The Dog of Nashville November 17, 2009

Custom Dog with Tater Tots

I adore The Dog of Nashville.  They’re (surprisingly) super vegan-friendly and endlessly customizable.  You can dine al fresco and happy hour is every day from 5:00 PM – close.  Order the veggie dog on the sausage roll and top away to your heart’s content.  The dog above is topped with ketchup, spicy brown mustard, raw onions, relish, and sauteed mushrooms.  Now, the mushrooms (and other sauteed veggies) are not usually vegan–they’re prepared with butter.  If you’re there early in the day, around when the place first opens, if you ask nicely they will cook them in oil for you, but this is not always possible as they prep all vegetables in the first few hours the place is open.  I was lucky this time, but I have not managed to get butter-free mushrooms on any other visit.

Custom Dog with Fries

If I can’t get sauteed veggies, I like to get sauerkraut.  It doesn’t make for as nice a photo, since you can’t see anything underneath all that cabbage, but it makes for an excellent hot dog.  You may have noticed my arsenal of condiments at the top of the picture: they have a variety of freshly-made condiments every day.  Be sure to put some Dog Sauce on yours, it’s amazing and available in a pump near the soft drink dispenser.  They also have a beer mustard that they make, but it’s insanely hot and I don’t like it all that much.  Also, on this particular visit, they had a habanero-pineapple mustard.  Talk about amazing!!  I haven’t seen it since, but I’m sure it will be back again sometime.  Their fries are truly excellent, and tie with Beyond the Edge for my favorite fries in town.

I’ve never had a hot dog here I didn’t like.  I didn’t ask what brand they use, but they taste like LightLife Smart Dogs.  They’re pretty small so get a side of fries or tater tots for maximum full-ness.  And get creative with your toppings–in addition to what you see here, they have salsa, guacamole, pickle spears, jalapenos, refried beans (I don’t know their vegan status), diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, sport peppers, and cucumbers.  The Dog is perfect for right before or right after your movie at the Belcourt, or on those days you feel like window shopping in Hillsboro Village.  Also, it’s a perfect place to take your omnivorous friends and relatives who are frightened of vegetables.  Go there–you won’t regret it.

The Dog of Nashville

2127 Belcourt Avenue

Nashville, TN 37212

615.292.2204

Website (it’s kind of hard to navigate)

Khan’s Mongolian BBQ November 10, 2009

Choose your choice!

At Khan’s, you decide EXACTLY what your dish will include.  That makes it paradise for vegans.  Khan’s Mongolian BBQ is on 4th Avenue, right next to the entrance to the Arcade.  When you walk in, it kind of looks like a buffet.  You can a choose a large or small bowl and then fill it up with whatever you want.  They have tofu and TONS of fresh vegetables: sprouts, green peppers, carrots, white and purple cabbage, water chestnuts, snow peas, broccoli, onions, zucchini, mushrooms, scallions, baby corn, and more.  Plus you get $1 off for getting a vegetarian bowl.  You should see the art of architecture that takes place here–people build elaborate towers of food, cramming as much food as possible into the bowls.  I have yet to master the art of making a bowl without anything falling out of it onto the counter or floor, but that’s okay because there’s always someone walking around refreshing the bins and cleaning up the messes made by people like me.

Even more choices!

Towards the end of the line are a wide variety of sauces and seasonings to make your creation complete.  There are recommended recipes taped to the sneeze guard, but I usually just add a little bit of everything.  A little goes a long way with all the sauces–if you add too much, your food will come out too liquid-y.  It has taken me several visits to find the appropriate sauce-to-bowl ratio.  Also, let me tell you, it is awkward to take photos of the food line in Khan’s.  People must have thought I was insane.  Once your bowl is complete, you approach the cash register and hand it over so they can cook it up for you.  You get your choice of rice or noodles, but get the rice because the noodles are made with egg.  The key feature of a Mongolian BBQ restaurant is the large metal cooking area; I read that it’s supposed to be reminiscent of Mongols cooking food on their big metal shields.  If you ask nicely, the proprietors will cook your food in a pan in the back instead of on the big cooking circle thing, to avoid having your food cooked where meat was just prepared mere moments before.  That’s what I always do.

Look, it's all steamy.

