R. Thomas’ Deluxe Grill in ATL – open 24/7

After Danny and I met up with some friends at the Atlanta airport, we headed to R. Thomas’ Deluxe Grill for a late night dinner.

I didn’t think we’d be able to find a decent place to eat around 11:30pm on a Sunday night but Danny found this place on Yelp.  R. Thomas’ is open 24 hours a day and serves various vegan dishes and sides.  Most of the dishes on the menu can be made vegan (but many are vegan as listed).  Homemade vegan burgers, basil tofu lettuce wraps, nori veggie kraut rolls, a Thai express quinoa bowl, and fresh veggie juices and fruit smoothies are a few of the vegan options on the menu.   With 26 veggie sides to choose from, R. Thomas’ has something tasty to satisfy the palates of vegans and non-vegans alike.

R. Thomas’ also serves breakfast all day and only uses organic free-range eggs.  You can substitute scrambled tofu for eggs if you’re hankering for some vegan breakfast

I ordered R.’s house-made veggie burger and the smashed potatoes with shitake mushroom gravy.  Both were vegan and delicious!  This is the best veggie burger I’ve had at a restaurant.  It was about an inch thick and super flavorful.  I’m guessing the burger was a mix of ground beans, rice, other veggies and spices.  It wasn’t spicy though, just seasoned very well.  The burger was served on a sourdough bun spread with a vegan dijonaise sauce.  My only complaint is that the burger didn’t come with tomato slices.  I like tomato, avocado, or cucumbers (something wet or something with crunch) on top of my burgers.  I’ll request them next time!

Sorry about the blurry picture!  The lighting didn’t help my food photography :/

The smashed potatoes were golden too.  I usually don’t like Shitake mushrooms but they added an unexpected depth to the gravy.  I should have gotten some of that gravy on the side and poured it all over my burger patty.  Mmm gravy burger!

R. Thomas’ Deluxe Grill is located just past SCAD Atlanta on Peachtree street:

1812 Peachtree Street, Atlanta GA 30309

I love Daiya vegan cheese and now they have cheese wedges!

Daiya cheese is my preferred vegan cheese for pizza, chili cheese fries, cheeseburgers…ALL the cheesy vegan foods.  Daiya is the best vegan cheese because it tastes and melts like the real thing.

My friend Elizabeth tipped me off about Daiya’s new cheese wedges and I just had to try them.  After finishing up my shift at Earthfare I purchased some gluten-free crackers and a Daiya cheese wedge.  Earthfare has an aisle FULL of crackers (many are vegan, some are gluten-free).  I had no idea Edward & Sons made crackers but since I LOVE their vegan bouillon cubes (especially the ‘chicken’ flavor!) I had to try these crackers.  I wanted a plain cracker since I wanted the cheese to be the main flavor experience.

I chose the jack style wedge because I used to nosh on pepper jack cheese back in my non-vegan days.  I learned that I need to garnish each cracker with a currant, raisin, or a few pieces of roasted red pepper for a finished presentation.   I learned that from watching Queer Eye for the Straight Guy today!  Thanks Ted Allen!  I love that show so much. 

This cheese is sooo good.  It tastes rich and creamy just like real cheese with no strange aftertaste.  I’m totally going to make a vegan and gluten-free grilled cheese with this tomorrow.  CAN’T WAIT.

Daiya wedges are also available in cheddar and jalapeno garlic havarti.  I expect I will be in a cheese coma as soon as I get my hands on the jalapeno garlic cheese. 

 

 

I got breakfast at Big City Bread today and it was glorious

I didn’t have to work at Earthfare until 1pm today so I got breakfast at one of my three favorite restaurants in the breakfast category:  Big City Bread.

I get the vegetable and tofu saute every time I go to Big City Bread with a side of potatoes or fries (depending on the time of day).  The tofu is sauteed with zucchini, eggplant, broccoli, sweet potato, and red bell peppers in a savory nutritional yeast sauce.

I love using the fries to soak up the last bit of sauce.  Mmm.

My other two favorite restaurants for a vegan breakfast are The Grit and Mama’s Boy

Check out Big City Bread’s menu here and be sure to check them out!  They are located behind the Wendy’s near The Grit at 393 North Finley Street  Athens, GA 30601.

