Restaurant review: One Veg World in Pasadena

I am ecstatic to write this review!

One Veg World in Pasadena is pretty close to where we live and has become a constant in our lives. The food is perfect for us and the staff bring a level of hospitality and kindness that is rare in the restaurant world these days.

One Veg World in Pasadena is the sister restaurant to One Veg World in West Covina. It opened in July of 2015 and recently began serving breakfast. My review is based mainly on breakfast as it is my favorite meal and there are not a lot of vegan breakfast options around. Or I should say vegan breakfast options on the level of One Veg World.

First, they have donuts! They are delicious. All yeast-raised with either plain glazed, chocolate, cinnamon-sugar or chocolate vanilla. I know from experience that if you love donuts you will love these. I have indulged in many of them!

My next favorite would be the sausage breakfast muffin. They have several types of breakfast muffins and this one is my favorite. You can get it alone or as a combo, which means you can get Vietnamese coffee and garlic kale alongside if you wish. The garlic kale is dreamy. I can't think of another word. If you decide to get the breakfast muffin, it comes with ketchup on it so if you don't like ketchup for breakfast (like me) ask for it without the ketchup.

One Veg World has other options for breakfast, including a delicious tofu scramble.

We have also been for dinner and the cauliflower hot wings are delicious as are the tacos and the zesty serendipity dishes. They also have a lunch buffet Monday through Friday.

As you know, I rate restaurants based on food and service. The staff at One Veg World set the standard for kindness and hospitality. They welcome each customer and bring a refreshing amount of hospitality to the restaurant world. I simply cannot say enough about every single staff member I have encountered.

Go. Dine. Relax. Have a donut. Enjoy a meal. If you live in the area even better. If not, they are located just south of the 210 at the Lake exit. Go south, make a left on Colorado and they will be on the right.

Here is their website for more information: One Veg World

Thanks for reading!

Crappy vegan food is bad for veganism

I have always loved this line. I heard it when in a session at Vida Vegan Con II in Portland, Oregon two years ago. I was in a session to learn about writing restaurant reviews given by Grant Butler, a columnist with The Oregonian.

It has stayed with me ever since and I consider it every time I write a restaurant review.

I have thought of it a lot since moving to the Los Angeles area while we experience so many new vegan opportunities. Having been to LA many times, we've known that this is a vegan food mecca. Living here is different, as new experiences pop up almost every day.

There have been some eating experiences that have blown us away, where we find us like at each other going "oh my goodness!".

And then there have been experiences that were not so mind blowing. 

On the top of my list was a dessert Mike and I saw. We both instantly drooled. Anticipation was very high as the server brought it to our table. Then utter disappointment. It was dry and not very tasty.

We have had several moments like this. We read reviews, we get excited, we drive way out of our way to try a restaurant and then we are presented with food that is average, and in some cases not good on any level.

How can this change? I'm starting with this post. At the restaurant where the dessert was a huge disappointment, I took the server aside and gave very honest feedback. I wouldn't do a restaurant review based on just one experience.

I think it is vastly important that we let restaurants know when their food is sub-par. Of course food is very personal, but if you get something that is totally off base, let the folks know.

I think about someone who wants to try a vegan meal and gets crappy food, and how that affects not only veganism but the animals as well.

Thanks for reading!

Restaurant review: Modern Love in Omaha

I was able to stop in Omaha on my way back from Michigan and boy am I glad I did. The newest (I think) vegan restaurant in the U.S., Modern Love, opened on August 5th right in the middle of beef country. And I got to go!

Isa Chandra Moskowitz is a well-known name in the vegan and foodie communities. She created Post Punk Kitchen and is the author of several incredible vegan cookbooks, including one of my all-time favorites, "Vegan Brunch". She is the chef/owner of Modern Love, and knowing how many incredible meals Mike has made from her cookbooks, I just had to dine there while in Omaha. To be honest, it's the only reason I decided to make Omaha a stopping point on my way home.

Modern Love is located just a few minutes drive west of downtown Omaha. I had an airbnb in the north part of downtown and it took me ten minutes driving. As I parked I practically exploded with excitement. I am not a food blogger or recipe creator or anything like that, but I sure do love amazing vegan food. And I just knew that my world was about to be rocked.

