Eating & Drinking
NOTE: Most entries were posted in the good old pre--pandemic days. Be sure to call before you go just to make sure they're open and what kind of service they are able to do for you these days (whenever these days may be). Bon appétit!
Hell hath no fury like a meat eater lied to? That seems to be the news Alexandra Deabler of Fox News reports from New Zealand. The Hell Pizza chain offered special hamburger pizza that was topped by very plant-based Beyond burger. The chain did not reveal this switcheroo until 3000 of them were sold. Actual customers, when told of the “trick” played on them tended to not mind, and (according to the report) responded favorably to the idea of having another such hamburger pizza at some time in the future. The most backlash came not from dupees but from people who heard about it and were properly offended. For more, click here.
Taco Bell has been investigating the plant-based meat route (as in Impossible or Beyond) and has issued a corporate nope, according to an Amelia Lucas CNBC article. This is not a rebuff to vegetarians. The company would rather “focus on growing awareness for its own vegetarian options.” For more information, click here
Matthew Kenney, leading the way in plant-based fine dining, declared that “plant-based food will be present everywhere within the near future.” This, according to a one Green article buy Kate Good. She adds, “By everywhere, he means airports, highway rest stops, and all the other places that it has been traditionally extremely hard to find any vegan options.” For more information, click here.
Why do mega international corporations sometimes have cutesy names? That’s actually a side issue. We don’t have to ponder it in this particular incarnation. But we did get to wonder about it for a moment when we receive this piece of news about KFC, a division of Yum Brands Corporation. (Yum also is parent company of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.) It seems they are investigating the addition of vegan items to their menu both abroad and in the US. That’s the word on the street. Really! It was reported by Tony Owusu in thestreet.com. Here is the link.
Tyson Foods is investing in vegan burgers that bleed., according to Rich McCormick of The Verge. It's not certain as to whether Tyson is making this move because it believes in the future of the vegan market, it wants to gain PR benefits,or it just likes things that bleed. In any event it is buying 5% stake in Beyond Burgers. Learn more.
Jenna Blumenfeld of Delicious Living strikes a blow for freedom with her article about artisanal vegan cheeses. Tautology or oxymoron? You be the judge by clicking here.
Veggie Burger on a Pedestal
The first sensation the Houston’s/Hillstone veggie burger triggers is panic. Why does it glisten? Are those red splotches blood? The burger looks so carnal.
“Please take this back,” you’ll tell the server. "We ordered a veggie burger.”
There, there now. No cows died in the making of this delicacy.[more]
ARIZONA
Phoenix
Arizona Chef Jason Wyrick is opening the state's first fine dining vegan restaurant, according to Anna Starostinetskaya of Veg News. The new venue, Casa Terra, is slated for a January 2019 opening in Glendale (about 9 miles away from downtown Phoenix). Learn more here.
California
Los Angeles
Meanwhile, in her coverage Los Angeles’s “Happy Hour Week,” Jenn Harris of the LA Times tells readers “Where to get the best bang for your buck.” One of the spots is vegan Mexican restaurant Gracias Madre. Click here.
San Francisco
In December, 2014 SF Gate’s Paolo Lucchesi reported on Seed + Salt, a then new vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco’s Marina District. One menu highlight Lucchesi notes is “a rather delicious and genius eggplant bacon, which isn’t as eye-rolling as it sounds.” [Read more]
Santa Monica
Crystal Koser of Los Angeles Eater reports that casual, healthy franchise chain Bowl Of Heaven has a new outlet in Santa Monica. The five-year-old company specializes in açai bowls, smoothies amd juices rich in frutis and vegetables. Click here
Colorado
Denver
WaterCourse Foods is an all-vegan restaurant. (It opened in 1998 as an all-vegetarian restaurant.) Click here.
District of Columbia
The Equinox Restaurant—located
in Washington, D.C. —is not exclusively vegetarian but The Washington
Post’s Tom Sietsema called the restaurant’s vegan tasting menu
“beautiful and bountiful.” Equinox also has a vegan brunch and a vegan
smackdown. Click
here.
Florida
Miami
The Federal restaurant on Miami’s Biscayne Boulevard, is launching a vegan and vegetarian menu for three months. Miami New Times reporter Hannah Sentenac spoke with Federal chef Cesar Zapata about this move. Click here.
Orlando
Where can you get vegan food in Central Florida? Adrienne Cutway of ClickOrlando.com has a pretty good list --even a source for vegan Cubano sandwiches (on Wednesday). Click here
Maryland
Baltimore
WJZ (the CBS-TV Baltimore outlet), using data provided by Hoodline.com declared the city’s three best restaurants for “cheap vegetarian eats.” They are Soup’ s On, Red Emma’s, and Brown Rice. For details, click here
New Mexico
Albuquerque
Karen Peterson of the Albuquerque Journal tells us that Santa Fe's Plants of the Southwest is a plants nursery. And at midday (say 11:30 to 1:30-ish "until the food runs out") it's a restaurant. The food is fresh, creative, local — and it does run out. Reservations are recommended. Learn more, click here.
