Currently viewing the tag: "bakery"
On the way to the farm we stopped at a new all-vegan bakery in Verona, New Jersey: Cupcraze. As per usual, when visiting an out-of-state bakery, I have to get at least 2 cupcakes. I chose this one above, their delicious banana split cupcake, and I am glad that I did. The moise banana cupcake was sprinkled with chocolate chips, topped with a smooth vanilla buttercream, chocolate drizzle and a maraschino cherry.
I had to also taste their festive chocolate cupcake with the subtly green buttercream and a fondant ghost. I never had vegan fondant! This was a nice, sweet bite that energized me after the drive back down state, before evening festivities.
And of course, a chocolate chip cookie. I have to always try a bakery’s chocolate chip cookie. I am happy to report that these cookies were spot-on vegan replicas of Linden’s cookies, a favorite of mine growing up.
Requisite shot of the bakery display case. So pretty…
Cupcraze is just a few weeks old. Check them out if you’re in their area and give them your support. They have plenty of gluten-free options and a great selection of delicious cupcake favorites.
And after the farm we had to hit the amazing Garden Cafe on the Green, Woodstock, NY’s all-vegan cafe. I have been hitting this spot for years now and it is always impresses. They do their simple dishes well, with love, care and attention to detail. We sprung for the quesadillas. These are really elevated quesadillas: not oily and over-stuffed with wet veggies. The olive is all you need… and guacamole, salsa and a dab of sour cream [store-bought].
My entree: The Fall Vegetable–Wild & Brown Rice Saute with Brussels, crispy tempeh with red wine mushroom sauce, a heavenly butternut squash terrine with pistachio gravy and sauteed kale and cabbage. Perfect bite of autumn.
Here is a gorgeous shop of the trees of Harriman, New York. I love autumn in New York!
X’s to O’s Vegan Bakery is the capitol area’s only all-vegan bakery.
Home to many-a delicious sweet treats, the ladies at X’s to O’s serve up cupcakes, donuts, Twinkie-like cakes, whoopie pies, as well as smoothies and now brunch… which means I will definitely will be back! I order a bagful of goodies while dropping v-bombs with the countergal. {She knew all the hot spots and gave me a great recommendation for a local peanut butter maker, Peanut Principal.} Let’s look closer at their awesome vegan treats…
Yes, variety is the vegan buttercream of life.
I just had to get the tiramisu cupcake. For me, tiramisu is like the tempeh reuben of the cupcake world… I have to order it when I see it. And look how lovely it looks. The cake was spongey and bottom-soaked in coffee. The icing completed it just perfectly. What a cupcake dreamboat!
Some other beauties.
I’ll be back X’s to O’s! You were the perfect dessert course to my quick Albany excursion. xo, V.V.
I can count the times I’ve been above 34th street this year on my thumb and index finger creating a big “0″… but today I ventured uptown, on the east side, to have a sweet bite from a newly opened bakery. Vegan Divas Bakery, a health-minded baker supplying NYC with sweets since 2010 (check out my shot of their yummy caramel pecan brownie here), opened their very own storefront on the Upper East Side. And nothing gets this gal more excited than “all” and “vegan” hanging around a hyphen. Here’s my report.
Vegan Divas is a health-orientated vegan bakery. The menus posted outside boast the low calorie counts for each of Head Baker & Founder Helene Safdie’s delectable treats. Although I am not one to feign guilt over eating decadent treats being the ravenous glutton that I am, I understand that there is a real need for healthier eating options across the board… and that many are vegan for health reasons. That being said, Helene’s treats are delicious and healthier than many of the Manhattan’s baked good options. They hit the sweet notes on target but also feel clean and vibrant, a testament to the quality of the minimal ingredients she uses. 
So the helpful young man at the counter gave me some advice and I selected my goodies: a chocolate-glazed donut, a coconut vanilla-glazed donut, and a deep, dark, rich chocolate brownie. Each were yum-yum: cakey and Earthy but with a sweet punch. While I sat photographing my goodies, another man offered me a free cup of their soft serve! It was a tofu-based ginger vanilla ice cream topped with coconut and nuts. The ginger flavor was subtle and unexpected. I am curious what other flavors they have coming down the pipeline. 
