the conference itself. At BlogHer, we pride ourselves on having reasonable vegan options at every meal. This year we even stepped up and created separate buffet lines, one for the vegan buffet and one for the gluten-free buffet, in order to prevent cross-contamination.

Bit it's a whole other story to go to a vegan conference where the single buffet is all for you...and they go for it and make things you would normally never attempt for large groups of people.

The breakfasts were the most insane, check this out:

Let me spell it out for you, in case it's not clear:

-Vegan Greek "Yogurt"
-Tofu Scramble with Breakfast Potatoes
-Vegan (and Gluten-Free!) Pancakes
-Vegan (and Gluten-Free!) Biscuits with White Bean Gravy
-A little fresh fruit, so we can all pretend vegan=virtuous

This is a case where it's not like "I can't remember the last time I ate such a sumptuous breakfast", no, this is a case where I know I've never had such a sumptuous breakfast!

The catering staff at the University Place hotel certainly stepped up, so kudos to them. 

There were two great restaurants and a vegan food cart left to visit during my trip, but let me round out this post by saying that yes, I hit a Portland landmark:

It's Voodoo Doughnuts!!!

Did I, you might wonder, take an actual picture of either of the two yummy vegan doughnuts I got?

No, but I did get a shot of their stained glass voodoo logo. The iPhone didn't do as well with their Voodoo neon sign, unfortunately.

The thing about these doughnuts are, though, that I don't recommend tackling them if you're in the least bit full. I had already had a lovely meal at Blossoming Lotus (post to come) so when I picked up the doughnuts, they were just too sweet and dense and rich to eat. I couldn't eat more than a couple of bites.

Did I feel the same in the morning?

No, I did not.

I gobbled up both my more traditional cookies and cream doughnut and the doughnut topped with chick-o-stix without a problem the next day.

My recommendation: tackle Voodoo Doughnuts for breakfast. Or on an empty stomach. You'll thank me.

Coming next: Blossoming Lotus, Vita Cafe and the Homegrown Smokers Vegan food cart.