Currently viewing the tag: "on the road"
Sprig & Vine is a delightful cafe nestled cozy and snug on the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border in New Hope, Pennsylvania. On the Delaware river, New Hope offers an idyllic setting for an urban escape… and a proper all-vegan ‘last of 2012′ brunch with Ms. CandyP.
We started with some hearty biscuits and cashew-herb gravy. Savory, substantial and delicious.
Will travel for a Tofu Benny! Ever since I glimpsed their menu months back I have been daydreaming of this dish… carefully however, accepting the possibility that the success of this vegan brunch classic lives and dies by the quality of the Hollandaise. We were happy to see these tall Ben’s were covered in an aerated Hollandaise, air-bubbled and indicative of a light, frothy texture. Oh yum.
You know I had to zoom in on this bad boy.
The choppy Delaware river on a windy winter day.
After brunch, a proper lunch. On Sundays Kaya’s Kitchen does an all-you-can-eat buffet. All I can eat all-vegan? Hold me back! Plenty of tasty options, Caribbean inspired.
This was a flavor-packed buffet. Most notable, soft and delicate potato-filled pierogi. I had to get up for seconds.
Last but certainly not least, all-vegan bakery in Matawan, New Jersey, Papa Ganache.
This bakery is stock with beautiful and delicious vegan treats, including these babies.
All dressed up for the New Year!
They also have plenty of gluten-free goodies… a whole showcase full (above).
Ok, 2013. I’m ready!
Being tossed a couple of days to kill, I decided to spend my Rosh Hashanah out of the New York City area. Stricken with severe wanderlust at times, I need to get away once and awhile. I do this a lot. Ever since I got my first car, free time became a currency of adventure. I was often just driving away, enamored by “the road” and the set of skills that click on inside traversing the unknown. It’s the part of me that feels I was born in the wrong time. It’s the part of me that’s always hungry. It’s the part of me that enjoys time with myself fully, where I am free to chase my fancies… whether they be a vegan cupcake, a half-demolished building on the side of the road, or a location with a promising view of the sunset. Of course, I also do a food blog, fancy myself a bit of a photographer, and I love to drive. These forces are strong in me. Every once and a while I need new things to eat, new things to take pictures of, new air to breathe in. I’ve also never taken an Amtrak anywhere. So here it goes: My vegan excursion to the Empire State’s capitol: Albany, New York.
I’m planning a very extensive Amtrak trip this coming summer to hit the remaining 4 contiguous United States I’ve yet to see. I am pleased with the train-to-rental car travel so far. When I arrived in Albany I was ready to go.
Of course lunch was important after a long-ish train ride. And what better way to fuel up than with an all-you-can-eat taco buffet complete with barbecue tofu! That’s right, Bombers Burrito Bar in downtown Albany offers one delicious lunch special. Unlimited trips up to their taco spread complete with hard shell tacos, soft tortillas, lettuce, black bean, rice (not sure if it was vegan so I passed), salsa, green chilies, and their yummy barbecue tofu cubes.
The spread could have been a bit more vegan-friendly. Some more vegetables maybe… some grilled onion and peppers maybe. Or some housemade tofu sour cream, fresh cilantro and some housemade marinated seitan: cha-right. Now I am in dreamland.
Although I could have had a million tacos, I could only eat two and a half.
Thanks, Bombers, for a scrumptious start to my trip!
My cousin got married in Cohasset, Massachusetts over the weekend, so it was time for a New England roadtrip! I was so impressed with vegan offerings up north and continue to be awed by how vegan consciousness has expanded, resulting in top-notch food options across our great country. And I’m not done! I have reported vegan eats from only 21 of our states. A trip like this wets my appetite for more.
Just a short drive from my home New York, it’s a wonder why I don’t head north more often to explore Connecticut’s vegan offerings. I knew from my trip to Providence in 2010 (here) that off the I-95 lies a diner offering a substantial selection for vegans. Since my alarm clock malfunction nixed the possibility of hitting True Bistro for brunch before the wedding ceremony, I knew I needed a good couple of bites to power me through a few hours of driving. I plugged in Shoreline Diner into the G.P.S. for an early-birdy lunch.
