Veg Eats Vancouver: Fray

I've been meaning to check out Fray for a while, especially since I can walk there from my house. Kirk and I finally decided to try it one Sunday because there was no line up for brunch. That's a rare thing in Vancouver.

Firstly, I like the decor. It's a little hipster, but light and airy and it feels clean in there. And there are crayons on every table and the placemats have fun activities for adults.

I started out with a pot of green tea. I was impressed with the tea pot. The tea was okay.

I had the Superfoods Salad. I was a little put off by the $12 price tag ($12 dollars for a salad at brunch?), but it sounded like the thing on the menu I wanted to try the most. It's quinoa, beets. crispy chickpeas (where have you been all my life?), beans, fennel, dried cranberries, kale, herbs and a little bit of raspberry vinaigrette. I understood the price tag as soon as I saw it - it's figgin' huge! I got three full meals out of one bowl, and $12 is a bargain, really. It was good, and I'd get it again.

I am now a fan of Fray. Honestly, it's nothing super special. But it's good food, good prices, good service, and no line up for Sunday brunch. Works for me.

Veg Eats Vancouver: The Acorn

It was mine and Kirk's sixth wedding anniversary last week. Now that we're parents, we don't get to have romantic weekends at B&Bs anymore, but we did have my Mum babysit so we could go out for a nice dinner.

I've been wanting to try The Acorn since it opened. Finally, a nice vegetarian restaurant in Vancouver! Don't get me wrong, I like The Naam and Foundation, but I'm not a hippie or a hipster, and bad service is not really my thing. And it's nice to have somewhere vegetarian to go for a special occasion.

So anyway, they don't take reservations and we went early. I don't like waiting for a table, and luckily we got one right away.

Now, I had a cold, so I can't reliably comment on flavours, but I'm going to anyway. Take my comments with a grain of salt, as it were. Also, sorry about the crappy iPhone photos. I should have used my flash, but I have it turned off so I'm not blinding Odin with it all the time.

We shared a potato and parsnip croquette appetizer. I found it a little bland, and I said as much to Kirk. He pointed out the pieces of sharp cheese in the sauce. I hadn't gotten any cheese on my portion, and I think if I had it would have made all the difference in the world. With the appetizer I had a glass of the Kettle Valley Gewurztraminer, and I didn't like it. Normally I'm a Gewurztraminer fan, but I found it a little musky for my taste. The server recommended the Pentage Reisling, which was better, though very fruity. It could have been my snotty nose ruining the wine, though.

They didn't clear our plates after the appetizer, and we had to use the same cutlery for our entrees. I wasn't impressed by that, and it seemed inconsistent with the rest of the service, which was pretty attentive.

I chose the beer battered halloumi entree. It came with a zucchini pancake, smashed peas and a yogourt sauce. It was honestly one of the best things I've ever eaten. The halloumi was salty and somehow light, for fried cheese anyway. The pancake was all zucchini, not a bunch of filler, and the peas were delicious and a little minty. It seemed to me like a spring dish, rather than autumn, but I enjoyed it very much.

Kirk had the king oyster mushroom medallions with spelt and a peppercorn sauce. He said it was really good, although other than the peppercorn sauce, it seemed like something we would make at home. If he could choose again, he would have gotten the halloumi too.

I ordered the pumpkin semifreddo dessert. It was good, but not spectacular. It tasted really nice, and was surprisingly light, but was frozen a bit too hard and was difficult to cut into with the big, clunky spoon they gave me. The plate wasn't chilled, so it melted a bit on the bottom and I ended up chasing it around on the plate.

Overall, I enjoyed The Acorn, and I would definitely go back given the opportunity.

Veg Eats Vancouver: Lucky's Doughnuts

Just a quick post to sing the praises of Lucky's Doughnuts, a new-ish doughnut place inside 49th Parallel Coffee on Main St. This place has been all over the blogosphere (did I just use that word?) and I finally got to try it out. I had the Salted Caramel Old Fashioned, and oh my god, it may just be the best thing I've ever eaten. It's definitely the best doughnut I've ever had.

It's so nice that there are artisan doughnut shops opening up (and let's not forget Lee's on Granvile Island), especially since our national doughnut chain, which shall remain unnamed, reheats frozen doughnuts rather than making them fresh. I once heard that Canadians eat more doughnuts per capita than any other people in the world. I don't know if that's true, but I know frozen doughnuts should be a crime.

Diet be damned! I will eat at Lucky's Doughnuts again!

 

Vegan Eats Vancouver: Romer's Burger Bar

Burger Bar? A burger bar on a mostly vegan blog? I know, it sounds weird, and Romer's Burger Bar on West 4th is definitely a meat-lover's paradise, but I've discovered they can feed me well too. Kirk had a burger craving (of the meaty variety), and he'd been to Romer's before. He knew they had a veg option and he convinced me to give it a try.