Modern Love is cute. And clean. And packed. It seats about 30 - 40 and has an open kitchen. The hostess was kind and seated me immediately. A friendly face upon arrival is always nice.

I also got to say hi to Isa upon arrival. I met her once, last year at Vida Vegan Con II, and was thrilled to see her and congratulate her.  Her kindness and hospitality made me feel right at home.

As did the kindness and hospitality of my server. As you know, service is half of the equation for me while dining out and he rocked it.

I started with the jalapeño corn fritters. Not surprisingly, before they arrived I had already struck u a conversation with the lovely couple seated next to me. So when the fritters were all of a sudden in front of me and I took my first bite, I realized that I had to pace myself and not totally freak out my new acquaintances. I ended up savoring every bite. The corn was crunchy. The jalapeños not overpowering. Perfect in my mind.

I ordered the Mac & Shews for my entree. It was a tough choice for me as I also wanted the Seitan Marsala. Stephanie, my new acquaintance next door, had ordered that and was loving it. Mac & Shews it was and soon a steaming bowl filled with pecan crusted tofu, creamy cashew cheese, braised kale with okra and BBQ cauliflower arrived at my table.

I thought that I would like the mac n cheese the best. Not surprisingly, having experience with Isa's recipes, I found that I honestly loved all parts of this dish equally, maybe delighting in the okra a tiny bit more than the others. The flavors were crazy delicious. And they all came together perfectly. I took my time with this dish. I was in ecstasy.

The menu is small, and I love that. Four choices for an entree, and as I wrote earlier the decision amongst entrees is not an easy one. Everything is prepared in-house.

Dessert. I ordered the raspberry cheesecake. I have been on an 18-year quest to find the perfect vegan cheesecake. My mission is now complete. Perfect crust. Perfect flavor. Perfect texture. Once again I found myself taking my time. Oh my.

I wanted to order more to give readers a more inclusive review but I just couldn't eat anything else. Everything I look for in a dining experience went way above my high expectations. I wasn't surprised by this, just happy about it.

Go to Omaha. From Denver it is an easy seven hour drive. You gain an hour driving into Central time zone. Omaha is also an easy drive from many other cities in the Midwest. You can make your dinner reservation here. At this time Modern Love is open Tuesday through Saturday from 4pm - 10pm.

I can't stop here. If you are traveling to Omaha and need a place to spend the night, I highly recommend Brent's loft in the north part of downtown Omaha. Affordable, comfortable, clean, and convenient. Brent is super friendly and kind. This is a room, not his entire place. I loved it. Check it out here.

Thanks for reading!

Restaurant review - Detroit Vegan Soul

I recently had to go back to my home state for a family funeral and had the opportunity to go check out Detroit's thriving vegan scene.

Yes, Detroit.

And yes, thriving.

This post was going to be about that scene but it has become all about one place: Detroit Vegan Soul. I enjoyed my time here so much that I need a whole post just for them! I will write a future post about Detroit in general.

My interest was peaked while speaking with one of the owners of The Lunch Room in Ann Arbor (where I was staying and about 45 minutes from Detroit) who told me about Detroit Vegan Soul. I had read about them and am connected with them on Twitter, but I hadn't considered checking them out.

Later that afternoon I called to see what the dress was (casual) and asked about traffic. My conversation ended up being with one of the owners  and she was SO friendly. Because of her friendliness I just had to go, and off I went.

Detroit definitely has it's problems and you see a lot of them while driving to Detroit Vegan Soul. Then all of a sudden you turn a corner and you encounter an oasis of different businesses that includes Detroit Vegan Soul.

I walked in and was immediately greeted by staff, very friendly staff. If you have ever read any of my restaurant reviews you know that staff hospitality is important to me. I was ecstatic to be there. The restaurant was alive with almost a full house and lots of conversations going on.

I started with the Collard Green Spring Rolls which apparently are quite popular. I now know why. They are delicious and a great start to any meal.

I should mention here that the women who own Detroit Vegan Soul started with a food truck. When they opened the restaurant there was a line down the block.