Nevada
Las Vegas
What are the odds of an all vegan restaurant coming to the Las Vegas strip? What with the similarity of names and everything, shouldn’t they be high? Apparently not! But, good news. A makeover of the Venetian Resort's Truth & Tonic (already wellness prone) will bring the first all vegan menu to the Strip sometime in January. This is reported to us by Diane Edelman of vegansbaby.com, which makes “being vegan in Las Vegas and beyond easier.” To learn more, click here
New York
New York
Speaking of New York, Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld of the magazine’s “Grub Street” have compiled a list of “The Absolute Best Places to Eat Vegan in New York.” And there just happens to be 10 of them. This is very important because one doesn’t want to be caught dead in a place that isn’t the best. Moreover, New York City being the cosmopolitan mecca that it is, just heightens the pressure. See for yourself here.
Celebrated chefs are exploring the culinary possibilities of the once lowly veggieburger, reports NY Times writer Erik Piepenburg. He mentions Impossible and Salvation Burgers, among others. But where's the fantastic Hillstone classic? For more.
New York magazine's food coverage skews toward the carnivores amongst us. So it's a jolt of joy to see Hannah Goldfield's roundup of New York City's best vegetarian sandwiches. Click here.
Richard Sandoval's Zengo New York has a summer 2016 menu that features several enticing vegetarian offerings. Click here.
Huffington Post’s veggiebuzz.com reports on vegetarian tasting menus at seven posh New York City restaurants. They include Per Se and Eleven Madison Park. (Actually one eatery is in Westchester.) Click here.
Ohio
Cleveland
Hungry in Cleveland? Not to worry. John Petkovic of the Plain Dealer has assembled a list of the 30 best Cleveland vegetarian and vegan friendly restaurants. For example there’s Rood Food & Pie which just serve sliders and pies. The veg sliders include sloppy tofu, charred brussels sprouts, and barbecue grilled jackfruit. For Petkovic’s Roundup, click here.
Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Debbi Snook tells readers about five vegetarian-friendly, vegan-friendly area restaurants. One even offers chicken-fried cauliflower. Click here.
Oregon
Beaverton
La Vida Veggie in Beaverton (OR) serves Mexican cuisine, reports Wendy Owen of The Oregonian/OregonLive. For example, there’s the walnut meat taco. It’s enhanced with citrus-accented cashew cream, pickled cabbage, pico de gallo and guacamole. For more information, click here.
Portland
Vegetarian Havens by Bruce Miller
Blossoming Lotus has great raw food. To quote its menu the restaurant serves “world vegan fusion cuisine with . . . cooked and live food options."
When I'm in Portland and I'm headed for Blossoming Lotus for lunch, I make sure I get there early, because the lunch crowd fills up the place. Read more
Pennsylvania
Philadelophia
Philly.com food writer Michael Klein spotlights the reopening of the Triangle Tavern. A familiar Philadelphia haunt after prohibition died. It essentially shuttered its doors in 2008. We’re talking about it because the renewed Triangle’s menu includes several vegan choices including vegan “roast beef.” Click here.
Texas
Houston
Houston Community Newspapers reports that Texas chain Freebird World Burritos now offers a vegan option -- the Tempeh Calabacita. Read all about it here.
Germany
Berlin
Berlin is quite the "vegan haven," says Yammick Pasquet, in an Agence France Presse story, distributed by Yahoo. Berlin is home to 10% of Germany's vegans and 60 vegan restaurants (there are 24 in Paris and 40 in London)— and it's cool. Read more.
Hong Kong
Tracey Furniss of Good Eating magazine reports that Hong Kong is seeing a new wave of healthy vegan and vegetarian restaurants. Click here.
Ireland
Winter was approaching. Fiona O’Connell (columnist for the Irish Independent) was looking for some comfort food. A vegetarian, she hoped for something other than pasta with tomato sauce or the perfunctory “vegetarian option.” And then she came across Chef Helen Costelloe and the Watergarden Café in Thomastown, County Kilkenny. [Read here]
Switzerland
Annika and Elo, Luxembourgers (Luxembourgites?), are vegans who are "eating their way around the world." They report their findings in their blog the-food-doc.com. In this episode, they find vegan restaurants in Bern Switzerland. Click here.
UK
Veg friendly, doner friendly London is getting its first all-vegan kebab house --What The Pitta. Born from a pop-up, the shop opens in February. Metro London's Ellen Scott tells us about it here.
Lydia Manch of the Londonist says there are so many opportunities for good vegan food in London that she had to compile a separate list devoted just to street food. So if you want to discover cardamom hummus, BBQ jackfruit or blueberry and lavender gateaux among other items, check this list out here.
The Guardian presents reader voted awards for best this and that restaurant. One. category-- bless the paper's heart-- is best ethical restaurant. And the winner is Silo. Killian Fox explains why. Click here.
All Over
What are America’s best vegan restaurants? Get ready to chow down. The Daily Meal has compiled a list. And, yes, we’ll find LA, New York and Philly locations. But also Ashville (NC) and Branford (CT). Read on.
Liz Connor tells Evening Standard readers and you about 18 of the best vegan restaurants in the world. There’s even one in Paris. Take the tour.