Vegan (and gay friendly) Salt Lake City!

Our summer road trip took us in a different direction as we wanted to visit family on the way to California. So we ended up with a night in Salt Lake City and I am so glad we did!

When you think of Salt Like City, what do you think of?

Mormons?

Anti-gay people?

Well, we love Salt Lake City. If you ever have an opportunity to visit, I highly encourage you to take advantage of that and do it.

We stayed at the lovely Hotel Monaco. One of our favorite hotels in Denver, we wanted to give this one a try. It is right downtown, and convenient to several vegan dining options. They are dog friendly and Suga loves how she is pampered at a Hotel Monaco. We were not disappointed in the least. Great room, great service and the location rocks.

The Hotel Monaco also has bikes! Perfect. We rode them to our first meal, at Sage's Cafe.

In our short time in the city we had food from Sage's and their sister restaurant, Vertical Diner. At Sage's we both ordered the special, explained to us as carrot cake pancakes. It ended up being a carrot cake muffin lightly grilled.Quite tasty but not what we were thinking when we ordered. The menu is filled with items that looked tempting, but one can only order so much!

Back at the hotel we were able to order food from Vertical Diner and have it delivered to the hotel! Score! So we ordered the Chicken Biscuit, similar to a pot pie. We both loved this dish and have talked about it a lot since eating it. If you ever get to Vertical Diner I highly recommend it.

Any review of vegan food in Salt Lake City would not be complete without mentioning City Cakes bakery. Oh my. We went twice. Mike had three different scones and loved them all. I loved the cinnamon roll. We both really enjoyed the sausage potato burrito. The entire staff was so kind and friendly, and we especially enjoyed our conversations with Olivia. Definitely check out City Cakes!

Two places we did not make it to but heard very good things about are House of Tibet and Zest Kitchen and Bar. We will definitely check these two out next time.

Great food, great hospitality, a very friendly downtown and an overall progressive feel. Try Salt Lake City if you ever get the chance.

Thanks for reading!

Vegan summer adventures

Every year Mike and I take a vegan summer adventure. Most of the time we go to Florida, Illinois or Michigan to visit family.

This year we are taking a long-planned dream vacation to Encinitas, California starting with a couple of days in Los Angeles. In Los Angeles we plan to spend time with friends and eat a lot of delish vegan food. Once in Encinitas, we check into a beautiful little place on the beach where we will eat, cook, relax, swim, kayak and I'm sure many other things while there.

As a blogger near Denver (we live in Lakewood, just west) I often receive questions from folks coming here regarding where to eat. Vegan road trips or trips in general can be tough sometimes. I love to eat. And when I am on vacation I love to eat more. Fortunately for us we get to travel to places where there are awesome places to grab an amazing vegan meal. But that's not the case everywhere.

What to do?

First, check out http://www.happycow.net/ ! All you have to do is plug in the city where you are traveling, and instantly you have all of the known places to grab a bite to eat. This includes restaurant (both vegan and vegan friendly) as well as nutrition stores and grocery stores that might serve or sell vegan dishes.

We have found Happy Cow to be really helpful. On a trip to Florida, we found this amazing grocery store/restaurant in Jackson, Mississippi where we ate like kings. We enjoyed it so much that we made sure to stop in on the way home.

The key here, at least for us, is to try to find places to eat before you leave for your trip. That way you not only have something to look forward to, you also know that at this particular point in the trip you'll be able to find some good vegan options.

While on the internet, Google "vegan" and then the city or country you are traveling to. You might be surprised of your choices. If nothing pops up (never happened to us but just in case) try searching for "vegetarian" then the city or country.

One last place to check out on the internet that can be very helpful are vegan bloggers local to where you are traveling. We follow bloggers all over the place, including Omaha, Memphis, Los Angeles, Portland, Miami, Chicago and San Diego. When it comes to us traveling to one of these places we simply email the blogger and find out where to go.

While traveling between places (like Denver to Los Angeles) we rely not only on Happy Cow but also local, ethnic restaurants. They seem to be even in the smallest of towns and practically every Indian, Nepalese, Ethiopian, Chinese and Thai restaurant has vegan options.

What is your summer adventure going to be?

Thanks so much for reading!

A vegan blogger's conference?

Oh yeah!

