Fido March 18, 2010

Veggie Scramble with Tofu

Who doesn’t love brunch?  I know I do.  But aren’t you tired of going out to a brunch spot with your friends and choosing from oatmeal (if that), dry toast (if that), and fresh fruit?  I have the solution to your woes and it’s Fido.  If you haven’t been to Fido yet, you’re missing out.  This post is going to focus on brunch, but it’s awesome any time of day–their veggie burger is one of the best in town, I’m serious.  They also have an awesome vegan cookies and muffins, as well as stellar coffee.  Plus, they serve breakfast all day, so you can get your tofu scramble on anytime.

As you can see above, I had the Veggie Scramble with Tofu, sans cheese.  Tofu can be exchanged for eggs in all of the brunch dishes, so a lot of them are easily vegan-ized.  The Veggie Scramble includes tofu, baby spinach, tomatoes, and roasted onions, and man is it delicious!  Seriously, it’s some of the best food I’ve ever had.  It comes with hashbrowns (which are more like home fries than traditional hashbrowns) and toast with jam.  There’s also a cup of salsa on the side, for making everything even more amazing.  The veggie sausage is, unfortunately, not vegan, so don’t add a side of that to your meal.  While not pictured, my dining companions and I also enjoyed some mimosas, which you make yourself–they give you the sparkling wine and orange juice and you combine away!

Soy Latte and Vegan Pumpkin Oat Cookie

I’m kind of a coffee snob.  I mean, I’ll drink Starbucks because it’s, well, everywhere, but I don’t think it’s all that good.  That being said, Bongo Java coffee is A-MAZ-ING.  The only place I’ve ever had better is in Portland, OR.  My favorite variety is Hair of the Dog, which smells better than any other coffee I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying.  Also, the Vegan Pumpkin Oat Cookie: YOU MUST EAT ONE.  Like, right now.  I cannot get enough of these things.  They’re soft almost like cake, and so moist and flavorful.  They also have an amazing vegan hot chocolate cookie that’s spicy.  And there are muffins, and other vegan baked goods.

Bottom line: if you haven’t been to Fido before, you’re doing a poor job of being a vegan in Nashville.  Go there immediately and get a tofu scramble, or a black bean burger, or some hummus, or a cookie, or a coffee, or all of those things.  Do it now.

Fido

1812 21st Avenue South

Nashville, TN 37212

615.777.FIDO

Website

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.

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

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

Suzy Wong’s House of Yum September 24, 2009

Don't worry, the drinks are not about to slide off the table.

So I have a backlog of restaurants I need to write about.  I’m a busy student and don’t have the time to update the blog as much as I would like, and I always add restaurants in the order I visit them.  This is an exception to that rule, because this place is SO AMAZING that I need to write about it immediately.  Seriously, this restaurant completes my Nashville vegan trifecta of the BEST vegan food in the city: Suzy Wong’s, Mellow Mushroom, and Fattoush.  You may disagree with me, and that’s cool, but I was blown away by this place.

The first thing that struck me about Suzy Wong’s was the decor and intimate vibe.  My dining companion likened it to restaurants in NYC, because the restaurant is long and narrow.  There is an enormous patio out back which is perfect when the weather is nice.  We dined inside, right in the window.  It was a little strange having people look into the restaurant at us, but whatever.  The space is impeccably furnished, with a variety of table set-ups and seating arrangements.  The lighting was just right – not too dim and not too bright.  And look at that adorable YUM plate!  I want seven.

Our cocktails were both fantastic.  I had the Lychee Cocktail which consists of lychee vodka, lychee liquer, lime juice, and ginger ale.  It even comes with a lychee fruit in the glass, which is totally delicious when you finish your drink.  My companion enjoyed a Blackberry Mojito, which I tasted and also enjoyed.  We determined that my drink complemented the food better than hers did, as it was lighter and crisper.  They also have a pretty substantial wine list, and offer that awesome sparkling white that comes in the purple can with the bendy straw.  I forget what it’s called, but it’s what they give you at Fido when you order a mimosa in the morning.

Vegetable Summer Rolls, Kung Pao Green Beans, Lemongrass Vegetable-Tofu Stir Fry, Vegetable Gyoza Pot Stickers

We ordered two “Yum Bowls” and two “Small Plates” to be sure that we could sample a wide variety of foods.  At the top of the photo is a plate of Vegetable Summer Rolls.  This was the least impressive dish we ate.  I just thought they were kind of flavorless, but my companion thought that might be because everything else on the table was so well-seasoned that they just seemed bland in comparison.  The circular dish on the left contains Kung Pao Green Beans.  When they say “Kung Pao” they’re not kidding – these beans pack some punch.  They were fantastic.  It was just beans and peanuts and what may have been french-fried onions and the sauce, but they were fantastic and I highly recommend you order them.  Next is the Lemongrass Vegetable-Tofu Stir Fry.  The mixture of vegetables in this was great, and they all tasted really fresh.  It included red and green peppers, scallions, broccoli, carrots, green beans, water chestnuts (ew), and perhaps more that I’m forgetting.  The tofu was nice a crispy, but I wish there had been more of it.  Believe me, I saved the best for last: Vegetable Gyoza Pot Stickers.  OH. MY. GOD.  Seriously, it was like there was a party in my mouth and everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, was invited.  My dining companion and I kept saying that we were going to come back over and over and order ten plates of these things.  They are just simply perfect, and so is the sauce you dip them in and the crispy noodles that are served under them (because the crispy noodles stick to the pot stickers and you get a mouthful of different tastes and textures and awesomeness).

