Our third day in the place we are supposed to be living.   The public transportation system in Denver is great, hybrid buses, cable cars and bike lanes on nearly every major road.  Traffic during the morning and afternoon rush isn’t very bad and I am sure it is because of that transportation system.   This day, after spending the first part of the day an event that energized and motivated me in ways I never thought possible, we went back to Watercourse Foods.   After that delicious goods we had the day before it was an easy pick.   This time I opted for the Reuben with sweet potato homefries and onion rings, Elizabeth had the Eggplant Parmesan mashed potatoes and onion rings and our daughter had the Vegan Buckwheat Pancake (she loves breakfast foods).   The Reuben was prepared with chopped portobello mushrooms, red cabbage slaw and vegan Russian dressing.  Being a connoisseur of Reubens, this one was excellent and the portobello is a very good alternative to the many Reubens I have had made with tofu.  Elizabeth didn’t like her Eggplant Parmesan as much as The  Grinder which she had the day before, she said the breading was not crisp enough.   The huge buckwheat pancake our daughter had didn’t last long, nor did the berries and banana it was served with.   Watercourse Foods is the best vegan restaurant we have visited to this point.

 Vegan Reuben

Following munchies we drove  to Colorado Springs and walked around Garden Of The Gods, a place we go to every time we visit the area.  Our daughter loved climbing on the rocks and it is a very nice quiet place to walk.   After we made a stop at Pikes Perk coffee.  The coffee beans they use have always been the best I have ever had.   It’s has been about 6 months since I have had any substantial caffeine so I had a decaf double mocha.  Before leaving I picked up a bag of the espresso roast, I will probably get back on the coffee binge as the cooler weather starts and I might as well start back with the best I can find.

Oh, I guess you want to to know what that big event was earlier in the day.

For those of you willing to go to Opry Mills or if you already frequent that area Johnny Rockets will be offering free veggie burgers (with the purchase of another sandwich, starter (fries?) and drink) for World Vegetarian Week, which is May 19 -25.  The coupon is above as well as here.   The menu says it is a “100% Soy Patty so I guess it is the Boca Vegan Burger, Boca not being one of my favorites but still, free is good.

For those who are regulars to Baja Burrito or Blue Coast Burrito you may have noticed some changes lately.  Baja Burrito has been sold back to its original owners, Troy and Jeanie Smith, from David Osborne who purchased the franchise a couple years back.   You will notice that Baja Burrito will no longer be open on Sundays.   As far as menu changes I have noticed nothing more than price differences between the two.

Since I know David reads this site occasionally, I have a question.  Why the change to styrofoam cups at Blue Coast?  With the strives you make environmentally and health-wise in other areas shouldn’t this be a no-brainer?  Still love the place but I was just curious.

Coming back from our vacation in St. Augustine we stayed the weekend in Atlanta.  Atlanta is a semi-regular trip for us as my mother-in-law and brother-in-law live there  so we know the places to eat well.   Saturday we had lunch at Veggieland, a small restaurant in Buckhead that has quite an extensive menu.  I usually get a sandwich but decided to get a salad of some type since when I am usually there some at a nearby table orders one and I tell myself to get a salad next time.    I got Jennifer’s Salad (some salads are named after customers who have created and ordered them regularly), a mix of spinach, brown rice, steamed broccoli, steamed sweet potatoes, tofu, tempeh bacon, tomoatoes and cucumbers with a vegan ranch dressing.  My wife had the Tostada Salad, I am not sure what all was on it but it was tasty as I swipped a bite.  My brother-in-law had a pasta dish with steamed vegetable which smelled great and my mother-in-law, who never branches out in her vegan eating when she eats with us, got her usual veggie burger which was served with sweet potato fries.   Veggieland also serves a few vegan cakes and we had a slice of a peanut butter-chocolate cake and a strawberry cake.  I am never impressed by their cakes, they are good but noting compared to what my wife can whip up.   They are served directly from being refrigerated and are far too moist, their cake supplier has a few things to learn in the art of vegan baking.