Shoreline’s menu has been re-worked since my last visit and includes a vegan Napolean! Reading that v-word in a omnivorous menu is one of the small pleasures of my life. But imagine seeing that v-word on a huge billboard? Though I am so grateful for Shoreline, a quick and convenient stop off the interstate, I wish Shoreline would increase the variety of their awesome offerings to include eggless breakfast stuff. Breakfast/brunch is my meal of choice and I know they got the raw materials for pure breakfast magic.
On our stop I got the tempeh “chicken salad” sandwich on their fabulous house-made baguette. I love ground up tempeh of this kind–such a great texture. The sandwich was yummy and kept me fueled until the wedding dinner; and that is with only eating about half of it!
I meant to return on the way back to try that Napolean, but, as fate would have it, Connecticut had another gem hidden in the rough. More on that later..
Next time you are on the I-95, check them out. Businesses like this need our support! They are constantly evolving. With one of their people completeing the Artisanal Bread Baking course at French Culinary Institute in New York City, they now make all their own bread. They also have recently consulted with Well On Wheels, Connecticut Chef Mary Lawrence‘s vegan personal chef service, to create more scrumptious vegan dishes. They also have a gluten-free menu. To put in plainly…they’re awesome.
Casa de Luz‘s lunch: Posole soup w/fresh, garden salad with casa dressing, brown rice & red quinoa, mixed Greens with sunflower tahini dill sauce, red beans, delicata squash with onions, celery, carrot & cilantro and red sauerkraut
Your Mom’s Burger Bar‘s build-your-own vegan burger
Me So Hungry‘s lemongrass Banh Mi
Whole Foods flagship store’s vegan donuts
So Oklahoma City, yeah. This trip has officially come full-circle. We passed through Oklahoma at the start of our trip 12 days ago but did not stop. Even though I had discovered the raw restaurant 105 Degrees via ye olde google search, time was not on our side and we’d have to waste a good deal of time to try it out. We pledged to come back on the return trip. I mean, c’mon… gourmet vegan dining in Oklahoma City?! We needed to get to the bottom of this.
As it turns out, 105 Degrees’s menu was is created by New York City’s Pure Food and Wine‘s Matthew Kenney. The space houses a living cuisine academy and boutique, another unique destination on our vegan roadtrip. Starting our day with some thrifting we worked up an appetite that grew through our attempt at finding the restaurant’s space. But it was well worth the wait and folly. I started with a first course of kimchee dumplings in a pool of sea foam and sprinkle of black sesame seeds. The dumplings were amply stuffed with a delicious kimchee medley.
My main course was their Arrabiata, a potato gnocchi in a hot chili-tomato sauce around a bed of wilted spinach and some dollops of aged raw chevre. The portion was heated (not above 105 degrees!) and the perfect portion to leave a spot for one of their yummy desserts.
That dessert, a citrus poppy seed cake with vanilla bean cream frosting topped with a blueberry compote. It was the perfect end of a very impressive meal. Here I am below with a cheek full of the cake’s delicately-texture “cake”. I couldn’t put my finger on what the base of this dessert was. I stopped trying to figure it out and quickly became a member of the clean plate club. Check CandyPenny’s blog for details on her special raw Oklahoma City meal.
After lunch we headed back towards Texas. On the way we spied a billboard for The Toy and Action Figure Museum in Paul’s Valley, OK. Another exciting and interesting road find, we had to check it out. The museum was home to local artist and collector Kevin Stark’s personal collection. It exhibited over 10,000 pieces including a very extensive bat cave jam-packed with a ton of Batman artifacts. This was the most impressive and extensive exhibit. There were also showcases of DC, Marvel and WWF (WWE?) action figures, a GI Joe section and a relatively small Star Wars wall.
The museum also had a display of Alternative Baking Company‘s vegan cookies! Here the friendly museum employee poses with the cookies. Best action figure museum snack ever.
Oklahoma soon gave way to the Lone Star state. The end. I’ll have one more day in Austin before heading back home to my life, sans car. But not without a few more vegan eats inland…
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.