You get a little paper number and wait for your food to come out, and when it does, you are in for a serious treat.  Rice, veggies, tofu, sauce, all made exactly to your specifications.  And it doesn’t end there.  Khan’s has an arsenal of delicious condiments you can use to top your dish.  There’s soy sauce, duck sauce, sriracha, tabasco, hot sauce, and something delicious and brown next to the register in little cups.  You can choose chopsticks or traditional utensils.  I have to tell you, I’ve never had anything at Khan’s that wasn’t delicious, but the plate you see here was the best I’ve ever had while eating there.  I think I finally got the sauce-to-bowl ratio right.  Just writing this entry is making my mouth water.

Khan’s is a seriously popular downtown lunch spot.  If you show up just after 12:00, you’ll have to wait a while and there probably won’t be any tables left.  If you can, try to head there a bit before 12:00 or a bit after 12:30.  I’m glad to see that so many people love this place.  I am absolutely certain that I will be back, just as I have been there many times before.  The best thing about Khan’s?  Every meal is different.

Khan’s Mongolian BBQ

237 4th Avenue N.

Nashville, TN 37219

615.726.2340

Khan’s doesn’t have a website, but here is a blurb from the Nashville Scene.

Frist Center Cafe November 5, 2009

Portobello Sandwich

Who doesn’t love the Frist Center?  I certainly love checking out the art, especially when my student ID will get me free admittance (every Thursday and Friday from 5:00 – 9:00 PM).  What I did not know until relatively recently is that the Frist Cafe is a happening lunch spot.  The dining area is really inviting–loving the fresh flowers on the tables–and there’s a great patio if you’re in the mood for al fresco.  Also, their menu, while not a smorgasboard of vegan delights, is surprisingly veg-friendly.

The Portobello Mushroom Sandwich is supposed to be served with basil pesto and fontina cheese.  Omit these two ingredients and you have yourself a vegan sandwich, consisting of a portobello mushroom cap, sliced tomato, and red onion, served on focaccia.  I specifically had the cashier check on the vegan status of the bread and the mushroom cap.  I asked for balsamic vinaigrette on the side so the sandwich wouldn’t be too dry, and was kind of disappointed when it came in a pouch, but at least I could read the ingredients list for myself.  I really loved this sandwich, even though putting salad dressing on it made a huge mess everywhere.  The mushroom cap was really tasty and filling.  If I was having it again, I would probably add some lettuce.

I had a fruit cup as my side, and it really hit the spot.  It complemented the sandwich quite nicely.  One of my dining companions had the potato chips, for which the Frist is apparently famous, which are made fresh on-site.  I had a couple and they were quite delicious, but I’m still glad I got the fruit.

I liked the Frist Cafe.  I’ll probably be back.  They have some salads that could probably be veganized and they occasionally have vegan soups.  Plus, I love the Frist.

Frist Center Cafe

919 Broadway

Nashville, TN 37203

615.244.3340

Website

Bound’ry November 3, 2009

I love Bound’ry, even though this was only my second-ever full meal there.  I hang out at the bar every now and then, and they can always scrounge up some kind of vegan appetizer for me.  Plus, the bar has this awesome chilled section that you can set your drink on so it will never get warm.  I like to leave my handprint in the frost, but I digress.  I love the creativity of the menu, the willingness of the kitchen staff to make me special food that’s not even on the menu, the kindness of the servers and bartenders, and the awesome decor.  I’ve never had a bad experience at Bound’ry.

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and I decided to have my birthday dinner at Bound’ry, partially because that’s where I had it last year (while still lacto/ovo) and partially due to The Traveling Vegetarian’s encouraging post about how vegan-friendly they can be. I made my reservation a week in advance and indicating that I was vegan. They assured me I could be accommodated, and boy was I ever accommodated.

Bound'ry Salad

My server, who had celiac’s, and whose business partner was vegan, was awesome.  He offered to whip me up a vegan appetizer but I declined since my dining companions were not getting any.  I did take him up on ordering a salad, seen above.  The Bound’ry Salad consists of Romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, crispy black eyed peas, and usually ham–remove the ham and it’s vegan.  I chose balsamic vinaigrette as my dressing.  This salad was great for being so simple.  The dressing was just right (not too thick but not too runny/oily), and the crispy black eyed peas were an awesome addition.  There was also an elaborate bread arrangement that I forgot to photograph, all of which was vegan.  It was served with several different butters, but my server brought me out a dish of olive oil for dipping.