Salad From Veggieland

Saturday night my wife and I had planned a dinner out and we considered Cafe Sunflower, of which I am not the biggest fan (see pretty food rant).  After looking at the menu we quickly decided against it as their prices have increased considerably over the already overpriced amounts.   We called to check on the hours of Soul Vegetarian, a restaurant operated by African Hebrews,  but were told they would be closing early for Passover.  They informed us they would be open the next moring for brunch, not a big deal to me but my mother-in-law has some kind of infatuation with it so she said we should go then.  After thinking and not finding anything that we really wanted to bother driving to and burning expensive gas for we decided to go to a nearby Mexican restaurant where they prepare guacamole at tableside.  After a bowl of guacamole and a margarita we called it a night.

Sunday morning started with Soul Vegetarian.  After looking at their menu I found there was too much to choose from to waste time on a brunch selection.  I ordered a plate of collard greens (one of my favorites) and barbecued kalebone, described as made in house using soy protein and wheat gluten.  It is seitan with some spices added but is quite good.  I was served two large pieces and my collards and was quite happy.  My wife had a battered-fried “steak” and macaroni-and-cheese made form raw cashews.  The steak was also seitan but not flavored the same as what I had and covered in gravy, also quite good.  My mother-in-law went out on a wild tangent and ordered…no wait, she had a veggie burger.  I had a bite of the patty and it was different than any other veggie burger I have had but since I didn’t eat the entire thing I am not sure what tey used to make it.  My daughter had two huge pancakes from the brunch menu, she is a pancake lover.  They were very moist and again, huge.  I almost forgot, onion rings!  We had onion rings for an appetizer, battered, fried, crispy and delicious.

The night before whicle searching for a dinner place we found Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe’s website and noticed the address was near Soul Vegetarian so decided a stop there should be next.  It is in a small storefront and they have a good selection of vegan items usually only found online.   Asmall corner near the front of the store has clothing items including vegan shoes and belts.  There are two aisles of vegan foods and a cooler with vegan cheeses and other items, including my wifes much sought after vegan marshmallows.  There was only one package left and we would have bought more if they had them.  I also got a container of vegan rice marshmallow cremewich I have been craving on a saltine.  Both are great, there a re a few marshmallows left as we have been rationing them to ourselves.  My wife also found an apron which is perfect for her that she got which says “Vegan Master Baker”.

Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe

Next would be a trip to Ikea that I have been looking forward to.  I have been needing a new stand for my 60″ Sony television and the only reasonably priced stand I could find that was long enough was at Ikea.   Once I saw the stand in person I noticed the shelves for components looked a bit small on width.   Not wanting to buy the stand I really wanted only to get it home and find nothing I had would fit I decided to make some calls for measurement of components.  Sure enough, the width was 1/2″ shorter than the standard 17″ component size.  Why make something a standard component won’t fit in?  After being a a little disgruntled I found another stand that looked like what I needed which had the shelving and length required.   We also picked up some lighting to replace various ceiling fans in the game room on living room at a much better price than can be found at Home Depot or even the Ikea website.

After loading two oversized boxes into a small car as well as bags from Ikea we headed to Trader Joe’s to stock up.  As the Nashville store is not scheduled to open for a few months trips to Atlanta will include Trader Joe’s for the time.

Next stop, Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market.  This is a stop where we typically fill the car with produce as the prices are hard to beat as well is the selection.  With not much room to spare in the car we cut it short and opted for some basics as well as replinishing our spices with their large bulk selection.

Our last restaurant stop would be Sweet Tomatoes.  This is one place we always look forward to and would really like to see one open in the Nashville area, Coolsprings would be a great location.

Afterward we packed up for the trip back home.   As Atlanta is a regular trip for us  we will probably be going back soon and I will try more at Soul Vegetarian,  get back to Eat’s which we didn’t include this time and maybe Harmony Chinese.

Back from vacation, unpacking and trying to get back into the groove of things at home.   Our vacation was very much needed and relaxing and an opportunity for me to go without any sort of attachment to a computer.   I took no laptop with me, used no public access and stayed Internet-free for a week, quite the accomplishment.  Most of the veggie blogs, or food blogs, post pictures of their eats along the way.  I am not a big food photographer while sitting in a restaurant.   I did manage one picture while in Atlanta, but I will get to that later.

