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Asheville Road Trip

June 28, 2009 in Restaurants, Travel | 4 comments

I’m still here, although I don’t know if anyone is still reading! I’m planning a new strategy to post more often. We’ll see how long it lasts!

In any case, the husband and I rented a house for an extra-long weekend in Asheville at the end of June. We visited the Biltmore Estate, which really has to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. Their servants lived in better conditions than some disadvantaged people in this country. We also hiked, shopped, saw some great live music, and of course, we ate and ate.

Asheville is a small town in southwestern North Carolina, near the borders of Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, and they have a big concentration of vegetarian and vegan food, a vibrant music and arts scene, and the entire community seems to really be focused on sustainable living. There are quite a few all-veg restaurants, and most of the non-veg restaurants have a veg-friendly option or two that isn’t just a bread sandwich or iceberg lettuce salad. Since we were only there for five days and four nights, it wasn’t possible to eat everything, but we tried.

We ate at the Laughing Seed Cafe for several of our meals, but everything there was so tasty we had to stop ourselves from going for every meal. We were also kind of worried that the waitstaff would start to recognize us and think we were strange…not worried enough to stop us from going three times, though.

In addition to the meals pictured below, we also stopped at Rosetta’s Kitchen, the Mellow Mushroom for an amazing pizza with Cheezly, and a picked up a few things to eat at our rental house from the local health food stores. I was excited just to see Earth Balance available for bagels and such, but there was free Earth Balance in one store’s cafe to put on items purchased in the bakery. Whole Foods, take notice!

One day for lunch, Carl had a tempeh sandwich with black bean spread and I had the Mercury Not Rising–a really deliciously seasoned seitan sandwich with dill sauce. We both ordered the fries which came with onions and jalapenos mixed in:

We went for dinner another day, and Carl had a random assortment of fries, salad, and sloppy joe tofu, and I had the pasta of the day – Korean barbecued tempeh and Asian slaw over udon noodles in a garlic scape pesto. It was as good as it sounds.

Then, we went for Sunday brunch and I had the brunch platter which was biscuits and gravy, homemade seitan sausage, homefries, and tofu scramble, and Carl had a lentil flour omelet stuffed with asparagus and almond cheese, in a red pepper sauce.

Horizons in Philadelphia

April 20, 2009 in Restaurants | 2 comments

Well, our oven is broken, I have a nasty cold, and it’s the time of year where I’m tired of winter food, but it isn’t quite time for spring and summer produce yet, so meals have consisted of a lot of packaged food and soup. I have tested a couple of recipes, but I only have a photo for one of them. I know, so many excuses.

My husband, C* and I took a trip up for Philadelphia a few weeks ago to see a Death Cab for Cutie show, and eat at a couple of restaurants. Our first stop, the night of the show was Horizons. I’ve wanted to eat there for a while, since I’ve heard lots of good reviews. It’s nice to be able to order anything off of the menu, and not worry about whether the ingredients are vegan. I suppose I can’t really complain too much because the DC are has a nice (and ever-expanding) variety of vegetarian restaurants, and restaurants that offer vegan options. Horizons is nice, though, because everything on the menu is vegan, and it’s a little more upscale, so it’s a rare treat.

I had a mojito, to start, and yes, it really was that big. While we were waiting for our appetizers, the server brought us some focaccia and herbed olive oil. I had to stop myself from eating too much bread because I wanted to save room for the meal, but it had a wonderful flavor and texture. I didn’t want to lug my DSLR along, and all I have are camera phone photos, so sorry for the lack of quality. I took photos of everything, but some of the photos are just too blurry to share.

Giant Mojito!

Focaccia and Herbed Olive Oil!

We ordered two appetizers, the Jamaican BBQ Seitan, and the Vietnamese Bruschetta. They were both really good, but everything about the seitan was amazing. I don’t know how they create seitan that has the texture of pulled [not-vegan] barbeque, but if I could have taken a bucket of the stuff home with me, I definitely would have. It was cooked perfectly, with little charred bits here and there, and the sauce was incredible. We wished we’d gotten another order to go. I wish I was eating it right now. The seitan didn’t arrive with the big smear of sauce, C* was just a little too excited and grabbed some before I could snap a photo.

Amazing Seitan!

Delicious Bruschetta!

I ordered the Pacific Rim Grilled Tofu, which came with edamame mashed potatoes and trumpet mushrooms in a miso broth, and C* ordered the Pan-Seared Peppercorn Tofu, which came with creamed leeks and mushrooms, and some sort of Israeli couscous pilaf with tiny seared tomatoes. Both of our dishes were just indescribably delicious. Everything tasted very fresh, and was well-prepared, and perfectly cooked. The meal was rich and satisfying without being overly greasy. My tofu tasted like it had been prepared on a charcoal grill, but I didn’t think to ask at the time because I was too busy eating. I usually avoid mushrooms at all costs, but I had some of the creamed mushrooms and leeks from C’s plate, and could have eaten a lot more. We also ordered a side of sauteed spinach with a lemon-garlic aioli, which was also cooked perfectly, and I’m picky about spinach. There is nothing worse than a pile of overcooked, grassy tasting, mushy greens.

We were in a hurry to get to the show, so I ordered the Cherry Pie Cheesecake to go, and didn’t get a photo of it, but it was one of the best vegan cheesecakes I’ve had. The crust was tasty, it was creamy, tangy, just firm enough, and topped with lots of sweet, dark cherries. I can’t wait to go back.

DC PPK Meet-up: Vegan MoFo Edition

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

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.

Restaurants

Asheville Road Trip

One day for lunch, Carl had a tempeh sandwich with black bean spread and I had the Mercury Not Rising–a really deliciously seasoned seitan sandwich with dill sauce. We both ordered the fries which came with onions and jalapenos mixed in:

We went for dinner another day, and Carl had a random assortment of fries, salad, and sloppy joe tofu, and I had the pasta of the day – Korean barbecued tempeh and Asian slaw over udon noodles in a garlic scape pesto. It was as good as it sounds.

Then, we went for Sunday brunch and I had the brunch platter which was biscuits and gravy, homemade seitan sausage, homefries, and tofu scramble, and Carl had a lentil flour omelet stuffed with asparagus and almond cheese, in a red pepper sauce.