ROAD TRIP: Surprise, surprise! Vegan Food in Oklahoma City

Posted by socalvegangal in Dessert, Oklahoma, Omnivorous Restaurant June 8, 2012

After a long journey, my mom and I finally made it to Oklahoma City for a wedding in the family. We were both quite worried that we wouldn’t be able to find vegan eats in the city. There might have been only a few options, but we managed.

One place with a great selection was Picasso on Paseo. We even wanted to go back to try some more of their selections, but didn’t have enough time. The first dish we did try was the Quinoa Tacos ($7): three tacos with lettuce, tomato, and avocado puree. These were so fresh tasting. We loved the innovation of using quinoa as the taco “meat.” I need to try and make something like this at home.

Quinoa Tacos

The second dish we tried was the Chicken Fried Portobello ($11): with vegan soy gravy and potatoes. We ordered it with a side of tabouli. Just like what we had in Amarillo, this tabouli was less parsley based and more grain based. It was too lemony for me – I didn’t like it – but the portobello was amazing! The seasoning on the breading was fabulous! And the gravy was perfect. I wish we could have gone back to try their vegan pizza and frito chili pie!

Chicken Fried Portobello

Unfortunately, they didn’t have any vegan desserts, so we travelled up the road to a Whole Foods for some cake. The selection of vegan cake was great! I know it’s Whole Foods, but it’s still in Oklahoma. I wasn’t expecting such a wide variety of choices. We got Apple Spice, Carrot, and Chocolate Raspberry Cake. They were all really good and moist. If you happen to be in OKC and need some vegan cake – you know where to find it.

Cakes from Whole Foods

Even though we really wanted to go back to Picasso, we wanted to try something new. Even our waitress at Picasso was raving about our next stop: The Red Cup. Sadly, their menu doesn’t label what is vegan and upon asking, not much was actually vegan. Their noodles have egg and their veggie burger contains egg, as well. Bummer. What we could get was their Frito Pie ($7.50): Fritos, veggie chili, tomatoes, black olives, scallions, and salsa (no cheese or sour cream – add guacamole). Another dish my mom enjoyed more than I. It was tasty, but nothing to come back for. I love Fritos (GMO corn and all!), but they did get soggy sitting under the chili.

Frito Pie

And they did have one vegan dessert! Yay! Carrot cake was our option and it was good. It might be lacking on frosting for some, but was full of spices. We even met the super nice girl that made it. Thanks, girl at Red Cup, whomever you may be!

Carrot Cake

The Red Cup
3122 N. Classen Blvd
Oklahoma City, OK. 73118
405-525-3430

Monday – Wednesday: 7 am-5 pm
Thursday – Friday: 6 am-8 pm
Saturday: 9 am-8 pm
Sunday: 9 am-5 pm

Picasso on Paseo
3009 Paseo
Oklahoma City, OK 73103
405-602-2002

Monday – Wednesday 11 am – 10 pm
Thursday – Saturday 11 am – 2 am
Sunday 11 am – 9 pm

Whole Foods Market
6001 N. Western Ave.,
Oklahoma City, OK 73118
405-879-3500

Daily 8am – 10pm

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TOMORROW: RAW VEGAN IN OKLAHOMA CITY??

ROAD TRIP: Quick Vegan Bite in Amarillo, TX

Posted by socalvegangal in Texas, Veg Restaurant June 7, 2012

In my search for vegan food in Amarillo, TX, I found almost nothing. Maybe the locals know better – in which case, I urge them to post reviews online or to add these places to Happy Cow! One place that did come up in my search was a coffee house with some vegan options. The 806 has only a few food items, but after long hours in the car, I found this place to be very delightful. My mom thought of the atmosphere as a throwback to the 60s. Hippie scene or not – I was just happy for some vegan food.

My favorite of the three was the Hummus ($4.15): vegan-friendly and made from scratch; traditional or today’s feature, lightly chilled and served with toasted pita. The pita they use is so good! And the hummus wasn’t bad either. Not authentic tasting hummus, but a decent attempt at it.

Hummus

The Taboule ($4.65) [awesomely-vegan mediterranean wheat salad with fresh spinach, red onion, cucumber, tomato, and baked tofu. served w/ toasted pita] was tasty, although I was expecting the tabouli that emphasizes parsley. A nice healthy snack.

Taboule

My least favorite was the Chili ($4.35): veggie-burger crumbles, roasted veggies, and spices – served with organic blue corn chips. I thought it was too burger crumble heavy. It had a nice a flavor, though.

Chili

So, if you are passing through Amarillo on that long dessert drive across country, stop in at The 806 for some vegan grub.