The donut spread. There are minis up top that I cut off in the excitement of wanting to sit and eat my plate of treats.
Besides what’s pictured they also have fresh squeezed juice and some breakfast items, as well as cakes, cookies, and muffins. I will certainly be back to sample the rest of their goodies. Thanks Vegan Divas and best of luck!
I have traveled many a-mile to eat vegan food. A tradition that began 15 years ago when I went vegan still living with mom and dad here on Long Island. I used to drive to East Setauket to go to Wild By Nature. Two hours round trip in my 1981 Chevy Citation that was prone to overheating. Food that I could enjoy was well-worth it. And the stocked mini-fridge in my bedroom kept my goodies safe and separate. Since my early vegan roots, I’ve branched out significantly, finding vegan eats all other this great country and beyond. So I was pleasantly surprised and intrigued learning of Sweet To Lick, a Long Island based vegan bakery stelling goodies right here where I grew up. Besides being easier to find, vegan eats, especially baked goodies, have come a long way. Since I don’t think I’ve griped about since 2008, I’m going to do it again right now… inspired by the deliciousness of Sweet To Lick, a Long Island born and bred vegan, just like me.
Sweet To Lick’s stand at the Lynbrook Farmers Market, every Thursday.
The most important element to a vegan baked good is texture. There I said it. Whipping up a super-sugary buttercream and piping it on a wet sponge or a dry brick, and it’s largely still edible. But it’s not delicious. Texture stands as the determinant of true deliciousness. It is important in any baked good, but in vegan baking, more so as it is seemingly more difficult to achieve as evident by the many dry/dense bites I’ve sampled. The way your teeth find each other through a bite as they press the treat to your tongue–that is the most important sensation. How enticed your taste buds are comes after this experience. And I’ve found that it is the latter experience, the taste, where a treat becomes “pretty good.” After all, it’s rather easy to overcompensate for bad texture with sweet; processed food actually has most accustom to this, actually! Though I am a bit critical, it is kinda rare when texture and taste unite in the cause of knocking socks off. But Sweet To Lick did so… both with their cookies and their crumbcake.
The famous Ginger Ale Crumb Cake
Let’s look again at this beautiful piece of… cake. You can just see how great its texture is.
Taste: check! Texture: check! And an added bonus: creativity! Michael Sabet, Sweet To Lick’s head honcho, has raised the bar even higher. Besides mastering the traditional bites, creating a mere perfect chocolate chip cookie, he’s also got some very unique and playful flavor combinations. I bought the Elvis cookie made with fried banana and peanut butter. He also had chocolate cookie chip cookies, chocolate cookies with pieces of Oreo-type cookie inside!
I mentioned the chocolate chip cookies–the true measure of deliciousness. Sweet To Lick makes an amazing cho-cho chip cookie. Soft, subtle salt, not too many chips… perfecto. 
Find Sweet To Lick’s stuff around the Island and help push Michael Sabet into a storefront!
Ever since I saw the Philadelphia’s Memphis Taproom on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives and learned it had a couple of vegan options, I’ve been wanting to go. The draw? Their vegan “bacon”. Not a packaged meat analog but coconut. Smoked coconut, smoked in a smoker. This ingenious creation is used in their vegan B.L.T. and graces the plate on their tofu scramble, along with vegan blood sausage. And one gorgeous day, CandyPenny and I were there to give it a try.
The Vegan Rooster. A moist tofu scramble, two chunks of the deceivingly light vegan blood sausage, a pile of smoked coconut bacon, some potato wedges and toast. Spot on! Though it may look like any other scramble, the Memphis Taproom does it much better: with housemade accompaniments and extra points for creativity. I cleaned my plate. After all, we had a bit of a drive and were hungry. I was a bit concerned the portion would not satisfy at first. But it was the perfect amount of food.