V-Spot, Babycakes, Pie by the Pound, ‘sNice, Stogo, Lulu’s sweet apothecary, and Annam Brahma in NY

There are so many vegan options in NYC (and so many 100% vegan restaurants).  I searched for vegan and gluten-free friendly restaurants using HappyCow.net and SuperVegan.com.  SuperVegan is a NYC specific site.

All the food I tried in NYC was delicious and vegan.  I was in a vegan wonderland, seriously!

My favorite restaurant in NYC was V-Spot.  V-Spot is a 100% vegan restaurant with tasty gluten-free options like kale tostadas, quinoa pasta marinara, pad thai, tofu Thai curry, and veggie tacos.  They offer a brunch menu, fresh fruit and veggies juices, and a slew of vegan desserts.

I ordered the Pad Thai–rice noodles with sprouts, broccoli, onion, scallions, tofu and peanuts, served with lime and Thai peanut sauce.  This is the 3rd best pad thai I have had.  Very tasty.  The best pad thai I ever had was from Ruan Thai Cuisine in Savannah GA.  The 2nd best pad thai was from the Bees Knees restaurant in Augusta GA.  Hopefully I can make a trip to Augusta and blog about it in the future.  Sorry about the blurry picture!

V-Spot also sells pre-packaged food items in health food stores in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

V-Spot is located at 156 5th Avenue, Parkslope, Brooklyn NY 11217.

And of course we went to Babycakes Bakery as soon as our bellies had enough room for dessert!  You just cannot go wrong with vegan and gluten-free cupcakes.  I fell in love with Babycakes because of their 1st cookbook, thanks to my friend Aggie!   From their website – Babycakes offers all-natural, organic and delicious alternatives free from the common allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, casein and eggs.

Danny and I each tried a cupcake.  I tried the gluten-free red velvet cupcake (pictured on the left).  I can’t remember which kind Danny tried…but it looks tasty nonetheless!

Babycakes Bakery is located at 248 Broome Street  New York, NY 10002-3855.

Danny searched high and low for a pizza place that offered gluten-free dough and vegan cheese.  He discovered Pie By The Pound, a pizza joint that lets you order pizza by the pound (if you didn’t get that from the name).  Various pizzas are available at the counter and you just order as many slices as you’d like and depending on how many pounds of pizza you want.

Vegan pizzas include the Marinara (capers, garlic, tomato sauce, oregano, basil), the Veggie Marinara (mixed veggies, capers, garlic, tomato sauce, oregano, basil), Olive and Onion (black olives, spanish onion, tomato sauce, oregano, basil), and Mushroom and Eggplant (garlic, portobello mushroom, eggplant, tomato sauce, oregano, arugula).

Unfortuately the gluten-free pizza dough isn’t vegan and they didn’t have any vegan cheese :/ The regular crust is vegan though.

I ordered the Mushroom and Eggplant pizza.  It was good but the dough was very soggy because of all the sauce and veggies.

Pie By The Pound is located at 124 4th Avenue (between 12th and 13th streets) New York, NY 10003-4903.

For our second day in NYC, we got brunch at ‘sNice. I don’t know what the name means or why the capitalization is funny, but the food was great!

‘sNice is an all vegetarian restaurant (with mostly vegan options).  I ordered the curried cauliflower wrap with chickpeas, brown rice, and mango chutney (minus the wrap).

The chickpeas and cauliflower wrap mixture was warm and filling after aimlessly wandering around NYC trying to find a suitable vegan brunch location in the cold.  This kept me full until dinner time, and then we decided we wanted dessert instead of dinner

‘sNice is located at 45 8th Avenue, NYC 10014 and has other locations as well.  Check out their website to find the other locations.

To satisfy our dessert craving, we stopped by Stogo–an organic vegan ice cream shop.  Stogo doesn’t use any refined sugar, preservatives, or artificial flavoring.

There we so many flavors to choose from!  I had to try the vegan and gluten-free chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.  It was so tasty and decadent!  This ice cream is full of flavor and fatty goodness.