We started our vacation in St. Augustine, Florida.  My wife went to college there and I/we have visited countless times.  There was one vegetarian restaurant in town that we knew of, Manatee Cafe, but we found another while driving around.  The Present Moment Cafe is a raw food restaurant with a small deli located next door.  We visited the deli and looked at the menu of the restaurant but decided to pass.  Prices seemed a little high and it was “pretty food”.   Not to take anything away from The Present Moment Cafe or anyone who enjoys eating artsy food, but I am not into trying to figure out why a chef used this color or that texture to accent my collard greens.   Make the food tasty, put it on a plate and make it enough so that I leave your restaurant full.   Putting a sliver of whatever on a plate, dancing some dribbley sauce around it and sprinkling some fluff about does not dinner make.

Our first eating out was The Manatee Cafe.  This is a basic vegetarian restaurant with a menu of sandwiches, wraps and salads.  They have a great tofu reuben which I have had previously but this morning I wasn’t extremely hungry and went very basic with hash browns and grits.   The hash browns here are actually very chunky-cut potatoes fried crispy with Spike seasoning, nothing special but very tasty.  My wife had the veggie wrap (Tofutti, hummus, carrots, sprouts, mushrooms, sweet potatoes and avocados) with hash browns.   Everything was great and as expected.   No pictures,  it is the “Hey, I like to take a picture of my food so I can remember what I ate.” thing that I can’t get to.

If you ever visit St. Augustine you will go to St. George Street.  With it being the oldest permanently settled city in the US there are many old houses and buildings to be seen and many are along St. George Street, though they have been transformed into modern gift shops and trinket stores.  The oldest school house is on St. George Street but more importantly so is The Spanish Bakery.  No where else can you get some of the best soup a big loaf of fresh baked bread and three VEGAN lemon, cinnamon or almond cookies for $5.   The bakery is a small hut with just enough room for a row of cookies on display and three pots of soup.  Table are outside under large shade trees which are handy on hot, sunny days.  In the summer they have a very good gazpacho, however, they only had a vegetable soup on our visit which was still excellent.

View sitting outside of The Spanish Bakery on St. George Street.

Our fix for sweet stuff was found at Rita’s, an Italian Ice place on St. Augustine Beach.  Rita’s is a chain located mostly on the east coast but this is the only one we have ever visited, and we do each time we go to St. Augustine.  The have Gelati and custard ice but we always get the vegan Italian Ice option.  Flavors range from tropical punch, black cherry, vanilla, chocolate, pina colada, lemonade and mango.   I think of the three times we went there I had six or seven large ices, I lost count, but the best was the mango.   Cold, sweet and with little bits of mango.  I just looked at their website and noticed locations are coming to Hermitage and Mt. Juliet.

Most of our time in St. Augustine was planned to be spent on the beach and it was.  Six hours in one day allowed for plenty of digging in the sand and burning of our skin.  While walking around in a few places the smell of shrimp boil hit me.  Not the smell of the shrimp but the combination of spices used to boil the shrimp.   I love the smell and it instantly made me want to boil something in those spices to munch on.  Since getting back I have gotten together all of those spices along with some corn and potatoes that will be boiled and enjoyed on the patio one evening, a post about that will come later.

 Mean people not allowed on St. George Street

Each trip to St. Augustine also gets us to go to a local nursery to pick out some plants that are a bit uncommon here.   I am a bit of a tropical plant enthusiast so you shouldn’t be surprised to see my fruit-bearing orange trees and palms.   I managed to find a Green Saw Palmetto and a Washingtonian Palm that were small enough to fit in the car for the ride back.  We also found a Madagascar Palm and a Longleaf Pine, both which are less uncommon here, for the ride back to be added to our plant family.

Washingtonian Palm and Green Saw Palmetto

So, to summarize, St. Augustine, good.  Pretty food, bad.  The Manatee Cafe, good.  The Spanish Bakery, good.  Beach, GOOD.

The Veggie Cafe has finally opened in East Nashville.   We made our first visit on Saturday night and had a great dinner.    It is located at the corner of Porter Avenue and Riverside Drive at 1601 Riverside.   Plenty of parking and not an overly small place.

