Veggie Across America

Hello, My Dears...

You may have figured, or not, that we ran into some difficulties with the connection to the internet with the laptop. It was a little disappointing, but we took it in stride and had an adventurous time anyhow!

My Dad is vegan, and I'm vegetarian, so we went to restaurants with a veggie flare across the country. I'm going to give a little review of the ones we went to.

In Flagstaff, Arizona we ate at the New Frontiers Natural Market, at the deli. My Dad loved the Cashew-Tomatoe soup. I enjoyed the tofu patty. They had a good variety of prepared salads and eating outside was nice since there were some clouds, and it wasn't too hot.

We ate at an Indian restaurant called Gopuram, in Oklahoma City. Indian food is always so full of exotic flavor, and this restaurant had lots of vegetarian dishes, and the service was excellent. They gave us special treatment, and we had an interesting conversation.

My favorite place that we ate had to be Rosetta's Kitchen in Asheville, North Carolina. We had some awesome vegan nachos, and I had wonderful veggie burger. Not the average frozen patty sort of burger. I loved the atmosphere of this place the best of all the places we ate. It's very old-school hippie. Not your new-age, clean-and-simple-lines, type of place. More artsy, funky, colorful and kick-back style. I really like the colorful murals in the balcony eating area. Asheville is just the best town!!

This is a pix of the ultra cool "balcony" area...



Our stop in Memphis, Tennessess was a little different. It ended up being a bar called RP Tracks that must just try to have a little bit of everything for every type of person. They did have vegan nachos, but it was pretty much just some BBQ-Sauce-Tofu with chips. My veggie burger was run-of-the-mill. The waitress was ultra-sweet and helpful though.

In Fayetteville, Arkansas we ate at the fairly new Greenhouse Grill. This place had terrific service from a friendly guy (maybe the owner/manager?) The Greenhouse Grill was very clean, and the food was excellent, and had a bit of gourmet quality. Wesley said that it was the best food that he had on the trip. Wow, that's saying a lot!!

Another cool experience was in Dallas at the Cosmic Cafe. This place was decorated so great. Lots of influences from India, with colorful murals, and interesting items. Bursting with energy, and color and the waitresses were very nice. My only complaint about this place is I think they need a little bit of kid food. Pretty exotic, and kind of spicy stuff. Although Wesley did love the samosas appetizer that we had.

Even the parking area is groovy...



We didn't eat in Austin this year, but I know I love to eat at Mother's Cafe. I'm sure there are other great places to eat in that town.

Our last restaurant that we ate at was in Tucson called Lovin Spoonfuls. Cute name! This place is all vegan. We ate lunch there, and I'm wondering if they have an entirely different menu for dinner. We had sandwiches, and some kind of yummy fake-chicken nuggets. I loved the carrot salad that was an option for your side order with the sandwich. Another spot with excellent service. And it must be pretty popular in the desert town, it was packed!

Of course while traveling you can usually find a Whole Foods, Wild Oats. or Greenlife in a major city. It's nice to get a break from your usual roadside, Interstate-Gas-Station food and eat some quality food, and truly experience the veggie side of America!!

Check out Happycow.net for some other restaurants that serve vegetarian/vegan food. It can be an adventure.

You can expect to see me updating my blog more regularly, well, at least for a couple of weeks until my next trip!!