After our first round of ice cream, we headed to Lulu’s Sweet Apothecary, another vegan ice cream and dessert shop.  We didn’t know Lulu’s specialized in vegan ice cream until after we arrived.  They also had vegan doughnuts (but no gluten-free ones).  Danny and I both ordered a giant ice cream cone even though it was freezing outside!  I didn’t take any pictures because it was dark outside and my hands were full of ice cream

Stogo and Lulu’s both had delicious vegan ice cream.  And since they are only a short 10 minute walk apart, why not try them both?

Stogo is located at 159 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10003.  Lulu’s Sweet Apothecary is located at 516 East 6th Street, New York, NY 10009.

For dinner we decided to head back to the hotel to spend time with the dogs.  We ordered take-out from Annam Brahma, an Indian restaurant that offers a smorgasbord of vegetarian and vegan options.  Vegan options are labeled with a little V on the menu.

I ordered the masala dosa (a wheat-free rice and lentil crepe filled with savory potatoes) and a side of tofu.  The dosa was just as tasty as the dosa from the Philadelphia Chutney Company in Philly.  Yum.  I don’t have any pictures since the food was squished because we ordered it to-go.

Annam Brahma Restaurant is located at 84-43 164th Street, Jamaica, NY 11432.

Oh and Danny just had to try a slice of traditional NYC pizza.  He went to one of the places recommended by Jon Stewart (when he was ripping on Donald Trump because he eats pizza with a fork).  Doesn’t he look cute?

And here’s a picture of the dogs snoozing in the car.  They were very well behaved considering all the driving and shuffling around we did.  Such good doggies!

Blue Sage Vegetarian Grille, Philadelphia Chutney Company, Govinda’s, and Wild Ginger in PA

Our hotel was located just outside of Philadelphia.  We arrived at the hotel much later than we had planned, so instead of taking the train into the city right away, we decided to search for a vegan-friendly restaurant nearby.

We chose Blue Sage Vegetarian Grille on a whim and arrived just before they ended their lunch service.

I ordered a big ol’ bowl of the soup of the day – a spicy peanut and sweet potato soup consisting of Thai basil, celery, and onion.  The soup was very creamy and 100% vegan.  The sweet potato chunks made the soup very filling.  I almost didn’t have room for my entree.

I ordered the Buddha tacos for my entree.  The white corn taco shells were stuffed with a peanuts, avocados and tomatoes dressed in an asian sauce.  The tacos were served with a citrus-beet arugula salad.

My only complaint about these tacos were that they were served cold.  I’ve never eaten tacos with a cold filling…the temperature turned me off.  Also, the taco filling was very similar in taste to the peanut and sweet potato soup.  I consumed a whole bowl of soup before the tacos were served, so having an entree with a different flavor profile would have been better.  Next time I’ll stick to the soup since it was so tasty (and maybe try a dessert).

Blue Sage Vegetarian Grille is located at 772 Second Street Pike, Southampton PA 18966.

For our first dinner in Philly, we went to the Philadelphia Chutney Company, an American-Indian fusion fast-food restaurant.

We ordered dosas, which are giant Indian-style crepes made with bean and rice flour.  They are stuffed with potatoes and spices and come with a variety of chutneys.  These were the biggest dosas I have ever seen!  But SO GOOD!  We also ordered some deep-fried fritter things.  This was my favorite place to eat in Philly because of the super-sized dosas

Philadelphia Chutney Company is located at 1628 Sansom Street, Philadelphia PA 19103.

If you have a hankering for a vegan Philly cheese steak sandwich, head to Govindas’s Vegetarian Restaurant.

Danny ordered a pepper steak sandwich–soy steak and rainbow peppers grilled in olive oil with Govinda’s special house gravy and soy cheese. YUM.

Since they didn’t have gluten-free bread, I ordered the golden tofu wrap without the wrap–tofu slices soaked in ginger, tamari, and tahini sauce, served on rice with sauteed peppers.  I also ordered a side of the sabji veggies–mixed veggies sauteed in Indian spices.

The veggies and rice were good, but I didn’t like the texture of the tofu.  It was too chewy.

Govinda’s is located at 1408 South Street (the corner of Broad and South street), Philadelphia PA 19146.