I am sure there were some people who walked in and waited to be seated, not the case.  Go to the front counter and order then find yourself a table.  There’s even a comfy couch and chairs to relax in.

We both had the vegan meatloaf with green beans and turnip greens and my daughter had a bagel with roasted red pepper hummus.   Vegan mashed potatoes were available earlier in the day and there was macaroni and cheese as a side choice, but it is not vegan.  All menu items are marked V and GF for Vegan and Gluten Free making choices easy.  The extremely happy and attentive staff is ready for any questions you have about the menu.

The meatloaf was not what I expected, a good mix of grains with a tomato topping that didn’t overpower and the vegetable sides were very fresh, excellent. The hummus was very good as well and topped with sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and sprouts with sliced apples and strawberries on the side.   We wanted to try the dessert.  Cookies,  apple crunch and muffins were on the menu, all vegan, but there were none available.   I did not carry a camera in, so no food pictures.   I’ll remedy that next visit.   Overall, a great dinner for $20.

From what I understand menu items will vary so I am eager to return to see what else joins the meatloaf, tofu reuben, sandwiches and wraps.   Dawn, the owner, told me plans were to soon open for brunch on the first Sunday of each month and starting in April to open for breakfast.  I am not sure how often I would be able to make it for breakfast but I would love to see how they create a tofu scramble.

The only full-time vegetarian and vegan restaurant should be around for a long time.  I am already wanting to try it again.

If you have followed the news of The Veggie Cafe since their announcement of opening in East Nashville from being in a mobile unit a year ago you will know opening dates have come and gone.  All of this because of inspection issues, I can assume it can be hard getting started in the restaurant business.   Today was the certain announced date of their Grand Opening, so, when I called this morning find their hours for over the weekend to plan my visit I have to say I was surprised to  hear the the opening had to be postponed once again.  I spoke with Dawn and she told me she hoped to be open tomorrow (Saturday, March 15th) but was uncertain and would call me to let me know for sure.

So, if you planned on a trip to East Nashville today or this weekend to get a vegetarian or vegan lunch you’ll be waiting a bit longer.    No Veggie Cafe today…

The Veggie Cafe
1601 Riverside Drive
Nashville, TN 37216
(615) 495-8888

UPDATE:  Just had a call, Grand Opening is on for tomorrow (Saturday).

I have received news that The Veggie Cafe will be opening this Friday (March 14th)  from 11am - 7pm.    On Saturday there will be a Veggie Kids Workshop at 3pm and an Eggless Hunt on the following Saturday (March 22nd).

I have just received a letter from Pei-Wei management at the Brentwood restaurant. There was a handwritten (not typed!) apology as well as a $20 certificate. The manager stated that their staff was never instructed to operate in that manner and they have been re-trained. I was, of course, invited back to have lunch/dinner on them. I am sure I will visit again, I am all about second chances.

I guess the post got someone’s attention! Read it here.

I just came from Pei Wei at Brentwood (101 Creekside Crossing) where I had the usual, a teriyaki bowl. That’s not why I am writing this post. When I ordered and sat down there was a woman and four kids sitting directly across from me. As I was sitting down initially they got their food. They ate rather quickly, and when I got my food they were getting up to leave. As they did a boy with them, about 14 years old, took one last bite of something from his plate. He immediately picked up a napkin and spit it out. He then placed the half-eaten food filled napkin face up and open onto a pile of plates that you will find on the table for sharing. The group then left and not long after a woman came to clean the table.

I pay attention to little things when I eat alone.

The woman makes her way cleaning the table, picking up the dirty plates, used silverware, glasses and gathers everything up including the half-eaten food filled napkin from atop the plate stack. She makes her way back to the backroom with her load of dishes LEAVING THE STACK OF PLATES! Not long after she came and finished cleaning the table readying it for the next customer and STILL LEFT THE STACK OF PLATES placing napkins on top of them as usual!

I like Pei Wei, occasionally look forward to a teriyaki bowl but this makes me think twice about ever returning.

Maybe corporate would take interest. You think? I have nothing to gain but I think someone should make some changes.