The first time I read about Vida Vegan Con was just before I decided to create The Gay Vegans.  As a new blogger I am always looking at opportunities for meeting other bloggers and learning about blogging. I went to the blogger's reception at Creating Change last year and walked out with so many ideas I had to run to my hotel room to write them all down.

I don't know the people who created Vida Vegan Con and I don't know why they created this conference. Yet I think it's a spectacular idea!

Yep. I'm going! On July 1st they sold some early-bird tickets and I was lucky to get one. Now I have many months to be excited about meeting bloggers I have only communicated with online face to face.

As a new blogger I have found a ton of support out there. So many people ready to give an idea, suggest a change, talk about their experiences. It's a wonderful world. I remember reading about how amazing Vida Vegan Con 2011 was, it just wasn't my time to go.

2013 is the year.

And you guessed it: I'll be road-tripping! Denver to Portland! So much time to plan. And workout. With all of the incredible food at the conference, in Portland, and in Salt Lake City (one of my for sure stops during the road trip, I will be eating A LOT! Time to prepare for that now!

I'm not sure how many registrations will be available for Vida Vegan Con 2013. I highly recommend going. Or sponsoring. Imagine getting your vegan product, idea, or business in front of hundreds of vegan bloggers! Holy Cow! I'm sure they have some sponsorship space available and I'm also pretty sure they sell vendor space. Maybe I'll find my next favorite vegan food there!

I will keep you posted as I make my plans.

Thank you for reading! If you are going to Vida Vegan Con or have attended another blogger conference I should know about, please let me know: vegandude@msn.com

For more information on Vida Vegan Con: http://vidavegancon.com/ or click the link on our blog!

Vegan paradise in Michigan

Mike and I had a surprise waiting for us when we got to Michigan.

Picture this. If you are vegan, you have probably experienced this. A friend or relative says that they have been to a restaurant where "you can eat" and that you would love it. Having experienced this before and not being impressed with being able to order a chef's salad without the meat and cheese, you're thinking "sure".

This is what Mike and I were thinking when we walked into Heather's for lunch in downtown Bay City, MI.

Boy were we wrong!

Heather's is a vegan paradise right in the middle of Michigan. Well, sort of in the middle. Downtown Bay City is just ten minutes east of I75, and about two hours north of Detroit.

When we first saw the menu I smiled as I read about the vegan seitan pot pie. Oh my! That's what I ordered the first time and all I can say is delish! The side I ordered was a butternut squash delight with pecans and brown sugar. Incredible. Mike got the vegan BLT with homemade vegan bacon and homemade vegan mayo. What more can I say?

The second time we went for dinner, which they serve Fridays and Saturdays. Other days of the week they only serve breakfast (including vegan pancakes and French Toast!) and lunch. For dinner they have two vegan and two non-vegan specials, plus the lunch and breakfast menu offerings.  This time Mike got the vegan pot pie and I got the vegan special which was Beef Stroganoff. I loved it. My uncle got the soup which he loved. They have a vegan soup every day.

The most incredible of a totally incredible experience was the dessert. Both times I ordered the Peanut Butter Brownie Crust Vanilla Pie. I just can't write enough about this, or tell you how absolutely delish it was. I will dream about it. Their desserts change but they typically have five or six vegan desserts. Mike got the banana cake and it was crazy good.

Finally, as we left Bay City we stopped by for breakfast. One of the staff told us that vegan cinnamon rolls had just come out of the oven. Oh my. They were incredible.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner. We covered them all. All were amazing.

If you are a long-term reader of ours you might know that for me, friendly service is critical in a restaurant experience. I am long past going to a vegan or veg or veg friendly restaurant just to be treated like crap or left feeling like I was in the way or not good enough (or cool enough) to dine there. Every person we encountered at Heather's, including Heather, was beyond friendly, kind, hospitable and helpful. We felt like we were being welcomed into a special place for sure.

Heather's is not exclusively vegan. They serve meat dishes. Their vegan dishes take up a good part of their menu.

We would travel hours to go back. We highly recommend Heather's to anyone who wants to be blown away by delicious, fresh food and incredibly friendly service. They could use your support, too. It's not easy being a vegan haven in the middle of Michigan.

Heather's is at 205 3rd Street in downtown Bay City. Their phone is 989.402.1116.

Thanks for reading. I would love your feedback. My email is vegandude@msn.com