I know why.  My server was friendly and helpful. He suggested, as it was my first time, to try the Soul Platter. Oh my. I loved every bite. The mac n cheese and the yams didn't last long. And the collard greens! All I wanted to do was savor ever bite. And I wasn't alone. I watched as other customers were loving what they had ordered. I just wanted to ask for the menu back and order another dish, but I also had to leave room for dessert. Dessert was Snickerdoodle cake, and I loved it. But keep in mind that the cake changes.

The menu is intense, and I just can't give it justice as I didn't try that many items. I can only imagine how delicious the Okra Stew or the Catfish Tofu are! I am salivating thinking about this place as I write, thinking of what I would order if Mike and I could go for dinner tonight.

I did get to meet the owners, and meeting Kirsten and Erika was truly one of the highlights of my entire trip. I can't wait to see them again and to enjoy more meals at Detroit Vegan Soul. Check them out here.

Finally, I just have to let you know about this photo in the bathroom. It gave me pause. It's hard to see because I didn't catch it in the right light, but the word "History" is etched over the photo.

If you are familiar with Detroit, Detroit Vegan Soul is just a couple of blocks north of Jefferson at Van Dyke. Not too far from Belle Isle.

Detroit Vegan Soul
8029 Agnes Street
Detroit, MI  48214
313.649.2759

Thanks for reading!

Restaurant review - Pho Fusion in NW Denver

I have never written a negative restaurant review. I began writing restaurant reviews about two years or so ago when I decided that I wanted to brag about the places we love where we live and the places we discovered while traveling. Last year I decided to expand and started going to restaurants that I perceived as vegan-friendly and reviewing them.

Just in case this is your first time reading my blog here is important information on my review process: I have to have dined at the restaurant at least three times (I haven't always stuck to this, especially when traveling, but I do believe it's important to not review a restaurant based on one visit) and my review is based on incredible vegan food and amazing service.

Pho Fusion is an Asian restaurant on the way home from my work. I have dropped in a few times over the years. I have never been impressed with the food but dropped by once again recently out of pure convenience. I was in charge of dinner and had no clue, so just dropped in.

I have learned that Pho Fusion is Vietnamese cuisine. I learned this because once again when asking for vegan options I ended up speaking with someone who should not be in customer service, or who should have an owner-approved, kind message that lets folks know that they do not wish to have vegan customers.

I get it. I don't expect that every restaurant wants our business.

I was told that Asian cuisine was not vegan friendly in general after making the statement that I wished their menu was more vegan friendly. After my reply, the gentleman clarified that perhaps it was just Vietnamese cuisine that was not vegan friendly.

I should add that this guy was done with me the second I said that I did not want to order the two choices he gave me: hot and sour soup and fried rice (done vegan for me). I wanted dinner!

After acknowledging that the tofu they serve is vegan, and conferring with someone in the kitchen, he told me I could order the pad Thai with tofu. Done. I paid, tipped him (crazy, but I live up to the gay stereotype of being good tippers and I know I need to work on that) and waited for my to go order.

You can see where this is going. Well maybe not. I got my order, left, arrived home, told Mike how infuriated I was with this gentleman at Pho Fusion, and then we ate.

The vegan version of their pad Thai was delicious. We both enjoyed it. As I finished mine I realized there was a piece of chicken it, and as much as I dislike that I know mistakes happen in busy kitchens.

The bottom line for me is that kindness rules. If you cannot be kind to a customer then reconsider your employment in a job that puts you in front of people all of the time. And from a restaurant owner/manager perspective, if you don't want to offer vegan cuisine that's fine. Just say so. Let folks know that.

I would recommend to the folks at Pho Fusion that they incorporate a couple of vegan dishes, entrees, to their menu. They obviously have people in the kitchen who rock at making delicious vegan food.

I'm sure at this point of the post you are ready for the review. Here it is.

I won't go back to Pho Fusion. If I ever hear that they have embraced the idea of serving vegan food with a hassle then I might try it again. The deal for me is that there are so many restaurants that gladly and enthusiastically serve delicious vegan food that with better planning on my part there is simply no need to go to Pho Fusion again.

Thanks for reading.

Suggestions on being a vegan-friendly restaurant

I thought a bit about the title of this post. I kept going back to wanting to take the word vegan out of it. Most of my suggestions would make any restaurant more guest-friendly. As I am vegan and hope to have more friendly dining experiences at non-vegan restaurants, I finally decided to keep the title as it is.

