ROAD TRIP: Waiting for Vegan Food in Chandler, AZ

Posted by socalvegangal in Arizona, Veg Restaurant June 13, 2012

Thank you all for reading about my vegan adventures on my road trip to Oklahoma City. Today’s post is the last post of this journey. For our last meal, my mom and I stopped at 24 Carrots. This all vegetarian cafe is located outside Phoenix in Chandler. Not being from Arizona, I had no idea how out of the way this place was. When we finally got there, we were greeted with a nice, fresh atmosphere. We had about two people in front of us ordering, but it went quickly. 24 Carrots has a lot of juices and smoothies with a large selection of vegetarian food options (most can be made vegan). Their brunch menu looked amazing and (luckily) they serve it all day.

However, this is where the post gets bad. I mentioned before that two customers were in front of us at the ordering counter (not bad) and there were only a handful of other customers already there. One wouldn’t think it would take long to get our food (especially at a place where you have to order at the counter). It took 50 minutes to get our food! They said it was because we ordered brunch and they have one grill, so when someone orders a lunch menu item, they have to clean the grill before working on a brunch menu item. This is bullshit for two reasons. First, if this is the protocol for brunch menu items, then they should just stop serving it at a certain time – eliminate the waiting time so they can clean their grill! Second, EVERYONE was waiting for their food. One person just told them to cancel her food order, because her friends had already gotten theirs and left and now she had to leave. Plus, those 2 people that ordered before us only got their lunch menu order about 5 minutes before us. Really? I don’t think we would have driven completely out of the way to come here had we known we were going to have to wait that long.

Anyway, when we did get our food, we first tried the Arizona Bowl ($10.95): apple soyrizo hash, spinach, garden tofu scramble, cheese, avocado, jalapeno cilantro pesto, and aioli. My mom loves soyrizo, so we decided to try this. Sadly, there wasn’t much soyrizo in this – just tiny bits. In fact, most of this dish was potatoes (something not even listed in the menu description). It had an ok flavor, but I wouldn’t order this again.

Arizona Bowl

They managed to redeem themselves a bit with the Fried Egg Sandwich ($11.95): fried “egg,” house bacon, cheese, tomato, house ketchup, garlic aioli, seasonal fruit. This sandwich was very tasty, although a bit expensive when you look at what you are getting. Would I wait 50 minutes for this? No. If I lived in the area and called my order in ahead of time, I would definitely get this again, though.

Fried Egg Sandwich

And last, we got the Carrot Cake Pancakes ($7.95), which I don’t see on their online menu anymore. Maybe they are trying to change the quickness of their brunch items? Or maybe people didn’t like them, because we thought they were a disappointment. They tasted more like a cinnamon pancake – we didn’t really taste any carrot.

Carrot Cake Pancakes

If you have loads of time to kill and are in the Chandler area, check them out. I wouldn’t say their food is terrible, but they definitely need to get their act together (they’ve been open for 4 years?!).

24 Carrots
6140 W Chandler Blvd Ste 2
Chandler, AZ – 85226
(480) 753-4411 <—- (use this to call in your order!!)

Sunday – Tuesday – 8am to 2pm
Wednesday – Saturday – 8am to 8pm

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WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED SO CAL PROGRAM. (thanks again for reading!)

ROAD TRIP: Eating Vegan in Flagstaff, AZ

Posted by socalvegangal in Arizona, Omnivorous Restaurant June 12, 2012

Flagstaff is a wonderful mountainy community with a pretty awesome downtown. Walking around makes you feel like you’re in the Route 66 past. And the higher altitudes mean that Flagstaff has cooler weather than the rest of the state. There is a large university located close to downtown, so the whole area has a young feel to it. Young students also means that there will be places that cater to vegans.

One such place is Pita Jungle. This Mediterranean eatery has a whole bunch of vegan options. Their website even lists out all the vegan offerings. The first thing we got was the Carmelized Cauliflower with Tahini ($3.99). My mom loved this dish – like really loved this dish. I am not a huge cauliflower fan, but thought it was good. I would have been on my mom’s level of enjoyment had it been broccoli.

Caramelized Cauliflower

The one dish I really loved was the Hummus ($4.99 small/$6.29 large). It was so creamy! In my opinion, it is hard to find this creamy style of hummus. Most places serve what I call “rustic” or “hippie” hummus – kind of gloppy versions of the Middle Eastern delight. This came with warmed pita and was devoured in minutes.

Hummus

We might have thought we were lacking on our greens, so we got the Spinach Pasta Salad ($9.29). This salad is huge! We ended up taking most of this home, because we could barely eat it. It was full of flavor — and spinach! It could be served as a nice, refreshing meal on its own.

Spinach Pasta Salad

We also split a Falafel Wrap ($5.99): crispy croquettes of chickpeas in a regular pita with cilantro and spices, mixed greens, tomatoes, onions, pickles and tahini. I put on a little bit of the hummus for added amazingness. This wrap was delicious. The falafel was perfectly crispy.