I prefer to shop in musky, dank barns; I like the effort and reward of the hunt. A rack of all of the same thing is very unappealing to me. This is why I have thrift shopped since I was old enough to make my own money. Unfortunately the state of thrifting for apparel these days is sorry. Across the country consignment shops and eBay sellers have long claimed the majority of vintage wear as the passing of time renews stock with the characterless styles of the 80s and 90s. Luckily bric-a-brac turnover is far less sudden. There are still trinkets and thingamajigs worth the hunt, worth the walk to the back. While in Kansas, I caught the bug for antiquing, which works the same muscles as thrifting but is a little more “hit” than “miss” (though with a price) and a little more “adult”. But antiquing in Kansas is like thrifting in New York, price-wise. The I-70 offered a huge selection of antique shops, each with a personality all its own. With many limitations (discretionary spending, living space, checked bag limit for flight home, etc), I only picked up a few little things but plan to return to the hunt when one or more of these limitations alleviate. 
It was time to eat. We had made it through the length of Kansas to arrive in Kansas City, Missouri just in time for lunch. We dined at Füd, an intimate vegan restaurant on KC’s west side that sources organic and local foods to create pretty amazing dishes. Peruse their sample menu and you’ll get the idea loud and clear: clean, fresh and delicious. We had been chasing the clock to squeeze in for Saturday brunch before their 3:30 close time. Once Chef Heidi carefully and passionately described her dishes’ ingredients I knew… the way you know about a good melon… this was a special place to dine. And speaking of melon, fresh-cut complimentary organic watermelon refills? Pinch me.
Behold: the Jackphish Chalupa! Jack for the Jackfruit, a texturous fruit from SE Asia {included in my Thailand Foodie blog post from abroad} and phish for the ocean-y seasonings the chef-couple incorporated to deliver a sort of tuna-like feel and flavor to the fruit. The ground jackfruit could have been the only contents of the delicately fried tortilla case but no! This wonderful handheld marvel had a tangy cashew cheddar– like nacho cheese, cashew sour cream, chopped tomato, guacamole and a spicy cocoa-infused mole to heat things up. It was spectacular. All house-made and mostly local and organic. Probably the best thus far.
Füd didn’t stop there. Vegan soft serve. I repeat: Vegan. Soft. Serve. These folks don’t dollop a scoop of some national brand non-dairy ice cream on a plate and charge $5 (or $7.50! I’m talking to you Vertical Diner)… they make there own creamy cashew-based agave-sweetened version from scratch and throw on raw cacao sauce, superfood caramel sauce, raw cacao nibs and pecans. I devoured my sundae quickly and partook in a mutual momentary lapse in conversation that ended with the clank of the spoon in the empty glass bowl. What were we saying?
And dinner. Eden Alley Vegetarian Cafe is housed in the basement of Unity Temple, a non-denominational church in the Plaza section of Kansas City. 
I chose the Tasting Triplet, a sampling of 3 dishes of my choice from their regular and specials menu. It was a little on the costly side but hey, this tour of vegan eateries is winding down and I will likely not be in Missouri any time soon. So yes, the grub: soft bread spread with an agave-sweetened Earth Balance, 1) the super-fresh and delicious Avocado Vera Cruz [avocado served on brown rice stuffed with mung bean and zucchini Pico de Gallo with mixed greens, cherry tomato, carrots, and cucumbers topped with chili cumin aioli and mustard seed dressing], 2) Heavenly BBQ Seitan [seitan drenched in their house-made barbecue sauce with tomatoes, beets, spices, onion and garlic topped with sautéed with onions and minced mushroom over creamy mashed potatoes and black turtle beans plus a pickle] and 3) the Grilled Tofu Ruelke sandwich [grilled garlic, local sour dough bread with hummus, pickles, tomatoes, greens, and grilled organic central soy tofu encrusted in spiced nutritional yeast]. How’s that for a mouthful?! So like the descriptions hints, all dishes were bursting with flavor and freshness. 