Romer's is a pretty typical Kitsilano yuppie hangout. It's definitely a step up from most Vancouver casual burger places (read: Vera's and the like), both in menu and decor. The service was good, and so was the food. They use lots of local ingredients, which I appreciate, and everything is fresh made in-house. And for Kits the prices are totally reasonable.

They scored their first point with me by featuring Ginger Beer on their drink menu. I had a bottle of Fentiman's Natural Ginger Beer, which was heavenly. I also had their Maple Whiskey Ginger Martini, which is made with Canadian maple whiskey liqueur, maple syrup and ginger beer. It was a great after-dinner drink. They also have a cocktail called the Dark n' Stormy, which features Appleton VX rum, Fentiman's ginger beer, lime juice and cane syrup. Next time...

Their vegetarian option is a stack of roasted veggies sandwiched between two roasted portabello mushroom caps. It's served with red pepper vinaigrette, some salad greens and a peperoncini pepper. I asked for no goat cheese. Kirk and I shared a basket of the garlic fries - probably not a good first date option, but after 9 years we don't care about garlic breath - which were heavenly. The portabello stack was good, but not special. It's a nice change from the typical veggie burger options, though, so I'm not complaining and I'd order it again. But I can't lie - if I were to go back it would be for the fries and the cocktails!

Vegan Eats Vancouver: The Templeton

The Templeton is one of my favourite restaurants in Vancouver. If I didn't hate going downtown so much I'd eat there a lot more often.

The Templeton is a cute little retro diner on Granville Street, with mini jukeboxes on the tables and updated diner comfort food. The service is always amazing, despite the fact that they are always busy, and they have a creative vegetarian food selection that's not just veggie burgers. They even have Italian sodas made with coconut milk! Yum!

Last time I was there for dinner I had my old standby, the Vegan Lentil Loaf with fries and mushroom gravy. The loaf, which is made with lentils and nuts, is always delicious, although it was a little overcooked and dry around the edges this time. The gravy fixed that, and I enjoyed it immensely. The fries and gravy are made in-house and are SO delicious! As good as their side salad and garlic mashed potatoes are, I almost always choose the fries because good home made fries are just irresistible.

Why don't I ever make lentil loaf at home? Anyone have a good recipe?

Vegan Eats Vancouver: Bandidas Brunch

Remember that time my friend Shaunna and I had dinner at Bandidas Taqueria and I was so excited to discover that they had vegan brunch? Well, do you? Anyway, I finally made it to brunch there last Sunday, and it was everything I dreamed it would be...

Kirk and I got there just as they opened at 10, and it's a good thing, as it filled up really quickly. We got a great seat by the window, the waitress brought us menus and water in little mason jars, and we proceeded with our indecision. Kirk is terrible at deciding at what he wants in restaurants, but I generally don't have much choice, so this was new territory for me. At first I kinda balked at the prices, but then I read that the menu prices include HST, so it's not so expensive after all.

Even though everything is veganizable (isn't veganizable a great fake word?), I decided on the already Vegan French Toast with sausage. It's been many years since I had french toast, and I was super excited.

The french toast did not disappoint! Four huge slices (I ate three and Kirk finished the last one) with a generous quantity of real maple syrup, fresh pineapple and little breakfast sausages. Yum! I can't wait to go back to Bandidas for brunch!

Nooooooo!!

My favourite lunch place, Loving Hut, had a fire a few doors down in mid-December. For weeks they were closed and had signs in the window saying they'd reopen in January. This week those signs came down, and a big For Lease sign went up! This is so upsetting.

Their website still states they'll reopen in January. I still have a bit of hope that they're moving to a new location, but I'm probably deluding myself...

Vegan Eats Vancouver: Las Margaritas

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know how much I love Mexican food. Las Margaritas is an old standby for me in Kitsilano - I even had dinner there on my thirtieth birthday! They don't have many vegan options, but luckily I love their Vegetarian Burrito (with no cheese or sour cream) and I always order it. Here's some shots of my last meal there...

Every table is served house made salsa and chips.

The chips are just okay as far as I'm concerned, but I absolutely love the salsa.

 The Vegetarian Burrito is stuffed full of beans, chiles, peppers and other veggies and
smothered with red sauce (I am a sucker for red sauce!). It's served with spanish rice,
beans (I always choose black beans) and guacamole. It's way too much food, but delicious.

I had a mojito. It was pretty good, though I've had better.

A decent selection of hot sauce is on every table.

I'll always go back to Las Margaritas when I'm in Kits. There's oftentimes a wait for a table, especially in the summer, so reservations are recommended but not required.