Falafel Wrap

BONUS: For all the Vegan So Cal Gals and Guys there is a Pita Jungle out here! They have one in Newport Beach, Pasadena, and San Diego! Go now!

The next morning, before we made the long trek back to Southern California, we stopped for breakfast. Macy’s European Coffeehouse is the epitome of eclectic coffeehouse. It has that cozy yet chaotic atmosphere. We were a little confused as to where to order, but you can do this in the back of the coffeehouse next to the bakery display case. Order your drinks, foods, and baked goods here. They will bring the food out to you. Since we were still kind of full from the previous night’s feast at Pita Jungle, we were set on just splitting a waffle. But then I saw this Pecan Sticky Bun ($3.50) labeled as vegan. I had to get it! It was moist, sticky, and not overly sweet. Love on a plate.

Pecan Sticky Bun

And we got what we came for: the Vegan Waffle with Fruit ($5.95). These were perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Dare I say that these might have been the best vegan waffles I’ve ever had?! Well, I just did.

Waffle with Fruit

Oh, and FYI – you do bus your own table at Macy’s – another thing my mom and I had a hard time figuring out (the bussing station was hidden).

Pita Jungle
320 S. Regent St
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
928-774-0086

10:30am – 10pm daily

Macy’s European Coffeehouse
14 S. Beaver St
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
928-774-2243

6am – 8pm daily

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COME BACK TOMORROW FOR THE FINAL POST ABOUT THIS ROAD TRIP.

ROAD TRIP: Vegan Comfort Food in Albuquerque

Posted by socalvegangal in New Mexico, Veg Restaurant June 11, 2012

Albuquerque is a surprisingly huge city in the middle of New Mexico. It is home to a large university, so I would imagine that some of those students are vegan. Therefore, it would make sense that across the street from the University of New Mexico is Mint Tulip – and all vegan cafe with a focus on diner-type food. I was seriously in love with their decor. I think I might paint a room in my future house this minty color.

Mint Tulip

The minty color also inspired me to order a Mint Cookie Shake ($4). My mom went with the humble Chocolate Shake ($4). They make their shakes with their vanilla soft serve and are insanely good! They had many more flavor combinations that I wished I had room in my belly to try.

Mint Cookie and Chocolate Shakes

The food at Mint Tulip focuses on sandwiches/wraps and salads. They also come with a side that you get to choose from a whole list of options. Our first food item was a Buffalo Ranch Wrap with a Pasta Salad side ($9). I took one bite of the wrap and immediately went into panic mode. It was so spicy that I couldn’t even eat the rest of it. If you can handle the heat, go for this item – apparently it is one of the more popular dishes. The pasta salad I could handle. It was so light and refreshing. I could eat a whole plate of this as a nice dinner.

Buffalo Ranch Wrap

The Grilled Cheese with a side of Fruit ($6) was the star of the entrees. This tasted like childhood. The bread was so crispy and the cheese was so melty (wouldn’t have guessed it was Tofutti American slices). A shake and a grilled cheese is a winning combination in my book.

Grilled Cheese

The Reuben with a side of Slaw ($9) was the second favorite. Made with the perfect proportions of Tofurky slices, sauerkraut, and thousand island dressing. They certainly know how to grill a sandwich at Mint Tulip.

Rueben

They also make a Burger ($9) with housemade patty, tomato, onion, pickle, spinach, and Vegenaise. We ordered this with a side of Potato Salad. I liked this burger well enough, but if I had to get one thing here, it would be the grilled cheese.

Veggie Burger

And we couldn’t leave without trying their unadulterated Soft Serve. My mom and I both agreed that we liked it better in a shake. On its own, it kind of had a gummy texture to it – something we couldn’t detect blended up.

Soft Serve

You can see their full menu here. This place might have been the favorite meal of the trip and would almost be worth living in Albuquerque… almost.

Mint Tulip
2110 Central Ave SE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
505-242-1320

Monday – Thursday, Saturday 10am – 4pm
Friday 10am – 9pm

ROAD TRIP: LA Vegan Thai-style Eatery comes to Albuquerque

Posted by socalvegangal in New Mexico, Veg Restaurant June 10, 2012

Los Angeles is home to a number of vegan Thai places that have the same crazy menu of thai food and burgers/wraps. I guess the owner of Thai Vegan in Albuquerque (a native of Thailand) came to the desert via the City of Angels, because the menu here has that same crazy menu. There are a few items I haven’t seen in LA, but, in general, it’s the same thing. I love vegan thai food and I might have even thought that Thai Vegan in Albuquerque was slightly better than some of the places in LA.

My mom got the Miso Soup ($2.95). What can I say? – it was miso soup and very tasty.