My Tofu Entree

My entree was not on the menu.  In fact, there was nothing with tofu on the menu.  When my server took my order for the entree, I told him I thought I would be having the Bound’ry Falafel since it was the only vegan thing on the menu.  He stopped me and told me I could have basically whatever I wanted.  This was too much choice for me, and while I stared at him dumbstruck, he asked if I would like something with tofu.  I told him that would be perfect and off he went.  I had absolutely no idea what would come out, and one of my dining companions expressed worry based on his experiences with chefs who do not know how to work with tofu properly.  Was he ever proven wrong!

This dish was AMAZING.  Seriously.  It blew me away.  I’m not really sure what it was served with, beyond being able to identify the tofu (obviously), black eyed peas (not crispy this time), carrots, and what I think were summer squash and zucchini.  I have no idea what that orange sauce was but it was delicious.  Everything was incredibly flavorful, and that orange sauce really tied it all together.  The tofu was the perfect texture–nice and firm on the outside and slightly softer on the inside.  This dish was so filling that I could not even eat it all, which is saying something, because I can eat a lot.  It also reheated well a few days later.

Bound'ry Falafel

One of my dining companions ordered the Bound’ry Falafel, so I had him snap a photo.  It’s totally vegan and served with hummus, tabouli, naan, cherry tomatoes, and yummy roasted baby eggplant.  This is your vegan standby on the Bound’ry menu and the most affordable entree.  I didn’t eat any of this (too full from my own food) but I’ve had the hummus at the bar several times and can testify to its awesomeness.  Honestly, I’ve never had any food at Bound’ry that was less than stellar and I’m sure this was no exception, and my friend who was eating it said it was great.

Dessert

Unfortunately, I was not able to snap a stellar photo of the dessert, but it was my birthday, get off my back.  Bound’ry does not typically offer vegan dessert.  I made my reservation a week in advance and spoke with Natalie, a manager, who told me she would discuss my vegan dessert request with the pastry chef and get back to me.  She called me back a couple of days later saying they could accommodate me and asking if I liked pumpkin.  I responded in the affirmative and that was it.

My dessert came out with candles.  I don’t really know what it was, but it was some kind of pumpkin custard-like substance.  It tasted a lot like pumpkin pie filling, and it had nuts (pecans?) in it.  There were also these little scone-like biscuit things, and fresh strawberries, and little chocolate sticks.  I was so excited to have a vegan dessert, because this is the first real vegan dessert I’ve had in this city (I don’t count cookies as dessert–cookies are not a dessert, they are a snack).

In sum, I love Bound’ry.  They have an awesome beer selection and cocktail menu, the food is phenomenal, and the service is impeccable.  It’s pricey, but totally worth it for that special occasion.  They definitely made my birthday memorable.  And I bet I’ll be back next year!

Bound’ry

911 20th Avenue South

Nashville, TN 37212

615.321.3043

Website

FiddleCakes October 30, 2009

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie & Chewy Oatmeal, Fruit and Nut Bar

When I read that someone in Nashville went and opened up a vegan-friendly bakery, I almost peed myself with excitement.  I went that very same day to see what they had.  Dreams of fluffy vegan cupcakes danced in my head.  Imagine my disappointment when there were no vegan cupcakes to be found.  There were only two vegan baked goods in the case, and I bought both of them, but more on them in a minute.

FiddleCakes is in the middle of that awesome part of 8th Ave. that’s home to thrift and vintage stores and my beloved Grimey’s.  I was worried I was going to miss it while driving there, but they have a huge pistachio-colored sign.  The interior of this place is simply adorable.  There’s a ton of SPACE for sitting and chatting with your friends over coffee, or working towards a deadline with vegan cookies their free WiFi.  The bakery case is front and center, and there’s also a cooler full of sandwiches.  This is their soft opening, and they’ll be having a grand opening sometime in November–don’t worry, I’ll let you know when.

On my visit to FiddleCakes, I was the only one in the place, but the proprietress informed me that the place is quite busy around lunch time.  The vegan soup of the day was Mushroom Barley, but I did not partake–I was there for baked goods.  I also scoped the sandwich selection and saw a Curried Tofu sandwich that would probably be delish.  As mentioned above, I grabbed the two vegan treats available that day: a chewy bar and a soft cookie.  The bar was chewy as promised, and flavorful.  But the cookie completely blew me away!  It was awesome!  And just in time for Halloween!  Look how many exclamation points I’m using!

Bottom line: head down to FiddleCakes.  Do it now.  Right this second.  Get a cookie.  I’m serious.