Vegan Eats Vancouver: 3-G Vegetarian Restaurant

Last night Kirk and I went to 3-G Vegetarian Restaurant for dinner. 3-G is a great little Chinese vegan place that opened up last year on Cambie Street @ 18th Ave. Unfortunately, they don't have Ginger B (I still haven't been able find it in Vancouver), but they do have a really interesting menu with the requisite dishes and some unexpected ones.

Kirk wasn't feeling particularly adventurous (Crispy Baked Baby Pig, anyone?), so we stayed with the familiar: Hot & Sour Soup, Deep Fried Tofu with Salt & Pepper, Abalone Mushroom with Vegetables, and Fried Rice with Special Chili Sauce (although I'm pretty sure that's not the rice dish they gave us). The service was great, really attentive, and they kept our tea pot full at all times.

The hot & sour soup was fantastic - light, full of tofu & veggies and just spicy enough.

It wasn't the best salt & pepper tofu in town, but definitely enjoyable.

We ordered Fried Rice with Special Chili Sauce, but this is what we got.

We should have asked about it, but we just ate it.
It tasted like curry and had no sauce. I liked it, but Kirk wasn't thrilled with it.

I love mushrooms of any kind, and the Abalone Mushroom with Vegetables was great.
The abalone mushrooms were sliced super thin, and the sauce wasn't too heavy and a little garlicky - yum!

They also gave us Coconut Tapioca Pudding for dessert that was fantastic! Well, I loved it, anyway. Kirk isn't a fan of coconut, and I ate most of his as well as mine!

Overall, we liked 3-G, and we'll definitely be going there again. The service was great, the prices were totally reasonable and the food was good with large portion sizes (we had the leftovers for dinner tonight).

Vegan MoFo Day 23: I'm still here!

Please excuse my tardiness in posting. It's been a super busy week, plus my Photoshop is now crashing my computer every time I try to use it *sob*.

On Sunday morning Kirk and I had brunch at Chopper's, a great little diner on Nanaimo near Broadway that our friend Meghan just happens to work at. I love Chopper's brunch because I can have a full meal and leave satisfied and it doesn't include tofu scramble. I have nothing against tofu scramble, mind you, but it's nice to have something else for a change. They don't have a vegan option on the menu, but I order the veggie option with fried tomatoes instead of eggs. Yum!

It comes with bbq baked beans, fried tomatoes, potatoes topped with onions, mushrooms & bell peppers, veggie sausage (or veggie bacon) and toast. It's so good!

Vegan MoFo Day 19: Loving Hut Lunch

On the work days when I'm too lazy to make lunch in the morning, I go to Loving Hut for lunch. Loving Hut is a completely vegan chain restaurant with locations in nineteen countries, and I love it. It's super casual, inexpensive and fast - perfect for a quick lunch break. And I absolutely adore restaurants where I can order anything on the menu!

Yesterday I had the Golden Rice Bowl, which is brown rice with veggies, tofu, "shrimp", Gardein beef tips and miso gravy. Pretty awesome, and filled me up for the whole afternoon. Yum!

 There were a lot of veggies in it - you just can't see them in this crappy photo...

Vegan Mofo Day 17: Solly's Veggie Meatballs

Solly's is a pretty well known bagel place/deli with two locations in Vancouver. I went to the Mount Pleasant location for breakfast the other day and discovered they have veggie meatballs! Guess what I ordered?

They were really good! I don't know exactly what they were made out of, but there was definitely nuts involved. The meatballs were served piping hot with a super good marinara sauce and some nice, fluffy couscous. Definitely recommended!

Vegan MoFo Day 2: Bandidas Taqueria

I love Mexican food! I really love it. Generally Mexican restaurants can veganize their menu items pretty easily, which is great. I've been hearing good things about Bandidas Taqueria on Commercial Drive & 12th Ave, but I hadn't had a chance to make it over yet. Then my friend Shaunna called and wanted to have dinner on Commercial somewhere. Yay, Bandidas!

Apparently I'm a little slow on the uptake, because everyone else has discovered Bandidas. We waited for about half an hour for a table, but it was worth the wait! They have a great menu, and pretty much everything can be veganized for an extra dollar. And they use Daiya cheese - yum! We shared chips, salsa and guacamole, and I had Dave's Enchiladas with enchilada sauce and salad, vegan. I'm salivating just writing about it! It was chipotle tofu and cheese in tortillas, topped with enchilada sauce and more cheese and baked. The side salad was beautiful and I cleaned my plate. Definitely not every day fare, but it was a great treat and I'll be going back for sure.

I checked out their brunch menu while I was there, and everything can be veganized! Everything! There's vegan french toast and hash, and you can even have a vegan benny. I am SO excited about their brunch!