Miso Soup

We also got an appetizer of the Chicken Satay ($6.95): charbroiled marinated soy chicken on skewers, served with peanut sauce and fresh cucumber salad. Peanut sauce is one of my favorite sauces. This whole plate was delicious!

Chicken Satay

One dish I’m not so sure if I’ve seen very often was the Chu Chee ($9.95): soy shrimp sauteed in our chef’s special coconut puree, topped with daffir lime leaves and bell pepper. This had quite a few bell peppers and onions, which I didn’t eat, so I mainly got a lot of soy shrimp. I really loved the sauce it was in. It tasted like a coconut curry

Chu Chee

Because we love that peanut sauce so much, we got the Praram’s Plate ($9.95): marinated soy chicken pan-fried with peanut sauce on a bed of steamed spinach. Peanut sauce and spinach?! I think this was the favorite item of the evening. It was so flavorful – and we got your greens, too!

Praram’s Plate

In addition to peanut sauce, I love glass noodles. Something about that tiny noodles just tastes so good! This dish isn’t on their online menu, but is on the paper one in the restaurant. I forget what this is called, but is the only glass noodle dish at the place. It was packed with flavor. We didn’t eat all of this dish, so I took it with me to eat for breakfast the next day. Who knew glass noodles could be so good for breakfast?

Glass Noodles

They also have a few dessert items. We each decided to wash everything down with some ice cream. My mom got the Coconut and I got the Green Tea Ice Cream ($3.25 each). Both were tasty, but the texture was a bit off. It was kind of grainy – not too appetizing for an ice cream.

Coconut and Green Tea Ice Creams

I know we have a ton of these type places in LA, but if you happen to be passing through Albuquerque, Thai Vegan is worth the stop.

5505 Osuna RD NE
Albuquerque, NM 87109
(505) 884-4610

Monday – Saturday 11am – 9pm
Sunday 5pm – 9pm

ROAD TRIP: Raw Vegan in Oklahoma City

Posted by socalvegangal in Oklahoma, Raw, Veg Restaurant June 9, 2012

In my last post, I talked about some vegan eats in Oklahoma City. It surprises me that one would be able to even find vegan food in a state like Oklahoma. I guess that’s a testament to how the vegan movement is spreading. And to find a complete raw restaurant? RAW?! – vegan food that’s not even cooked!? Whaa? Oklahoma City? To be honest, my mom and I aren’t to enthused about raw food, so we were ok with missing this restaurant. However, when my very meat-eating cousin said how good Matthew Kenney was, we re-thought about going there. I mean, if he liked it, it must be good!

We made it a family outing and took my Californian aunt and uncle (their first time at a raw restaurant). They liked it, too! We ended up sharing a bunch of dishes. First up, the Cheese Plate ($12): House Aged Tree Nut Cheeses and Condiments: Smoked Cumin Seed, Truffle Macadamia, Mild Cheddar, Wildflower Honey, Rye Bread, Pickled Fruit. Of course the honey is technically not vegan, but my mom, aunt, and uncle ate it. I love raw cheese and this was some of the best raw cheeses I’ve had! Split between four people, I only got a tiny bit of the cheese, but I could have eaten five plates of this (sans honey, of course).

Cheese Plate

The Lasagna was next ($13): Heirloom Tomato Lasagna, Pistachio Pesto, Red Pepper Marinara, Pine Nut Ricotta. I am not a huge fan of zucchini, but the final verdict at the table was that this dish was delicious!

Lasagna

I then got my little bite of the Ravioli ($12): Sweet Corn Ravioli, Corn Mint Pesto, Tomato Paper, Herb Oil. This dish was wonderful and full of their amazing raw nut cheese.

Ravioli

Our last entree was the Crusted Portobello ($13): Warm Herb Crusted Portobello, Fresh Corn Polenta, Cherry Tomato Salad. The table agreed that we all liked this dish, as well. I was more of a fan of the crusted portobello and less of the polenta. Something about raw, whole corn kernels sits funny in my belly.

Crusted Portobello

Since we really weren’t going to be in Oklahoma City again to eat here, we decided to try a couple of desserts. The Tiramisu with Cappuccino Ice Cream ($11) was really amazing. Just look at the presentation! How could you not love it?

Tiramisu

Next was the White Chocolate Cheesecake with Candied Ginger Crumble and Grapefruit Marmalade ($11). Another amazing dish! I wanted more.

White Chocolate Cheesecake

I wish we had this place in LA. True, the prices are large and the portions are small, but the taste was amazing! This is the best raw restaurant I’ve ever been to. I probably wouldn’t eat here a lot (because it’s so expensive), but would suggest it for special occasions. I’m so glad we came – and to think I almost missed out on this beautiful, delicious food!

Matthew Kenney
5820 North Classen Boulevard, Suite 1
Oklahoma City, OK 73118
405-842-1050

Sunday and Monday 11 am to 9 pm
Tuesday – Thursday 11 am to 10 pm
Friday and Saturday 11 am to 11 pm

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