 

FiddleCakes

2206 8th Avenue South

Nashville, TN 37204

615.457.2127

Website

Justice For All October 28, 2009

I want to let all you Nashvegans out there know about this really cool opportunity to check out a great speaker.   Vanderbilt Law School’s Animal Law Society is bringing Jonathan Lovvorn, Vice President & Chief Counsel for Animal Protection Litigation and Research, from the Humane Society of the United States, to speak on campus on Thursday, October 29 (that’s tomorrow!).  This event is free and open to the public.  The event will take place at noon in the law school building, in Flynn Auditorium, and should last about an hour.

A nationally recognized expert in the field of animal law, Mr. Lovvorn has litigated extensively on behalf of animals, and manages the nation’s largest animal protection litigation program, with dozens of attorneys prosecuting more than 40 cases in state and federal courts around the country. He also oversees the Research & Analysis group at the Humane Society, which conducts major research projects in furtherance of the organization’s key campaigns and programs.  He gave a keynote presentation at the Animal Law Conference in Portland, OR, that I attended a few weeks ago, and I can tell you that he is a dynamic and fascinating speaker.

If you’re in the area and can make it to the talk, I highly recommend that you go.  Bring a friend.  I know I’ll be there.

Justice For All: An Introduction to Animal Law with Jonathan Lovvorn

Vanderbilt Law School, Flynn Auditorium, 12:00 – 1:00 PM

131 21st Avenue South

Nashville, TN 37203

Hungry Tiger Too October 27, 2009

Macaroni & Cheese with Caesar Salad

This is my second and last Portland post.  I didn’t have as many opportunities to eat in restaurants as I would have liked because I was so busy at the conference.  But the two restaurant meals I did get to enjoy were amazing–my trip to Hungry Tiger Too was no exception.  Hungry Tiger Too has a bar area and a dining area, but my host and I sat at the bar.  They have two separate menus: one vegan menu and one “classic” menu.

Since Hungry Tiger is known for its mac & cheese, I knew that was what I would be having.  It comes in small and large, and if I had gotten the large I think I might have fainted, since I couldn’t even finish the small.  The cheese sauce kind of tasted like chicken stock, which was weird, and while I’ve made better vegan cheese sauce in my own kitchen, it was awesome to order this in a restaurant.  The noodles were a little softer than I would have liked, and the cheese sauce a little thinner.  It was topped with delicious breadcrumbs.  The real standout of this meal was the salad: this Caesar was really reminiscent of the Caesar salads I used to eat growing up, when that was the only type of salad I found palatable (wow, that was a long time ago).  The dressing was absolutely fantastic.

I hope I get the opportunity to return to Hungry Tiger.  They have vegan corn dogs, and I would love to try one of those.  Our bartender/server was fantastic and helped to make menu and beer recommendations.  If it wasn’t for her, I don’t think I would have had the Caesar, which I loved so much.  The place has an awesome neighborhood vibe and great beer specials.  Oh man, I hope I get to go back soon!

Hungry Tiger Too

207 SE 12th Ave

Portland, OR 97214

503.238.4321

Hungry Tiger doesn’t have a wesbite, but it does have a MySpace

Proper Eats Cafe October 26, 2009

Spicy Black Bean Quesadilla

I had an AWESOME time in Portland, Oregon.  It is basically like vegan mecca.  I can only imagine what it would be like to live in such a city, where fantastic vegan fare can be had at nearly every establishment, and nearly every establishment knows exactly what “vegan” means.  I stayed in North Portland (NoPo) while I was in town, and as soon as I got in from the airport and dropped off my luggage my host and I popped over to Proper Eats Cafe for my first Portland meal.  Proper Eats is a natural foods store and cafe, with produce and some groceries in the front and a dining area in the back.  I was famished from spending six hours on and off various airplanes (but Southwest has some yummy vegan in-flight snacks!), and I had to restrain myself from ordering basically everything on the menu.

We started with the above Spicy Black Bean Quesadilla.  It was stuffed with vegan cheese, spinach, and black beans.  It was spicy, too!  The salsa served on the side was incredibly fresh-tasting and helped to cut through the spice a bit.  As you can see from the photo, it was topped with corn, red onion, and pumpkin seeds.  Talk about awesome!  When was the last time you had a vegan quesadilla?  I don’t think I ever had one until this moment.  I thought it was totally delicious, but it was kind of hard to eat–looking back, I should have used a fork and knife.  I ended up getting it all over myself.