2812 SW 6th Ave
Amarillo, TX 79106

ROAD TRIP: Mu Du Noodles in Santa Fe

Posted by socalvegangal in New Mexico, Omnivorous Restaurant June 6, 2012

Our last meal in Santa Fe before my mom and I continued on our journey to Oklahoma City was at Mu Du Noodles. This was the best meal in Santa Fe. The staff was super nice here – even giving us free food! And the food was delicious!

We ordered the Spring Rolls [four pieces of fresh and uncooked rolls served with nuoc cham and peanut-hoisin sauce] for an appetizer. The roll was your standard spring roll with a yummy peanut sauce. It was nice that they had the hot sauce on the side so the customer can choose their own level of spiciness.

Spring Rolls

We didn’t order the Green Beans, but out waiter said it was one of his favorites and brought it out to us. How nice!! And I’m glad he did. This isn’t on the menu and I forget what was on it, but they were very flavorful.

Green Beans

The items on the menu are marked if they can be prepared vegan. There were a few dishes we wanted to try, but settled on the Emerald Sautee [pan seared tofu sautéed in garlic oil with Green Tea noodles, fresh spinach, shiitake mushrooms local and seasonal vegetables, garnished with crispy shallots] and a Pesto Noodle dish. This was so good! It wasn’t your typical Asian style noodle dish, but so much more. The garlic made it taste sort of Italian and the green tea noodles and shiitake mushrooms brought out the Asian flare.

Emerald Sautee

Our second choice of entree was a Pesto Noodle dish that isn’t on their online menu, so I can’t tell you exactly what was in it. I just remember it had pesto, lemon, sesame seeds, vegetables, and tofu. I don’t know which noodle dish I liked better – they were both so good. This one also had that Italian/Asian vibe going on. I would certainly recommend this.

Pesto Noodles

Our waiter asked if we wanted dessert and said the only vegan option was a coconut sorbet. We were full and I wasn’t really feeling sorbet, so we declined. But that didn’t stop our waiter from bringing out the Coconut Sorbet anyway! This guy knew what was up. I am so glad he brought out another wonderful dish for us. The sorbet was so creamy and fantastic!

Coconut Sorbet

You’ve got to go to Mu Du Noodles if you are ever in Santa Fe.

1494 Cerrillos Road
Santa Fe, New Mexico
505-983-1411

Tuesday – Saturday 5:30pm – 9pm

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TOMORROW, FIND OUT WHAT A VEGAN GAL CAN EAT IN AMARILLO, TX.

ROAD TRIP: Vegan Eats in Santa Fe

Posted by socalvegangal in Dessert Shop, Ice Cream, New Mexico, Omnivorous Restaurant June 5, 2012

Santa Fe, NM is a pretty artsy-fartsy town, so one would think they’d be the open minded kind of people to have some good vegan food. I found a few good spots, but not a whole lot. One of these spots was a small chocolate shop that offers some vegan varieties. Kakawa Chocolate House may not label anything as vegan, but most of the dark chocolate truffles are vegan. We asked the chocolatier and she was very helpful to point out what we should get.

Kakawa Chocolate House

From their selection we got four different vegan chocolates. The Pomegranate Truffle (chocolate, agave, pomegranate, vanilla) was my least favorite – the most bitter. The Rose Truffle (chocolate, agave, rose water) and the Dark Chocolate Truffle (chocolate, agave, oatmilk, mexican vanilla) were both very creamy and less bitter than the pomegranate. My favorite was the Dark Chocolate Pistachio Clusters – the creaminess and saltiness of the nuts cuts the strong bitterness of the chocolate. Each truffle is around $3-3.50 and is worth the stop to this very cute store.

Dark Chocolate Pistachio Cluster, Dark Chocolate Truffle, Rose Truffle, Pomegranate Truffle

Because my mom and I were on a road trip, we didn’t have many meal opportunities to eat in Santa Fe. We wanted to spend dinner at a vegan friendly restaurant (Body Cafe), but got there at 8:28pm. Apparently the kitchen closes at 8:30pm and the whole place closes at 9pm. WTF? We made the deadline and they turned us away. Not cool! So we stopped at a Whole Foods on the way back to the hotel and got a bunch of vegan food.

The Couscous Salad and the Red and Black Quinoa Taboule from the deli case weren’t that great, but the Sonoma Wrap (Gardein chicken salad wrapped with grapes in a tortilla) was delicious! They even had some vegan donuts!