We have our favorite restaurants and still find ourselves going to new places (new for us) as we find out about a place through friends or online.

If you own a restaurant, manage a restaurant, or have any interest in making a particular restaurant more friendly to potential diners, you might find this list helpful. These are obviously only my opinions, and they are based on how I want to feel when dining out.

If you don't care about vegan cuisine or about having a great place for vegan customers, or if your restaurant is already filled every day and night and you are already as profitable as you want to be, then there is no need to read this.

Here we go!

First, and this one is so important, please, please, please have your entire staff trained on the menu. If someone serving me food doesn't know what is in the food, I become concerned. If it is impossible for your entire staff to know if a dish is vegan or not, then I suggest an ingredients book that they can look at to see if a particular dish is vegan. This is also very helpful with allergies and folks who eat gluten-free. My dining experience becomes so much better when I can trust the server, and a server trained around all of the menu items is one I can trust.

Cream is not vegan. Nor is half-n-half. Training all staff on what is vegan is incredibly helpful. Even better is marking any items that are vegan or that can be prepared vegan. So helpful.

Keep your bathrooms clean. Seriously.

If at all possible, post your menu online. If you have an incredibly popular vegan dish on the menu, let people know that.

Back to training. I am quite comfortable being vegan. I don't talk about it all of the time. I mention it in a restaurant because I want to ensure I can get my dish prepared vegan. I'm not interested in if the server had been vegan, if the server loves cheese, or if the server can't imagine being vegan. This is my dining experience, not theirs.

Unfortunately many vegans have had so much bad luck with ordering vegan, being very clear, and then getting a dish with dairy or some meat stock in it. The result is that they tell the serve they are allergic to dairy, or meat, or whatever. I'd love a restaurant that because of a well-trained staff this was not necessary.

I am vegan. This simply means that I do not eat animal flesh or any by-product of an animal. Including honey. I do not have a restrictive diet. If asked by a server if I have any food restrictions I will typically say that I do not want any crappy food, that I prefer fresh, creative dishes. That's my only restriction. Of course for those folks who have a real allergy (Mike is allergic to almonds) then this is where one would inform the server of the allergy.

Kindness rules. Unkind people should not be hosts or servers. Period.

There you have it. I guarantee that if your restaurant considers what I have just written here, you will not only increase your customer base but you will inevitably delight those same people.

Thanks for reading!

Restaurant review - WaterCourse Foods

For those of you new to my restaurant reviews, my reviews are based on delicious vegan food and on great service. Both are equally important to me.

Two weeks ago WaterCourse Foods announced that they had become an all-vegan restaurant. After 16 years of being a vegetarian restaurant, they introduced this idea to their staff on a Monday morning and introduced an incredible, new menu to the public shortly afterwards.

Prior to that Monday, I can count on one hand the amount of times I had been to WaterCourse in the past six years. Since that Monday, I have been four times. I have been twice with Mike and twice on my own. Between the two dinners and the two lunches, I have tried many of the new items. All of this is to say that my review is based on good, solid research.

Note: Before I stopped frequenting WaterCourse, I was quite the regular and WaterCourse was a huge part of my life. They even catered our wedding in 2005. 

Also for new readers, I do not review a restaurant until I have dined there at least three times. This makes sure I can make a fair review.

I love WaterCourse milk shakes. Love them. Great flavors, and now you can order one with just the glass filled (with no extra) which makes me feel better. Definitely try a milkshake.

Mike and I both LOVE the new cauliflower wings. They are delicious, flavorful, and not as filling as seitan wings.

New items include the jack fruit tacos. I highly recommend these. More flavor and great taste. The new deviled eggs are delicious as well. They are purple, which seems to be a turn off for some people but if you can get past that you'll be pleasantly surprised with the flavor.

Breakfast is served all day. I have loved the Amsterdam Hash since it was first on a menu and I still do. Now it comes in its own cast iron pan!

There are many new dinner entrees, including chicken and waffles! The Monti pasta is still on the menu and I had that last night. Loved it.

 I don't drink but noticed they have a good selection of beer and wine as well as pitchers of Sangria and Mimosas.

They all have fresh juices available.