With some time to kill before our dinner reservation, the gorgeous unseasonably potent sun out and the guise of coming to Philadelphia with any other reason other than eating stripped, we took a quick detour to Bethlehem, home of the famous Vegan Treats!
There was so much to choose from. A slew of adorable personal cakes, danishes, cannoli, cheesecakes–My goodness! I have never seen a more impressive bakery case. Vegan or not. Hands…down.
I got the gorgeous and nostalgic Funfetti mini-layer cake and had a quick photo shoot with it before my first bite. It was nice to see other patrons snapping pictures of their beautiful selections as well.
More fun on the inside. Vegan Treats sure can whip up decadent delights in many shapes and forms. The delicious treat hit the spot and helped us through the hours until our next meal.
This was it. The reason for our trip: Vedge, Philadelphia new vegan fine dining spot from former Horizons owners (you remember Horizons, don’t you?) The vegetable-based menu looked downright heavenly and, though we were stuffed with sweets and scrambles, we were ready.
Firstly, Vedge sells plates and the house recommends 3-4 to make a full meal. It would save the wait staff a good portion of time if the menu and website indicated this. That being said, the plates are assembled to perfection, shaking your taste buds’ hands at first and then leaving them panting and lusting for more in the end. Vedge knows food. Knows how to combine it to produce pleasure. Wow. Did I mention my first plate? Layers of gold beets, smoked tofu, avocado and capers next to a puddle of cucumber dill sauce and a toasted wedge of pumpernickel. My only critique was that the capers were too many. An easy fix.
My second plate was one off of “The Dirt List”, their farm vegetable sides: Brussels, shaved and grilled with smoked mustard
This was my main plate: a tender and light grilled seitan in black lentils and mushroom topped with a creamy horseradish sauce and garnished with a pickled kohlrabi, a type of turnip. Utterly fantastic. Vedge, I will return. And next time I will be getting dessert.
Last minute low-ball bidding on Priceline is a skill I can add to my resume. Being V.I.V.B. (very important vegan bloggers), we needed a safe haven to recuperate from a long day of eating. Luckily, the boutique Indigo Hotel gave us a $100 room for about $50 bucks. After some restful sleep, an invigorating session in the sauna and some much needed exercise in the pool, we were ready for another day of eating.
For breakfast on a beautiful Saturday morning we stopped at Hibiscus in the bustling area of Kensington Market, a cute and hip neighborhood in downtown Toronto. I must admit that this was not our first choice for morning eats. We tried to go to Fressen for their brunch menu, which had me at “tofu omelette”, but they were closed. So Hibiscus it was. It was a delicious stop! I was thankful we were able to try this option, which otherwise would have not made the cut due to time restrictions.
Hibiscus is predominantly a creperie. Correction: predominantly a vegan creperie. To get more taste for our CAD, we split a sweet and a savory. Everything at Hibiscus; the crepes, coffee, sample treat by the register, ambiance and service; was great. Above is our savory crepe: Chutney, Pecan & Pear–a vegan pesto, fresh greens, sliced pear and pecan with some Daiya. It was more a sweet and savory crepe after a drizzle of agave and a sprinkle of cinnamon. So very good.
And the sweet! A Banana & {Vegan} Nutella–sliced banana, dark chocolate and hazelnuts, chocolate chips dusted with cocoa and powdered sugar. So. Darn. Good. Dare I say that there was a bit too much chocolate, however? There I said it. Both crepes had great texture, thin like a true crepe. [Not pancakes called crepes (worst offender: Caravan of Dreams: see here from my 2008 post)] Thanks, Hibiscus. Onward and outward, we cut across Toronto’s grid for our next sweet fix.
Bunners.
