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Vegan Vienna Adventures

January 18, 2010 in Meet-Ups, Restaurants, Travel | 12 comments

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, especially since I visited Vienna back in mid-October.

I had a blast, and ate tons of amazing food. When Bazu and I arrived, we were famished, so after dropping off our bags at our friend Carmen’s, we headed over to Formosa Vegetarian to meet up with Melanie and Rachel.

I decided to try out a Bionade drink, which was really light, bubbly, refreshing, with just a hint of sweetness.

Then I had Cordon Bleu with a potato dumpling. Luckily, Melanie was there to translate for me since I really wanted that dumpling instead of potato salad. The Cordon Bleu was frighteningly realistic, and stuffed with perfectly smokey ham and creamy cheeze. I don’t need to say it was vegan ham, right? I also got soup. I don’t know what was in it, but it was savory and good.

I topped off the meal with some of the most perfectly creamy, delicious vegan ice cream I’ve had. I couldn’t decide, so I chose a scoop of both raspberry and blueberry vanilla swirl.

Later that night, we went to Landia, the first of two trips. I opted for the goulash with more dumplings. I can still taste it. It was perfectly salty and fatty, with tons of sweet paprika and onions. We went there for a huge PPK meet-up a few days later, and I just couldn’t resist ordering the same thing. The owner/head chef and staff were incredibly nice. He actually planned a menu with tons of great Austrian food for our huge group, and there was also a cute little dog behind the bar helping to keep the customers in line.

The first big meet-up took place at Rupps,  a vegetarian restaurant and whiskey bar. I had some really authentic tasting bratwurst and the most amazing grilled cheese sandwich with chopped vegetables.

We also had some amazing meals in Bratislava and Budapest. Stay tuned! I do plan on posting more this year, even if I’m the only one reading this!

V-Spot Brooklyn, NY

November 11, 2009 in Meet-Ups, People, Restaurants, Travel | 4 comments

Well, my goal for MoFo this year was to post more than usual, and definitely more than last year, which I accomplished. I also hoped it would be a nice jump start to get me blogging more regularly. I may not post every week, at least until we move, but I will try to post a couple of times of month. There are a lot of blogs out there, I’m happy if one or two people come across mine now and then and find something they like.

Anyway, on to the food! Before Bazu and I left on our trip to Central Europe, we met up with our friend Michelle, who was kind enough to pick me up in the middle of Manhattan, and drive us to JFK. We had plenty of time to grab food, so we decided on V-Spot, in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. I’d never been, and it’s always nice when I can order anything on the menu without modification!

I had a chicken burger with cheese and tempeh bacon, and a nice little salad on the side. The sandwich was nice and crispy without being greasy, but it was still nice to have a little salad on the side to cleanse my palate and make me feel somewhat virtuous. If I’m remembering correctly, we also shared a side of sweet potato fries, which, in my opinion, you can never go wrong with ordering!
V Spot October 3, 2009

Bazu had plantain chips with guacamole which she really enjoyed,
V Spot October 3, 2009

and Michelle had a pepperoni pizza made with Daiya cheese…delicious!
V Spot October 3, 2009

I really enjoyed eating at V-Spot, and I’d like to try out other things on the menu the next time I’m in Brooklyn. Check it out if you’re nearby!

Vegan MoFo: Hit By a Sturm!

October 21, 2009 in Meet-Ups, Travel, Uncategorized, VeganMoFo 2009 | 7 comments

Vienna was an amazing city, and I didn’t even touch the surface of all there is to see, do, and eat. On our last day, bazu, her friend Lucy, and I decided to try and do a little last minute site-seeing, and ended up in front of the Rathaus, drawn in by the carnival and food booths in front of it.

We decided to order a round of Sturm, a fermented grape juice, only available in the fall during grape harvest season.  It was so refreshing and sweet that we didn’t realize how much alcohol we were actually drinking, until we tried to find our way back to our friends’ apartment to pack up our stuff and head to the airport (the adventure included ending up in a train yard) . We did make it to the airport somehow, and early. I think if I hadn’t also stopped to have some potatoes, and luckily stopped at 2 1/2 mugs, I would have been in real trouble.

Sturm

Kartoffelpuffer

Stay tuned for more food and adventures from Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest!

DC PPK Meet-up: Vegan MoFo Edition

October 5, 2008 in Meet-Ups, People, Restaurants | 6 comments

PPK Meetup Soul Veg

PPK Meetup Soul Veg

PPK Meetup Soul Veg

The good thing about committing to a month of writing (even though I missed a couple of days, there) is that I force myself to post pictures and write about things that usually get neglected. I tend to take pictures at parties and restaurant meetings and plan to post them or share them, I really do. Then, a week or two goes by, and it just becomes embarrassing at that point to bother. So they go into my permanent collection, never to be seen by anyone except for me.

I’m hoping that starting this food blog will encourage me to post those photos more often. Even though I love to cook, the DC area is full of vegan and vegan-friendly restaurants. Vegetate has amazing sliders and Happy Hour specials, Great Sage has a wonderful brunch and delicious desserts, and there are a number of other restaurants where it is easy for a vegan to find a great meal.

Last night, I went to Soul Vegetarian Cafe with friends Meghan, Karyn, Carolyn, and Laura. With the exception of honey in some of the desserts, the cafe is all vegan. Food is mostly served up cafeteria style, with several entrèes, carbs, and vegetables. They are famous for their mac and cheeze, though. Until last night, it had been several years since I’d been to Soul Veg, but I still remembered their creamy, tasty macaroni casserole.

After Soul Veg, we enjoyed Sticky Fingers for dessert. I was able to pick some goodies up earlier on my way to our meet-up. I may also have accidentally consumed a large quantity of homemade candy corn that Meghan and Carolyn made. Oops. No wonder I wasn’t hungry for most of today.