I just received a call from Dawn who owns The Veggie Cafe.  She told me that plans are to open in the next few weeks.  She didn’t want to give a specific date since she has been doing so since October and there’s no restaurant open yet.   I was told I would be the second to know of the opening date, I’ll post that here when I get it.

Bethel Ethiopian has opened at 1909 Division Street. It is owed by the former manager and cook of Horn of Africa. I have not visited yet but I have been to Horn of Africa once and was mildly impressed, probably because I had never been to an Ethiopian restaurant and usually don’t get to eat with my hands when eating out.

Not many veggie choices, three or four from the looks of the menu. From what I rercall it is about the same menu as Horn of Africa.

http://www.bethelrestaurant.com/

If you haven’t tried the veggie burger at J. Alexander’s you should. It is made in-house, not a frozen shipped-in patty and is completely vegan AND prepared on a separate grill from the meat items. How do I know this? My wife spoke with the chef who prepares the burgers when he visited the store where she works. So far, this is the best veggie burger I have had in a restaurant. I visited the Coolsprings location but I did call the West End restaurant and asked about their veggie burger and they told me that it contained no eggs or dairy.

We love to travel and we love finding new places to eat, so eating out while traveling fits right in.   Our regular trips to Atlanta are scheduled around visits to Veggieland, Harmony Chinese, Sweet Tomatoes, Cafe Sunflower and Eats (mmm…collard greens).    We were told about a place we had never tried while on this trip and decided to see how it was.   My mother called and said she read on Citysearch about a restaurant called The Power Plant that had an entirely vegan menu.   At the same time my mother-in-law was researching the same place.  They both said it had great reviews for the food, but the service had horrible reviews.  I thought I could deal with having to get up to get someone to refill my drink a couple times in trade for an entirely vegan menu so we decided to give it a try.   My mother-in-law and my 2-year old daughter arrived ahead of us and got a table and waited as we found the place.  Once we arrived I saw “The Best Vegan Restaurant In the World” on the window and a huge banner hanging on the outside of the building advertising a $10 All-You-Can-Eat Vegan Brunch at which point I begin to loosen my belt and ready myself for the feedbag.  A brunch isn’t really something I strive to have every Sunday, and as far as I understand it’s for those people who want to sip a mimosa and eat croissants , not descriptive of me, but hey…this is FOOD!  When we entered and sat down in a small uncomfortable booth near the back of what is a very small dining  room I noticed that no one had any food on their table and I sturggled to keep my balance in a chair that seemed to want to sway to one side.   A smoothie was ordered for my daughter about 20 minutes prior to our walking in and at that point still nothing had been brought for her.   The menu was a copied paper which listed many great sounding items, all of which were faux-meat, BBQ ribs, “Shicken”, the obligatory veggie burgers, Philly Cheese Steak and many others I can remember now all for about $10 - $14 each  The brunch menu had “Shicken and Waffles”, French Toast, Sausage and Gravy and still other items not recalled.  Everything sounded good and I was debating between the BBQ and the brunch, if only someone would take our order.  I only saw two people working the floor while there and finally one lady came over.  She told us the had just become extremely busy (the restaurant was full, all 8 tables) and she promised excellent service if we were patient.  OK, I can wait a bit.  At one point a lady dropped a bottle of water off at our table, I don’t know why, but didn’t stop to ask if we were ready to order.  Still, no smoothie and at this point it has been about 15 minutes since we arrived and nearly and hour since my mother-in-law arrived.   This first plate of food I saw come out of the kitchen did so at this point, a “Sesame Shicken” plate for the table next to us.  It looked tasty with asparagus and a nice pile of “Shicken” (?) but the lady bringing it still did not stop to ask us about ordering.  When she left the person at the table next to us who had just received their sesame shicken tried to get her attention but to no avail.   A couple walked in and waited to be seated and we considered leaving at this point, something that always embarrasses me, I don’t know why.   When we left no one said anything to us, but then the two people who would were nowhere to be seen.  When we drove back by the restaurant after walking to our car about 15 minutes later I noticed to people who had just walked in were still waiting.

I have checked the reviews on Citysearch and found that, of course, we are not the only ones to get the same “service”.   Happy Cow reports the same.   I find it hard to believe this place has been open for more than a year!  I would try again but I just don’t think it is worth it.