I’m going to say it again, Bunners. Bunners is an all-vegan and gluten-free bakery in The Junction in Toronto. Like the photo collage of my amazing cupcake above illustrates, they make a heavenly cupcake. I just couldn’t stop taking pictures of its pretty self. Then I bit it…
I have had a ton of vegan cupcakes in my lifetime. Bunners is up there as one of the best. Simply put, it’s got a great taste, scoring maximum cupcake points for a unique and nuanced flavor. Like Eco Bella Bakery in Rochester (post here), Bunners is not superficial sugarfest. There is a taste, there is texture and it’s their own recipe clearly. Their frosting is not a gritty pile of confectionary sugar. There is more to it. Overall, 5 stars on the cupcake scale.
Besides cupcakes, they’ve got a whole bunch of other baked goods like cinnamon buns, muffins, cookies and donuts.
Given I won’t soon be back in Toronto, I should have stocked up.
Thanks, Toronto! For the amazing vegan eats and for Jeff Mangum. Now it’s back to The States!
There’s a new all-vegan bakery in New York City. I repeat, there’s a new all-vegan bakery in New York City. Cowgirl’s Bakery in Manhattan’s East Village. And they are pretty impressive.
What would have two proud Brooklyn gals brave the bar-laden East Village during one of the drinkiest nights of the year? The prospect of better vegan options in our dear metropolis, that’s what! After Em sent the veg-crew Cowgirl‘s menu, I have been confused. (Why wasn’t I told about this? Who’s in charge? Eckhardt, Sir.) I was skeptical it was yet another location acting as a depot of vegan baked deliveries. But no, no, no. Cowgirl kicks vegan cupcake butt. More decadent than Babycakes and far better than any other local option. And I’ve tried ‘em all. For this first visit, I got the Cotton candy cupcakes and a green donut for St. Patty’s Day. Of important note is how good Cowgirl‘s frosting is… it’s sweet, very creamy yet light…. not a porous whipped buttercream that coats your mouth in shortening, not a overly-sweet and overly-piped headdress of grainy sugar, no. It was truly impressive. My cotton candy cupcake was not just pink, it tasted like cotton candy. Infused with organic flavorings, it captured the taste of nostalgia.
Cowgirl’s has a slew of creative and fun cupcake options, including the Coffee & Donuts cupcake that Ms. CP got. It is a coffee-flavored cake topped with a real mini vegan donut. Real donut, as in fried and greasy but clean at the same time. We were in heaven and happy that there was plenty of traffic in the bakery, which open a week or so ago. Besides cupcakes, donuts and cookies, Cowgirl’s serves hot food on the cheap. I am so glad there is a new option for homegrown vegan delights. I look forward to sampling other cupcakes and spreading word about this new fantastic bakery.
Strolling leisurely back to my apartment from the G train with none other than Ms. CandyPenny, we decided to turn around to check to see if Champ’s Family Bakery was any closer to opening its doors, offering Williamsburg its first all-vegan bakery. The last few times I had done a walk-by it was shackled up with no indication if they’d be honoring their loose opening date projection. As we walked towards its corner, past the old summer sidewalk Italian ladies, I noticed the fresh paint gleaming through the big windows… “It’s open!” I exclaimed with glee! CP and I were ecstatic to have stumbled upon Champ’s, which only opened its doors the day before.
The shiny new display cases were half empty but I reeled at the potential of their space in days to come, when they celebrate their grand opening this weekend. The treats they had were the standards: chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, pignoli cookies, berry and chocolate chip scones, hearty muffins, carrot cake cupcakes and a full-size carrot cake… plus rocky road. {I sound like Chunk listing off the flavors of ice cream.} I bought a jumbo rocky road cookie, elated to show my support for the new all-vegan spot. The counter gals were just as excited as I was as the small handful of eager customers drank it all in… It is safe to say that we were all food bloggers tracking vegan leads. CP noticed the Discerning Brute in attendance, confirmed by his thorough report posted yesterday.