For our last dinner in the Philly area, we went to Wild Ginger–a vegetarian and Asian cuisine restaurant.  Wild Ginger isn’t located in the city of Philadelphia but it was close to our hotel.

Wild Ginger’s menu has an entire page devoted to vegan dishes.  They have vegan chicken, ham, duck, fish, meatballs, and seitan.  You can even substitute these vegan meats in other menu items (not located on the vegan page).  Just look for the little green leaf symbol next to a menu item.

I ordered the spicy Hunan style tofu since most mock meats contain wheat.  The tofu was lightly fried and the sauce was not too spicy.  Very tasty.  And it came with a cute little rose made of carrot peels.

Wild Ginger is located in the Justa Farm shopping Center at 1928-30 County Line Road, Huntington Valley PA 19006.

I have a post about NYC and VA coming up.  I swear we did more than just eat on this vacation…but since we are foodies, trying vegan foods at new restaurants was our main objective on this vacation

Roti Mediterranean Grill, Sticky Fingers Bakery, and Dos Gringos Café in Washington D.C.

I decided to clump all the restaurants from each city into one blog post per city.  I think it’s easier this way.  I also have quite a few more recent topics to blog about, so I want to finish the roadtrip blogging soon (although I enjoy looking through all the food pics from the trip and thinking about the tasty food).

We had a hard time finding a place to eat dinner in Washington D.C. even though we had a bunch of vegan-friendly places on our list.  Some of the places on our list were on the opposite side of town, so we didn’t want to go too far out of the way.  Fortunately we found Roti, a Mediterranean version of Chipotle.  Roti even has gluten-free pita bread!

My pita wrap fell apart as I devoured it.  See?

Roti offers vegan cabbage slaw, tomato cucumber salad, hummus, and falafel (not gluten-free).

Roti is located at: 1747 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC.

The next day we went to Sticky Fingers bakery for brunch.  Sticky Fingers bakery is all vegan!  I wanted to check this place out because of the bakery, but I later found out that they serve breakfast and lunch items as well.  I ordered a black bean quesadilla (Daiya cheese with gluten-free tortillas) with a side of potato and corn chowder.  Usually I can never get a gluten-free vegan quesadilla so I was very excited to see it on the menu!

Danny ordered the asian wrap – a soy pepper steak tossed with homemade carrot ginger dressing.

And we got two cupcakes to go – mine is a gluten-free chocolate cupcake with peppermint icing.  Danny got the cookies and cream cupcake.  YUM!

Danny loves vegan cupcakes!

But I think I love them more

Sticky Fingers is located at 1370 Park Rd. NW, Washington DC 20002

We went to Dos Gringos Café for our last dinner in DC.  Dos Gringos offers vegan and vegetarian options, including a hummus, grilled tofu, and spinach sandwich, a black bean and spinach burrito, veggie chili, chickpea salad.  I ordered the chipotle grilled tofu sandwich with comes with sundried tomatoes, capers, jalapenos, and greens.  I ordered it without bread along with a side of plantains.

Here’s my bread-less sandwich.  The tofu was so good!  I didn’t even miss the bread.

Dos Gringos Café is located at 3116 Mount Pleasant Street, Washington DC

Vegan bibimbop at Java Green in Washington D.C.

After spending the night in Richmond, we headed to Washington DC.  We spent two nights in DC exploring the city and touring monuments.

For our first lunch in DC, we went to Java Green.  Java Green is a vegetarian restaurant that serves vegan and gluten-free soups, sandwiches, noodle dishes, salads, other raw dishes, and smoothies.  Everything is explicitly labeled vegan or gluten-free on their main menu behind the register.

From their website:  Java Green is a green business, starting with using organic fruits, organic vegetables, organic breads, organic beans, organic rice, organic noodles, organic soy sauce (wheat free), organic sugar, organic cheese and organic flour. We also only use organic dairy, organic soy milk, and organic fruits in all our drinks, juices, smoothies, coffees and tea.

I have never tried a vegan version of bibimbop so I had to order it.  Bibimbop is a traditional Korean dish which consists of rice, veggies, thinly sliced and fried steak, and a fried egg.  Java Green’s bibimbop substituted marinated tofu for steak and omitted the egg.  The veggies were marinated in a sesame oil sauce and topped with a spicy gluten-free sauce.