Whole Foods Goodies: Couscous Salad, Red and Black Quinoa Taboule, Vegan Sonoma Wrap, Donuts

The donuts were displayed from MIGHT-O. I thought it must be a typo, but what were Mighty-O donuts doing in Santa Fe? When we got back to the hotel and I tasted them and I knew they were from Mighty-O. I didn’t like them when I had them in Seattle, and I still didn’t like them. They have this sort of chemical leavening flavor. Not my cup of tea, but very exciting that vegan donuts exists in Santa Fe.

Mighty O Donuts

When we finally made it to Body Cafe, my mom and I shared two vegan-friendly dishes. Body Cafe didn’t have a whole lot of vegan dishes to choose from. A few dishes are raw and they have many juices/smoothies. One thing that really irked me (besides being turned away before they closed the night before) was their statement on their menu. Describing vegan, Body Cafe states it “does not contain any animal products including eggs, dairy. We often use honey in our vegan recipes.” So your vegan stuff isn’t actually vegan if it contains honey (yes, I know some vegans eat honey). Knowing I now have to ask if their vegan food is actually vegan, I discovered that the Caesar Salad ($11.95) [romaine hearts, jicama, sunflower croutons, capers, house caesar dressing] is totally vegan. Maybe it was my annoyance at Body Cafe, but I just wasn’t too thrilled with the food. My mom enjoyed it, though.

Caesar Salad

And the Green Chile Burrito ($9.95) [tofu, pine nut cheese, green chile, potato, garlic, tomatoes, cilantro, salsa fresca, onion, spelt tortilla] just wasn’t that good, either.

Green Chile Burrito

Body Cafe
333 Cordova Rd.
Santa Fe, NM 87505
505-986-0362

Monday-Friday 7 am – 9 pm
Saturday 7 am – 9 pm
Sunday 7 am – 9 pm

Kakawa Chocolate House
1050 E Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM
505-982-0388

Monday – Saturday 10-6
Sunday 12-6

ROAD TRIP: Vegan in Sedona

Posted by socalvegangal in Arizona, Omnivorous Restaurant, Raw, Veg Restaurant June 4, 2012

Continuing with posts about my recent road trip, I bring you Sedona, AZ. My mom and I absolutely loved it here. It was so beautiful – red rocks galore! I definitely recommend a trip here, and if you do, take a tour on the Sedona Trolley. It’s a great way to familiarize yourself with the sights.

Because Sedona is more of an artsy community, vegan food is easier to find here. They have a natural foods market to get your vegan groceries and a full vegetarian restaurant. Plus, many of the omnivorous restaurant offer vegan options.

My mom and I got to Sedona in the evening, so we hit up Simon’s Hot Dogs. Sedona has some very strict regulations about signs and lighting, so finding this place was rather difficult. It is inside the Oak Creek Brewing Company on this side street. Once you find the place, you are in for a treat! The head guy (I’m assuming Simon) is super nice and he’ll direct you to what can be made vegan. They have one vegan dog that is substituted for the meat dog (it’s like a Field Roast sausage).

We got the Bratwurst Sauerkraut: vegan dog with spicy mustard and sauerkraut with your choice of chips or a pickle. I love sauerkraut, so I loved this dog. The vegan dog is very flavorful and combined with the mustard and sauerkraut – so good!

Bratwurst Sauerkraut

We also split the Cowboy Dog. This is like a chili cheese dog – only he uses vegan chili with tahini for the cheese. And I thought I loved the sauerkraut dog! This one was even better!! We wanted to come back to this place, but just weren’t in town for long enough.

Cowboy Dog

For lunch the next day, my mom and I went to the vegetarian restaurant ChocolaTree. This is like your typical earthy, yoga-loving cafe. You can eat inside or outside in this cozy courtyard complete with hammocks and gardens. They also have a complete display case full of raw vegan chocolates (some contain honey).

Most of the menu items are vegan (some contain honey) and a lot of them are raw. They also have an extensive beverage menu. My mom felt like she needed a vitamin boost, so she tried the Beyond B ($4): probiotic base B vitamins drink. It was described as having an herbal tea taste, but I thought it tasted more like what it is: vitamins. My mom enjoyed it.

Beyond B

I was very focused on trying the Buckwheat Waffle ($7) with vegan butter and cinnamon agave (beware: the optional add-on of coconut creme contains honey). That cinnamon agave was so thick it barely came out of the dish – but it was delicious. I loved this waffle. It was a bit denser than a typical Belgian waffle, but so yummy!