The cookie was tasty, very similar to Isa’s rocky road base cookie in Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. Similarly, Champ’s cookie left an almond extract trail that lingered deliciously the whole walk home. It is unfortunate that vegan marshmallows don’t bake very well and transform into tacky and shiny wauds. They’re one of my favorite confections. I look forward to trying more treats from Champ’s as they broaden their offerings and veganize traditional bakery fare (danishes!) As an accomplished vegan baker in my own right/an outspoken guardian of the sanctity of vegan food for 10+ years, I say to Champ’s: Bring It On. Like you have in the world of sandwiches. I look forward to returning again and again and again…
Deep Thoughts: While I was driving south down the I-35 today, in the “road zone”, I began to think about… [wait for it]…human beings.
I began to think about how it was that a lower order of primates evolved to eventually have me sitting snug in a moving machine, barreling down a leg of this man-made intricate interstate system with a device playing digital musical files, reading and interpreting a multitude of semiotic systems, using tools–technology–to gratify all my whims as they arise: hotel reservations in Oklahoma City, checking in with my boyfriend in New York, conditioning the air around me, locomoting from state to state, city to city, mile to mile. I began to think of how amazed I am about… [wait for it]…life. That I am here and I am free and that I have the capacity to embrace being here and being free. No, it wasn’t the countless pro-life billboards (We are in the Bible Belt.), it wasn’t the delirium of thousands of miles under my own belt, it wasn’t too much coffee or that K2 “incense” I have been reading about in the news. It was a thought born of having thought everything else far more frivolous the past 12 days I have been on the road.
Breakfast: Cafe Seed, an all-vegan cafe in Kansas City that served me a perfect breakfast this morning. I hold that meal partly responsible for my elated state. My breakfast, the bacon-scramble tofu biscuit with potatoes and fruit, as well as the rest of the cafe’s weekend brunch menu, was straight-forward, unadorned, fundamental deliciousness… downright paradisiacal. Fueled by the cafe’s distinct energy of rebellion and activism (complemented by the Afrocentric art and photography about its walls), I was reminded that my veganism is a deliberate act, a conscious decision based on justice, fairness and principle. Eating at a place that makes this connection feels good. …Aaannnd they also had the best coffee I’ve had in all of my trip so far.
Cafe Seed’s biscuit, a real biscuit… not a roll or a dense cake… but that distinguished biscuit texture, was filled with a fabulous tofu scramble. This is the kind of scramble I love. It wasn’t overly crumbly and held together, not too yeasty and hippy-like. Place some salty vegan bacon on top (packaged, not sure which brand) and there it is. Making use of their delicious jam, the sandwich was smeared on all sides. A good serving of potatoes (or “nature’s prozac,” says CP) and some fresh fruit. That’ll hold me for 3 hours or so… until we reach our lunch destination.
Lunch. I don’t know how I found this place but wow. Wichita, Kansas’s all-vegan (my favorite compound word) d’Sozo is only about a month old but Executive Chef Miguel Larcher’s vision is fully developed. The huge space houses a natural foods store, a full-service cafe including a buffet and bakery, a juice and smoothie bar and plenty of room for seating. The extensive menu includes sandwiches, pizza, soups, crepes…. uh, vegan crepes!!! All food is the result of Chef Miguel’s extensive culinary background (read up on it here or take my word that the man has years of prestigious international training in vegan cuisine).
My crepe choice, the Asparagus Petite Crêpe [asparagus, béchamel sauce, pimento and fresh parsley] was a absolutely wonderful taste of savory French cuisine. I have had several vegan crepes in my travels (Atlas Cafe‘s in New York City and River House Creperie in Seattle come to mind) and none of them have been truly crepes. This was a crepe, a scrumptious and flavorful one stuffed with even more scrumptiousness and flavor. On the side, some more natural prozac, enormous wedges of seasoned potato. 
The Chef, who we had the pleasure of talking vegan with, offered us complimentary slices of his cheesecake. Much like the crepe, I have had several slices of vegan cheesecake in my day… nothing quite as delicately decadent and authentic in texture as his. Most vegan cheesecakes are dense bricks of ground nut or cold, gelatinous globs. This cheesecake I’d eat again and again… and again.