Java Green even had vegetarian starter guides on the counter!  Very cool!

Java Green is located at: 1020 19th Street N.W.  Washington, DC 20036.

Fresca on Addison in Richmond, VA

The next couple of blog posts will describe my vegan food adventure from my winter break vacation. I hope you enjoy the pictures!  If you happen to visit Richmond, Philly, D.C., or NYC anytime in the future, I hope you check some of these places out

Danny and I enjoyed a week and a half long roadtrip to NYC a few weeks ago.  Before leaving Athens, we researched vegan and gluten-free friendly restaurants using HappyCow.net and SuperVegan.com (for NYC restaurants only).

We spent one night in Richmond, VA.  We ate dinner at Fresca on Addison, a vegetarian bistro that can make almost anything on their menu vegan.  Check out their website for their menu and specials.

I ordered the curried vegetables with brown rice.  All entrees come with your choice of brown rice, quinoa, or grits.  The curry was rich in coconut and mildly spiced.  The broccoli and cauliflower were the best veggies in this dish.  The rice was cooked perfectly too.  Delicious!  This dish is vegan and gluten-free.  I also got a cute little side salad with it.

Danny ordered the bbq seitan wrap topped with slaw and pineapple along with a side of potato salad.  The sandwich is vegan (but not gluten-free since seitan is made from wheat).

Fresca was a great first stop on our roadtrip!

Fresca is located at: 22 South Addison Street, Richmond, VA 23220.

Just Pho…and more

Danny and I got Vietnamese food for dinner tonight!

We went to Just Pho and more located on Baxter street.  We’ve eaten here a few times before to satisfy our Pho fix, but since I needed to conduct more research for the blog, we headed back.  Tasty, tasty research!

As you can probably guess by the name, Just Pho…and more has more than just pho.  They serve appetizers like egg rolls and spring rolls, traditional Vietnamese sandwiches, veggie and tofu rice platters, and of course, PHO.

According to their website, Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup traditionally cooked with beef broth and rice noodles.  The vegetarian Pho uses veggie broth instead.  It is often served with basil, cilantro, bean sprouts, peppers, and lime on the side, so that you can add as much of these toppings as you desire to your pho.

Just Pho has two vegetarian rice plates on the menu.  Danny ordered #18 option B, which consisted of tofu, carrots, and sweet potatoes in a coconut curry.  In case you are curious, option A consists of Asian white radish, carrot, wheat protein (which I’m guessing is seitan), and tofu.

The curry was nice and rich, but not spicy.  They have hot sauce available on the table though.  The tofu was pretty good too.

That curry was yummy, but I was in the mood for some PHO action.

I ordered the vegetarian pho, #37, size small.  Pho comes in three different sizes.  I always order the small, which still comes in a fairly large bowl.

YUM!!  Vegetable broth, green onions, bean sprouts, lightly fried tofu, Thai basil, cilantro, and a hint of lime.

This is the perfect soup for a rainy day, or if you are feeling under the weather.  Try it!

Just Pho is located at:

1063 Baxter Street

Athens, GA 30606

Cali n Tito’s in Athens, GA

Cali n Tito’s (Cali and Tito’s?  Cali n’ Titos?  you get the idea) is one of my favorite Latin American restaurants in Athens.  Even though the line extends beyond the front door on a Friday night, the food is well worth the wait!

My favorite dish is the veggie saltado.  A saltado is similar to fajitas with its grilled mushrooms, bell peppers, and onions, but what makes this dish irresponsibly delicious are the french fries!

There are lots of other vegetarian and vegan options on the menu (but I never get tired of the veggie saltado, it’s just too good!)

The menu picture isn’t quite clear, but I wanted to give you an idea about what’s available.

Danny ordered some Yucca Fries from the appetizer section:

I’m not sure if these are vegan, so you should ask to make sure.

This place is perfect for a dinner out with lots of friends.  Large picnic tables are available for seating on their patio, and you can even BYOB (bring your own booze) for a small fee.

Cali n Tito’s is conveniently located at:

1427 South Lumpkin Street (near 5 points)
Athens, GA 30605-1343
(706) 227-9979