I have many times not returned to a restaurant because of poor service. There came a point in my life when I was done with having to apologize to a server for getting in their way by showing up for a meal. Service is crucial.

All four times I was at WaterCourse in the past two weeks the service was incredible. Friendly, quick, attentive and the server even recommended favorite items. Several folks have told me recently that they stopped going to WaterCourse because of the poor service. To all of them I say it's OK to go back. If you get treated anywhere close to how I have been treated, you will be delighted. Of the four servers I have had, all rocked it. If I were to pick one that you could ask for, I'd go with Nathan.

Finally, I noticed that their price points had lowered. I think everything is priced fairly and I think WaterCourse is pretty affordable.

I so enjoy WaterCourse Foods now that I added them to my list of favorite places to eat in Denver on our blog.

Check them out. Even if you had sworn them off, check them out. You won't regret it, I promise.

For hours, go to their website at watercoursefoods.com

Thank you for reading! 

VeganMofo Day 15: I love Mexican food!

 My love for Mexican food is today's subject for my post for Vegan Mofo, a month of vegan food blog posts. Since I am not a food blogger, most of my posts for Vegan Mofo will not be recipes, rather experiences I have with vegan food and sharing people, places and things that have brought me and continue to bring me amazing vegan food.

If you are a regular reader of The Gay Vegans blog, then you already know that I love Mexican food and that my favorite place for amazing vegan Mexican food in Denver is Tarascos.

Mmmmm. I am salivating just thinking about it. When I first became vegan there were very few Mexican restaurants that made any of their re-fried beans without lard. It's a lot easier these days. My experience is also that if a place has lard in their re-fried beans, they might offer whole beans as an option.

The wonderful thing about living in Denver, and probably many other places, is that as vegans we really don't have to settle for just a plain bean or bean and rice burrito. Thank goodness.

My favorite meal at Tarascos is the enchiladas espinacas, spinach enchiladas. So delicious. Add in fresh-made guacamole and an agua fresca made with fresh fruits (and maybe fresh veggies) and you are good to go.

Sopa Tarasca is also one of my favorites, just a simple bean soup with flavors that will drive your taste buds crazy!

It's easy to not remember that Mexico is as diverse as the US, probably more so. This means the food options just go on and on. What I have listed are just some of my favorites, dishes I eat all of the time. I would love to hear about your favorite vegan Mexican dishes!

Thanks for reading!

Restaurant review - Hops and Pie

Mike and I were at a fundraiser a couple of weeks ago and sat with a sweet couple who were also vegan. Our conversation turned to food (imagine that) and they started telling us about a relatively new place in town called Hops and Pie. Being that it is on the west side of town (where we live) we were excited about their excitement.

Friday night and there was a 20 minute wait. They texted us when our table was ready. The wait gave us time to walk around the Tennyson shops. The woman and server who greeted us both when we first arrived and when we returned for our table were amazingly kind and friendly, and if you have read past revues you know how important that is to us.

Beer and pizza. They have a lot of beer. I'm not a drinker and Mike doesn't drink beer, but it seemed like everyone else in the place (which was packed) was enjoying one of the beer offerings.

Our new friends had told us about the pizza. Before we could get to that we saw the vegan mac n cheese appetizer. Seriously. How could we pass that up. We didn't pass it up and as soon as it came out we devoured it. Tasty, with many flavors, including miso. It was a great way to start our experience at Hops and Pie.

There are a lot of pizza options. I meant to order a hand-tossed, wheat crust pizza but with my excitement with all of the other toppings I forgot. The toppings we ordered were smoked tofu, Sicilian seitan, mushroom, onions, whole garlic cloves with Daiya cheese.

Our pizza was delicious. We will play around with toppings next time and order the hand-tossed dough (per our new friends recommendation). It was such a great experience to enjoy great vegan pizza in a busy, bar-like atmosphere. And close to home for us.

The service side was great too. Tayler was attentive, always kept our water glasses full, was kind and checked in enough to make sure all was well.

We will definitely be back! If you like the kind of atmosphere I described, I highly recommend Hops and Pie. They are located at 3920 Tennyson Street in the Highlands part of NW Denver. For you beer lovers, Wednesday night is $2 craft can night from 5pm - close.

Thank you for reading and if you go to Hops and Pie please let us know what you think!