{Vegan} Diners, Drive-ins and Dives {Providence, RI}

Doing a weekender in Providence, Rhode Island, it was time to explore the vegan side of this quaint New England city. For better or for worse, many of the spots we hit had previously been featured on the Food Network’s Diners, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Suffice to say they were not exclusively vegan. In fact they were downright meaty. But always appreciating the option for vegan grub, here’s what I ate:
Just outside of Providence in Narragansett was a hopping burger joint with some very interesting vegan burger options. Crazy Burger is a great little joint with a loyal following of locals jovially enjoying their meals. Running on caffeine fumes from the drive north and post-parking battle in Narragansett’s tiny streets, the Electrician and I started out with the Mad Mexi-skins, potato skins stuffed with refried beans, avocado, tomato and vegan cheddar, served with salsa and chive-tofu sour cream. They really hit the spot. Delicious!For my main I had the zany Birdie Mae burger, a tempeh-based patty made of purple sticky rice, sweet potato and roasted sunflower seeds topped with rosemary-pumpkin pesto served on a fresh whole wheat roll. On the side, their tasty slaw. The burger was a bit mushy in texture but made up for this tenfold in taste. Such a unique combination of flavors! The great waitress also gave us a squeeze bottled of homemade ketchup for our discerning palettes. Crazy Burger is a must-hit.

Next was dinner at United BBQ near Brown’s campus. Yes, a real live (or dead?) barbecue dive. Their mostly-meaty menu denotes vegan items and has a small section entitled “Weird Stuff”, under which is listed standard VeganVictuals fare: Tofurkey kielbasa sandwich, barbecue seitan sandwich and a grilled Boca burger. I had the barbecue seitan and a side of corn off the cob, a mexi-corn medley, and a side of vegan slaw. Also accompanying the huge sandwich were some house-made potato chips. It was stuffed to the brim with wheat gluten and a yummy sweet barbecue sauce. What a meal!

Ok, Louie’s Restaurant. Dining hell, quite simply. Besides the place being packed with irritating college kids, the service was horrid and the food was capital B-land. Sure they have some vegan options, like pancakes, but the waitress admitted them to be only semi-vegan as they shared the greasy and dirty eggy grill. Ah, how my hopes of vegan pancakes were crushed after I couldn’t help but notice the wet, glistening omelet filled with ham being flipped next to the pancakes! I opted for the tofu scramble, which was reheated separately, with a side of home fries. The “scramble” was watered down and flavorless and mixed with indiscernible overcooked vegetables. Even the potatoes were bad–something I didn’t know was possible. There is no reason to go here, despite the praises of locals on its Yelp page and the visit from the Food Network guy.