Another angle on an amazing dinner

Another component to my excellent experience at Suzy Wong’s was the service.  My server was awesome and rushed to the kitchen to get answers to all my ingredient questions.  He was also a vegetarian, so he totally felt my pain.  We also got to chatting about veganism and the restaurant and life.  He informed me that they will be updating the menu soon to clearly label all vegetarian and vegan options.  My only complaint about the place comes from when I inquired about dessert.  I wanted to see if there was a vegan dessert option, and it seemed like there almost might be, because they have a dark chocolate fondue served with strawberries and crystallized ginger.  When my server went back to check on the vegan status of the fondue, he reported back that it had half-and-half in it.  They also have a banana tempura thing with ice cream (the tempura batter is vegan), so I asked if I could have that without the ice cream.  I was informed that this was not possible, because the owner is kind of a “soup nazi” and won’t make any changes to menu items.  Disappointing, right?  Well, don’t lose hope, because I told my server if the restaurant would be interested in serving a vegan dessert they would be heads and shoulders above other veg-friendly restaurants in the city.  He seemed quite amenable to the idea and promised to discuss it with the owner.  So, nashvegans, descend upon Suzy Wong’s House of Yum, eat enough pot stickers to make yourself sick, and stand up and demand your vegan dessert!

Suzy Wong’s House of Yum

1515 Church Street

Nashville, TN 37203

(615) 329-2913

Website

ETA: Suzy Wong’s recently updated their menu with handy symbols indicating which menu items are vegan (and which are gluten-free).  I absolutely love it when restaurants do this, as it makes it easier for me to order food and it shows that vegans have really come a long way.  Unfortunately, the vegetable pot stickers and Kung Pao green beans are not listed as being vegan, even though I was told at the above visit that they were.  Also, the edamame is not listed as vegan–I don’t understand how that’s even possible.  I’m sorry for any misinformation I have provided, but on the visit above my server went to the back to ask the owner about everything I ordered so I thought I was in the clear.  I guess not.  How annoying.

Ru San’s August 20, 2009

Cocktails

I went to Ru San’s for a friend’s birthday dinner.  Ru-San’s is in the Gulch, which is an awesome neighborhood for eating.  Their menu is extremely extensive; it is practically a book.  They have a great and varied selection of vegetarian rolls, all but one of which are $4.50 or less.  There’s also a great mix of vegetarian appetizers.  Ru San’s plays a crazy mix of loud electronic music, which really makes the experience in my opinion.  The birthday girl made reservations for twelve, and they put together a bunch of tables at the back for us.  We all had a great time, and it’s a great place for a special occasion like a birthday (not so much like an anniversary).  Furthermore, those cocktails are simply called “Ultimate.”  None of the cocktails on the drink menu have descriptions, and my group was never able to determine exactly what kind of liquor they contained.  There is also something on the drink menu called “Hardcore! – Penlock [or Perlot or Penklot or something to that effect]” and it costs $8.50.  When I asked what it contained, the server began rattling off “vodka, beer, sake . . .” at which point I just had her stop, because I didn’t really want to know what else was in it.  Apparently, I am not hardcore enough for Penlock (or Peklot or Penkoe or whatever).

Edamame

I started my meal with edamame.  It came unsalted, and it’s hard to see it in the photo but there was a generous pile of salt on the plate.  I LOVE edamame.  I love how the pod is weird and hairy.  I love the act of eating the stuff.  Any restaurant that serves edamame is a winner in my book.

Garlic Sesame Tofu

Next I split this order of Garlic Sesame Tofu with basically everyone at the table.  Most of the tofu dishes on the menu included bonito flakes.  Bonito flakes, in case you don’t know, are basically dried fish.  They are used in all sorts of Japanese dishes, and if you’re at a Japanese restaurant you should ask if bonito is in any of the stuff you’re ordering.  Take miso soup as an example.  I didn’t have the soup at Ru San’s so I don’t know what it contains, but at a lot of Japanese restaurants if you ask if the miso soup has fish the server will tell you “no,” but if you ask if it has bonito the server will tell you “yes.”  Getting back to this dish, I asked if it contained bonito and the answer was no.  And man, it was good!  All the omnis at my table were reaching over to grab bits of tofu, mushrooms, whole garlic cloves, and seaweed salad.  My only complaint is that the tofu was a little mushy.  Seriously, if you go to Ru San’s, eat this.

Vegetable Futo Maki

Ah, my main course: Vegetable Futo Maki.  This roll was supposed to include tamago (egg), but when I asked them to leave it off they happily obliged.  Now, I’m not a big sushi lover, but this was GOOD.  It included carrots, mushrooms, avocado, tofu, and possibly more (I’m not really sure).  I ate it with my hands and got teased, but eating sushi (except for sashimi) with your hands is totally acceptable.  I don’t want this post to turn into some crazy guide to sushi etiquette, and it’s not like I’m an expert, so I’ll include some sushi-licious links at the end of the post.  But yeah, seriously, that roll was awesome . . . especially with soy sauce and wasabi.  Mmmmmmmmmm.  Also, my friend who sat next to me had never had sushi before and chose a fully-cooked noodle dish involving shrimp.  I had him try a piece of my veggie roll and he said it was good.  So, success!

I would definitely eat at Ru San’s again.  The food was good and the atmosphere was fun.  The menu is enormous and you could have something new every visit if you went every day for a month.  There are more dishes I want to try, like the inari tofu.  Plus then I can have more sake bombs.  Kampai!

Ru San’s Japanese Sushi and Seafood Restaurant

505 12th Avenue S

Nashville, TN 37203

615.252.8787

Links:

Ru San’s website (with menu)

How to eat sushi (hey, man, it’s harder than you think if you’re a first timer–all those condiments are confusing!)

Japanese food glossary (so you can find out what kampyo is)