And because they had vegan dessert available, I had to partake. After all, I’ll have time to work off this spare tire when the majority of my day is not spent in an automobile. I chose the chocolate cake with coconut vanilla icing. Darn track lighting doesn’t do it justice…
There is still some leads in KC to look into but for now… a SNL re-run on the hotel television.
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!
Setting off bright and early from the very cheapo Lazy Lizard Hostel in Moab, CandyPenny and I skipped breakfast and coffee, making a b-line to Arches National Park and its gorgeous collection of natural sandstone arches. We had planned to enter the park in time to view the hot rocks during sunrise but an alarm clock snafu had us rising with Pacific time and not the Mountain time we were actually in. Oh well. The early hour served us well as the expanse of stone formations was ours alone. It was spectacular. The rock resembled so many things: The cross-section of a thick and cold chunk of dark chocolate chopped slowly with a Chef’s knife, a Martian landscape, a primitive Earth’s floor, phalluses, yoni, profiles of chubby bald men… anything seemed feasible but the acceptance that this beauty was naturally-occurring and here all along.
Most impressive was the world-famous Delicate Arch, as seen on Utah’s license plates. I hiked a moderately strenuous trail up slippery stone in terrible shoes to be able to spend some up-close time with the impressive formation. One of many visitors and amateur photographers meandering about the steeply-descending cliff (think sandpit in Return of the Jedi) to catch its good side, I took a ton of shots of that delicate arch, 3 of which are below. 
Finally, hours after wake-up and a tiring hike in the hot sun, it was time to eat. We hit the only veg-friendly breakfast spot in Moab, Eklectic Cafe, for some brunch and coffee. The cafe was gorgeous and had outdoor seating surrounded by lush plant life and cocky begging birds. I had the tofu, potatoes and toast with soy butter. The scramble was very delicious! I was so thankful Eklectic Cafe was up and running, unlike the other several vegan option spots (Love Muffin, who was closed for July on vacations, and Peace Tree Juice Cafe, who was closed for renovations). We had also eaten at Moab’s only Thai restaurant the evening before, which was good but very overpriced.
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!
Cutting through the northern tip of the Rockies and passing over the Continental Divide, the I-80 west cuts through Wyoming’s southern mass in an predominantly undeveloped two-lane highway. For a gal used to the bustle of Brooklyn, the expanse of open space is unbelievable, almost confusing. The bright blue sky and healthy green of the land surround me like a surreal paint-by-number. I am very far away, not just far away from home but far away from everything.
Eating vegan in Wyoming would be a great challenge, especially since most of the small eateries in or around Laramie, our only hope, were closed for the observed Independence Day. This did not stop us from peering eagerly into the windows of Sweet Melissa‘s, the state’s only vegetarian restaurant, and cursing our luck. We did find Mizu Sushi, a Japanese restaurant with several veggie options, however. I wouldn’t normally blog about a meal at a Japanese joint simply because it is pretty standard fare. But a Japanese joint in Wyoming is a different story! For lunch I ordered several small plates, unsure of the portions and having way larger eyes than my stomach: fried tofu, an avocado roll and 2 huge fresh spring rolls. All were very good but a bit costly for the area.
Working our way through WY towards UT, we took a quick excursion to some hot springs in Saratoga, a small ranch town an hour off the interstate. The naturally mineral-rich and piping hot springs were an interesting stop! Though we hadn’t the gall to immerse ourselves fully into the 108+ degrees F waters, which seemed to be scalding… even more so with the blazing sun above, the sulphuric smell and potent water seemed to have residual health benefits. My feet were tinglingly with glee from being dipped in the bubbling springs. Older visitors, however, basked in the waters fearlessly. Below are some shots from the springs in dedication to Andrea who hoped to see pictures of things other than food.
After setting up camp in a motel close to Flaming Gorge, a scenic gorge surrounding a huge reservoir, we searched long and hard for a good eat option. But Green River, Wyoming failed us. We opted for a trip to Albertson’s to pick up some frozen food to nuke in the room’s microwave. Tomorrow we’ll make it into Salt Lake City to try some veggie leads that have been on the radar for quite some time.
Vegan Reporting By Location