Here is Chef Miguel, who graciously allowed us to snap some shots. We had to! d’Sozo was a very special and unique find on our vegan roadtrip and I am happy to sing its high praises. And look, he even reads my blog! (Actually, I forced him to.) 
Wow. I am amazed by the last few days of eating. The last two weeks actually. It makes me so happy that there are vegan eateries popping up coast-to-coast, vegan eateries with a love for fresh and flavorful with innovative and creative menus… it does my heart and belly good.
After a strenuous drive back east on I-70, succumbing to the erratic weather fits of the land’s high elevation, we arrived back in Denver, Colorado, a quick stop-over on our route into the Great Plains. I will happily bid the Rockies a fond farewell and look forward to the flatlands. This trip has brought, thus far, a balance of city and nature, decadence and humility, sweet and savory… After 9 days and adding over 3,000 miles on the Ford Focus, I am officially “in the zone”, a minor detail on our great country’s interstate system. But with only about 4 days left, the itinerary is beginning to wind down. I welcome back real life, static life. I want to peer out my 2nd story window in Brooklyn… and to stop eating so much. But let us return briefly to the food I am eating:
We headed to Denver’s Capitol Hill area for a late dinner after settling in at our swanky Holiday Inn. Resisting the easy convenience of the Panera Bread in the cluster of chains across from the hotel, we decided on City O’ City, Watercourse Foods‘ sister cafe in the bustling hipster area. This place really reels ‘em in and we experienced our first wait to be seated. After exploring the block and peering through the window of Watercourse’s bakery space next door, we were called for our table. I knew what I wanted because I had studied the menu at the hotel room… The Sherman, “Carolina dry rub bbq tofu”, coleslaw and pickles on focaccia. Let me tell you about this tofu as the City O’ City and Watercourse family deserve high praises for their handling of seitan and tofu. It was so scrumptious: texture and flavor spot-on. They know how to work with it and infuse as much flavor as possible. Tofu on this delicious sandwich had enough heat to make my nose run, the texture… pseudostratified.
Let me say a bit more about Watercourse Bakery, which supplies City O’ City and Watercourse with all their vegan baked goods. They are, literally, the icing on the cake. With fun and decadent creations, like the Ho-Ho below, Watercourse’s family of vegan deliciousness ranks Denver’s veg-friendliness sky-high. Their food, both the sweet and the savory, are top-notch in the comfort food category far better than many eateries who attempt this back in New York. Go Watercourse!
Since morning had brought another opportunity to eat and Watercourse has amazing breakfast dishes, why the heck not go one last time? After all, I had a long ways to Kansas City and it looked as if America’s heartland hadn’t much in its center. So Watercourse it was. I ordered the Peasant Sandwich, a yummy tofu scramble with basil pesto on soy-buttered toast, served with homefries and a fruit cup. There, there… all ready to drive into state number 7!
Onward into Kansas. It would be a day of driving, easy driving. It was odd how quickly Denver’s highways slimmed down to 2 lanes and its peaks turned into flatlands. The bright blue sky seemed larger than ever along I-70 east, complementing the green plains nicely. For the first time in several days the horizon was a straight line, the land and sky a striped cross-section of vivid color. There wasn’t much to see as we headed through Kansas hoping to put a big dent in our route to Kansas City… which is in Missouri. We stopped to browse antiques and a depressing “Prairie Dog Town” which lured travelers with promises of 5-legged steer and the largest prairie dog in the country. I took some shots of the grounds, which was more a glorified petting zoo with x-rated gag gifts at the exit. I don’t know why we bothered going. It was thoroughly depressing and disturbing. 
Dinner in central Kansas was going to be a challenge. We knew that. But I am happy to report that we found a fabulous Italian restaurant who was able to accommodate us by happily altering their dishes! Yes, not only did Martinelli’s Little Italy‘s Marissa confirm the Orzo Tuscany, Orzo with artichoke, mushrooms, green onion, carrot, red cabbage and very few capers, free of butter and cheese, but she let me know that the cook was preparing it without the usual chicken stock. I was so thankful both my server and the cook knew their stuff! Go Salina, Kansas.
