restaurant Archives - Page 3 of 8

A mighty need

Thursday after work, since I had the car, I headed to Performance Bicycle to pick up some tubes and because I’d never been there before. It’s kind of huge, lots of stuff. After that I popped over to REI to use up my dividend that I’d apparently already used up. For some reason I was feeling super bloated and crappy. This got translated into “go buy a big pile of food for dinner from Chat Patti.”

Chat Patti used to be my go to way back when I was just vegetarian. Then a couple of years ago I found out that vegan friends found plenty of tastiness there as well. So I pop by every once in a while when I’m up that way. Especially since we’ve lost track of our favorite South Indian chef.

This is a very casual place. Cafeteria-style, order at the counter, get to go or eat there. Usually rather than trying to make some kind of decision, I just get a veggie thali, hold the dairy and let them put whatever on it. And for $8.99, the amount of food is ridiculous.

The thali usually comes with a dessert, but they all have dairy, so she put something else in there to replace it, not sure what though. The down side of me not picking things out is that I can’t really tell you what they are. And, of course, it’s going to make it hard for me to order some of these things again. Like this. I’m going to call it Indian nachos. A pile of fried with a variety of sweet chutneys on top. So freakin’ good.

The next box contained 3 chapatti breads, a potato pea samosa and sambar (I think.) The leftover chapatti survived nicely overnight in the fridge and refreshed in 15 seconds in the microwave to go with my lunch the next day.

And, the next box had rice, chana masala and some bean thing. See what I mean?

And here’s what I ended up eating for dinner:

A normal person might’ve gotten three meals out of this but I devoured the leftovers for lunch. It’s probably a good thing this place isn’t convenient. Nothing here was crazy spicy, but I have had food that’ll make you sweat here before. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

So Kong Dong Soon Tofu House

One thing nice about Atlanta is that just about every cuisine is represented here. Korean is one I have very little experience with though. So when we found out that there was a Korean restaurant that was vegan friendly, the gang had to go invade. This is from the second visit to So Kong Dong Soon Tofu House. All you have to do is tell them no fish, no meat, no egg, no fish sauce and they will take care of you.

We started with these banchan. Kind of from left to right: salty radish, radish soup, broccoli in sesame oil, salad, noodles also in sesame oil. The salad and noodles were the same as last visit but I think the rest were new. The internet tells me they switch it up regularly so you don’t always end up with the same things.

Kevin got the Tofu Bibimbap which is what I had last time. It was pretty good, but I like the noodles better.

We shared a Tofu Dumpling Soup. This is the best thing ever. It arrives all bubbling in its caldron. Seriously, next time I’m sick, I will want this. Actually, I want this right now. And I’m already full of dinner.

And I got the Acorn Noodles. It’s a cold noodle dish with lots of shredded veggies. Love it!

I should’ve grabbed a menu so I could give the exact names of the dishes. It’s really helpful to have a guide your first time there like we did. Lisa and David helped us navigate the menu and find the veganizable items.

Vegetarian restaurant in Cabo San Lucas

Who knew there was a vegetarian, mostly vegan, restaurant in Cabo San Lucas? We sure didn’t until we saw their sign from the main drag. The El Ameyal Hotel and Wellness Center has a vegetarian restaurant that you get to by walking through the center courtyard of the hotel by the pool. You dine under a grass hut outside but don’t be put off by that. It’s perfectly comfortable under there. They only have a Spanish menu, but the staff was able to help translate enough to figure it out.

First off, they brought this delicious vegan cream cheese and some sort of dark bread. I would be happy to eat that spread on bagels every morning.

Kevin got the Pastel Cubano. It was a layered dish of black beans, plantains and tofu and came with a side of veggies. It was tasty but a little too much mush for me.

Beth got the Seitan al Chimichurri. And boy was that a lot of seitan! They tried to rely on the sauce too much for the flavor rather than seasoning up the seitan really well. It would’ve really been awesome cut in strips in a taco or burrito. Also, did I say that was a ton of seitan?

Taylor ordered Tofu con Hongos Mixtos, tofu stir fried with mushrooms with a side of brown rice. Also a huge portion. I’m weird about mushrooms and have to be in the mood for them. It was pretty good for being mushrooms and all. Taylor seemed to like it, so that was the important thing.

And I got the Albondigas de Espinacas, balls of spinach in a béchamel sort of sauce with a hint of nutmeg and a side of brown rice. I’m not sure how the spinach balls were formed. Maybe just pressed together, possibly baked? They weren’t crisp like croquettes. Whatever, it was awesome.

And yes, they had vegan desserts that weren’t just a pile of fruit. I didn’t really love them though. Kevin got this Tofucake that was similar to key lime cheezecake, but I think they used agar as a thickening agent. So it was a bit weirdly smooth and the texture just wasn’t quite right. The taste was nice and so was the crust, made of raw nuts and dates, I think.

If you’re a vegan vacationing in Cabo San Lucas and are getting tired of chips, guacamole and questionably vegan beans, you should definitely seek this place out for some tasty, healthy food.

Awesome birthday dinner

For my birthday this year, Kevin took me to Cafe Sunflower. It tends to be the default special occasion restaurant for veg*ns in Atlanta, but really it’s good any time. While not 100% vegan, there are tons of vegan options and the staff can help you figure out what’s what. Also, kind of rarity for Atlanta veg restaurants, Cafe Sunflower serves beer & wine.

We started with fried brussels sprouts in a sweet sauce. They’re fried, so of course they’re tasty. But I really like brussels sprouts so I prefer them steamed or roasted if I’m cooking them at home.

Kevin had one of his regular favorites, the stuffed acorn squash.

And I had the pepper crusted tempeh. Under it that’s romaine lettuce, potatoes and a balsamic reduction sauce, I think. All rockin’.

And I don’t know if they’ve always had this lighting at the tables, but it’s very friendly to food blogging. 🙂

For dessert, I made my own birthday cake. It was a black forest cake and I utterly failed to take any pictures of it.

Lunch at Pukk

Other than Mamoun’s, this has to be the best deal in New York. Pukk has a bunch of lunch specials for $6. For that you get soup, an appetizer, an entree and brown or white rice. Dinner prices are also reasonable, but this is an amazing bargain.

Soup and vegan thai iced tea:

The Thai iced tea was much better than Loving Huts. More like what I remember. I think Loving Hut just needs to brew the tea stronger.

I think I got the Massaman Curry, but the online menu doesn’t say anything about tofu. So it could be the Panang. The appetizer is the square noodle roll. I will almost always order something with fermented black beans in it given the option. Also, I totally failed to ask for the extra spices, so I don’t know how good their wheel of doom is.

Kevin got the Red Curry Duck and the spicy spring rolls.

Just walking in for lunch here seemed to be no problem, but the space is tiny so there may be waits for dinner. The space itself is tiled all the way around including the ceiling. My picture sucks so I’m not adding it, but I encourage you to click through to their site to have a look.