Vegan banh mi: found

Our friends Taylor and Beth have been getting non-vegan banh mi at Lee’s Bakery for a while. They started asking about a vegan version and they said they could do that. Apparently, the menu changed about a week later.

Let’s look at that a little closer.

Yes, that says “vegan soup.” So you can get the tofu banh mi, just ask that mayo be left off, and a pho-like soup or a half sandwich and soup combo. We whipped together earth balance and veganaise and brought it with us for the sandwiches. I like the soup broth better than the Pho 96 one. It isn’t flavored with 5-spice powder. But it doesn’t have all the fake meats Pho 96 uses. Which is okay with me.

Our first visit, I did the half sandwich and soup combo. A half sandwich is about 6″ long.

And they have two sizes of the soup. This smaller one comes with the combo. Smaller, not small. Full of veggies, rice noodles, tofu, yuba, and sprinkled with green onions and fried onion. You also get a plate of sprouts and cilantro to add.

The combo is $6.95, a whole tofu banh mi sandwich is $3. I sure wish this was closer in town.

The $8.50 box from Healthful Essence

If you haven’t been to Healthful Essence yet, you should get on that. This is the $8.50 box. I’ve got rice and peas, BBQ tofu and greens with a few plantain slices on top. That fried thing on top is an unfish that Kevin ordered separately. The food here always feels like it’s pretty healthy, if you ignore that fried thing there. It’s always full of flavor without being oily or fatty. Again, don’t look at that fried thing.

Again with the Papa Chorizo Frittata

True, I have blogged about Alicia’s Papa Chorizo Frittata before, but it was 3+ years ago so let’s do it again! There were a few changes this time. It’s now my habit to bump up the nutritional yeast in any eggy recipe. And I also add a bit of black salt. Instead of roasted red peppers, I just used fresh bell pepper fried up with the potatoes and chorizo.

This makes an awesome potluck dish since it is good warm or at room temperature.

I also busted out a quick batch of biscuits to go with it.

And we had a pile of raw kale salad on the side. Kale is a bandwagon I don’t mind hopping on. It’s delicious!

Smoked tofu at Burnt Fork BBQ

Vegans are used to ignoring BBQ restaurants for obvious reasons. But you don’t have to ignore Burnt Fork BBQ. Each part of the menu has clearly marked vegan options. Korean tacos, spring rolls, several side choices and BBQ smoked tofu. The first time we went, they were out of the smoked tofu, so we had the tacos. They were okay, but we kind of love Hankook, Yumbii, Takorea for our Korean taco fix. It took a while but we finally got back there to try the smoked tofu. Here it is in the form of the plate.

Kale and sweet potato chips are the sides. Always get the kale. It’s really good. Kind of sweet. Love the tofu. It can be hard to taste the smokiness under the BBQ sauce, but it’s there. Anyway, it’s always nice to have another omnivore restaurant offer nice vegan options.

Grandma’s Boy brunch potluck

It somehow came out at one gathering or another that I’d never seen Grandma’s Boy. And just like that, a Grandma’s Boy potluck was planned. Brunch and a movie. Okay, it wasn’t the worst thing ever, and I did laugh a few times, but mostly it was underwhelming. But now I’ve seen it and can stop getting harassed about it.

Brunch was awesome though:

Scramble on top of grits, a cheezy biscuit, raw garlicky kale, stuffed crescent rolls and coffee cake.