Tomorrow we are off to Kansas City, home to several vegan options and just a hop/skip/jump from Oklahoma City, which would close our huge road loop and set us back down to Texas to finally light my fireworks. Godspeed!
Home has many shapes and forms. This particular evening, in Green River, Wyoming, it came in the form of the Coachman Inn, yes, but more the huge sky and rock formations that surrounded the cluster stop on the way to the great Flaming Gorge. But morning brought us back onto I-80 West, heading to our most western destination, Salt Lake City, before we hooked a U-turn and head towards America’s heart center.
With a quick ride through winding canyons and basins nestling the interstate to the Great Salt Lake, we arrived for lunch at City Cakes & Cafe in Salt Lake City, a mostly-vegan bakery and cafe with plenty of sweet selections. After not eating all too well the day before in Wyoming, I had tucked my appetite away and let it incubate in the sun and mountains. I ordered their Vegan Mac & Cheese, made with cashew and red peppers, as well as a Key Lime cupcake. Finally, some sustenance. This was just what my body needed to help combat the fluctuating altitudes and air quality that fiddled with my internal circles and axles.
Fortune had foiled our plan to visit Cakewalk Baking Company, an all-vegan bakery storefront in Woods Cross, Utah. This bakery has been on my radar for some time. Having always wanted to see some of the beauty of southern Utah’s red rock, the bakery had shifted this desire to the top of my domestic travel list. But no dice. Cakewalk is currently setting up location numero two in Salt Lake City and are operating with limited hours in the Woods Cross location. So we missed the old and new bakery space. Luckily Cakewalk delivers their goods to some of the area coffee shops… and into the Pacific Northwest to Sidecar For Pigs Peace in Seattle (blogged about here) and Food Fight Grocery in Portland, Oregon (blogged about here and here). How’s that for a network! Anyway, we did wind up picking up a Cakewalk S’mores cupcakes at Nobrow Coffee, a spacious internet cafe that cradled our weary minds in awaiting our evening plans, and Sugarhouse Coffee, a bi-level coffee shop with some vegan and raw options as well as Cakewalk’s famous “Dillos”, Twinkie-like cakes of different flavors and persuations. 
Moving right along our vegan tour of Salt Lake City, dinner would have to be at the city’s best all-vegan restaurant, Sage Cafe. We arrived as it opened and nabbed a great table on the patio surrounded by grapevines. The menu, which hadn’t looked all too promising on the website, was far more exciting than I had been anticipating. Having the hankering for some veggies, I chose the Tacos Vegetarianos, grilled, soft corn tacos stuffed with grilled vegetables and marinated tofu with yummy sides of cilantro-lime vinaigrette tossed greens, a house-made sour cream, salsa fresca and guacamole. This really hit the spot. The food was fresh and flavorful. I was thoroughly impressed!
It was sheer luck that we came to dine on the day they offered all-you-can-eat pizza and salad! This ain’t no Olive Garden, no. Our waitress delivered delicious slices of gourmet pizza to CP who had opted for the deal. I must admit my jealousy! Curry vegetable, portabello, Philly cheese steak, sausage: all ingredients made lovingly from scratch and their vegan cheeses, not packaged but concocted in-house using fine ingredients… nuts, nutritional yeast, etc. Soon the slices were piling up on her plate. CP made sure to note each type of slice for her reporting. Luckily I got to taste several of the slices and quickly declared each “thee best vegan pizza I’ve ever eaten!”
CP always makes a point to read the weeklies at our city stops. It was through this habit that we learned Trampled By Turtles happened to be in town, playing Urban Lounge that night in downtown Salt Lake. This was an amazing coincidence! I had spent some time getting to know these guys two and half years ago in Knoxville, Tennessee when I had spontaneously decided to take in a show on a roadtrip back from Miami, blogged about here. I quickly decided we had to go. After settling in in Bountiful, a suburb north of the city where our host-friend Vesper lives, we toasted to old friends in new places, experienced some of Salt Lake’s night life and caught Trampled By Turtles’ set. Here’s to friends all across the country!