Hazelnut-Arugula Penne Bake and Side Salad with Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette

For my entree I ordered the day’s special: Hazelnut-Arugula Penne Bake and Side Salad with Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette.  Wow, that’s a mouthful!  Seriously, this was SO. EFFING. GOOD. and I am still reminiscing about it.  I wish I could get this at a restaurant in Nashville.  I mean, I could probably cook something similar from scratch but who wants to go to all that trouble?  The pasta was just the right texture.  The cheese topping didn’t exactly melt right, but the flavor was great.  The pesto was divine.  The salad itself was pretty standard (spring mix, broccoli, carrots), and the dressing complimented it nicely.

Sesame Peanut Noodles

My host, an omnivore, had the Sesame Peanut Noodles.  He loved it.  The noodles are cooked in a peanut sauce and served warm with ginger lime tofu, all over a bed of spinach and garnished with asian slaw, broccoli and lime.  You can see the little lime wedge in the photo, just waiting to be squeezed over the whole thing.  He let me eat a little bit of it and it was even better than it looks in the picture.  The noodles were perfect.  The tofu was amazing.  This whole dish was well-executed, well-presented, and well-made.  It also kept well and made for an excellent second, reheated meal.

If I lived in Portland, I would dine at Proper Eats Cafe all the time.  The menu is varied, covering a lot of different types of food, and their daily specials are always interesting.  They are almost entirely vegan (they offer a choice of a few dairy-based condiments), and every dish can be prepared vegan.  If you have the good fortune to make it there, be sure to check the bakery case on your way out: I got a vegan chocolate truffle.  Sorry, I didn’t take a photo.  I know that next time I’m in PDX, I’ll be stopping by.

Proper Eats Cafe

8638 N. Lombard Ave.

Portland, OR 97203

503.445.2007

Website

I’ve packed my bags I’m ready to go October 15, 2009

Just wanted to let you all know I’m about to be leaving on a jet plane.  I’m taking off tomorrow morning for Portland, Oregon, otherwise known as vegan Mecca, to attend the Animal Law Conference at Lewis & Clark Law School.  The conference will provide me with delish vegan meals all weekend, but I’ll be sure to go to some of PDX’s amazing all-veg (can you imagine it?!) restaurants.  And I’ll take pictures.  And I’ll share them with you.  Because I’m awesome like that.  No new posts until at least Tuesday, but don’t cry, check out some of the amazing blogs on my blogroll–they’d love your traffic and readership.

Beyond the Edge October 13, 2009

Behold, the beer selection

Beyond the Edge has a fantastic beer selection.  They also have a fantastic buy-one-get-one happy hour special.  And they have fantastic vegan food.  I’ve written about this East Nashville gem before here and I will likely write about it again.  It’s good, and it’s one of those places that keeps me coming back with varied menu options and, frankly, an awesome beer selection.  Look at all those taps!  And they have four kinds of Yazoo!  It’s the only place in town of which I am aware where you can sample Yazoo’s A Beer Named Sue, which is a mysterious dark confection, and can potentially attribute the gravel in its guts and the spit in its eye to that name.

Custom Wrap with Fries

A commenter on my last Beyond the Edge post informed me that the buns the restaurant uses are not vegan.  I’m not sure if they are or not (as when I asked I was told they were) but to be safe, I opted for a bun-less meal this time.  What you see in the photo is not on the menu.  It’s kind of a cross between the veggie wrap and the veggie burger pizza wrap.  Kudos to Beyond the Edge for (1) accepting a custom order; (2) not messing up a custom order; and (3) adding stuff to a custom order to make it even more awesome.  I basically asked for the veggie burger pizza wrap but with more of a Tex-Mex twist.  Since the veggie burger is a black bean patty, I thought it would be complemented nicely by avocado and salsa (instead of the cheese and marinara that came with the pizza wrap).  The cook really went above and beyond, filling the wrap with lettuce, tomato, onion, carrots, and red cabbage.  I dipped it in the little cup of salsa that came on the side.  It was AWESOME.  The blend of flavors was really fantastic – spicy burger and salsa, cool avocado and veggies.  The carrots gave it a nice crunch factor.  Plus, Beyond the Edge has my favorite fries in town.  Look how delicious they are!  This was one of the better lunches I’ve had in a while.  I’d love to see it on the menu permanently … so you should go there and ask for it.

Beyond the Edge

112 South 11th Street

Nashville, TN 37206

615.226.EDGE

Website - be careful, it plays music.