Waffle

We also tried to get in some greens with the Kale Quinoa ($11): quinoa, kale, and Thai sauce topped with shredded carrots, shredded cabbage, red onion, and red bell pepper. I really need to figure out how to make this on my own. It was so good. The kale was not bitter at all and the Thai sauce was delicious! It’s a healthy salad without tasting healthy.

Kale Quinoa

Then the Almond Butter Sandwich ($6): warm banana bread with stone ground almond butter and honey (obviously I didn’t get the honey). This wasn’t your typical sandwich – you definitely had to eat it with a fork – but the almond butter was the best I’ve ever had. It had the perfect amount of creaminess. Of course the banana bread that it was poured over was also very tasty.

Almond Butter Sandwich

And we couldn’t leave without trying a few of the goodies in their huge selection of raw chocolates. I think my favorite was the White Goji Berry (white raw chocolate with goji berry) – no bitterness at all. My second favorite was a toss up between the White Jungle Peanut (white raw chocolate with jungle peanuts) and the Almond Butter Cup. I just love that almond butter! The Jungle Peanut Butter Cup had a bit too much raw dark chocolate for me and made it way too bitter.

Left to Right: White Goji Berry, Almond Peanut Butter Cup, White Jungle Peanut, Jungle Peanut Butter Cup

ChocolaTree
1595 West Hwy 89A
Sedona, AZ 86336
(928)282-2997

Daily from 9am-9pm
Simon’s Hot Dogs
2050 Yavapai Dr
Sedona, AZ 86336
(928) 496-0266

Mon, Tue & Thurs 4pm to 9pm
Fri & Sat noon to 9pm
Sun 12 noon to 8pm
Closed on Wednesdays

ROAD TRIP: Amazing Desserts at Nami in Phoenix

Posted by socalvegangal in Arizona, Dessert, Dessert Shop, Ice Cream June 3, 2012

Like I said in my last post, if you go to Green, try to hit up the one in Phoenix. Next door is the all vegan Nami – known for their Tsoynamis (a soft serve type treat) and baked goods. This place is so good! My mom and I ended up going here twice on our road trip.

NO’s & Mint Tsoynami

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ROAD TRIP: Green Vegetarian in Phoenix

Posted by socalvegangal in Arizona, Veg Restaurant June 2, 2012

Recently, my sort-of-vegetarian mom and I went on a journey to Oklahoma City for a family wedding. Of course this vegan food obsessed girl had to make a list of all the vegan friendly restaurants to try along the way. Our first lunch stop was in Phoenix.

My mom and I have actually stopped here before about three and a half years ago on another road trip together. We have been talking about the food we got there ever since – so, of course, we had to stop and get it again. Green Vegetarian has two locations: Phoenix and Tempe.

Our first appetizer was their Crab Puffs ($4): mock crabmeat, vegan cream cheese and secret spices. My mom really liked this one. Even though I was the one that really wanted to get this dish, I was less than pleased. I think the crabmeat had a flavor that I just wasn’t a fan of.

Crab Puffs

My mom wanted to order a salad and went with the Balsamic Picnic Salad ($6 small/$9 large): toasted organic pecans, apples, strawberries and figs over fresh greens tossed in a home made balsamic syrup. Again, she liked this dish more than I. I am not a fan of balsamic vinegar and this salad was very strong with it. All the fruits and nuts were very tasty – I only wished we had gotten it with a different dressing.

Balsamic Picnic Salad

The Meatball Po-Boy ($8) was a sandwich my mom and I had gotten on our original visit. We absolutely loved this sandwich! We even tried to come back to get another one that first road trip, but arrived when they were closed. We were so excited to get this dish on this trip, but, unfortunately, it didn’t live up to our expectations. It was tasty – just not as tasty as 3 years ago. Made with mock meatballs cooked in a tomato sauce and topped with melted mock mozzarella. I think our expectations were just too high.

Mum’s Meatball Po-Boy

Our last item was a Greenza Flatbread Pizza ($10): homemade pesto sauce (basil and pine nut) with vegan mozzarella cheese. I thought this one was very simple and delicious. The crust was super thin and crispy, the pesto was very flavorful, and the cheese was not dominating the pizza.

Greenza Flatbread Pizza

If you go to the location in Phoenix, you can go next door to their all vegan bakery (see my next post for these amazing treats!)

2022 N 7th St
Phoenix, AZ 85004
(602) 258-1870

2240 N. Scottsdale Road #8
Tempe, Arizona 85281
(480) 941-9003

Monday – Saturday 11 – 9
Sunday – Closed

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STAY TUNED FOR MORE ROAD TRIP POSTS OVER THE NEXT WEEK!

So Cal Vegan Gal

Category Archives: Out of SoCal