Top left: The Mormon Temple-the city layout revolves around the temple and its location. Top right: Playing with 6-foot Samurai sword and machete that were stashed in Vesper’s sublet. Bottom left: Trampled By Turtles’ Dave and “the girl from New York”. Bottom right: Alcohol content is lower here in Utah, in accordance to Mormon law. In the bars, cocktails’ alcohol are measured precisely.
With one more spot to hit before hitting the road, we had to give Vertical Diner a try. Their hearty breakfast would replenish our bodies and ease our headaches. I chose their biscuits and gravy combination plate with fried tempeh, home fries and steamed veggies. The comfort food hit the spot though would have benefitted with more seasoning and pizazz. We decided to go ahead and order the banana split, hoping for a good blog pic. I have a particular view of what makes a perfect banana split and this was way off. The search continues!
After crashing hard from the evening before, morning had us ready to hit the road for reals. We had a loose destination, an eatery in Fort Worth, Texas about 3 hours or so north from Austin. But after that… the unknown… kinda. We were going to take it one day at a time, like alcoholics. First, a goodbye to Texas Leslie, Friday the doggy, her cute brightly colored things and a newborn Swallowtail butterfly resting on the stems in her butterfly garden. 
We needed a hearty breakfast to quick-start the day. After some Austin errands, we hit Mr. Natural, a 100% vegetarian authentic Tex-Mex eatery. Mr. Natural has a huge bakery case with mostly-vegan baked goods, too! Though the food looks like a sopping pile of prison food, the Tofu Migas (crispy tortilla strips simmered in ranchero sauce and a tofu crumble served with 2 warm fresh corn tortillas) was very tasty! I had to tack on some potato nibbles for an extra 99 cents and a wonderful spinach-pineapple juice. This place reminds me of a breakfast spot I hit in Guadalajara (post here) when I was in Mexico last October.
Besides sampling their pineapple empanada, strawberry bar and a chocolate chip cookie, I had to purchase their Don’t Mess With Texas cookie. Mmmm, panhandle.
It was then time to head north. We pulled up to Spiral Diner & Bakery in Fort Worth quite excitedly. Maybe it was the huge “vegan” painted on the side of the building and the ton of other v-bombs in the front windows that fueled our appetite, but I was all of a sudden starving. Spiral is 100% vegan. 100%. There is a giddy overwhelmingness to perusing an all-vegan menu. Besides a ton of great food options Spiral hit all the other high points. They use only vegan and biodegradable cleaners, source recycled materials, donate to grassroot orgs aligned with their values and excess food to shelters. They also had Oogave fountain sodas, a Colorado-based agave-sweetened beverage company, reported on here
I tried to order light so to leave room for dessert. I had the “Chik’n-Less Salad San’ich”: diced seitan, chopped apples, cranberries and pecans tossed with a creamy herbed mayo/mustard dressing topped off with lettuce, tomato, and mayo and served on toasted multi-grain bread. I chose a side of greens with Ranch dressing because, really, when can a vegan gal get vegan Ranch? The sandwich and greens hit the spot perfectly. Fresh and flavorful, hearty and multi-textured. 
CandyPenny opted for something a bit more belly-blasting. After pledging no more Daiya, for digestive reasons, she couldn’t resist ordering the chipotle tofu quesadilla, packed with thin slices of flavorful tofu, corn and Daiya with two blobs of guacamole and tofu sour cream.
We had to get dessert. Spiral makes their own ice cream. THEY MAKE THEIR OWN VEGAN ICE CREAM. And they had chocolate chip cookie dough. We ordered their standard sundae: a heaping helping of the good stuff topped with chocolate syrup, sprinkles, whipped cream and coconut flakes. Absolutely delicious. Their ice cream was way creamy and packed with huge globs of soft and yummy chocolate chip cookie dough. Stick a fork in me.
Vegan Reporting By Location