I’ll agree, it is really good stuff! Do I know the recipe? I’ll never tell.

If you haven’t tried Which Wich it may be worth it to you, if you are vegetarian.  You will find a menu (actually a little brown bag menu) with VEGETARIAN written at the top and choices of hummus and bell peppers, avocado and tomato, a creation called an “Elvis-Wich” consisting of peanut butter, banana and honey as well as a choice for a black bean patty sandwich.  The black bean patty is where the confusion starts.  I asked the franchisees when they opened if the black bean patty was vegan, if it contained any egg or dairy and was assured it did not contain any.   I emailed corporate for choices suitable for a vegan from their menu and the black bena patty was mentioned to be completely vegan.  After a couple months I find discussion leading to the contrary so I check again with Which-Wich corporate and get two replies, one saying the balck bean patty is vegan and one saying it is not.  So, I am confused and have decided, of course, to avoid the patty altogether.  Also, the whole wheat bread does contain honey.

On a more positive note, the hummus and bell pepper sandwich is great with added avocado and sauerkraut!

Has anyone made a visit to The Veggie Cafe? I am eager to try it but with moving and unpacking…and fixing…and unpacking…i haven’t been able to get there yet. I received an email from the owners with updates to the hours and posted those on the main page of Nashveggie.com, they are open on Saturday now!

It has been a month nearly since I have been able to get a chance to write here. I have moved (I never realized how much stuff you can accumulate in 6 years!) and working on the new place keeps me busy. I am sure I have missed a few things in that month as far as news regarding the veggie community, so if needed, bring me up-to-date. I did mention The Veggie Cafe which operates in East Nashville last month and I have not been able to try it yet. If anyone has been there let me know how it is. I know they have a limited menu at the moment which will change once they get a permanent location but any place with veggie offerings in this area is more than welcome.

I’ll try to keep up from now on…

The Nashville City Paper reports today that PETA, in a effort to curb the use of chicken suppliers who use inhumane slaughter techniques, has purchased 160 shares of the Nashville-based restaurant. I don’t call myself a stock market guru, but 160 shares doesn’t seem large enough a portion to have much control, perhaps they plan on buying more later. PETA also owns shares of YUM! brand, which owns Kentucky Fried Chicken, and a target of a widely-publicized campaign to stop the cruel techniques used by their suppliers. Already comments have been made that PETA is trying to make O’Charley’s a vegan restaurant, not the case. Of course, anytime PETA is involved you will find a few insecure meat-eaters.

We found ourselves without child this weekend and wanting to go out to eat somewhere that we don’t usually bring the morsel along.   We decided quickly on The Cheesecake Factory since the usual smog deters us from shaving years of the life of our child and visits are few and far between, unless we eat there in Atlanta.  When asking for a table we usually give the line “The table furthest away from the smoking section, please.” only this time to be told the entire restaurant is non-smoking!  It is nice to know I can enjoy my food now without someone’s lung-gunked cancer dust settling on my fries.  I have noticed many resaturants going this route lately.  Ted’s Montana Grill is completely non-smoking, even the patio, since their opening.  Buca Di Beppo went non-smoking last year.  We have found ourselves not considering restaurants with smoking sections when we do eat out.

Another evening at Blue Coast Burrito in Coolsprings. We spend alot of time there and it is probably our first choice when eating out. One thing is for certain, you will get plenty to fill you up. I had an R&B Salad with lots of fresh guacamole to top it off, of course it isn’t complete without the pineapple salsa.

Next time…Guacamole Tacos!

If you are a vegetarian or vegan in Nashville then you know exactly what I am talking about. IT never ceases to amaze me how new restaurateurs or franchisees can decide that this area is lacking in choices for a plate of roasted pig. I read this past week that two more barbecue joints will be opening in the south Nashville area. Enough! Even omnivores must get tired of this! I have been waiting for a Sweet Tomatoes to setup shop in the Coolsprings area but now that we have yet another cookie-cutter steakhouse festering on the south side it’s not looking very good. I’m not asking for a vegan-only restaurant but something different that can also give me another choice when we’re too lazy to cook at home would be a welcome addition.