Posted on
October 17, 2023 by
The VRG Blog Editor
Vegan Jerk Chicken Quesadilla from UnBEETABLE
The Vegetarian Resource Group maintains an online Guide to Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurants in the USA and Canada. Here are some recent vegan restaurant additions. The entire guide can be found here: http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php
To support the updating of this online restaurant guide, please donate at: www.vrg.org/donate
Here are some new additions to VRG’s guide:
Angry Vegan Juice Bar and Vegan Food, 536 Main St., Penticton, BC V2A 5C7 Canada
Despite its name, Angry Vegan Juice Bar & Vegan Food makes its customers very happy with its bountiful menu of fresh juices, smoothies, burgers & wraps, and salads. They offer pre-made meals that work well for picnics or business lunches, and well-informed customers check social media to learn of their weekly specials. But you can’t go wrong choosing from their regular menu, with options like the Green Warrior Burger (made from white beans, spinach, parsley, green peas, and oats, served with a house-made cilantro lemon-cashew dressing) or the Rasta Salad (made with rotini noodles, onions, celery, and sweet peppers, tossed with a house-made ranch dressing). Their banana bread gets rave reviews, and you won’t resist the Bugs Bunny juice, made with a blend of carrots, apple, lemon, and ginger.
Dough Joy Donuts, 1316 E. Pike St., Seattle, WA 98122 and 4310 SW Oregon St., Seattle, WA 98116
Dough Joy Donuts offers vegan handmade donuts in 2 locations as well as a Doughmobile. The donut menu includes unique flavors such as everything but the bagel with a dollop of cream cheese in the center, vanilla Biscoff topped with a cookie crumble, and glazed sea salt twist with chocolate drizzle. Classics such as chocoholic and basic B glazed donut are available as well.
Eris Vegan Food Co., 302 Wisconsin Ave., Oceanside, CA 92054
After a day at the beach in sunny Oceanside, Eris Food Company is there to satisfy your craving for burgers, tacos, and pizza. With a casual, comfortable vibe and both indoor and outdoor seating options, Eris Food Company offers a changing menu and generous portions. Burger options include the Bam Bam Burger, served on a handmade pretzel bun with Bam Bam sauce, vegan Jack cheeze, crispy onion strings, and house-made ketchup. There are some gluten-free options as well, including the Sweet Potato Pepper Jack Tacos, made with handmade corn tortillas, sweet potato, avocado, and roasted poblanos. Their pizza flatbreads are wildly creative in both name and toppings—like the “Little Brutus” with a double garlic pizza sauce, pepperoni, seitan, mozzarella and pepper jack, jalapenos, and Bam Bam sauce.
I-tal Garden, 810 North Claiborne Ave., New Orleans, LA 70116
I-tal Garden provides a creative, diverse menu. For starters, breakfast is available from 10am-2pm daily, offering their Breakfast Plate of “buttered” yellow grits with chickpea scramble and maple vegan sausage, or Pancake Platter—starring a double stack of buttered spelt pancakes. There’s also a Fresh Fruit Parfait of cashew vanilla yogurt, granola, and coconut whip cream to name a few options. For an Appetizer surprise, you might try Avocado Fries—crisp, chickpea-battered avocado with a side of remoulade. If you’re fired-up about raw veggies, Hell Yea Kale Yea Salad might be speaking your language with organic kale, currants, veggies, ground walnut, sprouts, lemon zest, cashew cream, and lemon pepper bites. A bowl of classic New Orleans stew, Okra file’ Gumbo combines red lentils, squash, eggplant, okra, and traditional seasonings. Here are a couple of Entrée options. Filet Mushroom Burger sports crispy oyster mushrooms, vegan tartar sauce and vegan cheddar cheese on a sprouted bun with seasoned fries and salad. Cajun Pasta features buttered cream sauce, grilled vegetables, seitan hot sausage, crab-less cake balls, cayenne pepper, and vegan parmesan. Build Your Own Dish lets you choose proteins and combine them with Sides like Quinoa Jambalaya, Jackfruit Ribs with BBQ sauce, Coconut Curry Chickpeas, Creole Potato Salad and lots more. While there are additional rotating Desserts, two staples are Berry Drizzle Cake and Lemon Lavender Cake.
May Kaidee, 215 E. Broadway, New York, NY 10002
May Kaidee offers imaginative vegan dishes focused on traditional cuisine inspired by Thai provinces. Quality is their top priority. Think slow cooked—not fast casual. They try to source organic whenever possible—particularly soy, oil, and produce. For Starters a couple of possibilities are Pumpkin Hummus (Tam Fak Tong) made with steamed pumpkin, cashews, peanuts, sesame seeds, onion, and coriander with sour and spicy sauce, or (wheat-free, and not fried) Fresh Spring Rolls (Poh Pia Sod) of lettuce, carrot, avocado, cilantro, baby spinach, and ginger wrapped in broad rice noodles, with peanut sauce, tamarind sauce or ginger carrot dressing. If it’s a Salad Day, two of many options are Green Mango (Yam Ma-Muang) with a slightly sweet-spicy sauce, crowned with peanuts or cashews or Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam) with chili, tomato and roasted peanut in a tangy sauce. Both contain carrot, lime, and cilantro. So many soups, such as Cinnamon Soup (Pah Loh) Chinese-Thai soup with carrot, mushroom, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and cinnamon, or Tom Yam Spicy sour soup offering bok choy, tomato, coconut milk, kaffir lime leaf, lemongrass, galangal, chili, lime, and coriander. A few of many enticing entrées are Panang Curry (Gaeng Panang)—cumin-seasoned with coconut milk, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, onion, garlic, cabbage, and kaffir lime leaf, Haw Mokk Isaan—a thick Curry made with bamboo shoots, dill, carrot, garlic, onion, coconut milk, tofu, kaffir lime leaf, galangal, and lemongrass, with brown-red rice (Not gluten free) and Glass Noodles with Shitake Mushrooms (Op Wun Sen) featuring garlic, coriander, carrot, broccoli, ginger, black soy sauce, and celery. Numerous sides are offered as well. Dessert offers include Khao Niew Ma-muang—Black Sticky Rice with coconut milk and mango, banana, or both. There’s also Buad Shee—either Pumpkin or Banana in sweet coconut milk, topped with sesame seeds.
Nobody Calls Me Chicken, 2904 Indian School Rd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106
Some of their Sandwich selections include a mashed Chickpea Sub of carrots, celery, sprouts, and mayo with dill pickles; BBQ & Slaw crafted with marinated soy curls, pickles, and coleslaw; and their Po’boy which sports battered, fried soy curls, salad fixings, and Cajun sauce. A few Sides that could soothe your comfort zone are Classic Cole Slaw with mayo dressing; Potato Salad of celery, carrots, onion, pickles, and bell peppers; or buttery, brown-gravy- topped Mashed Potatoes. For a sweet, savory dish, you might try Tenders & Waffles – crisp-fried Tofu with a Belgian waffle, butter, syrup, and orange flavored drizzle. Fresh baked Desserts include Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie, or Grandma’s Carrot Cake with Vanilla icing.
UnBEETABLE, 148 Clinton St., Schenectady, NY 12305
A vegan restaurant, bar and arcade, UnBEETABLE has an unbeatable vibe for you and your friends! They provide classic arcade appetizers with different style wings, mozzarella sticks, nachos and so many more to choose from. Their main dishes include different styles of hot dogs, burgers (patties made with the Beyond Meat), tacos, Jerk chicken quesadillas. A kids menu is available and sweet desserts are available along with a gluten-free options for all entrées.
